/ 








^i^LScn^L 



#7/^' 



^3> 



FACTS FOE FAEMERS; 

ALSO Foa 

THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 

A COMPOST OF RICH MATERIALS FOR ALL LAITD-OWNERS, 

ABOBT 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 

FARM BUILDINGS; 

AND AJJ. 

FARM CROPS, TOOLS, FENCES, FERTILIZATION, DRAINING, AND IRRIGATION. 



WITU AN APPENDIX ON THE 



DISEASES AND CURES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



y... ,.- lUttsttiitfli toitl] Sttel C5ngviil)ings. 

I N EDITED BY 

SOLON ROBINSON, 

AGRICCLTDBAL EDITOR OP THE NEW YORK 'TIlinrNE," iND AUTHOR OF SEVEKAL POPUI^E WOKKS. 



VOLUME I. 

NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY A. J. JOHNSON, 

113 FULTON STREET. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO : 

F. G. AND A. 0. ROWE, 

266 SUPERIOR STREET. 

1867. .:->v«.>- 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 186G, by 

A.J.JOHNSON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New York. 




DAVIES & KENT, 
133 William Street, N. Y. 



PLATE I. 

(TuE Frontispiece.) 

This is the genial face of a farmer, engaged in a work of love for 
his calling. It is placed here in opposition to the wishes of the 
author. He has been persuaded to allow his face to be seen by 
those who purchase this collection of things viseful to a very 
numerous class through the solicitation of the publisher, wlio 
knows that it will be a satisfaction to them to see how tlieir old 
friend looks at the age of sixty. An old friend he will seem to 
those who read his earnest appeals for agricultural improvement 
twenty or thirty years ago. As a writer and lecturer upon agri- 
culture, and extensive traveler to observe its condition in the United 
States, few men are better known than the original of this portrait. 
Therefore this likeness will be, the publisher believes, highly appre- 
ciated as well by those who look upon a familiar face as those who 
see it here for the first time. 

The author was born a farmer, and will probably end his days 
where he now lives (a few miles out of the busy hum of the city), 
in the peaceful quiet of his "home in the country," where this 
volume of facts for farmers has been prepared as a last legacy of his 
good-will to the brotherhood. 

Like other farmers' sons of New England, he learned to follow 
the plow there, though in early life he became a "Western pioneer, and 
while a prairie farmer, became widely known as a writer advocating 
agi'icultural improvement, and more widely, in 1841, as the origin- 
ator of the National Agricultural Society, and earnest advocate of 
State and County societies. His connection with the New York 
Tribime since 1850 will make this picture interesting to all its 
readers. It is for these reasons that the publisher has incurred the 
expense of its production. 



PREFACE. 



THE AUTHOR TO HIS READERS. 

"Facts for Farmers?" "What facts?" "What new theories 
have we here in a ponderous volume ? Is it filled with dry dis- 
sertations about what farmers should or should not do?" "What 
does this author know about farming ?" 

The author asks the reader of this book to judge- for himself. 
He does not advance new theories. He only collects old ones. 
He has made a ponderous volume, not of dry dissertations, but 
of short, crisp facts. The book is full of little things ; glean- 
ings from many fields ; from all reliable authority ; from conver- 
sations of farmers ; from talks at farmers' clubs ; from books a 
little ; from personal experience much ; — from the memory of a long 
life devoted to the practice and study of agi'iculture, this volume is 
born. It is the fruit of years of labor in a great and good field. 
It certainly contains much that will be useful to all classes who 
till the earth, or live in farmers' houses. It should be in every 
rural home, as a work of reference. It is arranged in the most con- 
venient form for this purpose. Each chapter comprises one general 
subject. Each section embraces a separate branch. Each num- 
bered paragrajjh is complete in itself, and conveys an item of infor- 
mation. Each subject is completely indexed. As a whole, though 
containing much, it is not an encylopedia of agriculture. It does 
not pretend to teach all that a farmer should know. That must be 
learned by reading, thinking, and acting. 



I 

iv PREFACE. 



Though not perfect, farmei's will find ^his book a useful one. ■ If 
not invaluable, I hope it is one that they can not afford to do with- 
out. In its compilation, the author has enjoyed many facilities 
and much experience ; he has also labored under many difficulties, 
while daily engaged as an agricultural editor of a great daily and 
weekly paper. You will find here stored up for future use many 
of the valuable little items that you have read approvingly from 
time to time but have forgotten, useful to every man's family, and 
worthy of preservation. Usefulness instead of elegance has been 
aimed at. I have given more facts than theories. I have often 
given the opinions of several upon the same subject, and, as some 
of these vary, I leave the reader to adjust differences. 

In trying to avoid diffuseness, I have left much for inference, and 
purposely treated subjects in such a manner as to induce readers to 
make further research. A word of explanation. At the end of the 
volume you will find a list of individuals, nearly five hundred, some 
of whom are eminent authority in agricultural knowledge. These 
individuals have materially aided the author in producing a work 
which has been long needed by the American farmer, gardener, 
fiorist, fruit-grower, and housekeeper. From all these he has drawn 
matter, sometimes with, and sometimes without, credit to individ- 
uals, when facts have been condensed from their articles. Con- 
ciseness has been a study ; else, how could twelve hundred subjects 
be crowded into a thousand pages ? Those whose articles I have 
used, must not complain that I have pruned too closely, or failed to 
give credit in all cases where credit is due. I freely acknowledge 
my obligations to all. 

This book is one that may be opened at any page, profitably, 
to occupy five minutes' leisure. It is printed in such large, clear 
type that it can be easily read. The author and publisher hope that 
it will be. Then it is illustrated as no agricultural book published 
in America ever has been. Look at the many large, handsome. 



PREFACE. 



steel engravings ! These alone are worth the cost of the whole 
volume. 

Farmers! you are earnestly invited to'read, if nothing more, the 
titles and contents of chapters, and their subdivisions of sections. 
If you do that, and find nothing that promises instruction, lay the 
volume aside. If so far it is promising, turn over its pages, glanc- 
ing at the black-letter titles of paragraphs. Of one thing be as- 
sured ; lengthy as the volume appears, it is not made so by extreme 
dilution ; the last chapter is better than any that precedes it. 
Throughout, no subject is lengthily treated ; no subject is treated 
that does not contain something useful to some one ; something that 
you can not always remember, but which you should always have 
at hand, convenient for frequent consultation. 

To those who know the name of the author — and the number is 
large — I hope this book will be a welcome bequest. I hope it 
will be the means through which that name may live in love and 
honor with your children and children's children around many an 
American hearthstone. 

Of the author's portrait, a word. It is the publisher, and not the 
author, who inserts it. It represents him correctly, as he is at the 
age of nearly sixty. 

In conclusion, I earnestly hope these Facts will be an acceptable 
offering to a very large number of those whose prosperity I would 
promote, for I am one of the Brotherhood of American Farmers. 
To them it is commended, with the love and respect of their old 
friend, 

SOLON ROBINSON. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

PAOS 

Section I.— INTRODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK 13 

Sec. II.— swine 10 

This Bection embraces facts about the best breeds, and best mode of feeding, gross and 

net weight, etc. 
Sec III. — COWS : What is a, good cow, and how to choose one; food necessary; health; 

profit ; kind for butter-making 31 

Sec. IV. — BEEVES : Eecord of the largest known, and their weights 51 

Sec v.— STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE JIARKET, and Improvements in 

Breeds and Weights 50 

Sec. VI.— feeding CATTLE AND CARE OF FAR.M STOCK : Selecting calves ; shelter ; 

training ; lundness ; value of kinds of feed ; use of salt ; watering ; diseases of cattle .... CO 
Sec. ^^I.— sheep HUSBANDRY : Breeds of sheep ; care and management ; weight of hay 

necessary ; mutton and its use ; shearing and care of wool 81 

Sec Vin.— HORSES AND MULES : History of the horse ; varieties ; how to use ; proper 

size ; color ; diseases ; treatment of colts ; how to shoe horses ; breeding horses and 

mules ; horse gearing 97 

Sec IX. — POULTRY ; Full description of all kinds of poultry, and proper treatment 123 

CHAPTER II. 

SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 

Sec. X. — BEES : Their history, use, and value, management, and reasons for keeping 157 

Sec. XI. — BIRDS : Reasons for preserving ; their food ; and laws for protecting 170 

Sec XH. — ENTOMOLOGICAL : What are insects, and what kinds infest and injure various 

crops, and how to detect friends from foes, and various remedies 203 

Sec Xin.— wild AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM : Dogs, cats, rats, mice, moles, 

rabbits, squirrels, gophers, skunks, toads, goats, camels, and breeding fish for family use. 248 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FAEMEKY. 

THE BTJILDINGS, TAKDS, WELLS, CISTEKNS, AQDEDUCTS, AND STKUCTURES NECESSABY TO 
CAKRT ON THE BUSINESS OF TIIE FARM, BRIEFLY DESCRIBED. 

Sec. XIV.— FARM-HOUSES : They should be convenient, roomy, light, ventilated ; their in- 
fluence upon character ; old-style farm-house described 275 











viii CONTENTS. 




PiOE 




Sec. XV.— cellars, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES : How to build them, and their 






proper size and use ; how to etorc and keep ice 288 






Sec. XVI.— THE BAKN AND ITS APPURTENANCES : Location, size, and use of barns ; 






stables, how to build ; stable yards and cheap sheds 299 






Sec. XVII.— WATER FOR THE FARMERY : Cisterns, size, cost, and how to build ; aque- 






ducts and wells, how to construct ; hydraulic rams 308 






Sec. XVIII.-STACKING AND STORING GRAIN ; CORN CRIBS, PIGGERIES, AND 






PIG FEEDING ; SMOKE-HOUSE, AND CURING BACON ; FRUTT-DRYING HOUSE. 318 






Sec. XIX— ECONOMICAL FARM BUILDINGS : Balloon frames, concrete walls, and other 






cheap styles of building ; how to make balloon frames, and their cost 325 






Sec. XX.— ROOFS AND ROOFING : Paints and whitewash for farm buildings ; nails ; mor- 






tar ; farm gates ; sawed shingles, their value, and how to preserve shingles 332 






Sec XXI.— LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS : Protection of farm buildings from fire ; windmills 






and their use 342 






CHAPTER IV. 






DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 






Sec. XXII.— the FOOD QUESTION : Quantity, quality, variety, adaptation, adulteration. 






changes produced by cooking, water for cooking, and effect on health 351 






Sec. XXIII —the BREAD QUESTION : Varieties ; quality ; how to make bread and yeast, 












Sec. XXIV.— SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD, in green corn, dried corn, pop-corn, hominy, and 






cracked wheat, and how to cook them .• 389 






Sec XXV.— EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES : Economy of 






lights; use of tea, coffee, and sugar; preserving fruits, pork, hams, and beef; remedies 






and disinfectants ; beds and bedding and carpets, etc 396 






Sec XXVI.— domestic WINES, CIDER, AND PRESERVES : Rules of wine-making 






from various fruits, and cider and vinegar making 419 






Sec. XXVII.— hygienic : Preparation of food for the sick ; remedies for poisons, bites. 






and stings 435 






Sec XXVin.— the DAIRY : Butter and cheese making ; how much milk for a pound of 






butter ; Aldemey butter ; dairy room and utensils ; working, salting, and packing butter 441 






CHAPTER y. 






THE GARDEN AKD ITS FEUIT8. 






Sec. XXrX.— PLEASURE AND PROFIT OF GARDENING : Origin and history of veg- 






etables 461 




Sec XXX.— garden CULINARY VEGETABLES: Protection from insects; value of va- 




rious things for food ; chiccory culture ; what should be grown in the garden ; number of 






plants upon an acre 470 






Sec XXXI.— the FLOWER GARDEN: Varieties and cultivation of flowers ; suitable soil . 






and preparation ; lists of choice flowers ; flowers grown as a crop 500 






* 





CONTENTS. IX 



A PAGE 

Sec. XXXII. — LAWNS : How to make and how to keep them ; trees and plants suitjvblo for 

lawns ; botanical names of trees ; roses and their cultivation 515 

SeC. XXXIII.— HOT-BEDS : Cold frames plant protectors ; how to make and use hot-beds. 521 
Sec. XXXIV.— small FRUITS OF THE GARDEN : Currants, varieties and cultivation ; 

strawberries, variety and growth ; raspberries ; blackberries ; quinces 530 



CFAPTEE VI. 

THE OECIIABD. 

Sec. XXXV.— PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES : Time to 

transplant ; preparation ; protection ; labels for trees 555 

Sec. XXXVI.— the ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING : How and when 

to prune : how and when to bud and graft ; how to make wax 570 

Sec. XXXTIL- APPLE AND PEACH TREES: Their general management; select list of 

apples, and descriptions ; peach-trees, how to grow ; how to treat an old orchard 579 

Sec. XXXVin. — CHERRIES : Best varieties ; soil, situation, and cultivation ; history, use, 

and value ; grafting and budding 594 

Sec. XXXIX.— PEARS : Soil, situation, cultivation, and varieties ; select list of sorts; when 

to gather and how to ripen ; is the cultivation profitable GOl 

Sec. XL.— PLUMS, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, MULBERRIES, AND OTHER FRUIT : 

How to transplant fruit ; choice selection of plums 612 

Sec. XLI.— MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE : Cranberries as a 

crop ; how to grow them ; best varieties ; cider-making 621 



CHAPTER YII. 



THE VINEYAED. 



Sec XUI.— HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE VINES : What sorts to plant ; history of 
varieties ; profits of culture ; grape-growing in California 630 

Sec. XLIIL— CULTLTIE OF GRAPES FOR WINE : Rules for wine-making ; wine from 
various kinds of grapes ; rules of a French wine-maker ; rules of American wine-makers 657 



CHAPTER Yin. 

CEEEALIA. 

Sec. XLTV. —WHEAT, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, MILLET, BUCKWHEAT: Preparation of 
soil and fertilization ; quantity of seed ; harvesting, stacking, and storing ;, thrashing and 
cleaning ; profits of wheat culture ; oats, how and when to sow ; cultivation of barley ; 
buckwheat ; millet 6C7 

Sec. XLV. — INDIAN CORN : Its liistory ; product ; profit as a crop ; when to plant, and 
how to cultivate ; great yield per acre. North and South ; how to store com, and how to 
measure in bulk ; seed corn, and varieties ; broom corn 709 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE GRASSES, THEIK CULTIVATIOK AND USE. 

PAGE 

Sec. XLVI.— mowing AND PASTURE LANDS : Seeding land ; varieties of grass ; what 
is grass ; wliat Icinds are rscommeujed for cultivation ; clover, its cultivation ; harvest- 
ing seed "48 

Sec. XLVn.— haying AND HAYING MACHINES : Hay caps ; stacking ; how much hay 
land should produce, and how much it is necessary to provide ; how to measure hay in 
bulk "72 



CHAPTER X. 

EOOT CE0P8 AND SUGAR CROPS. 

Sec. XLVIII.— POTATOES, TURNIPS, BEETS, CARROTS, PARSNEPS, ONIONS : How to 
plant and cultivate, and how much they should produce ; history of the potato ; charac- 
ter of varieties ; importance of the crop ; what seed should he used, and how planted ; 
substitutes for the potato ; sweet potato culture ; turnip culture ; carrots as a crop, and 
sowing and cultivation ; onions as a crop, how grown, and profits 785 

Sec. XLIX.— CHINESE SUGAR-CANE, AND SORGO-SUGAR MAKING : Preparation and 
time of planting cane ; soil and situation ; harvesting ; manufacturing, and yield and 
profits as a crop 822 

Sec. L.— MAPLE-SUGAR MAKING : Tapping trees ; spouts, buckets, and boilers ; process of 
manufacture ; cost, yield, and profit of maple-sugar 835 



CHAPTER XI. 

FORESTS AND FENCES. 

Sec. LI.— TREES AND TREE PLANTING ; WOOD OR COAL FOR FUEL : What trees to 
plant, and how and where ; descriptive list of trees ; value of various trees ; how to make 
timber durable ; how to season fuel 845 

Sec. LII. — FENCES : Their cost ; kinds most economical ; laws regulating ; how to make 
hedges, stoue walls, wire fence, and farm gates ; how to kyanize fence posts ; waste of land 
around fences ; portable fence, its use 8C1 



CHAPTER XII. 

FERTILIZATION. 

Sec. LIII.— THE ART, USE, AND ECONOMY OF MAKING, SAVING, AND APPLYING 
MANURES AND FERTILIZING FARM CROPS : Color, fineness, and moisture of ma- 
nure aflects its value ; nitrates, muriates, sulphates, lime, plaster, and bones, how to 
apply ; guano, its history and use ; muck, its value ; sea-weed and other matters ; value 
of salt ; sjiecial manures for various crops ; soiling to save manure ; manuring with 
clover ; water, its value as a fertilizer 877 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IRRIGATION. DRAINING. PLOWING. FAR5IING TOOLS. 

PAGE 

Sec. LIV.— irrigation AND TILE DRAINING : Value of irrigation ; its practice in Italy 
.ind other countries ; what lands are most henefited ; tile draining, its importance, cost, 
practice, and profit ; how and what land should be drained ; the mole-di'aining plow .... 904 

Sec. LV.— plows AND PLOWING : History of cast-iron plows ; subsoil plows, and their 
use and value ; steel plows and steam plows ; other farming tools ; labor saved by using 
farm machinery , 917 



CHAPTER XIY. 

SOUTnEEN STAPLE CEOTS — COTTON, CANE, EICE, TOBACCO. 

Sec. LVL— history, GROWTH, AND MANUFACTURE OF COTTON : History of the 
cotton gin ; upland cotton ; sea island cotton ; how cotton is grown, picked, and pre- 
pared for market ; profit of the culture ; flax cotton 928 

Sec. LVII.— sugarcane CULTIVATION : Statistics a^ its culture in Louisiana ; yield of 
sugar per acre ; cost of making, and how it is made ' 943 

Sec. LVni. — RICE : Its cultivation, production, and preparation for market ; yield per acre ; 

value and profit ; statistics of rice plantations ; upland rice 948 

Sec. LIX. — TOBACCO : Its history, cultivation, production, and profits ; exports and con- 
sumption of tobacco ; effect of cultivation upon the soil ; its culture in New York and 
Connecticut ; rules for cultivation, curing, and packing 953 

Sec. LX.— CULTIVATION OF HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS PLANTS : Hemp ; 
soil and climate ; how it is sown, harvested, and yield per acre ; cost and profit ; effect 
upon the soil ; flax cultivation ; how to prepare the soil, sow the seed, and quantity per 
acre 965 



CHAPTER XV. 

GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 

Sec. LXI.— MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE TO FARMERS : This 
last chapter embraces many things not classed under other titles, such as temperature for 
seeds to germinate and grow ; nutriment in food substances ; weights and measure of 
grain ; measuring land ; proverbs and maxims for young and old farmers, farmers' wives 
and children ; maxims of health ; things to be thought about ; how to dress skins, fix 
pumps, mend pipes, and prognosticate the weather ; farmers' clubs ; farm laborers ; farm 
accounts ; farm economy, and finis 971-1010 

APPENDIX. 

DISEASES AND CURES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS 1031 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Plate I. — Likeness of the Author Frontispiece. 

Plate U. — Frontispiece of Chap. I. , illustratrating the subject of Domestic Animals Page 13 

Plate in. — Frontispiece of Sec. III. Tliis Plate is intended to answer the question, " What 

is a good Cow ?" It also exhiliits tliffurent breeds of Cattle 31 

Plate IV. — Different Breeds of Cattle — Durham, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, Dutch, and Al- 

demey Bulls and Cows 44 

Plate V. — The Milk Mirror, showing how to select a good Cow, and form of Teeth at dif- 
ferent Ages 48 

Plate VI. — Breeds of Sheep and Swine 81 and 19 

Plate VII. — Frontispiece of Sec. VIII. — Portraits of celebrated Horses, and Illustrations of 

different Breeds 97 

Plates VIII. and IX. — Illustrations of the Teeth of Horses at all Ages, showing how to 

judge the Age from One to Eighteen Tears 106 

Plate X. — Frontispiece to Poultry, Sec. IX 12.3 

Plate XI. — Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Swans, and Pea Fowls 140 

Plate XII. —The Bee-Keeper at his Work 157 

Pl.\te XIII. — The Farmery of Farmer Snug and Farmer Slack — Frontispiece of Chap. in. . 275 

Plate XIV. — Frontispiece of the Garden and its Fruits, Chap. V 461 

Plate XV. — Frontispiece to the Flower Garden, Sec. XXXI 500 

Plate XVI. — Frontispiece to the Orchard, Chap. VI. — A Dessert fit for a Farmer — A Kural 

Scene and rich collection of Fruit 555 

Plate XVII.^Frontispiece to Chap. Vin. — Cerealia, representing Insects injurious to Wheat ; 

also Grapeyine Pests 667 

Pl-ite XVIII. — FrontLspiece to Sec. XLV. — Illustrations of Insects which are injurious to 

Farmers, and others which are beneficial 709 

Pl.\te XIX.— Frontispiece to Chap. IX.— The Grasses 748 

Plate XX. — Frontispiece to Chap. XIV. — The Cotton Plant and Cotton Field— Gathering 

the Crop 928 

Plate XXI. — Insects injurious to Cotton and Corn 942 

Plate XXII. — Frontispiece of Sec. LIX, — Tobacco in all stages of Growth and Curing for 

Market 953 



PLATE II. 

(Page 13.) 

Every American farmer will look upon this picture with pride. 
It is a fitting illustration of a chapter upon Domestic Animals. It 
contains representatives of a weU-stocked farm, assembled in the 
farm-yard on the south side of one of the farmery buildings in one 
of the sunny days of spring, which are so well calculated to make 
such a collection of well-fed animals feel, as these look, full of 
gladness. There is no danger that such hogs as these will destroy 
young lambs and poultry. Here we see the sheep and lambs, goats 
and kids — goats that yield valuable fleeces, which are described in 
this chapter — the work-horses and brood-mare and colt — the mules 
and their progenitor, who is in an attitude of war with a well-fed 
heifer that is absorbed in admiration of the peacocks on the roof 
of the poultry-house. How surlily the bull looks upon the white- 
faced cow, which is deeply interested in contemplating the two hens 
that the cock has just called to enjoy a few grains of corn ! By the 
earnest looking of one cow and two horses, we judge that they see 
their good friend and master approaching. Geese, ducks, turkeys, 
rabbits, and pigeons, and a boat on the water, enhven the scene, 
which, altogether, is one of tranquil beauty. It is a scene to con- 
template and admire. It teaches a lesson. It will stimulate many 
a young man to a determination to become the owner of such a one, 
or sometliing equally worthy of the artist who desires to represent 
American farm life. It will stimulate all, we hope, who look upon 
this pictorial index of this chapter to read it carefully. 



FACTS FOR FARMERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

SECTION. I-INTROL)UCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK. 

HE very foundation of all farm improvement is the 

domestic animals which consume the coarse products 

of the farm, such as are not fit for human food, or 

growu in greater abundance than is needed for 

that purpose, which, being so fed, are converted 

into milk, butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, wool, 

leather, and the many other valuable animal products. 

But above all are animals valuable to the farmer, because 

they convert the coarse products of the farm into manure, 

without which the owner can not produce food for his own 

sustenance. 

Viewing, then, as I do, successful farming as based upon 
^ r^ stock, it seems to me very fitting that I should make the 
treatise of it the leading chapter of the volume. And as swine are more 
universally kept by all classes of Americans, and the flesh more universally 
used every week in the 3'ear, it will be very proper to make this branch 
of farm-stock the leading subject. 

I am not going to give learned dissertations upon stock-breeding, nor, in 
fact, long essays upon this or any other subject, but such little fugitive facts 
as come to hand, in short paragiiiphs, consecutively numbered for reference, 
with black-letter titles to each subject, to attract attention, and so arranged 
that facts may be gathered at a glance, and valuable information obtained 
during leisure moments whicli might otherwise be lost. 

Many of the statements given are not only for the purpose of giving 
interesting information — such, for instance, as the Aveights of the largest 
animals ever slaughtered— but as an incentive to otliers to try to produce 
the like. It is not to be expected that a man who never saw a bullock of 
over 12 cwt. should attempt to make one of 36 cwt. ; nor will he be likely 
to make the attempt before he learns the important tact, tliat the particular 
breed which he has kept all his life never attain that weight. 

It is for the purpose of inciting improvement that I give some statistics 




14 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



of the New York livestock market, which I have been familiar with for 
many years. Farmers shoukl know that there is a certain market for all 
the meat;giving animals they can produce, and what they realize, as well as 
what A'arieties sell best. 

. I have purposely ado2:)ted a desultory method, because I think it will be 
more satisfactory to my readers, whom I do not expect to read the work in 
consecutive order, and because I find it more convenient to pick up the 
fugitive facts and jot them down in a sort of mosaic-work, something as 
nature does its autumn tints, which are now glowing before my window in 
the full effulgence of an October sun. 

And here, too, as I look abroad ujion my neighbors' fields, and at their 
cattle gnawing the short pasture, and running after every chance apple 
dropping from the trees, and then stretching up their necks, looking for 
more, and browsing ofl" the lower limbs of the trees, I am forcibly reminded 
that this is not a profitable method of keeping farm-stock. Day by day the 
milch cows fail to give the supply that good pasture will always give in this 
good butter-making month of October ; and day by day the flesh of all the 
animals is wasting, so that, by-and-by, when the cold and storms of November 
force their owner to bring them into winter quarters, they are not in such 
a condition that he may carry them economically through. There is a great 
error in farming, that the scene before me forcibly reminds me of — it is the 
error of keeping any kind of farm-stock upon short pasture, and most 
particularly in autumn, so that they come to winter quarters falling off in 
flesh, rather than gaining, which is the condition that all animals should be 
in when brought from the pasture to the stable or feeding lot. 

Some of the farmers of the Eastern States of the kind just alluded to, 
who keep their stock upon the shortest possible pasture, and consequently 
generally have scrubby animals, and always meet with great difliculty in 
wintering those, would learn a useful lesson if they would visit the blue- 
grass pastures of Kentucky, and see in what luxuriant feed the sleek 
Durhams of that region are kept. They would there learn one of the 
secrets of value of that breed, and why they attain at three years old a size 
and weight of beef never equaled at six years old by the scrub breed 
common in Virginia and in the hilly regions of Ohio and Indiana, which are 
sometimes designated in the 'Now York market as "pony cattle," or "old 
style," and averaging, when fat, about six hnndred pounds in the beef. A 
similar scrub breed is known in Kentucky as "mountain cattle," and the same 
style is very common in North Carolina, Georgia, and other Southern States, 
wiiere I liave often seen full-grown steers, and fat, killed for beef at four 
years old, that would not average four hundred pounds of beef. These 
cattle were treated, too, all their lives, just like too many of the same class 
in all the New England and Middle States — like those now before me, eking 
out their existence upon the scanty herbage of autumn, in a closely-cropped 
summer pasture, and never fed with forage prepared for winter, until the 
owner is driven to it by an eai-ly winter storm. 



.Sec. 1.] 



CATTLE ON A MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT. 



15 



Sucli is not the riglit way to keep stock ; but so long as men will keep it 
thus, it is not of much advantage to try to improve the breed. 

There is a great want of information, not only upon the subject of 
improvements in the kinds of stock, but in the modes of keeping it. It is 
not my intention, in this chapter npon domestic animals, to attempt to give 
all this information, but only a few brief hints, which may lead to reflection 
and improvement. 

Above all things that will tend to improvement, are annual visits to great 
cattle-shows, where the varieties in the breeds of cattle may be studied, and 
judged as to which would be the most profitable, or whether either would 
be more so than the old-style breed at home. 

It would be of great importance, too, to all farmers to travel more. IIow 
strange it would seem, at first sight, to a Yankee farmer, who had occupied 
a forty-acre farm all his life, to see a thousand hogs, and half as many 
bullocks, all turned into a grand-prairie corn-field, of a size large enough to 
cover his entire farm and that of twenty or thirty of his neighbors ! His 
first exclamation •n'ould probably be, " Oh, what a waste !" His subsequent 
opinion would be about like this : " Well, after all, I begin to believe that 
is uotso bad a way of harvesting corn as I thought it was." 

And this is not the only curious thing that he might see in relation to 
farm-stock in traveling through the West. He would see the same bad 
management as at home, about bringing the stock into winter quarters, for 
they are too often allowed to run in a corn-field, after the grain has all been 
harvested, living upon the dry stalks until after the first snows of winter. 
He might also see some very amusing, as well as instructive things, in 
connection with cattle. 

Shipping cattle on a Mississippi steamhoat, as I once witnessed, afibrded 
infinite amusement ; and I am disposed to give a photograph of it, before I 
take up the more practical details of farm-stock. 

Engagements for boats to stop and take cattle on board at various 
landings are frequently made before leaving port, and it often hapijcns that 
the boat reaches these points in the night ; and then a scene occurs which 
might employ a more graphic pen than mine to describe, or Avhicli would 
have been a fit subject for Hogarth to paint. 

I will try to give my readers some idea of such a scene, although one so 
common on the Mississippi it rarely meets a passing notice ; yet it is full 
of interest. 

The steamer left St. Louis about sundown of a dark day, during the latter 
part of which the rain came down in torrents, corresponding to the size of 
the great river they were destined to fill. Of course mud was a component 
part of all the little tributary streams ; but it did not discolor the great 
I'iver — that is always muddy. 

At ten o'clock we saw a light on the right bank, and run in for it. 
Tiiough the rain had ceased, the night was dark — one which gave the pilot 
but little chance to see any but the most prominent landmarks. 



16 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



"Whose place is this?" sung out the captain, -when he had approached as 
near the light as he thought safe — for in time of "a fresh," the master of a 
boat always approaches shore with great care. 

" Why, dis is my massa's place ; what boat dat ? If you is de Henry 
Clay, den dis nigger mighty glad, 'cause, gorra, cap'en, hab been watching 
all dis two free nights for de old Clay." 

"Have you got your cattle there?" 

"All in de lot— gorra bress you, dea you is de Henry Clay, sure — right 
here by de light." 

" Is the water good in shore ?" 

" Why, spec him is good for the steamboat, but not very good to drink." 

" How deep is it near the bank ?" 

" Oh, Lord, massa, dat mor'n dis nigger knows for sartin, 'cause him 
mighty deep." 

" That will do. Forward there. Get your lines ready. Light them 
torches — let's see where we are. Call all hands ; here is a hundred head of 
cattle to be got aboard." 

In a few minutes the lights flashed a bright glare over the boat and 
shore, bringing to view a scene worth a long journey to behold. The 
torches are composed of " light wood," which is the concentrated pitch of 
old pine trees, of the long-leaf variety — the richest of all the fjimily in 
turpentine. This wood is split in small pieces and put in an iron frame, 
with a staif not unlike the common hod used to carry mortar, so it can be 
carried about or stuck in the ground, where by a little replenishing it will 
burn for hours, giving a light unequaled by any other portable contrivance 
I ever saw. In the present case, it disclosed more mud than anything else. 
The whole bank was alluvial clay loam. The face was steep, and sixty or 
eighty feet high. The boat, made fast to stakes driven into the soft earth, 
lay within twenty feet of the shore, between which and the guards was a 
gangway made of long planks lashed together, about six or eight feet wide, 
without side-railing, or anything to prevent springing down in the center 
The cattle were in a yard on the top of the bank, where, around the watch- 
fire, huddled about a dozen sleepy negroes, amongst which the anxious 
face of massa soon made its appearance, having been awakened at his house, 
two miles distant, by the tremendous noise which is made by one of these 
river steamers, by the puffs of her high-pressure engine. 

" Halloo, Captain Smith, is that you ? I might have known it, though, for 
no other fool would come here in the night for such a job as tliis. What 
are you going to do— hold on till morning?" 

"Hold the !" 

"Well, I might just as well as hold you. I do believe, if the Clay's 
engine should break going up stream, the boat would not stop — there is 
steam enough in the captain to keep her going." 

Evidently pleased with this compliment, he jumped ashore, with tliat 
most encouraging of all words, " Come, boys," and floundered up the muddy 



Seo. 1.] 



HANDLING A WILD STEER. 



17 



road, to greet his planter friend with one of those hearty shakes of the hand 
which alone is equal to a whole volume on the man's character. 

" "Well, captain, you see how it is. I am all ready ; the cattle are here, 
M'ct, wild, and muddy, and the bank awful. I couldn't help it. It would 
rain, and the river is on the fall. I doubt whether your men can stand on 
the slippery bank. My boys will take down some of the gentle ones, but 
Lord liel}") you with two or three ; we had to bring them in with the dogs." 

" So much the better, then, that tlie road is wet — they will slide the easier. 
Ropes and men will bring them down ; don't you fret, colonel." 

" "Well, well, I'll leave it to you ; I'll risk the cattle, if you will your necks. 
Better wait for daylight, though — what say?" 

" Never ! what should I do with that surplus steam you say I carry ? Wait 
— no ; I intend to have them all aboard, and win half of them pla^-ing poker 
with you before morning; and at daylight I am going to take in Tom 
Kilgore's, at Rocky Landing. So bear a hand, boys. Stir up your lights, 
and rouse 'em out, one at a time, and often." 

In a few minutes there was a line of men and bullocks from the top of the 
bank to the boat. The firet dozen or two came down very orderly to the 
end of the gangway, where, if they hesitated, a rope was thrown over so as 
to encircle them behind, and two or three stout fellows at each end gave 
them material aid about coming on board. The owner said we should see 
fun directly, but not caring to participate in it personally, he took care to 
make himself one of the spectators, iii a safe, comfortable position on board 
the boat. Upward of half were brought down without giving us a taste of 
the promised amusement, though the whole scene was exceedingly interesting. 

At length they got hold of one of the animals, whicli the colonel said was 
wilder than forty deer, and vicious as an old buck in rttnning time ; and then 
there was fun. He was a great, long-legged, five-year-old steer, of the mouse 
color, long taper-horned Spanish cattle, who had never before felt the weight 
and strength of a man's hand upon his heretofore unrestrained wild-woodi 
liberty. Round and round the yard he went, carrying or dragging through 
the mud as many negroes, sailors, and firemen as could find horn, car, nose, 
or tail to hold to. Finally they got a rope round his horns and drew him up to 
a stake at the edge -of the bank, to wait till others were caught to lead down 
first, thinking that he would better follow than take the front rank. He did 
follow. "When about a dozen or fifteen head were on the wa}' down, tlie 
wild one was cast off from his moorings and led up to the edge of the bank, 
when just at that moment the engineer blowed off steam, at which the 
frightened animal leaped forward on to the slippery path, lost his foothold, 
and down he went against the next, and the next, and so on ; like a row of 
bricks, one tumbled or slid against another, upsetting men and beast, till the 
whole came down like an avalanche upon the end of the platform with such 
force that the strain upon the mooring line of the bow drew out the stake, 
when the strong current almost instantly swung her off shore so far, before 
the men could get liold of the line and make fast again, that the platform 

9 



18 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



dropped off into the water, and with it eight or ten men and steers, among 
which was the one that caused all the mischief. I must say the fun was not 
so great as the friglit, for a minute, as it did not take ranch longer to finish 
off the greatest feat of " sliding down hill" which I have witnessed since 
the halcyon days of hand-sleds and boyhood upon the snow-clad, wintry hills 
of my native land. That all were got out safe was owing to the instant 
thought and action of the mate, who sprang ashore with a pole which he 
placed in the wheel, so as to prevent the cattle from floating down past the 
stern, where it would liave been impossible for them to get up the soft, 
slippery bank. As it was, some of them were in the water over an hour ; 
the catamount, as the colonel called liim, being purposely left until the last, 
and severely threatened with being towed to New Orleans. But when he 
was at length taken out, there was not a more docile animal in the herd ; he 
had been completely subdued. The whole affair, though fraught with danger 
at first, afforded all hands a scene of most uproarious mirth. Even at the 
time when it looked as though half a score of men might be killed in the 
grand tumble, it was almost impossible to avoid laughing, the whole thing 
was 80 extremely ludicrous. 

One big negro fellow, finding himself hard pressed by the bullock he was 
leading and lialf a dozen more behind him, either for sport or to save his 
shins, jumped upon the animal's back and came down with a surge into the 
water ; but he never let go till he had him safe ashore again, where he met 
some of the most hearty, though rude congratulations of his companions, for 
liis skillful feat of horsemanship on an ox. 

Finally, in spite of mud and peril, the grand entertainment of shipping 
cattle on the Mississippi was concluded, and the boat was ofl" before daylight 
for the next landing, *vhere the operation was to be repeated. Owing to 
better ground and a different plan adopted, this was not quite so entertaining. 
The cattle were yarded in a long, narrow pen, which came near the shore. 
A rope being passed over the horns of the forward steer, with the other end 
through a snatch-block on the boat, a dozen or fifteen men would lay hold 
of it, while two men by the tail to steer, and one on each side to keep him 
on the gangway, would have the fellow out of the pen and sliding up the 
planks before he knew what he was bellowing for. 

As in all cases where science and skill dii-ect human efforts, the labor 
M'as lessened and business expedited. 

And so in all cases where science and skill are exercised in regard to all 
kinds of domestic animal?, success may be looked for. 

And now, after this little incidental digression from the main intent of 
this chapter, in the exhibition of a life-like scene on the Mississippi, we will 
begin to arrange our facts in order and shape for useful reference, always 
aiming more at the practical tlyin ornamental. 

As we shall arrange each subject under its separate and proper head, we 
will begin the chapter upon domestic animals with that kind in most universal 
use. 



Sec. 2.] 



SWINE. 



19 



/ 




SECTION II.-SWINE. 

ceding Pigs and Fatting Pork. — Next to procuring 

^ a good breed of swine — tliat is, a breed suitable 

to the purposes for wliich it is required — the 

■way to feed the stock liogs, and the cheaj^est and 

way to fatten them, is the most important matter 

farmer to consider. No man can say, " My breed 

is tlie best of all," unless he specifies for what purpose it 

is best for. A good grazing breed would be best for 

some situations ; quite the contrary for some others. The 

Berkshire, Essex, and Suffolk have each been denomi- 



nated " the gentleman's 



P'i 



because well fitted for 



keeping up in close pens, one or two to a family ; while a 
;nuch larger breed is required by the great corn-growers 
)f the West. And this brings us to the next most 
important question. 

3. Corn and Pork— How much Pork will a Bushel of Corn make!— This 
is one of the most important questions that can be asked by every man 
who raises a bushel of corn or feeds one to a hog. Yet it is a question that 
not one in ten can answer. To see the ignorance of mankind upon subjects 
of most importance to them, makes us ready to exclaim. Does anybody know 
anything about anything? In conversation. with many farmers, we have 
not yet found a man who could say how much corn it required to make a 
hundred pounds of pork, and consequently could not fix upon any relative 
price of one or the other, at which it would be profitable to feed corn to 
hogs. In some experiments made by Henry L. Ellsworth, at Lafayette, Ind., 
in warm weather, with thrifty young porkers in a pen, fed with corn in the 
ear, if we remember aright, he gained 12 lbs. of pork per bushel of corn. 
Samuel II. Clay, of Kentucky, gained 17^ lbs. per bushel, feeding the corn 
in the form of cooked meal. As a general thing, we should like to know 
if corn, fed as it usually is in the West, averages six pounds of pork to the 
bushel of shelled corn. 

We have received several answers to this question, but they only proxi- 
mately settle the point. Leroy Buckingham, of Cadiz, Cattaraugus Co., 
N. Y., says, a pig that weighed 52 lbs. when commenced with, fed on the 
spare milk from one cow and 800 lbs. of raw corn-meal, weighed 364 lbs. (live 
or dead not stated) when killed at seven and a half months old. He thinks 
each bushel of corn made about 20 lbs. of pork. 

The two following letters we print entire, and commend them to the careful 
attention of all farmers, although they do not contain all that is necessary to 
be known upon the subject : 



20 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

" Glen.n's Falls, N. Y., Oa. 23, 1858. 

"Sie: You think it important that farmers should know liow much pork a 
barrel of corn will make. It is an important question, and I am sorry to say 
I think there are ten lawyers and mechanics to one farmer that can answer 
the question correctly. I once made a very accurate experiment in New 
York ; the first day of September I weighed into the pen two hogs, a year 
and a half old, and three pigs, si.x months old. I measured old corn 
accurately, and had it ground. At night I wet with boiling water (to a 
consistency that would run freely) meal sufficient for the next day's feed. 
The hogs had no slops from the house — nothing but the meal and water. I 
killed them the first of December, deducted five cents per pound for what 
they weighed the first of September, and found, at six cents per pound for 
the pork, they had paid ninety-eight cents per bushel for the corn, which 
would give about sixteen and one tkird pounds of pork to the bushel. One 
year since I fatted fifteen old hogs and thirty-five pigs on India wheat and 
potatoes. I measured the feed accurately, steamed the potatoes, and mixed 
the meal in while hot, twelve hours before feeding. At five cents per pound 
for the pork, they paid forty-two cents per bushel for the India wheat, and 
fifteen cents for the potatoes. Of course the relative value of the wheat and 
jjotatoes is guessed at in that experiment. I "worked" the hogs in the 
manure business, carting in muck, weeds, etc. I got 15 cords of manure 
although less pork — I suppose for the working the hogs. I would like much 
to know if any one (especially in the Western States) has made the experi- 
ment of turning hogs into the corn-field, with free access to water, and let 
them help themselves. 

" If any other class of business men knew as few facts in regard to their 
business as farmers do, they would all fail every year. Kew Maesu." 

A. G. Perry, of Newark (State not named), weighed a thrifty pig, five 
months old, 150 lbs., and then fed it SGlbs. corn-meal, mixed with hot water, 
thin enough to answer for victuals and drink. This was eaten in six and 
a half days, and the gain was IS lbs. 

A correspondent writes from North Chatham, Columbia Co., N. Y. : 
" The '24th of August I put up a sow to fatten — a large proportion Suffolk 
— her weight, 235 lbs. Price on foot, 4 cents per pound. For food from 
August 24th to October 4th, gave her 309 lbs. lye bran. Eye bran is worth 
here $1 12| per 100 lbs. October 4th her weight was 295 lbs., making 60 
lbs. increase from the bran. From October 4th until November 17th I fed 
her 10 bushels, by weight 560 lbs., of marketable corn. Killed her Nov. 
17th. Her live weight, just before killing, was 413 lbs. Increase from the 
10 bushels corn (or 560 lbs.), being 118 lbs. pork — it taking a fraction more 
than 4i lbs. corn for 1 lb. pork — and is a fraction less than 12 lbs. pork from 
1 bushel of corn, making the increase per day a little less than 2| lbs. The 
present price of corn here is 70 cents per bushel, and the pork 7 cents 
per pound, being barely a paying business." 



Sec. 2.] SWINE— PROFIT OF FEEDING. 21 



J. J. Carter, of Hornville, Cliester Co., Pa., says tliat B. P. Kirk kept a 
debt and credit account witii liis pig. lie fed -W^V bushels of corn, at 60 
cents a bushel, and added the first cost of the pig, at two months old, $5, 
making a total of $34 46. At 17 months old the animal weighed 649 lbs., 
and sold for 7i cents a pound, making $48 67, giving a jjrofit of $14 21. A 
little bran was fed, but that was reduced to the equivalent of corn, and 
counted as above. The breed of hogs common in Chester County is one of 
the best in the world. The hogs arc of a white color, medium-sized, easily 
fatted to weigh 300 to 400 lbs. at 10 to 15 months old, and have small 
bones, iine-grained flesh, large hams, well marbled, and large leaves of 
kidney fat. It is a distinct American breed, and one of the best for farmers 
who desire to graze their hogs in part, and then fatten them easily upon 
house-slops, apples, potatoes, and coarse grain. Even for large farmers, and 
tin- making pork upon a large scale, there are not many, if any, breeds of 
swine in this country superior to that known as Westchester, or Chester County 
(Pa.) hags. And as I consider it an important fact that farmers should 
know where to get a real good breed without paying fancy prices, I am glad 
of the opportunity to make this breed better known. 

D. C. Nye, of Lexington, Mass., in reply to an inquirer in the Genesee 
Farmer, writes that — 

"The Chester County hogs are distinguished for their early maturity, 
great facility for fattening, and are very quiet and docile. They are well 
covered with bristles, and, unlike the Suflblks, can endure the heat and cold. 
The Chesters will probably make as much pork (and of a superior quality) 
on a given amount of food as any other breed — some of them, when well 
fed, having attained the weight of six or seven hundred pounds." 

Another correspondent of the same paper says, in addition, that the 
thorough-bred Chester hogs are always white, and that "they are peculiar in 
being tit for slaughtering at any time." 

But to proceed with the subject of feeding hogs. The second letter is 
very much to the point. It says : 

" In answer to your question, ' How much poi'k will a bushel of corn 
make?' 1 send you the result of two experiments, made some years ago, 
while occupying a farm in the northern part of Chester County, Pa. 

" My first experiment was with five very ordinary pigs that I bought of a 
neighbor; weighed, October, 1851, 249 lbs ; fed on corn and cob meal, boiled 
into mush, of which they consumed in 30 days 279 lbs., and gained 87 lbs. 
live weight. 

"In the next 32 days they consumed 375^ lbs., and gained 75 lbs. live 
weight, making a gain of 157 lbs. in 62 days, having consumed 654i lbs. of 
corn and cob meal, which is equal to about 9i bushels pure meal ; or one 
bushel pure meal cooked made 16.8 lbs. live weight. 

"My second experiment M'as with a lot of five very superior pigs, of the 
Chester breed; they weighed, Feb. 7, 1853, 695 lbs; consumed in 9 days 



22 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

252 lbs. corn and cob meal, scalded, and gained 78 lbs. In the next 9 
days tliey consumed 125 lbs. whole corn, boiled, and 128 lbs. of corn-cob 
meal, scalded, and gained 57 lbs. 

" In the next 9 days tliey consnmed 278 lbs. corn-cob meal, scalded, and 
gained 70 lbs., making a gain in 27 days of 205 lbs. on a consumption 
of 658 lbs. corn-cob meal, and 125 lbs. wliole corn. Assuming that 70 lbs. 
of the cob-meal contains 56 lbs., or one bushel pure meal, we have 9f 
bushels of pure meal and 2i bushels whole corn, making a consumption of 
11| bushels nearly, and a gain of 205 lbs. flesh; or 56 lbs. of pure meal, 
scalded, made 17.44 lbs. of live weight. 

" Tlie above surprising gain for food consumed was the result of very 
careful feeding, clean and warm bedding, and a tight house. 

" RiCH^ujD Thatchek, Darby, Pa." 

Thomas Hoag, of Somhanock, IST. Y., lias sent us a detailed statement of 
the feeding of ten pigs, out of a litter of twelve from a native-breed yearling 
sow, taken from her at seven weeks old, and fed till slaughtered, at forty 
weeks old, with the following substances, with estimates of expense added : 



Pasture $3 00 

Wood used in boiling food 2 00 

Exlnis 2 00 

Value of pigs at seven weeks old 30 00 



212} bushels of com, at 75 cents 8159 38 

63 bushels of oats, at 45 cents 28 35 

Paid for grinding 14 79 

13 bushels of small potatoes, 124 cents. 1 63 

loads of pumpkins, at $1 6 00 

209 lbs. of carrots 1 00 Total $248 15 

These hogs weighed, dressed, 4,066 pounds, and sold, 

(in 1853), at Lansingburg, N. Y., at $7 50 per cwt 8.304 95 

Kough fat, 175 lbs 17 50 



Total S322 45 

Total cost 248 15 



Balance ,.' S74 30 

This is the amount of profit, or, rathei-, pay for labor, and the spare milk 
of four ordinary cows fed to them, and not estimated as above. 
At six cents a pound the result would have been 

4,066 lbs., at 6 cents $243 96 

Kough fat 17 50 



Total $201 46 

Cost 248 15 



Profit $13 31 

This certainly docs not give a very flattering picture of the probable profits 
of pork-making in this section of the country, where every kind of feed is 
salable at high prices. 

Other letters were subsequently received, from one of which we gather 
the following information : Wm. Renick, of Circleville, Ohio, a largo farmer, 
and long engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs, writes more extensively 
than we can find room for. Mr. Kenick tliinks that farmers are not ignorant 
of the fact " how much pork will a bushel of corn make," and says : 



Sec. 2.] 



SWINE— GAIK IN FEEDING. 23 



" Probably nine tenths of our best practical farmers could, without hesita- 
tion, give you an approximate answer in general terms." 

This is exactly wliat we supposed, and that they would give nothing but 
an approximate answer in general terms, because there is a general lack of 
positive information upon this and many other important matters connected 
with the farming interest. Mr. Renick gives the gain upon five hogs fed by 
himself in tlie common rough method of the West — that is, turned into the 
corn-field, 200 head together. Three of these hogs weighed, at seven months 
old, 140 lbs. each, and two older ones weighed 123 lbs. each. After feeding 
120 days, the three weighed 2S6 lbs. net average, and the two 185 lbs. 

" Now, say that hogs on an average will eat 20 bushels of corn per hundred 
head per day for the first 60 days, 16 bushels for the next 30 days, and 12 
bushels per hundred head per day for the last 30 days, and we have 21 
bushels per head for the whole time of 120 days (thougli this is under rather 
than over the mark), and we have a production in the case of the three hogs 
of lOi lbs. of gross pork for a bushel of corn, and but a small fraction over 
5 lbs. jjer bushel for the two hogs." 

Xow, this is exactly in proof of what we originally stated. It is all guess- 
work. Mr. Renick further says: 

"Tlic large feeders of hogs and cattle are oftentimes greatly mistaken in 
their calculations in regard to the quantity of stock their corn will feed, 
sometimes largely overrunning, and again falling largely short of their 
calculations." 

Tiiis is not to be wondered at, when it is considered that no one pretends 
to have any settled rule of action, but buys as many lean cattle or hogs as 
he guesses he can fatten. Mr. Renick thinks the most common answer to 
the question would be something like this: 

" That hogs fed in the ordinary way will gain from one pound to one and 
a half pounds per day, and they will consume some twenty bushels or more of 
corn iu three and a half or four months; that it all depends upon the quality 
of the hogs, quality of the corn, weather, and other contingencies." 

The gain varies from five to twelve pounds gross per bushel. So he says: 
" AVe will compromise the matter by guessing that, all things fiivorable, one 
bushel of cornj fed in the ordinary way, will make seven pounds gross weight." 
It is, after all, then, notiiing but guessing. And we guess that feeding corn, 
where it is worth a dollar a bushel, as it frequently is in and about New 
York, won't pay while dressed hogs are sold from the hooks, as they gener- 
ally arc, at seven or eight cents a pound, and the average price of live hogs 
is less than six cents a pound. "With our arithmetic we can not figure up any 
profit for a farmer hereabouts to keep a single hog more than he wants to 
eat up the milk and house-slops, and a little waste grain ; and probably that 
could be more profitably fed to poultry. 

The greatest advantage from feeding grain to make pork in all the New 
England States must be looked for more in the manure than in the meat. 
"Where manure must be purchased, it may be profitable to purchase corn- 



24 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



meal to convert into manure through the pig-pen manufactory. The next 
paragraph is to the point in this connection, of feeding pigs to make manure. 
4. Working Pigs. — We once recommended farmers to make their pigs 
working animals. To this a writer in an agricultural paper objected ; be- 
cause, as he alleges, the same amount of food consumed by an idle hog will 
make 12 pounds of pork as easily as it will make 8 pounds if the animal is 
allowed to exercise his natural propensity to root. In this we entirely agree, 
and have often contended that when a hog is shut up to fatten, if he was 
confined in a slip so narrow that he could not turn round, having one side 
of his narrow prison made so as to be moved out as he increased in bulk, he 
would fatten faster than in any other position. Now, will the writer, who 
thinks that we diiicr fVom him in opinion, read over again the article that he 
criticises, and see that it is the pig-pen, and not the fatting-hog pen, that 
we were talking about. Our facts are not intended to be elaborated into 
proofs and arguuicnts for farmers, Mit rather as texts for thinking men to 
thinlv over and reason upon with themselves and neighbors. Our opinion is, 
that all the swine family should be kept imprisoned, if not in close pens, 
certainly in strongly fenced lots ; and in all the Eastern States, where manure 
is so valuable, it is very doubtful whether a farmer can aiford to let any of 
the family out of the pen — which, as we before hinted, should be a great 
manure manufactory — except, perhaps, for a short season to eat clover, peas, 
or glean a stubble-field. If there is a greater neighborhood nuisance than 
hogs in the highway, we have yet to find it out ; and as we would always 
keep " Mr. Pig" in the pen, we recommended to make him work in the 
manufactory, furnishing a part of the materials to be worked, and the farmer 
the remainder. In his immediate preparation for death we don't care how 
idly lie spends the last of his days. As long as farmers will persist in 
making the flesh of swine their leading article of food, we shall contend 
that the flesh of an animal that has M'orked his way np to a mature age, and 
is then fattened ready for slaughter, will make more healthy food than the 
oily fatness of one always kept in a state of obesity and idleness from his 
birth to death. It is this great physiological fact that causes the flesli of the 
wild hog to be sought after and eaten with gusto. We fully agree with tlie 
orthodoxy of E. M. Brewster, a model farmer of Griswold, Conn., who says 
if he was to fatten a half-dozen hogs upon a flat rock, lie would be sure to 
have two rings in each nose. The latitude that we desire our -readers to 
give to our suggestions is just this : to make a distinction between working 
and fattening animals, and make the pig a useful one. 

"Keeping pigs eighteen months to fatten them the last three is not a 
paying business. Feed a decent pig well from weaning until eight months 
old, and you will get 250 lbs. to 300 lbs. of pork, and you do not usually get 
50 lbs. more for those ten months older. There can be no question'but an 
animal can consume much more to produce in eighteen months about the 
same quantity of meat which is made by another in Iialf that length of 
feeding. If the object of raising a hog is to make pork, that end should be 



Seo. 2.] COOKING FOOD FOR SWINE. 25 

kept steadily in view — his swiiieship should see it, and eat for it." This is 
our view exactly. Winter none but autumn pigs, keep thcni in pens, and 
always growing. "To keep a pig growing, one must keep him ealing, and 
eating about all the time. To do this, there is notliing like ' cliango and 
variety' — now a little corn, then a little milk, a few boiled potatoes, a few 
raw apples — now a pudding, then a dish of greens — anything to keep tliem 
eating and stuffing when awake, even if it does require a little e.\tra atten- 
tion." 

5. Cookiug Food for SwinCi — Circumstances must govern the feeder. If 
corn is worth but twenty-five cents per bushel, it is plain that it will not pay 
to e.xpend much money either for cooking or crushing it ; but where food is 
high, a small quantity saved pays for considerable labor, etc. It will hardly 
pay to expend dear labor upon cooking cheap roots to make low-priced pork. 
It has been proved that crushed barley, soaked in cold water 46 hours, gave 
more increase of weight to sheep than when not soaked ; but crushed malt 
did not. Tiie figures are : Four sheep in 10 weeks ate 280 lbs. of crushed 
barley not steeped, and 3,867 lbs. of mangel-wurzel, and increased in live 
weight SI lbs. ; while four sheep, with barley crushed and steeped, ate 280 
lbs. and 5,321 lbs. mangel-wurzel, increasing lOli lbs. Four sheep, with 
crushed malt, not steeped, ate in 10 weeks 227^ lbs., and 3,755 lbs. mangel- 
wurzel, and increased 84 lbs. ; while four sheep, with malt crushed and 
steeped, ate 226| lbs. malt and 4,458 lbs. mangel-wurzel, and gained only 
78 lbs. In the above experiment, the question is, Did the additional 20^ lbs. 
pay the extra trouble and extra feed of roots ? 

An experiment in Ireland, lately made, proves that hogs gained more 
upon raw than cooked vegetables. Eight hogs were selected and divided 
into two lots, as evenly as could be, and put in to fatten, on the 27th of 
November. Each lot was fed regularly three times a day, having each 12 
lbs. of bran and barley meal, the only difference being that one lot had 
steamed ruta bagas, and the other pulped or rasped ruta bagas. The experi- 
ment was continued 39 days ; the lot having cooked food ate 468 lbs. bran, 
etc., and 10,920 lbs. ruta bagas, and increased 103 lbs. ; while the lot having 
uncooked food ate 468 lbs. bran, etc., and only 5,460 lbs. ruta bagas, and 
gained 110 lbs. 

Samuel II. Clay, of Bourbon, Ky., has been experimenting in feeding several 
lots of hogs, changing them from raw to cooked, and from ground to 
unground food, with the following results : One bushel of dry corn made 
5 lbs. 10 oz. of live pork ; one bushel of boiled corn made 14 lbs. 7 oz. of 
pork; one bushel of ground corn, boiled, made in one instance 16 lbs. 7oz., 
in another nearly 18 lbs. of pork. To get the value of corn, estimate the 
pork at 8 cents a pound ; we have as the result of one bushel of dry corn, 
45 cents' worth of pork ; of one bushel of boiled corn, 115 cents' worth of 
pork ; and of one bushel of ground corn, 136 cents' worth of pork. 

6. Pig Feed— Boiled Weeds.— A widow, who was short of feed for her pig, 
said, in presence of her little boys, that she thought she would have to sell 



26 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

it, for slie had so little to feed it with, and could not afford to buy feed. 
One of the little fellows promptly answered tliat he knew what would be 
good to feed piggy with, and of which they had plenty. 

" What is it, my son ?" 

" Greens, mother — boiled greens. They are good for us, why not for 
pigs ? And we can gather them, and pick np wood and boil them in the 
big kettle out doors, and it will be real fun." 

So it was settled that pig sliould eat gi*eens — all sorts of weeds boiled ; 
and eat them he did. and liked them, and fatted on them, with the small 
addition that could be made of bran and house-slops, mixing the slops and 
greens together. 

This is a hint worth remembering and acting upon. Tlie weeds were 
destroyed, the boys employed, the pig kept growing, and the boys had the 
satisfaction of feeling that they had been usefully employed. 

7. Hog Pastures. — It being generally understood that hogs live by " special 
providences" until it is time to fat them, there is little attention paid to 
the most economical way of growing them up. Certain it is that a good, 
easy-keeping variety will make commendable progress on grass. 

It may be safe to calculate that a good-sized, thrifty pig will gain in six 
months, on grass, 100 lbs. or more. If an acre of grass would keej) three 
hogs and add 100 lbs. to the weight of each, that would be $12 for the acre 
of pasture, reckoning the 300 lbs. gain at four cents a pound, live weight. 
Instead of being forced to bite twice at a short, dirty, dried, and battered 
spear of June grass by the roadside before getting any off, imagine a clean 
and comely Suffolk in a fresh, green pasture of clover, four inches high, filling 
himself with evident relish. 

8. The Pig-Pen and its Value. — As a manure-maker, there is no animal 
equal to the hog, provided he is furnished with suitable facilities. The 
eating and sleeping apartments of Mr, Pig should always be a good frame 
building, with a plank floor and shingle roof, and it will in many places be 
found economical to give iiim an iron eating trough. His house should 
be cleaned out every day, and washed as often as necessary to keep it clean. 
All the washings and cleanings should go into an adjoining pen, which may 
as well be made of fence rails, on account of cheapness and convenience of 
removal, into which the tenants of the hog-house must be invited by a little 
corn, scattered in every day, to induce them to mix up a compost of their 
own offal with sods, mold, leaves, weeds, and all sorts of trash. This jjeu 
should be equal to ten feet square for every two hogs, and so long as it is 
worked every day it will not much injure by exposure to the weather ; but 
it should afterward be covered, and it should always have stuff enough put 
in it to keep the hogs from getting into a very muddy condition. If you 
have not mold enough to entirely absorb the ammonia, you must use plaster 
or charcoal dust. It must be kept sweet, or you will lose much of its value ; 
and where manure is valuaTjle, if you neglect to use your swine for the 
purpose of increasing it, you will lose about all the profit of making your 



Sec. 2.] SWINE— FEEDING THEM HONEY. 27 

own pork. There is another way in which you can make the pig-pen 
valuable. If you have a spot of ground that you want to enrich ami work 
deeply and thoroughly for fruit-trees or for garden vegetables, plant it witli 
Jerusalem artichokes, and then yard your hogs upon it, taking care to give 
them room enough, so as not to necessitate tiiem to make a quagmire. 
Again, you may use these animals to advantage if you have a piece of grass 
land infested with grubs. Fence ofl'a piece, and shut your swine in npon 
it for a few days without feed, and if they leave a sod nnturned or grub 
uneaten it will be a wonder. It is the best preparation of such a spot for a 
hoed crop, or for sowing again in grass, that can be given. There is no good 
reason why the pig should be always kept in idleness or mischief. Let him 
be trained to be useful in his life as well as at his death. 

9. Hay Seed for llo^s. — A correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes : 
In addition to the grain and meal given to growing hogs in the sty, they 
should have a daily allowance of green clover, or in winter, when this is not 
available, a liberal allowance of hay-seed from the barn, mixed with their 
slop, which they will eat with avidity. lie knows of no mode by which so 
great an amount of growth and weight can be induced, with equal cost of 
food, in the winter season, as b}- this haying system. 

10. Cinders for Pigs. — J. J. Meclii, of Tiptree Ilall, England, says, in 
publishing his experience in fattening swine, that among other things, he 
has learned the fact " that pigs are very fond of coal-ashes or cindere, and 
that yon can hardly fat pigs properly on boarded floors witliout giving them 
a moderate supply daily, or occasionally." He says : " In the absence of 
coal-ashes, burned clay or brick-dust is a good substitute. If you do not 
supply ashes, they will gnaw or eat the brick walls of their sheds. I leave 
to science to explain the cause of this want. It is notorious that coal- 
dealers, whose pigs have access to the coals, are generally successful pig 
feeders. Those who find that their pigs, when shut up, do not progress 
favorably, will do well to try this plan. A neighbor of mine found that a 
score of fat pigs consume quite a basket of burned clay ashes daily. We 
know that there is an abundance of alkali in ashes." 

11. Pariiu'd i'orti and Honey for Hogs. — A correspondent of the TTi'prAZanr^ 
Democrat, published at Peekskill, N. Y., furnishes that paper with the fol- 
lowing communication : 

A few years ago I chanced in Albany to meet a farmer who is noted for 
raising unusually heavy hogs. The year before he had brought to market 
one that weighed over 700 lbs., and said that year that he should have one 
of 900 lbs., or near that mark. As there always seems to be a cause for every 
effect, I was anxious to know the course he pursued. 

"Well," said he, '-you must first select the right kind of a critter. Get 
the right breed, and then pick out the good-natured ones from the litter ; I 
can't afford to feed a cross critter ; I sell them when they are pigs." " How 
can you judge ?" said I. "Well, if you watch them when they are feeding, 
you will find that some pigs are allers fighting about their victuals, and 



28 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Bome go in for eating. There is as much difl'erence in pigs as there is in 
folks." 

" Well, when you have selected the right kind of a pig, what next is 
important ?" 

" Well, then you must have a nice place for the critters to live in, and 
feed them on the right kind of victuals." 

" What kind of food ?" 

" AVell, the best and cheapest kind of food I have found, when it comes 
time to put on the fat, \% parched corn. I generally manage to buy a barrel 
or two of Southern honey, if it is cheap, which I mix with the parched corn, 
for my fatting hogs." 

12. Feeding Standing Corn lo Hogs— in the Field— or Gatliered, Ground, 
and Cooked— Comparative Advantages of these MethodSt — ^The method often 
practiced by lai-ge farmers of turning fattening hogs into the fields of 
standing corn, if properly conducted, has its advantages over that of 
gathering the corn and feeding it dry to the hogs in the pen. 

The earlier in the season the process of fattening swine is bcgnn the 
better, after the grain has reached a certain jieriod of maturity, whether it 
be rj'e, oats, or corn, because all farm animals, and hogs in particular, will 
fatten much faster in warm than in cold weather. And the grain between 
the periods of its doughy state and full maturity, or rather, before it becomes 
dry, is more easily digested, and assimilated, and converted into flesh and 
fat than when it has passed into its dry state. It is clear, then, that the 
sooner the hogs are turned into the field after the grains of corn are fully 
formed, and while yet in the milk, the more speedily they will fatten ; for 
if the weather be dry, the corn hardens very rapidly. 

A very interesting experiment in feeding hogs is detailed by Mr. James 
Buckingham in the Prairie Farmer. On the 6th day of September (in 
ordinary seasons corn, at this date, is too far advanced to commence feeding 
to the best advantage), the hogs, 189 in number, were weighed, and footed 
up in the aggregate 19,600 lbs. A movable fence was used, confining the 
hogs to an area sufficient to afford feed for two or three days. The entii-c 
field, thus fed, contained 40 acres, with an estimated average of 40 bushels 
pey acre. Tiie consumption of this corn gave a gain of 10,740 lbs. The 
hogs, when turned into the corn, cost three cents per pound, equal to $588 ; 
worth, when fed, four cents per pound, or $1,213 60 — giving a return for 
each acre of corn consumed of $15 64. Adding to this $1 per acre for tlie 
improvement of the land by feeding the corn on the field, making the 
actual gain per acre $16 64, equal to 40 cents per bushel, standing in the 
field. The whole cost of corn per acre, exclusive of interest on the land, is 
set down at $3 65. 

By way of comparing the advantages of ground and cooked food over 
that which was merely ground, and that which was unground, Mr. B. put 
up three hogs into separate pens. To one he fed two and a half bushels of 
corn in the ear, during a period of nine days, feeding all he would eat ; this 



Sec. 2.] SWINE— EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING. 29 



gave a gain of 19 lbs. ; another ate in the same time one and three quarter 
bushels of corn, ground^ and gained also 19 lbs. ; and to the third he fed 
one bushel of corn, yround and boiled, which gave a gain of 22 lbs. By this 
it will be seen that one and three quarter bushels of corn, when ground, will 
give a gain of flesh equal to two and a half bushels of iinground corn, and 
that one bushel, when ground and cooked, gave a gain greater thifn either. 

Tlie comparative results of these three methods of feeding may thus be 
set down : one bushel of corn, ground and cooked, is equal to nearly three 
bushels when fed dry and uuground ; and one and tiiree quarter bushels 
when ground and uncooked is equal to two and a half bushels when fed 
whole. 

Or it may be stated thus : one bushel of dry corn in the ear makes 8i 
lbs. of pork, which at four cents per pound is equal to 33 cents per bushel 
for the corn ; while one bushel of corn, ground and boiled, makes 22 lbs. 
of pork at four cents per pound, and is equal to SS cents per bushel for the 
corn. Tliis result about sustains our calculations made upon the experiments 
by Mr. Samuel II. Clay, of Kentucky, as appears in ^ 5. 

It is worthy of remark for those who wish to feed corn in the field, that 
had the hogs been turned into the field when the corn was in the milk, 
it would have given a result more nearly like that of the hog fed upon 
ground and cooked food. 

The obstacles which seem to be in the way of adopting an improved 
method of fattening hogs result from the imperfect apparatus used for 
})reparing the food. Sending corn a long distance to mill to be ground, and 
then to cook the meal in an ordinary kettle, even if it holds a barrel, will 
prove an expensive operation, as all have found who have undertaken it. 
But t(i realize the full advantages of feeding prepared food, a complete 
grinding and steaming apparatus must be erected on a large scale, with the 
view to perform the grinding, cooking, and feeding with the greatest facility 
and at the least possible cost. This may be done to advantage b}' employing 
steam for grinding, using the same boiler to furnish steam for cooking the 
meal. 

13. Origin of the Cliester County Hogs,— It is stated that Captain James 
Jefiieris, a sea-captain, somewhere about 1820, or a little later, in one of his 
voyages from England, brought over a pair of pigs of the Bedfordshire 
breed, which he sent to his farm on the Brandywine, whence the breed has 
been disseminated, and lost its original name. Some of the characteristics 
of the Chester County hog are, large size, remarkably symmetrical form, 
easy keeping, comparatively little ofi'al, great depth and length of carcass, 
and producing large quantities of lard. Spring pigs are often put in market 
at nine or ten months old, and weighing at that age from 200 to 250 lbs. 
This weight is of course prodiiced by good feeding and proper attention. 

14. To prevent Sows Killing their Pigs.— A correspondent of the Ma'tne 
Farmer speaks of several cases of sows destroying their pigs — which, indeed, 
is not unusual — and commends as an easy and sure prevention, " to give 



30 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Crap. I. 



the sow about half a pint of good rum or gin, which soon produces intoxica- 
tion, and the drunken mother becomes entirely harmless toward lier young, 
and will ever accommodate her position to the best advantage of the pigs, 
retaining this disposition ever afterward." The editor confirms this statement 
from cases witliin his own knowledge. 

15. Pig-Breeding. — Xotwithstanding the fact that more people are interested 
in the breeding of pigs than of any other class of domestic animals, the atten- 
tion paid to improvement of the stock is very small. How few farmers know 
that the sow sliould always be larger than tlie male, and that he should 
always be of the most perfect form, of good color, and perfectly sound and 
healtliy, because almost invariably the pigs take tlie qualities of the sire in- 
stead of the mother ; that is, his good or bad points will preponderate largely 
over those of the sow. Farmers, please think of this fact, and profit by it. 

16. Large Uogs. — Isaac Harrison, of Burlington County, N. J., fatted, in 
185S, 32 hogs that averaged 509 lbs. each ; and William Taylor, of Ocean 
County, fatted 30 that averaged 537 lbs. each. Thomas Hood, of Ocean 
County, fatted 41 that averaged 533 lbs. each. So says C. W. Hartshorn, 
of Burlington County, who sends us a list of weights, among which are very 
few under 500 lbs. ; the lightest that we notice weighs 42Slbs. 

17. Gross and Net Weight of Swine. — Tlie rule of ascertaining the net 
weight of fat hogs is to deduct one fifth of the gross weight. It is an easy 
way to make tlie calculation, or reduction of gross to net weight, by using 
the decimal 8-10 as a multiplier, cutting off one riglit-hand figure of the 
product, to show the net sum. Thus : 10 hogs weigh 2,729 lbs. ; multiply 
by.8, which will make net 2,183.2 lbs. 

If you have the gross weight of a drove of hogs at home, which you may 
have taken to market and sold at net weight, and wish to ascertain how the 
net and gross compare, take your sum of the net weight, say 2,183.2. Divide 
by 8-10, and you will find the quotient 2,729. 

This will be found a very convenient and useful rule. Sometimes a person 
may be ofiered one s\im as a gross price, and another as a net price of the 
same lot, and would like to know at once wliich oft'er is tiie best. Tiiis is 
quickly done. You have simply to apply the same rule of division by eight 
tentlis to the price, instead of weight. For instance suppose the offer is — 
as it sometimes is in Xew York — §5 25 per cwt. gross, or §f3 50 net. Divide 
$5 25 by 8-10, the quotient will be $6 56.2, showing that it will be six cents 
and two mills per cwt. gross to the owner's advantage to sell at §5 25 gross. 

18. Salting Moat Harm. — C. Bovie, of Gullprairie, Michigan, asks : " AVill 
pork cure, if packed before the animal heat is all out of it ?" Ho then 
answers: "Last year I killed my liogs and packed them while warm. I 
have some of the pork now, and I never ate any sweeter pork than this is. 
The most of farmers think pork salted, while warm, will not keep." 

We have tried the experiment repeatedly of salting pork as soon as we 
could cut it up after dressing, and certainly prefer it, as it will, when dry- 
salted, cure much quicker. 



,\ 



PLATE III. 

(Page 81.) 

This plate is intended to answer the question : "What is a good 
cow ?" It shows a model cow, without regard to breed, as described 
in ^ 45, and a portrait of the " Oaks Cow," which was one of the 
most remarkable of the early age of stock improvement as a great 
butter producer. She gave 467 pounds from May 15 to December 
20, 1816. Another portrait gives the side view of what is taken 
as a model of a good dairy cow. The Dutch dairy cow is also con- 
sidered a model, not only of that breed, but of a form that shows 
a good cow for milk. The Hereford cow and bull, and Devon cow 
and buU, also give good studies, and make up a picture no where 
else to be found in such compact form and such beauty of execu- 
tion. 




Hei-et'o-fd Co-\T 



Hereford. B\lI] . 



I f 







Devon Co'W- 



Devun. Bull. 




A&oodDaiiy Co^- A Good ILiIdi Co^^- 



Seo. 3.] 



COWS. 



31 



19. Species of AnimalSt — The Revue Ilorticole, of Paris, gives a very inter- 
esting account of a discussion in the Academie upon the species of animals. 
Tiie primitive source of animals is lost ; the fossil bones of the horse are 
identical with those of tlie present day. There is no account of anything 
new in animal life since the Mosaic account of creation. 

20. Animal Strncture. — " The bony frame-work of the animal owes its so- 
lidity to plwsphate of lime, and this substance must be furnished by the 
food. A perfect food must supply the animal with these three classes of 
bodies, and in proper proportions. What proportions are the proper ones 
we have at present no means of knowing with accuracy. The ordinary 
kinds of food for cattle contain a large quantity of vegetable fiber or woody 
matter, Avhich is more or less indigestible, but wliich is indispensable to the 
welfare of herbaceous animals, as their digestive organs are adapted to a 
bulky and rougli food. The addition of a small quantity of feed rich in oil 
and albuminous substances to the ordinary kinds of food, has been found 
highly advantageous in practice. Neither hay alone, nor concentrated food 
alone, gives the best result. A certain combination of the two presents the 
most advantages." 

The above is the view of an eminent professor of agricultural chemistry' 
(S. "W. Johnson), and it contains a great fact that should be adopted into the 
every-day practice of every farmer, and not only for his stock, but his own 
household. Every animal of a higher organization than a worm needs a 
diversity of food to make up a healthy animal structure. 



SECTION III.-COWS, 

fllAT is a Good Cow? — This is a question that many 
owners of cows can not answer, because there is no 
standard. Every one has his own, and one person 
may recommend a cow on sale as positively good, 
that is not half as valuable as one that comes only 
up to the standard of another person's idea of good- 
ness. Besides, one cow may be good for producing 
milk for sale by the quart ; another good for making 
butter, where that alone is the object; a third one 
may be good for a cheese dairy and very poor for 
butter; and a fourth not good for either purpose, 
and should at once be turned out for beef. Farmers 
do not experiment enough with their cows to ascer- 
tain these facts. We have known one cow discarded 
from a butter dairy because she gave less milk than another, when one was 
to be sold, without any other proof that the rejected one was not equally 




32 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Chap. I. 

good. For butter-making, we think a cow which gives 14 quarts of milk a 
day, when fresh, and 14 lbs. of butter a week, a good cow, and that that 
might be adopted into use as the meaning of a good butter-dairy cow. A 
good many cows, it is true, go above that, but they should be ranked as 
.extra good. A cow that gives 12 or 14 quarts of milk a da}', and 10 lbs. of 
butter a week, might be called a fair medium cow ; and one that gives 8 to 
12 quarts a day and 6 or 7 lbs. of butter a week, should be called com- 
mon, and all below that inferior, as in fact they are ; and so is a cow 
that gives 15 or 16 quarts of milk a day that yields only a pound of butter, 
and there are many of this description. The lowest rate we ever heard was 
3 quarts of milk for 1 lb. of butter ; but that is very rare, the average being 
over 12 quarts. 

It would be an excellent plan for some leading agricultural society to 
establish a standard for a good cow. "We think a cow that comes up to the 
standard of that owned by Otis Hunt, of Eaton Village, N. Y., will pass for 
a good one. He gives the following statement of the amount of butter 
made from her : " Amount made from April 8 to July 8, 191 lbs. ; amount 
made during the month of June, 74 lbs. ; amount made during the year, 
51G lbs., besides furnishing all the milk and cream used in a family of four 
persons (and occasional visitors) all the time." 

The breed of this good cow is given as " native," and the quality of milk 
and butter excellent. 

22. Garget in fowSi — A letter from Fort Independence, Castle Island, 
Boston Harbor, Mass., says : 

"Within the last two years I have purchased at different times three 
cows, say about one every six months. After they are on the island a few 
months they become ' gargety ;' therefore I should think the complaint is 
brought on from eating some weed peculiar to this island, which is limited ' 
in extent, say about thirty acres." 

No, sir ; it is because they have not eaten some weed — a weed called poke 
or scoke, producing the " scoke-berries" that robins and school-children are 
both fond of gathering in the fall. This scoke is the natural cure for garget. 
It is said that the disease never affects cows that ran in pastures where it 
grows. We have known the dried roots sell for $2 a lb. in Vermont to feed 
cows, and to make little plugs to insert in the teats to cure the garget. It is 
there known by the name of garget root, {jyhytolacca decandra). 

23. How to Increase the Value of a Cow.— Every one who owns a cow 
can see at a glance that it would be profitable to increase the value of her, 
but every one can not see how to do it. We can, and we think that we can 
make it equally palpable to our readers. If a cow is kept for butter, it cer- 
tainly would add to her value if the butter-making properties of her milk 
should be improved. In summer or winter this can be done, just as the yield 
of a cultivated crop can be improved by what is fed to each, and it is simply 
a question of, will it pay, in manuring one or feeding the other. Indian corn 
will add to the quantity and quality of the butter to a very sensible degree, 



Sko. 3.] COWS, AND THEIR FOOD. 33 



and it is simply a question of easy solution, by experiment, whether it will 
add to the profit of the butter-maker to buy corn at one or two cents a pound, 
and convert a portion of it into butter at 25 cents a pound, or whatever the 
market price of corn and butter may be, and another portion of it into fat, 
and another portion of it into manure, for that is the natural result of the 
chemical change produced in the laboratory of the cow's stomach. The same 
result will follow any other kind of feeding. Good pastui-e will produce an 
abundance of milk, often as much as the cow can carry ; but docs it follow 
that even then it will not be profitable to feed her -with some more oleagi- 
nous food to increase the quantity of butter, just as it sometimes proves 
profitable to feed bees, to enable them to store more honey ? It certainly 
does appear to xis that the value of a cow feeding upon ordinary winter 
food may be almost doubled by making that food suitable for the purpose 
of increasing the quantity of milk, if that is the object, or the quantity of 
butter, if that is the purpose for which the cow is kept. Farmers generally 
understand that they can convert corn into beef, pork, and lard, and some 
of them know exactly at what price per bushel it will pay to convert it into 
these substances ; but does any one know at what rate it will pay to convert 
corn or any other grain into butter, or any otlicr kind of feed into any of the 
dairy products? Is the whole business a hap-hazard one? We fear so. 
Some persons know that they can increase the salable value of butter by 
adding the coloring matter of carrots to it. Does any person know the 
value of a bushel of carrots fed to a cow to increase her value as a butter- 
producing laboratory? Experimental proof ujion this point would be far 
more worthy of agricultural prizes than it is to sec who can show the largest- 
sized roots ; for by a few carefully-conducted experiments we should be able 
to increase the value of a cow almost at pleasure. 

24. Pasture — How mauy Cows to an Acre. — In Cheshire, England, which 
is a great grazing count}', the land that has been under-drained and top- 
dressed with ground bones, will carry one cow to each acre through the 
summer, but the land not thus treated will only carry one cow to two acres. 
The dressing of bones upon pasture land is 12 to 15 cwt. per acre once in 
seven years. But even if not repeated at that time, it still continues better 
than it was before the bones were applied. 

Now, how many acres of pasture, on the average, does it require in this 
country to the cow? "Would it not be economy to improve our pasture 
lands up to the Cheshire standard? 

25. Food Consumed by a Cow. — It is generally estimated that a cow needs 
each day three per cent, of her weight in hay. That is, if she weighs 8 cwt., 
■which a fair-sized cow will do, in working order, she will require 24 lbs., or 
its equivalent, of hay. For five months' feeding — 150 days — you will require 
3,600 lbs. In the New England States the feeding period averages nearer 
six than five months, and therefore two tuns of hay should be allowed for 
each cow. 

26. Feed, Exercise, and Shelter have a powerful influence upon the health 

s 



34 DOMESTIC AKIMALS. [Chap. I. 



and comfort of all domestic animals, and upon none is it more marked than 
upon the most valuable of all, the cow. Every judicious farmer, who has 
an eye only to his purse, will see that his cows are bountifully supplied with 
proper food to produce the largest flow of milk, and rich in cream, and that 
his meadows and pastures are free from noxious weeds, that will impart a 
disagreeable taste to tlic milk and butter. A mixture of timothy and white 
clover is the most desirable pasture for the dairy ; and the best and sweetest 
butter is generally produced in May and June ; for then kind Nature sends 
up a spontaneous supply of rich, juicy food, and the air is cool and pure, 
and all things combine to render the dairyman's task easy and deliglitful. 
But when the sun has scorched the vegetation and impaired its nuti'itive 
properties, and the temperature of the atmosphere is like an oven, then there 
is need of skill to counteract the opposing influences of nature; and the task, 
though difficult, can be accomplished, and a cool atmosphere created in the 
milk-room, and proper food supplied, as the reward of well-directed labor. 

Every farmer should practice, at least on a small scale, growing extra feed 
for his cows, when pasture fails. One of the easiest things grown for fall 
feed is cabbage. It gives an immense amount of food per acre. 

27. Feeding Cows for Butter-Making. — A writer in the Farmer and Gar- 
dener (Phila.) says: "The use of corn and cob-meal in my practice has 
produced more fat tlian butter. The best feed I have tried is two bushels of 
ship-stufl" to one busliel of ground corn. In the use of corn fodder, I have 
found great advantage in not only cutting, but steaming it. Many cows 
will not eat it without its being steamed. Turnips are good cnougli, if the 
taste they impart to the butter is not objectionable. Pumpkins add largely 
to tlie quantity of milk, but the cream, in churning, is always frothy, and 
requires a longer time to bo converted into butter. 

" My plan of feeding is as follows : I always let my cows go dry about 
the first of the new year, giving them, by this plan, a rest of some two 
months. During this period of rest I feed them on hay, corn-fodder, and 
straw. As soon as they begin to spring, I add four quarts of meal to each 
cow, which, after being mixed with the long straw and fodder, is steamed, 
and fed a Utile UHirm. Until tlie calves are separated from the cows, this 
amount of food is given once a day, after which time I fe^ them three times 
a day." 

28. Health of Cows. — A sickly cow not only yields a diminished profit, 
but she yields sickl}' milk, and sickly in a higher degree than her flesh. 

If a cow eats anj^thing that has a strong or disagreeable odor, it appears 
in her milk. 

If she eats anything medicinal, it comes out in her milk. 

If she is feverish, lier milk shows it. 

If she has sores about her, pus may be found in her milk. 

If she is fed upon decayed or diseased food, her milk, since it is derived 
from her food, will be unliealthy. It is as impossible to make good milk 
from bad food, as to make a good building from rotten timber. 



Seo. 3.] COWS— DIRECTIONS FOR SPAYING. 35 



If there is anything wrong about her, it will appear in the milk, as that is 
an effective source of castinir it from her organism. 

Tiiese facts should at all times be well impressed upon the minds of dairy- 
men, but more especially in the cold season of the year. Closely confined in 
their narrow stalls through the long winter, where tlie air is not always 
fresli and pure, nor water and exercise always had when desired, nor their 
food always free from foul medicinal weeds, as thistles, daisies, white top, 
etc., cows are very likely to vary from a perfectly healthy condition ; spring 
cheese will be faulty enough, do the best we can — that every dairyman 
knows. The health of the cows should not, at any rate, be allowed to 
become a cause of deterioration. Green food should now, if it has not been 
before, alternated as often as possible with the dry ; for this purpose, beets, 
carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbages, parsneps, and apples are valuable. 

Ventilation and watering should be jirom^^tly attended to, and salt and 
meal, made by pulverizing burned bones, should be kept where daily access 
can be had to them, if desired, nor should their strength and flesh bo allowed 
to fail for the want of a sufficiently nutritious diet. The best flavored butter 
and cheese can not be made from cows tliat ai-e badly fed, or ailing, or jtoor. 

As bad health in parents transmits a tendency to disease in the ofisprino-, 
it is important that every kind of animal we desire to continue on our farms 
should be kept vigorous and healthy. 

As an unliealthy animal can not consume food to as good advantage as a 
well one, it is again economical to avoid disease. 

29. The Amount of Hay required for f ows— The Cost of Milk.— Otis Brig- 
ham, of Westborougli, Mass., after seventy years' exjDerience in farming, 
says, in the New England Farmer, that good cows will eat, on an avera"-e, 
20 lbs. of hay per day when giving milk, and 15 lbs. when dry — not by 
guess-work, but tested by actual weighing, for months at a time. Then it 
is easy to calculate the cost of milk. In the neighborhood of New York, 
the average value of hay is one cent a pound, and the quantity of milk not 
over six quarts. At three and a half cents a quart, it Avill pay the hay bill, 
and one cent a day over. If other feed is given, the increase of milk must 
pay for that. The manure will be worth at least the cost of attendance and 
milking. If the milk is M-ortli more than three and a half cents, it gives a 
profit ; and if less, a loss. 

30. For Ki(kin!( Cons. — Take a short strap, and fasten the ends together. 
Next prepare a pin of some soft wood, about six or eight inches long, one 
and a half inches in diameter. Take the cow by the ofl" fore-leg, and double 
it at the knee-joint close; pass the strap or loop over the knee, pressin-r it 
back until you can insert the j^in between that .and the knee-joint, and she 
can not kick. 

31. Directions for Spaying fows. — Dr. Dadd, veterinary surgeon, in the 
American Stock Journal, says that the milk of spayed cows gives more cream 
than ordinary milk, and that the butter made from it is more delicious in 
taste. The milk is also invaluable for nursing infants. He thinks there is 



b 



36 DOMESTIC AKIMALS. [Chap. I. 

no clanger in performing the operation, if skillfully done, and the animal 
put under the influence of sulphuric ether. - 

Dr. Riggs, a veterinary surgeon, does not approve of giving chloroform to 
cows. He says: "It is no easy task to give ether or chloroform to animals 
generally, and it is usually quite as distressing to them as so slightly painful 
an operation as spaying. The operation of casting is a very awkward one, 
and needless, and interferes with the ease, if not the certainty, of the opera- 
tion. The ovaries are attached near the back-bone ; hence, when a cow 
stands np, the paunch and intestines fall away from them, and leave clear 
working space ; but when she is thrown upon her side, the case is difierent, 
and when the cow is in good flesh, there is none too much space any way." 

Dr. Riggs allows the cow to stand up, her head tied short, and an assistant 
holds her by the nose with clasps ; a rope is tied loosely about her hind legs, 
to keep her from kicking ; an assistant pushes her up against a partition or 
wall, and another aids in the first part of the operation. Thus, the cow is 
not at all alarmed or uncomfortable. 

Tiie skin is folded so that the hair can be shaved off where the cut is to 
be, and thus a straight line, three qiiarters of an inch wide and five inches 
long, is laid bare. The skin is then drawn up in a fold, at right angles, to 
this line and in the middle of it. The operator grasps this fold on one side 
of the shaved line, in his left hand, and his assistant grasps it on the other 
side ; then, with a single, well-directed stroke, with a sharp knife, he severs 
the two thicknesses of hide exactly in the shaved line, letting go at the 
same time ; a straight, clean cut through the skin is seen, and the cow suflers 
almost no pain at all — not so much as that produced by the blow from a 
M'hip. K the cut is made slowly, it is the most painful part of the operation. 
There is little feeling in the tissues forming the walls of the cavity of the 
abdomen, and when these are cut through, the hand may be easily introduced. 
The cow winces a little when the edges of the skin are rubbed, but shows no 
signs of pain. 

The removal of the ovaries appears very easy, but it is not. If the opera- 
tor has a strong, sharp thumb-nail, he can work or cut them loose ; but if 
not, or if the ovary is strongly attached, the operator is obliged to do as the 
books say — "in short, pull them away" — and in this is the great danger to 
the cow ; internal hemorrhage or inflammation is apt to ensue. Dr. Riggs 
avoids all this by the use of the " steel thumb-nail." TTiis is simply a sharp 
knife, shaped like and bound upon the thumb-nail of the right hand. There 
is no danger of cutting in the wrong place. A clean cut does not produce 
bleeding, as was feared at first, and it greatly simplifies and shortens the 
operation. Dr. Riggs has never operated upon a cow with this instrument 
when she struggled or attempted to get down, but once, and then she was a 
little nervous, and came down upon her knees, but soon got up again. 
Usually there is no struggling throughout the operation. 

32. Calomel for CowSi — A correspondent of the American Farmer writes : 
"I wish you would say to your readers that calomel, in one-ounce doses, will 



Sec. 3.] COWS— DAIRY STOCK. 37 

cure a cow of almost any disease. At least, let me give my experience. I 
have two fine, valuable cows ; they have had, it seems to me, some of the 
worst diseases tliat prevail — black-tongue, murrain, dry murrain, etc. — and 
when I saw they were dying, I mixed one ounce of calomel in dry corn-meal, 
which they would lick up, and it has never failed to cure." 

33. Keep Cows GendPi — If you milk out doors, M'ith the cow loose, provide 
good stools for each milker. See that they are never used to pound the cow 
with ; and never allow man or woman to kick or pound a cow in the stable 
or milking yard. If gentle means will not make a cow gentle, harsh means 
never will. It may be necessary to reduce a cow to obedience by a little 
punishment — to teach her, as you would a liorse or ox, that you are master ; 
i)ut to accomplish this, never use anything but a light lash or smart switch, 
and never use that in anger. An angry man is a fool, comjjared with a 
sensible cow. 

3-t. Ayrshire Cows. — In Massachusetts, the improvement of dairy stock by 
the introduction of Ayrshire blood has become so apparent, that no argu- 
ment could induce those acquainted with their value to return to the hazards 
of native breeding. We could point to farmers in Essex, Middlesex, and 
Worcester counties, who, under the most prudent management, avail them- 
selves of every opportunity to introduce Ayrshire blood into their herds, and 
our own observation teaches us that the importations of the Massachusetts 
Society for Promoting Agriculture, of Capt. Randall, of New Bedford, and 
others, have been vastly beneficial to our dairy stock. The bulls of this 
breed can be traced wherever they have been, by the good stock they have 
left behind them. One of them was kept upon a secluded farm in Essex 
County, and rendered it famous for its fine dairy cows. Another gave 
superior character to the hei'd of one of our well-known farmers, and to all 
the dairies in his neighborhood. An imported Ayrshire cow, not far from 
us, has produced, through a variety of mixtures and pure breeding, a little 
herd of cows and heifei-s of the highest uniformity of excellence. 

35. Poor Butter Cows. — Tiie Ft'fe?Y';ia^'/a« gives a remedy for this difficulty 
with cows that are well kept, and whose milk lias been previously rich in 
butter. It is to these that the remedy is principally directed. The remedy 
consists in giving the animal two ounces of the sulphuret of antimony, with 
tiiree ounces of coriander seeds, powdered and well mixed. This is to be 
given as a soft bolus, and followed by a draught composed of half a pint of 
vinegar, a pint of water, and a handful of common salt, for three successive 
mornings, on an empty stomach. 

This remedy, according to the author, rarely fails, and the milk produced 
some days after its exhibition is found to be richer in cream. The first 
churning yields a larger quantity of butter, but the second and third are 
still more satisfactory in their results. 

A letter from a farmer states that he liad fourteen cows in full milk, from 
which he obtained very little butter, and that of a bad quality. Guided by 
the statements of M. Deneubourg, wiiich had appeared in the Annales Vet- 



38 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

erinaires, he had separately teste(? the milk of his cows, and found that the 
bad quality of it was owing to one cow only, and that the milk of the others 
yielded good and aLundant butter. It was, therefore, clearly established that 
the loss ho had so long sustained was to be attributed to this cow only. He 
at once administered the remedy recommended by M. Deneubourg, which 
effected a cure. 

3G. Winter Feed of Orange Counly Dairy Cows.— Mr. C. Edward Brooks, 
one of the best dairymen in the county, claims that rye makes more milk 
than corn or oats, or other meal. Brewers' grains -were formerly bought so 
as to cost 6 cents delivered at the farm, but now, at 12 cents, they are 
not so profitable as rye feed at 75 cents per bushel. Oats he esteems 
the poorest kind of grain for milk. He tliinks that by currying a cow, and 
keeping lier and her stable scrupulously clean, she will give her full quantity 
of milk on half the ieed required if she is neglected. His daily allowance 
to each cow is five pounds of meal, either corn, corn and oats, or buckwheat 
or wheat bran, changing the kind frequently — for practice approves what 
theory teaches, that animals thrive best on a frequent change of diet. The 
animals are fed and milked at regular iiours — generally at four o'clock in 
the afternoon and six in the morning ; in winter, somewhat earlier in the 
afternoon and later in the morning. Care is taken to observe great punctu- 
ality as to time of milking, for the animals give much less trouble and thrive 
better. Mr. Brooks chafl's liis hay, steeps it in warm water to soften it, and 
sprinkles the meal over it, mixing it thoroughly. Throughout the day as 
much long hay is fed as the cows will eat. The feed is mixed in a long box, 
shaped like an ordinary bath-tub, which runs on small iron truck-wheels, 
one at either end, and two at the sides, half way between. This is a very 
convenient method for carrying the whole mess along the passage between 
the stalls, and with a wooden scoop giving to each cow her share as her stall 
is passed. The water to steep the hay is heated in a caldron, in a small 
out-building, and conducted to the cow-stable through a small tin pipe. 

Mr. Seeley C. Eoe, near Chester, a large dairyman and an intelligent 
farmer, thinks that half-clover hay, well made, and half grain, is better for 
milk production than twice as much timothy with grain. He does not cut 
and steep his hay, but dampens it with cold water, and adds meal, as usual. 
He finds it an excellent plan to feed buckwheat whole, and prepares it by 
boiling the grain with the hulls on, and when it has become thorouglily 
soaked, puts it into the feed-box at the rate of two quarts to each cow. He 
adds to this two quarts of dry meal, and the heat and steam of the cooked 
buckwheat cooks the meal. Four quarts of this mixture are allowed to 
each cow — two in the morning and two at night— and the animals are kept 
on this feed until turned out to grass. 

Mr. Gregory has an eight-horse power engine for cutting hay, threshing, 
grinding, etc., and uses the waste steam for steaming his hay. He has 
constructed a large chamber, capable of holding one hundred bushels of 
cut hay, which, before being steamed, is dampened. The pteam-pipe from 



Seo. 30 COWS— FEEDING ROOTS. 39 

the engine empties into the chamber, and the hay is steamed for about a 
quarter of an hour, and then fed to the stock unmixed with meal — that is, 
given in the form of a warm mush. 

37. Sugar-Caue for Cows. — If the Chinese sugar-cane does not prove to 
be a profitable sugar-making jilant, we think it will be a profitable one for 
forage. The Homestead says that Deacon Edward Ilayden, of East Hartford, 
Conn., has raised the Chinese sugar-cane for two years, and has used it for 
feeding milch cows with great success. The first year the stalks were left 
in the field, scattered about, we believe, and occasionally in dry M'eather 
brought to the barn to the cows, which ate them up clean, stalks and all. This 
was merely a sort of accidental experiment, as no especial value was set upon 
the canes. The past year he raised more, shocked in the field, and left it 
there. It cured well, and tlie cows ate it with great avidity, and Mr. Ilay- 
den esteems it as a great milk-producing diet. 

38. Feeding Roots. — I have a word to say on winter feed for stock. It is 
more by way of query, and for feeders to think of, than by way of iiistruc- 
tion. My experience in feeding domestic animals is not suflicient to warrant 
me in giving instruction. I have served my time in too rough a school for 
that. I have fed a good deal of hay, worth from $1 50 to $5 a tun ; and 
corn from 10 to 25 cents a bushel, and other grain in proportion, and 
straw absolutely valueless. While living in such a district, I have often 
been asked the question. Why I did not raise more roots for my cattle ? I 
answered : Simply because it would not pay. I did buy a lot of ruta bagas 
one autumn, delivered at my house at six cents a bushel, and the use of them 
taught me that tliey were dear food. I would now, if living in such a dis- 
trict, feed roots to stock just so far as I thought necessary to keep the animals 
in good health, and no more ; not if I could buy at the same price, which 
was one fourth the price of sound corn ; and I question the economy of feed- 
ing any kind of roots at the same rate of value to any greater extent than is 
required for health. That roots, particularly white turnips, are too largely 
fed in cold weather to young cattle, I have no doubt. They are so full of 
water that too much of it is taken into the stomach with the food. If roots, 
or any other watery food, are too largely fed to milch cows before and after 
calving, you will be sure to have a mean calf. If we will think, and take 
reason for a guide, as to what man requires for healthy food, we shall not go 
far wrong with domestic animals. Man likes roots occasionally, and so he 
does soup, or other sloppy food ; but what would he be good for if fed week 
after week upon such watery stuff as turnips, or such porridge as some people 
compel their cattle to eat ? After all, this question of winter feeding is a 
question of values ; and it is not alone the value, counted by first cost, but 
the value of results. Now, what is the use of giving my opinion that this or 
that kind of food is the best, or most economical, when I can not say of a 
single thing, I know. I don't know, and don't know anybody who does. 
It is all guess-work, and at the present price of cattle-food, it is expensive 
guessing. 



40 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



39. Wintering CowSt — The method of feeding cows in winter is not so im- 
portant as it is to make the change from grass to hay and from hay to grass 
without producing any deterioration in their condition. It is highly import- 
ant, if your cows are giving milk upon autumn pasture, that you do not 
allow them to fall off in milk or flesh for want of a little extra feed. I have 
never found anything quite equal to corn-meal for cow-feed, particularly 
when you are making butter. It may not be necessary nor economical to 
feed cows meal in autumn, even if pasture does fail, if you have green corn- 
stalks, pumpkins, turnips, cabbage, etc., which must be consumed, because 
not good to keep through winter. But in spring, when cows are first turned 
to grass, they are very apt to fall away, and then it will be found to be good 
economy to feed meal every night in the yard, and so it will before the cows 
are turned out, if not in first-rate condition. 

I see the calculation of one writer that corn-meal, thus fed, was worth $3 
a bushel, fed at the rate of one quart a day to a cow, for twenty or thirty 
days. He says : 

" I have also found, by other experiments, that there is a great difference 
in the manner of getting animals to grass. When turned out early, with 
little or no other feed, they fall away greatly ; on the contrary, if fed all the 
good hay they will eat, night and morning, with a judicious feeding of meal 
of some kind (and I prefer mixed feed — that is, mixing the different grains 
together before they are ground — to any one variety), they will soon begin 
to gain finely by such a course, and carry their extra weights through the 
season. In an experiment now being conducted, I have a cow that has, since 
the first of December last, been quietly laying on her two pounds per day 
(or nearly so), and her feed has been only moderate, as I am no advocate for 
forcing, but simply good fair keeping and care ; then, with good animals, we 
are sure of a fair remuneration for care and feeding. 

" I would that what I have already written could reach the eye of every 
farmer in these United States, and that each one would set himself about 
making at least one experiment in the care of farm-stock." 

40. Cows Badly Wintered are Unprofltablei — A farmer can not afford to 
Avinter any stock poorly, and least of all, milch cows, or those which are to 
produce calves in the spring. Look at the following statement, and see if the 
Western Reserve farmers can afford thus to winter cows. 

A letter from Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, written in April, 1860, 
says : "The present times are the worst we have ever known in this country. 
Cows and cattle are dying by the hundred ; six hundred head have died 
within the three adjoining counties this winter for want of food. The 
weather is still dry and cold." 

This is only one, among many illustrations, of the folly and wrong com- 
mitted by Western farmers in keeping more stock than can be housed and 
fed. This is the case all through the Western country. Travel over any 
portion of it, and you will see scores of cattle shivering in the cold storms 
of winter, without shelter, and so poorly fed that if they live through the 



Sko. 3.] COWS— HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD ONE. 41 

severe season if is more by chance than for any care wliich they receive. On 
tlie prairies, cattle can be kept so easily in summer that every one is tempted 
to overstock himself to such a degree, while the grass is green, that a jjortion 
must die in winter. Now we would say to the farmers, you can not aftord 
this. Every one of these six hundred cattle wliich perished in Ohio could 
have been sold at a low price by the owners, who were short of feed, to 
others who would have carried them through the winter. And how infinitely 
better this would have been than to allow such an amount of stock to die 
of starvation ! 

It is not only in Trumbull County that cattle have perished in winter ; 
the entire "West has suffered equally in this respect with Ohio. On the 
Illinois prairies, where there is no limit to the amount of hay that might be 
cut, cattle have died in largo numbers for the want of a quarter more hay 
than they had eaten during the winter. And yet the farmers of those dis- 
tricts persevere in their criminal folly, although the result of each year's 
experience ought to be sufScient to open their eyes to a proper realization 
of the truth. No farmer can afford to keep more cows or horned cattle than 
he can provide hay for at the rate of two tuns per head ; he should never 
attempt to keep more cattle than he can house warmly, unless he has hay to 
waste, and is willing to sacrifice at least one fourth of the stock. 

It is one of the most painful sights to be met with in traveling through the 
West, while passing the little cabins of the new settlers, to see cows and 
calves, oxen and young stock, all huddling together, without any shelter from 
the cold winter storm. Is it any wonder that one half of these famished, 
neglected things should perish before spring ? Farmers, you must learn 
wisdom from the calamities of severe winters. Keep fewer cattle, and 
keep them better, and you Avill make more money. "We might give hundreds 
of extracts from country papers to convince you that feed is scarce every 
year, but it would be superfluous. The richest corn country of Indiana 
has suffered quite as mitch as its si^t^er States during many hard winters* 
and this is because it is a rich corn country, and rich in nothing else. Large 
farms without grass ; cattle without food, dying by thousands ; farmers 
losing all their stock, "because it is a late spring," or, rather, because they 
undertook to winter an unreasonable number. "Will the farmers of our 
country never take advantage of the experience of the past, and learn that 
they can not afford these wasteful and ruinous sacrifices ? 

41. To f hoosc a Good Milch f ow. — Select from a good breed. "Wc prefer 
the Devons — bright bay red. The Durhams are roan, red, white, and mix- 
tures of these colors. Ayrshire cows are generally red and white spotted. 
Ilercfords, red or darker colored, with white faces. Alderneys, pale red and 
mixed with Avhite. These are the principal colors of the several breeds of 
which the Durhams are the largest and Alderneys the smallest. Different 
individuals will contend for each breed being the best and only one that 
should be selected for their milking qualities. But animals of each breed 
and of crosses of them, often prove remarkable milkers, and so do some of the 



42 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



native stock of the country. Two families of cows — one owned by Colonel 
Jaques, of Ten Hills Fai-ni, near Cliarlestown, Mass., and one owned by 
Major John Jones, of "Wheatland Farm, near Middletown, Del. — were called 
native breed, yet were the most remarkable butter-makers we have ever seen. 
We have seen Col. Jaques produce good butter in three minutes, by simply 
stirring the cream in a bowl. If we were about selecting a milch cow, we 
would endeavor to get one out of such a herd of good milkers ; one with a 
soft, velvety-feeling skin, slim neck, fine legs, broad stern, with what is 
called a large escutcheon — that is, the hair of the stern pointing inward ; a 
large udder, slim teats, and large veins, commonly called milk veins, on the 
belly. Above all things, select your cow of a gentle, pleasant countenance, 
because a first-rate milker may be so vicious as to be worthless. Do not look 
for flesh, as the best cows are seldom fat ; their hip-bones are often very 
prominent, and they have the appearance of being low in flesh. A beefy 
cow is seldom a good milker. 

The.next thing is, what is a good milker ? That is, how much milk must 
she yield per day ? A cow that will average 5 quarts of milk a day through 
the year, making 1,825 quarts, is an extraordinary good cow. One that will 
yield 5 quarts a day for 10 months is a good cow, and one that will average 
4 quarts during that time is more than an average quality. That would 
make 1,200 quarts a year, which, at three cents a quart, is $36. We believe 
the Orange County milk dairies average about $1:0 per cow, and the quality 
of the cows is considerably above the average of. the country. 

It is as important to keep a cow good as it is to get her good. This can 
never be done by a careless, lazy milker. Always milk your cow quick and 
perfectly clean, and never try to counteract nature by taking away her calf. 
Let it suck, and don't be afraid "it will butt her to death." It will distend 
the udder, and make room for the secretion of milk. Be gentle with your 
cow, and you will have a gentle cow. Select well, feed well, house well, 
milk well, and your cow will yield well. 

42. The Different Breeds of Cows. — We advise you to examine, in this 
connection, the diflereut breeds of cows, so that the general appearance, so 
far as outline of form is concerned, may be very well understood. Good 
and full descriptions may be found in a standard work upon " Milch Cows 
and Dairy Farming," edited by Charles L. Flint, secretary of the Massachu- 
setts State Board of Agriculture, and we give a few short extracts from that 
work, upon each breed, as follows : 

43. Ayrshire Cows Described. — " Tlie Ayrshires are justly celebrated 
throughout Great Britain and this country for their excellent dairy qualities. 
Though the most recent in their origin,' they are pretty distinct from the 
other Scotch and English races. In color, the pure Ayrshires are generally 
red and white, spotted or mottled — not roan, like many of the short-horns, 
but often presenting a bright contrast of colors. They are sometimes, 
though rarely, nearly or quite all red, and sometimes black and white ; but 
the favorite color is red and white brightly contrasted, and by some, straw- 



Seo. 3.] COTVS— BREEDS COMPARED. 43 

berry color is preferred. The head is small, fine, and clean ; the face long, 
and narrow at the muzzle, with a sprightly, yet generally mild, expression ; 
eye small, smart, and lively ; the horns short, fine, and slightly twisted 
upward, set wide apart at the roots ; the neck thiu ; body enlarging from 
fore to hind quarters ; the back straight and narrow, but broad across the 
loin ; joints rather loose and open ; ribs rather flat ; hind quarters rather 
thin ; bone fine ; tail long, fine, and bushy at the end ; hair generally thin 
and soft ; udder light color and capacious, extending well forward under the 
belly ; teats of the cow of medium size, generally set regularly and wide 
apart ; milk-veins prominent and well developed. The carcass of the pure- 
bred Ayrshire is light, particularly the fore quarters, which is considered by 
good judges as an index of great milking qualities; but the pelvis is capa- 
cious and wide over the hips. 

" On the whole, the Ayrshire is good-looking, but wants some of the sym- 
metry and aptitude to fatten which characterize the short-horn, which is 
supposed to have contributed to build up this valuable breed on the basis 
of the original stock of the county of Ayr." 

44. Yield of Milk of Ayrsliire Cows. — " Youatt estimates the daily yield of 
an Ayrshire cow, for the first two or three months after calving, at five 
gallons a day, on an average ; for the next three months, at three gallons ; 
and for the next four montlis, at one gallon and a half. This would be 850 
gallons as the annual average of a cow ; but, allowing for some unproductive 
cows, he estimates the average of a dairy at GOO gallons per annum for each 
cow. Three gallons and a half of the Ayrshire cow's milk will yield one 
and a half pounds of butter. lie therefore reckons 257 lbs. of butter, or 
514 lbs. of cheese, at the rate of 24 lbs. to 28 gallons of milk, as the yield 
of every cow, at a fair and perhaps rather low average, in an Ayrshire 
dairy, during the year. Aiton sets the yield much higher, saying that 
" thousands of the best Ayrshire dairy-cows, when in prime condition and 
well fed, produce 1,000 gallons of milk per annum; that in general three 
and three-quarters to four gallons of their milk Avill yield a pound and a 
half of butler; and that 27^ gallons of their milk will make 21 lbs. of full- 
milk checbL'." Mr. Rankin puts it lower — at about 650 to 700 gallons to 
each cow ; on his own farm of inferior soil, his dairy produced an average 
of 550 gallons only." 

45. Yield of Milk of Breeds Compared. — " In a series of experiments on the 
Earl of Chesterfield's dairy farm, at Bradley Hall, interesting as giving 
positive data on which to form a judgment as to the yield, it was found that, 
in the height of the season, the Iloldcrness cows gave seven gallons and one 
quart per diem ; the long-horns and Alderneys, four gallons and three 
quarts ; the Devons, four gallons and one quart ; and that, when n::,de into 
butter, the above quantities gave, respectively, 38 i ounces, 28 ounces, and 
25 ounces. 

"The Ayrshire, a cow far smaller than the Ilolderness, at five gallons of 
milk and 34 ounces of butter per day, gives a fair average as to yield of 



44 DOMESTIC ANMALS. [Chap. I. 



milk, and an enormous production of butter, giving within four and a half 
ounces as much from her five gallons as the Plolderness from her seven gal- 
lons and one quart ; her rate being nearly seven ounces to the gallon, while 
that of the Holderness is considerably under six ounces. 

"According to Mr. Ilarley, the most approved shape and marks of a good 
dairy cow are as follows : Head small, long, and narrow toward the muzzle ; 
horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance from each other ; 
eyes not large, but brisk and lively ; neck slender and long, tapering toward 
the head, with a little loose skin below ; shoulders and lore quarters light 
and thin ; hind quarters large and broad ; back straight, and joints slack 
and open ; carcass deep in the rib ; tail small and long, reaching to the heels ; 
legs small and short, with firm joints ; udder square, but a little oblong, 
stretching forward, thin-skinned, and capacious, but not low hung ; teats or 
paps small, pointing outward, and at a considerable distance from each other ; 
milk-veins capacious and prominent; skin loose, thin, aTid soft, like a glove; 
hair short, soft, and woolly ; general figure, when in flesh, handsome and 
well proportioned." 

46. The AjTshires for the Dairy — Their Value Considered.— Upon this 
point Mr. Flint quotes and indorses the following opinion : 

" For purely dairy purposes, the Ayrshire cow deserves the first place. 
In consequence of her small, symmetrical, and compact body, combined with 
a well-formod chest and a capacious stomach, there is little waste, compara- 
tively speaking, through the respiratory system ; while, at the same time, 
there is very complete assimilation of the food, and thus she converts a large 
proportion of her food into milk. So remarkable is this fact, that all dairy 
farmers who have any experience on the point, agree in stating that an 
Ayrshire cow geiierally gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed 
than a cow of any other breed. The absolute quantity may not be so great, 
but it is obtained at a less cost ; and this is the point upon which tlie question 
of profit depends." 

47. The Jersey or Alderney Cow. — Tliere is a great diversity of opinion 
about the value of this breed of cows. It is our opinion that they are the 
most valuable of all, where only one or two are to be kept, and when butter 
is the main object. The milk of an Alderney cow is the richest of all for 
household consumption, and makes the most and best butter ; and the cow 
is generally very docile, and in her native country is frequently kept upon 
very much such food as we keep a pig upon in this country. The greatest 
objection that we have heard urged upon them is their small size and lack 
of beauty, as compared with the symmetrical forms of Durhams, Devons, 
Ayrshires, and some of our natives. It is objected, too, that butter and 
cheese made from Alderney cows' milk will not keep, because it is " too rich." 
If it is mixed with other milk, it improves both, for then the butter and 
cheese are rich, and have no lack of keeping qualities. 

48. Origin and Description of Jersey Cows. — " The Jersey race is supposed 
to have been derived originally from Normandy, in the northern part of 




A-yi-stuLi-e C o ^v 



.UtsIvlto Bull 




Sh-ori Imrn Bull 




|)*rFKKE>-T ]Hl<REl»« ..k i'ATTI.r. j;- tl.k r^fJI^KO StATWK 



PLATE lY. 

(Page 44.) 

This picture is a study of four of the improved breeds of cattle 
which are briefly described in Chapter I., pages 31 to 51 ; and with 
the other two upon Plate III., the reader has, as it were, at one 
view, representatives of the Durham, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, 
Jersey or Alderney, and the improved Dutch — six of the most im- 
portant breeds of imported cattle. These beautiful pictures, with 
what we have said of the animals, wiU give those who have no op- 
portunity of studying them alive, a very good insight of their varied 
form and character. For this they should be highly valued, as they 
are true representations from life. 



Seo. 3.] COWS— BREEDS COMPARED. 45 



France. The cows have been long celebrated for the production of very 
rich milk and cream, but till ■within a quarter of a century they were com- 
paratively coarse, ugly, and illsliaped. Improvements have been very 
marked, but the form of the animal is still far from satisfying the eye. The 
head of the pure Jersey is fine and tapering, the cheek small, tlie throat 
clean, the muzzle fine and encircled with a light stripe, the nostril high and 
open ; the liorns smootli, crumpled, not very thick at the base, tapering, and 
tipped with black ; ears small and thin, deep orange color inside ; eyes full 
and placid ; neck straight and fine ; chest broad and deep ; barrel hooped, 
broad and deep, well ribbed up ; back straiglit from the withers to the hip, 
and from the top of the hip to the setting on of the tail ; tail fine, at right 
angles with the back, and hanging down to the hocks ; skin thin, light color, 
and mellow, covered with fine, soft hair; fore legs short, straight, and fine 
below the knee ; arm swelling and full above ; hind quarters long and well 
filled ; hind legs short and straight below the hocks, with bones rather fine, 
squarely placed, and not too close together; lioofs small; udder full in size, 
in line with the belly, extending well up behind; teats of medium size, 
squarely placed, and wide apart, and milk-veins very prominent. The color 
is generally cream, dun, or yellow, with more or less white, and the fine 
head and neck give the cows and heifers a fawn-like appearance, and make 
them objects of attraction in tlie park ; but the hind quarters are often too 
narrow to look well, particularly to those who judge animals from the 
amount of fat they carry." 

49. Fattciiing Properties of a Jersey Cow, — " It is asserted by Colonel Le 
Couteur, of the island of Jersey, tliat, contrary to the general opinion here, 
the Jersey cow, when old and no longer wanted as a milker, will, when drv 
and fed, fatten rapidly, and produce a good quantity and excellent quality 
of butchers' meat. An old cow, he says, was put \ip to fatten in October, 
1850, weighing 1,125 lbs., and when killed, the 6th of January, 1S51, she 
weighed 1,330 lbs., having gained 205 lbs. in 98 days, on 20 lbs. of hay, a 
little wheat-straw, and 30 lbs. of roots — consisting of carrots, Swedes, and 
mangel-wurzel — a day." 

50. The Short-hora Durham Cow. — There is' no room for dispute about the 
Durhams being good for beef. For butter or for general dairy purposes, I 
should not choose them. Mr. Flint says : 

" In sections where the climate is moist and the food abundant and rich, 
some families of the short-horns may be valuable for the dairy ; but they 
are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in sections 
where they have attained the highest perfection of form and beauty, so little 
is thought of their milking qualities, that they are often not milked at all, 
the calf being allowed to run with the dam." 

Crosses, however, of this breed upon other breeds have produced excellent 
milkers. In "Westchester County, N. Y., there is a valuable strain of dairy 
stock known as " Dutch and Durham." 

51. The Dutch Cow» — The old Holland stock shows a very symmet- 



46 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. 1. 



rical, handsome form, but not quite as mucli so as the Durham, which was 
made up, it is generallj' supposed, by a cross of the Dutch breed upon the 
Teeswater stock. The Dutch cow is not as hea%^y an animal as the improved 
Durham, but she is more highly esteemed for dairy purposes. 

52. The Hereford €ow. — " The Hereford cattle derive their name from a 
county in the western part of England. Their general characteristics are a 
white face, sometimes mottled ; white throat, the white generally extending 
back on the neck, and sometimes, though rarely, still farther along on the 
back. The color of the rest of the body is red, generally dark, but some- 
times light. Eighty years ago the best Hereford cattle were mottled or 
roan all over; and some of the best herds, down to a comparatively recent 
period, were either all mottled, or had the mottled or speckled face. The 
expression of the face is mild and lively ; the forehead open, broad, and 
large ; the eyes bright and full of vivacity ; the horns glossy, slender, and 
spreading ; the head small, though larger and not quite so clean as that of 
the Devons ; the lower jaw fine ; neck long and slender ; chest deep ; breast- 
bone large, prominent, and very muscular ; the shoulder-blade light ; shoulder 
full and soft ; brisket and loins large ; hips well developed, and on a level 
with the chine; hind quarters long and well filled in; buttocks on a level 
with tlie back, neither fiilling off nor raised above the hind quarters ; tail 
slender, well set on ; hair fine and soft ; body round and full ; carcass deep 
and well formed, or cylindrical ; bone small ; thigh short and well made ; 
legs short and straight, and slender below the knee ; as handlers very excel- 
lent, especially mellow to the touch on the back, the shoulder, and along the 
sides, the skin being soft, flexible, of medium thickness, rolling on the neck 
and the hips ; hair bright ; face almost bare, wliieh is characteristic of pure- 
bred Ilerefords. They belong to the middle-horned division of the cattle 
of Great Britain, to which tliey are indigenous." 

There are individual good milkers among the Ilerefords, as there are 
among the Durhams, but like them, we must say they are better for beef 
than milk. We certainly never should select the Hereford breed for dairy 
purposes. The form of tlie cow, as represented among the specimens we 
have seen of the best herds in this country, is that of a beef-producing ani- 
mal, or a breed for good working oxen, for which it is noted. 

53. The Devon CoWi — "This beautiful race of cattle dates farther back 
than any well-established breed among us. It goes generally under the 
simple name of Devon ; but the cattle of tlie southern part of the county, 
from which the race derives its name, differ somewhat from those of the 
northern, having a larger and coarser frame, and far less tendency to fatten, 
tliough their dairy qualities are superior. 

" The North Devons are remarkable for hardiliood, symmetry, and beauty, 
and are generally bred for work and for beef rather tliau for the daiiy. 
The head is fine and well set on ; the horns of medium lungtii, generally 
curved ; color usually bright blood-red, but sometimes inclining to yellow ; 
skin thin and orange-yellow ; hair of medium length, soft, and silky, making 



Sko. 3.] COWS— BREEDS COMPARED. 47 



the animals remarkable fine handlers; muzzle of the nose white; eyes full 
and mild; ears yellowish, or orange-color inside, of moderate size; neck 
rather long, with little dewlap ; shoulders oblique ; legs small and straight, 
and feet in proportion ; chest of good width ; ribs round and expanded ; 
loins of first-rate quality, long, wide, and fleshy ; hips round, of medium 
width ; rump level ; tail full near the setting on, tapering to the tip ; thighs 
of the bull and ox muscular and full, and high in the flank, though in tlie 
cow sometimes thought to be too light ; the size medium, generally called 
small. • 

" As milkers, they do not excel, perhaps they may be said not to equal, 
the other breeds, and they have a reputation of being decidedly below the 
average. In their native country the general average of a dairy is one 
pound of butter per day during the summer. 

"They are bred for beef and for work, and not for the dairy, and their 
yield of milk is small, though of a rich quality. 

'' On the whole, whatever may be our judgment of this breed, the faults 
of the North Devon cow can hardly be overlooked from our present jjoint 
of view. The rotundity of form and compactness of frame, though they 
contribute to her remarkable beauty, constitute an objection to her as a dairy 
cow, since it is generally thought that the peculiarity of form which disposes 
an animal to take on fat is somewhat incompatible with good milking quali- 
ties, and hence Youatt says : ' For the dairy, the North Devons must be 
acknowledged to be inferior to several other breeds. The milk is good, and 
yields more than the average proportion of cream and butter; but it is 
deficient in quantity.' He also maintains that the value of this breed for 
milk could not be imjjroved without probable or certain detriment to its 
grazing qualities. 

"But the fairest test of its fitness for the dairy is to be found in the 
estimation in which distinguished Devon breeders themselves have held it 
in this respect. A scale of points of excellence in this breed was established 
some time ago by the best judges in England ; and it has since been adopted, 
with but slight changes, in this country. These judges, naturally prejudiced 
in favor of the breed, if prejudiced at all, made this scale to embrace one 
hundred points, no animal to be regarded as perfect unless it excelled in all 
of them. Each part of the body was assigned its real value in the scale : a 
faultless head, for instance, was estimated at four ; a deep, round chest at 
fifteen, etc. If the animal was defective in any part, the number of points 
which represented the value of that part in the scale was to be deducted joro 
rata from the hundred, in determining its merits. But in this scale the cow 
is so lightly esteemed for the dairy, that the udder, the size and shape of 
which is of the utmost consequence in determining the capacity of the milch 
cow, is set down as worth only one point, while, in the same scale, the horns 
and ears are valued at two points each, and the color of the nose and the 
expression of the eye are valued at four points each. Supposing, therefore, 
that each of these points was valued at one dollar, and a perfect North 



4:8 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Devon cow was valued at one hundred dollars ; then another cow of the 
same blood, and equal to the first in every respect, except in her udder, 
which is such as to make it certain that she can never be capable of giving 
milk enough to nourish her calf, must be worth, according to the estimation 
of the best Devon breeders, ninety-nine dollars ! It is safe, therefore, to say 
that an animal whose udder and lacteal glands are regarded, by those who 
best know her capacities and her merits, as of only one quarter part as much 
consequence as the color of her nose, or half as much as the shape and size 
of her horns, can not be recommended for the dairy. The improved North 
Devon cow may be classed, in this resjject, with the Hereford, neither of 
which have well-developed milk-vessels — a point of the utmost consequence 
to the practical dairyman." 

5i. The Milk-Mirrori — Tliis is a term given in the Guenon method of 
selecting good cows, to the escutcheon formed by the change of direction in 
the hair on the rear part of the udder and parts adjacent. If this mirror is 
large, it is supposed to indicate a good milker. For the better understanding 
of it, we recommend a careful study of the " milk-mirror," and see how it 
is generally developed upon all real good milkers — that is, good for quantity 
rather than quality. 

"Milk-mirrors vary in position, extent, and the figure they represent. 
They may be divided, according to their position, into mirrors or escutcheons, 
jn-operly so called, or into lower and upper tufts, or escutcheons. The latter 
are very small in comparison with the former, and are situated in close 
proximity to the vulva, as seen in different breeds of cows. They are very 
common on cows of bad milking races, but are very rarely seen on the best 
milch cows. They consist of one or two ovals, or small bands of up-growing 
hair, and serve to indicate the continuance of the tiow of milk. Tlie period 
is short in proportion as the tufts are large. They must not be confounded 
with the escutcheon proper, which is often extended up to the vulva. They 
are separated from it by bands of hair, more or less large, as you will find 
from careful examination." 

It requires some skill to determine the exact size of a milk-mirror, since it 
is not equally well defined in all cows, being at first sight apparently large 
in some, which, upon close examination, will show faults — that is, that the 
escutcheon of out-growing hairs is broken by tufts of down-growing hairs. 
Mr. Flint says : 

" "We often find cows whose milk-mirror at first sight appears very large, 
but which are only medium milkers ; and it will usually be found that lateral 
indentations greatly diminish the surface of up-growing hair. Many errors 
are committed in estimating the value of such cows, from a want of attention 
to the real extent of the milk-mirror. 

" All the interruptions in the surface of the mirror indicate a diminution 
of the quantity of milk, with the exception, however, of small oval or 
elliptical plates, which are found in the mirror, on the back part of the 
udders of the best cows. 



PLATE V. 

(Page 48.) 

This is a very instructive picture to every young farmer, and there 
are a good many old ones who may make of it a valuable study. 
Many persons are not aware that the age of a suckling calf, week by 
week, can be told by examining the teeth. Look at these drawings 
and see how easy it is to learn the art — an art which every farmer's 
boy should understand. So the age of a cow, as well as a horse, 
can be told from year to year, by looking at the teeth, more cer- 
tainly than by the horns. For this purpose this plate possesses 
great value ; but it has a greater one in the illustration of what is 
now well known as the "milk mirror," which is described at ^ 54, 
and much more fully in Guenon's work, from which the theory is 
derived. In this plate the mirror is represented by coloring the pic- 
ture so as to show the field of upturned hair around the udder in its 
most fully developed form upon No. 1, and quite defective in No. 4. 
By studying these, and comparing them with living cows, something 
of the theory may be learned. It is very fuUy illustrated in Flint's 
work upon milch cows and dairy farming. It is a subject worthy 
of the attention of all farmers. 



Sko. 3.] COWS— THE MILK-MIRROR. 49 

In a fat cow, M'itli an inflated udder, the mirror would appear larger 
than it really is ; while in a lean cow, with a loose and wrinkled udder, it 
appears smaller. Fat will cover faults ; this is a fact to be kept in mind in 
selecting a cow ; because good fatting qualities are not the qualities which 
the purchaser is desirous of obtaining. 

" These marks, though often seen on many good cows, should be considered 
as certain only when the veins of the perineum form, under the skin, a kind 
of net-work, which, without being very apparent, may be felt by a pressure 
on them, when the milk-veins on the belly are well developed, though less 
knotted and less prominent than in cows of the first class ; in fine, wlien the 
udder is well developed, and presents veins which are sufiiciently numerous, 
though not very large. 

" There are cases where a knowledge and careful examination of the form 
and size of the mirror becomes of the greatest importance. It is well known 
that certain signs or marks of great milkers are developed only as the 
capacities of the animal herself are fully and completel}^ developed by age. 
The milk-veins, for instance, are never so large and prominent in heifers and 
young cows as in old ones, and the same may be said of the udder, and the 
veins of the udder and perineum, all of which it is of great importance to 
observe in the selection of milch cows. Those signs, then, which in cows 
arrived at maturity are almost sufficient in themselves to warrant a conclu- 
sion as to their merits as milkers, are, to a great extent, wanting in younger 
animals, and altogether in calves, of which there is often doubt whether they 
shall be raised ; and, here a knowledge of tlie form of the mirror is of 
immense advantage, since it gives, at tlie outset, and before any expense is 
incurred, a somewhat reliable means of judging of the future milking 
capacities of the animal, or, if a male, of the probability of his transmitting 
milking qualities to his offspring." 

65. What Kind of Cows to Buy.— "In buying dairy stock, the farmer gen- 
erally finds it for his interest to select young heifers. They give the promise 
of longer usefulness. But it is often the case that older cows are selected, 
with the design of using them for the dairy for a limited period, and then 
feeding them for the butcher. In either case, it is advisable, as a rule, to 
choose animals in low or medium condition. The farmer can not ordinarily 
afford to buy fat; it is more properly his business to make it and to have it 
to sell. Good and well-marked cows, in poor condition, will rapidly gain in 
all flesh products when removed to better pastures and higher keeping, and 
they cost less in the original purchase." 

56. General Conclusions. — We have now devoted all the space that we can 
afford to the subject of eows. "We have given them a large share of our 
attention, because we consider them of more importance than any other 
single branch oAour domestic animals. They not only furnish a great 
amount of food, m milk, cream, butter, cheese, and meat, when done fur- 
nishing milk, but they are the foundation of prosperity in American farming. 
"A good cow may produce a bad calf," but it is only a may-be — it does not 

3 



50 DOMESTIC AXIMALS. [Chap. I. 

hold as a rule. It is therefore very important to select good cows, and keep 
none but good cows — certainly never breed from a poor one. 

We shall now give some important facts relative to other branches of neat 
stock. And lirst we refer the reader to the following facts concerning bulls 
of various breeds. 

57. The Ayrshire Bull. — In comparing this with those of other breeds, it 
should be borne in mind that the Ayrshires are not bred for beef, in their 
own country, as much as they are for dairy purposes. For working oxen, 
they are of fair quality, but not the best. For feeding purposes, they should 
be crossed with Durhams. 

" It is the opinion of good breeders, that a high-bred short-horn bull and 
a large-sized Ayrshire cow will produce a calf which will come to maturity 
earlier, and attain greater weight, and sell for more money, than a pure-bred 
Ayrshire. This cross, with feeding from the start, may be sold fat at two or 
three years old, the improvement being especially seen in the earlier matu- 
rity and the size." 

68. Tiic Jersey BuUt — So far as beauty is concerned in the sexes, the 
males of the Jersey or Alderney stock have the largest share. It is a 
somewhat curious physiological fact, that the Alderney cows in this country 
produce two or three times as many bulls as heifers, so that bulls can gener- 
ally be purchased at lower prices than cows. 

"The bulls are usually ver}' different in character and disposition from 
the cows, and are much inclined to become restive and cross at the age of 
three or four years, unless their treatment is uniformly .gentle and firm. In 
all portraits of Jersey' bulls, they are represented as handsomer animals 
than they are generally considered by American farmers. 

59. Short-horn or Durham Bulli— This breed has been more largely 
imported and bred from in the United States than any, in fact all, others. 
It is the great beef-producing breed of the "West, particularly in Ohio and 
Kentuckj-. 

"The desirable characteristics of the short -horn bull may be summed up, 
according to the judgment of the best breeders, as follows: lie should have 
a short but fine liead, very broad across the eyes, tapering to the nose, witli 
a nostril full and prominent; the nose itself should be of a rich flesh-color; 
eyes bright and mild ; ears somewhat largo and thin ; horns slightly curved 
and rather fiat, well set on a long, broad, muscular neck ; chest wide, deep, 
and projecting; shoulders fine, oblique, well formed into the chine; fore 
legs short, with upper arm large and powerful ; barrel round, deep, well 
ribbed home ; hips wide and level ; back straight from the Avithers to the 
setting on of the tail, but short from hip to chine ; skin soft and velvety to 
the touch; moderately thick hair, plentiful, soft, and mossy." 

This picture gives only a fair impression of the fine form of the best 
animals of this breed. 

00. The Dutch ButJ. — The form of Dutch and Durham bulls is not unlike. 
W. W. Chenery, of AVatertown, Mass., whose name has since become famous 



Sec. 4.] 



BEEVES. 



51 



as being identified with the alarming cattle disease prevailing in Massachu- 
setts in the summer of 18C0, is one of the largest importers of the valuable 
stock known as the Dutch breed. 

61. The Hereford Bull.— Tliis always fairly represents this good breed of 
cattle. Good, at least, for beef, and excellent for working oxen. Their 
beef rates highest of all in the London market, and the few grades which 
have been brought to New York have been higlily esteemed. The objection 
to them is, that they do not come so early to maturity, or, rather, to a salable 
condition, as the Durhams. The breeders of Herefords contend that the 
keeping that Avill starve Durhams will keep the Herefords in a thriving 
condition. 

62. The Devon Bull. — In color and form a Devon bull is perfect ; always 
of a pure bay-red color, of medium size, and progenitor of the handsomest 
working oxen in America. The deficiency in size of the pure Devons, for 
working oxen, is made up by crossing upon larger animals. These grade 
oxen make as fine beef as any brought to the New York market. 



SECTION IV.-BEEVES. 

ross and Net Weight of Beef Cattle. — The ordinary 
rule of ascertaining the net weight of beef cattle 
from the live weight on the scales varies, accord- 
ing to quality, size, and age, and after all, is no rule 
at all, because it is entirely a matter of agreement 
between the jmrties at the time. 

It also depends upon the locality. In New York, 
the net weight of the beef in the quarters onlj' is 
wanted. In Boston, the hide and fat are included, 
counting those products equal to one quarter of the 
beef, or, rather, calling the whole five quarters. Tliere 
the net weight of a fat bullock is estimated at 60 to 
68 lbs. of each 100 of live weight. In extra fine 
animals the per-centage is higher. 
In New York, where the hide and fat are left out of the calculation, the 
bullocks are estimated at 55 to 60 lbs. net to each 100 lbs. gross; and if the 
animal is very fine, the estimate runs from 61 to 61 lbs. net to each 100 lbs. 
gross. Extraordiwry animals sometimes dress 65 or 66 lbs., and even higher, 
and ordinary ant^fcan stock run from 55 down to 47 lbs., though not often 
below 50 lbs., or one half the live weight at liome. The common practice 
at the "West is, to weigh fatted cattle some hours after feeding and a little 
exercise, and calculate the net weight at 55 lbs. per 100 of tlie live weight. 




52 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

6i. The Largest Bullock— The Great Massachusetts Steeri— The question 
of " what is the greatest weight of any bullock ?" we definitely answer and 
place on record in the following notices. The heaviest alive and dead was 
sold by John Sanderson, of Bernardstown, Mass., in February, 1862, to 
Bryan Lawrence, butcher, Centre Market, New York, by whom he was 
publicly exhibited, killed, and weighed. His live weight at home was 36 
cwt. Here, when very empty, 33 cwt. His dead weight was, fore quarters, 
743, 732—1,475 lbs. Hind quarters, 496, 502—998 lbs. Total, 2,473 
lbs., after shrinking a week. This is within 2 lbs. of 75 per cent, of live 
weight. This steer had been kept in a small yard and stable, eating meal 
and hay two years ; was eight years old ; a cross of Durham and native 
Vermont stock. He girted back of shoulders, 10 ft. 8 in. ; forward of hips, 
11 ft. 8 in. ; hight, 6 ft. 3 in. ; length from horns to tail, 9 ft. 8 in. ; breadth 
across hips, 3 ft. 6 in. This is the largest bullock of which we have any 
certain record. We also place upon record the weights of several other 
remarkable large bullocks. All stories of bullocks of 40 cwt. we disbelieve. 

65. The Washington Ox.— The ox George "Washington was 5 years, 9 
months, and 14 days old when slaughtered, in the year 1840. 

His live weight was 3,204 lbs. 

Weight of one fore quarter 612 " 

Weight of the other fore quarter 698 " 

Weight of one hind quarter 487 " 

Weight of the other hind quarter 477 " 

2, 174 lbs. of beef — 701ba. per cwt. of live weight. 

Measurement from button to root of tail 9 ft. 7 in. 

Girth 10 " 4 " 

Hight ? !! ^ 1! 

From hip to hip 2 " 9 

The OX Ked Jacket, killed March 5, 1851, 

Weighed alive 3,080 lbs. 

Weight of meat 2,114 " 

Loss, 31 per cent. 

The OX John Hancock, killed the same time, 

Weighed alive 2,9101bs. 

Weight of meat l,946i " 

Loss, 33 per cent. 

Robert L. Pell's two-year-old heifer, fatted at Pellham Farm, 30 miles up 

the Hudson, 

Weighed alive 2,000 lbs. 

Weight of beef 1.380 " 

Loss, 31 per cent. 

66. A Big Ox in Olden Time.— "VVc print, as we find it, the following 
extract from " Thacher's Military Journal of the Revolution," under date of 
June 24, 1779 : 

" I have just had the satisfaction, with a number of gentlemen, of viewing 
a remarkably large fat ox, which has been presented by some gentlemen in 
Connecticut to his Excellency, Gen. Washington. He is 6 ft. 7 in. high, and 
weighs on the hoof 3,500 lbs., the largest animal I ever beheld." 

67. The Ox Leopard. — ^An ox called "Leopard," raised and fed by Dr. 



Seo. 4.] BEEVES OF GREAT WEIGHT. 53 

A\^m. Elmer, of Bridgton, N. J., was slaughtered, Feb. 24, 1832, at the age 
of years and 8 months. His live weight was 3,360 lbs. Size — length from 
nose to rump, 10 ft. 6 in. ; from nose to end of tail, 15 ft. ; girth behind fore 
shoulders, Oft. Sin. ; around the body, 10ft. 9 in. ; around the brisket, 10ft. 
3 in. ; length from shoulder to rum^-), 7 ft. ; along the back from horns, 9 ft. ; 
width across the hip, 2 ft. 10^ in. ; hight of fore shoulder, 5 ft. C in. ; behind, 
5 ft. 8 in. ; circumference of leg below the knee, 1 foot. 

CS. Two Big: Oxen in Pennsylvania. — "We have a letter from James Stewart, 
Pennsylvania, and another from Andrew M. Frantz, giving the weight of 
two bullocks heavier than the Washington. One known as the " Lancaster 
County Ox," Mr. Stewart writes, " was owned and fed by Emanuel Landis, 
near this city ; was a half-bred Durham, deep red, large fore quarters, long, 
fine horns, and was over seven years old. Wm. F. Miller, of Lancaster, 
purchased him for $800, and slaughtered him on. the 22d of February, 1858. 
This ox weighed : 

Live weight 3,387 lbs. 

Net weight 2,409 " 

Weight of one fore quarter 747 lbs. 

Weight of the other fore quarter 760 " 

Weight of one hind quarter 469 " 

Weight of the other hind quarter 442 " 

2,418 lbs. 

Deduct weight of hooks for weighing 9 

Total net weight 2,409 lbs. 

" Tlie Berks County ox, that was butchei-ed some years ago in Philadelphia, 

weighed as follows : 

Live weight 3,3,50 lbs. 

Net weight 2,388 " 

Weight of one fore quarter 732 lbs. 

Weight of the other fore quarter 728 " 

Weight of one hind quarter 464 ." 

■ Weight of the other hind quarter 464 ' ' 

Total net weight 2,338 lbs. 

"There has long been a generous rivalry between the farmers of Berks 
and Lancaster counties in regard to which could grow the fattest and largest 
oxen. As it now stands, Lancaster is ahead, but we may look out for some- 
thing ei'e long greater still frmn Old Berls, for the resources of that county 
are astonishing, as even politicians can testify. 

"There was another steer butchered in tliis city, in February, 1856, by 
David Killinger, owned and fed by Abram Landis, of Manheim township, 
that netted 2,108 lbs., but tliat weight, and greater, has been frequently 
attained in this State, and even in this county. Tiie first two (whose weights 
I have given) I will not say are the larn-est cattle ever slaughtered, even in 
Pennsylvania, but they are the largest tliat have ever come nnder my obser- 
vation, and in regard to whose weight there was no dispute. L however, 
entirely concur with the writer in the Trihune, that there /leiw was an ox 
fed to the weight of 4,000 lbs. gross. An animal that will weigh 613 lbs. 
more than the one butchered in tliis city in February last, has certainly never 
been yet produced." 



54 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Mr. Frantz says the Berks County ox was fed by a man named Soetz, 
and was slaughtered, he thinks, in 18i6. If so, his weight should have been 
known here and remembered, but it was not by one of the butchers and 
others that we thought likely to know, of the many of whom we sought 
information. We have often heard of heavier bullocks, but lack the proof, 
as in the case below. The above figures are now matters of record, where 
they can be referred to in future. 

69. The Saratoga Bi? Bullock.— Since writing the above, we see the fol- 
lowing in the Country Gentleman of May 27, 1860 : 

" The Saratoga, County Press says that J. M. Cole, of Saratoga Springs, 
slaughtered an ox, in 18i7, whose live weight was 3,520 lbs. ; dressed, 
2,567 lbs." 

Let Mr. Cole give us the vouchers. If he has made an ox of that 
weight, he has probably beaten the world, and should give the world the 
proof. It wants to know certainly the weight of tlie heaviest bullock. 

70. Weights of the Crystal Palace Show Cattle. — The following are the net 
weights of the nine head of fat bullocks, exhibited as a show at the Crj'stal 
Palace. Some of them were full-blood Kentucky and Ohio Durhauis, and 
others, grades of that blood. They were bought by Jim Irving, of Washing- 
ton Market, and fairly weighed as follows : 

Tlie best pair M-eighed — one, 2,178 lbs. — and his quarters, 604 and 612 lbs. 
for the fore quarters, and 480 and 482 lbs. for the hind quarters. Tiie other 
weighed 2,066 lbs. — the fore quarters 570 and 568 lbs., and the hind ones 
470 and 458 lbs. 

Another pair weighed together 3,680 lbs. Tlie old cow, which was 
excessively fat, weighed 1,460 lbs., dressing, it is said, 73 lbs. per cwt. Tiie 
best steer dressed 72i lbs. per cwt. The other four head weighed 2,024, 
2,008, 1,930, and 1,860 lbs. 

Forty head of Illinois grade Durhanis, five and six years old, sold in 1858, 
in the New York market, averaged 22 cwt. each alive, and one hundred 
head averaged over 20 cwt. each. 

71. The llaxtun Steer. — The Ilaxtun steer was raised by E. Ilaxtun, in 
Beekinau Township, Dutchess Co., N. Y. He was out of a cow bought from 
a drove tiuit came from near Cleveland, Ohio, which was probably three 
fourths Durham, and a full-bred short-horn bull, of Mr. Sheaf's (Dutchess 
County) importation. The steer was called Ifths Durham, part of the blood 
appearing to indicate a descent from the long-horn of the old Kentucky 
importation. His color was nearly all red, having some whitish roan spots, 
and he was, notwithstanding his great size and fatness, one of the hand- 
somest-formed fat bullocks we have ever seen, and as firm on his legs almost 
as he ever was, and was in appearance as fresh and healthy as ever, taking his 
rations regularly. His feed was 14 quarts a day of meal, made of two parts 
Indian com and one part oats, and as much hav as he would eat. His feeding 
commenced in the fall, after he was four years old, and he was seven years 
old the spring before he was killed. His weight at home, Dec. 1, 1859, was 



Sec. 4.] BEEVES OF GREAT WEIGHT. 55 

3,-i72 lbs. He was probably weighed full at that time ; but after a railroad 
passage of 75 miles, he was weighed here, Jan. d, ISGO, before he was filled up 
M'itli food and water, and his fair, honest weight, as given by David Allerton, 
who weigiied liini, was 3,452 lbs. Three days afterward, weighed upon the 
same scales, by the same man, with scales carefully balanced, he weighed 
3,-ilS lbs. Afterward, upon two other scales, his weight was 3,419. He was 
sold Jan. 10, ISOO, to Wm. Lalor, of Centre Mai-ket, for $850; and was 
slaughtered and dressed at Patterson's slaughter-house, Jan. 19, by the same 
man who dressed the Washington, and hung until Jan. 26, when tlie quarters 
were weighed, under the careful supervision of Barney Bartram, Jolin Harris, 
John M. Seaman, and James L. Stewart, and in the presence of a large 
company of lookers-on, many of whom were considerably interested, having 
invested largely in the way of bets upon the net weight. 

The following was the result: fore quarters, 700 and GGSlbs. — 1, 368 lbs. ; 
the hind quarters, 482 and 469 lbs.— 951 lbs. ; total, 2,319 lbs. This was 2| 
11)8. over 67j lbs. per cwt. of the last live weight. Tiie shrinkage was esti- 
mated at 50 lbs. ; but he was hung just the same length of time as the 
Washington, and, like him, has had his hide stuffed and form preserved, 
being, up to that time, the largest bullock ever brought to New York. The 
fatting of this steer has been one of the most perfectly successful experiments 
to produce a monstrous animal, so evenly formed and faultlessly shaped, 
that no one could say where he could be improved. 

72. Other Large Bullocks. — A pair of oxen, called the " Cayuga Prize 
Oxen," was also sold in the Xew York market, the same week, for $700, which 
M'as considered remarkable ; tiieir live weight, however, was 2,865 lbs. each ; 
they were six years old. 

The Michigan Farmer of Jan. 20, 1860, says : " We lately gave an account 
of several fat cattle which were killed in this city on the week before the 
jSTew Year. The pair weighed 6,437 lbs., or 3,218 lbs. each. The net weight 
was estimated at GSlbs. per cwt." Of some others the Farmer said: "The 
actual yield of the cattle killed b}' William Smith, in this market, was QQ lbs. 
to the 100 lbs. of live weight, or 2,150 lbs. from 3,218 lbs. It will be seen 
by this, therefore, how those great oxen killed in the Detroit market 
approximated to what is considered the largest and fattest animal ever killed 
in the United States." 

We have a letter before us from Isaac Hubbard, of Claremont, N. H., 
who is ninety years old, but not too old to read with interest the accounts 
of these fat bullocks. He says that, seeing an account of the Haxtun 
steer, which interested him very much, induced him to give the history of 
a fat bullock fed by him twenty odd years ago. 

The calf was dropped Jan. 4, 1832, and was then estimated to weigh 100 
lbs.; Jan. 4, 1833, he weighed 874 lbs. ; Dec. 3, 1833, 1,280 lbs. ; Jan. 5, 
1835, 1,800 lbs.; Dec. 26, 1835, 2,350 lbs.; Feb.*15, 1837, 2,910 lbs. 

In Oct., 1838, Mr. H. sold him, and he was conveyed to Hartford, Conn., 
and weighed 3,370 lbs. This steer was bought by Paran Stevens, since of 



56 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



great hotel notoriety, and was extensively exhibited in this country as " the 
largest ox ever seen." Perhaps some persons in this State may remember 
the exhibition of this mammoth ox. 

In IS-tO, this great show animal was sent to England for exhibition there, 
and, it is said, attracted much attention. From there he was taken to 
France and Belgium, and exhibited as the great bullock of the world. He 
was brought back to England and slaughtered, but his weight at the time, 
either alive or dead, was not published, but it was less in this country than 
that of several whose weights we have published. This is one of the great 
show bullocks which have been exhibited and advertised as weighing over 
4,000 lbs., a weight that never has, so far as we have any satisfactory records, 
yet been attained ; and although we believe that 4,000 lbs. is above the 
limit that can be attained by one of the bovine race, we would not discourage 
the efforts of those who have made noble attempts to improve this class of 
livestock, both in form and quality, and who will not be content until the 
utmost possible limit of weight is accomplished. 

The name of Mr. Hubbard's steer was " Olympus," in this country, but in 
Europe he was exhibited under the name of " Brother Jonathan." He was 
of the " native stock," common in New Hampshire ; his color a dapple-bay 
or red, a little changeable in the sun, with white spots on the face and legs. 

It is not, however, generally profitable to feed such great bullocks as we 
have noticed ; but, to see what has been done, it will always be an interest- 
ing matter of reference. So will be the matter we shall give in the next 
section. 



SECTION V-STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, 

umbers of Butchers' Animals Annually Sold in New 
Yorki • — Farmers are very justly accused of a 
neglect of statistical information in relation to the 
business upon which all their prosperity depends. 
In the very important matter of furnishing the 
cities with bullocks, the producers had no means 
of forming estimates of the needed supply, until we 
instituted reports of the cattle markets of all the prin- 
cipal cities, and particularly the city of New York, 
which is an enormous consumer of fresh beef. To this 
market we have devoted many years, attending almost 
every weekly market, and have given the farmers statis- 
tical tables of immense value to them. "We now 
embody some of this useful statistical information, 
where it can stand as a fable of permanent reference; and we earnestly 
commend it to all who are engaged in agricultural pursuits. 




Sec. 0.] 



STATISTICS OF TOE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET. 



57 



ANNUAL RECEIPTS FOR TEN YEARS — 1854-18G3. 



Years. Beeves. 

1854 169,864.... 

1855 185,564.... 

ia56 187,057.... 

1857 162,243.... 

1868 191,874.... 

18.59 205,272 

1860 226,933 

1861 222,835.... 

1862 239,486.... 

1863 264,091 



Cows. 
13,131.... 
12,110..., 
12,857.... 
12,840.... 
10,128.... 

9,492 

7,144.... 

5,749.... 

5,378.... 

6,470.... 



Calves. 

68,584 

47,969.... 
43,081.... 
34,218.... 
37,675.... 
48,769.... 
39.436.... 
32,868.... 
30,465.... 
35,709.... 



Sheep. 
555,479. 
588,741. 
462,739. 
444,036. 
447,445. 
404,894. 
518,750. 
512,366. 
484,342. 
519,316. 



Swine. 

252,328. 

318,107. 

345,911. 

288,984. 

551,479. 

399,665. 

323,918. 

559,421. 
1,148,209. 
1,101,617. 



Ann. Totals. 
1,059,380 
1,152,491 
1,051,645 
942,321 
1,238,601 
1,068,092 
l,lir.,181 
1,333,239 
1,907,880 
1,927,203 



Total 2,055,219 95,299. . . . 418,774. . . . 4,938,108. . . . 5,289,639. . . . 12,797,039 

Av. pr. year . . . 205,522.... 9,530.... 41,877.... 493,811.... 528,964.... 1,279,704 

WEEKLY AVERAGE OF ALL ANIMALS TOR TE.V TEARS — 1854-1863. 
Tears. Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheep. Swine. Tolai. 

1854 3,257 2.53 1,315 10,682 4,852 20,359 



1855. 
1856. 
1857. 
1858. 
ia59. 
1860. 
1861. 

1862 4,518 101 

1863 5,079 125 



3,565 233. 

3,597 247. 

3,120 245. 

3,C80 195. 

3,947 182 



922 11,322 6,117 22,069 

828 8,898 6,650 20,224 

658 8,539 6,657 18,119 

724 8,604 10,606 28,809 

841 9,709 7,686 22,365 



•4,364 139 758 9,976 7,229 21,465 

4,285 110 632 9,853 10,758 25,637 

. 574 9,138 21,664 36,000 

. 687 9,987 21,185 37,062 

The increase of bullocks in this decade is 55 per cent. Cows have 
fallen off more than half, and calves nearly the same. The supply of sheep 
remains nearly stationary, but swine have increased enormously. The fol- 
lowing is the estimated number of pounds of meat, derived from slaughtered 
nnimals in 1863, and the wholesale value. In the estimate, cows are added 
to the bullocks, because the most of them, eventually, go to the butcher. 

Beeves— 270,561, av. 700 lbs. net 189,392,700 lbs. at 9^0. per lb. net $17,513,824 75 

Veal— 35,709 calves at 75 lbs 2,678,175 " atlOc.perlb.net 267,817 60 

Sheep and lambs— 519,316, at 42 lbs.... 21,811,272 " atlOc.perlb.net 2,181,127 20 

Swine— 1,101,617, at 150 lbs 165,242,550 " at 6Jc. per lb. net 10,740,765 75 

Total 379,124,697 lbs $30,708,635 20 

It is also very important for farmers to know wliere the supply comes 
from. Of 210,384 bullocks sold in 1863, the six following States furnished 
the respective numbers, viz. : Illinois, 118,692 ; New York, 28,985 ; Ohio, 
19,269; Indiana, 1-4,232; Michigan, 9,074; Kentucky, G,782. As the same 
proportion holds good for all the cattle received in New York, it will be seen 
that Illinois furnishes 56y per cent. True, a good many credited to that 
State come from Iowa, Missouri, and other States. 

The proportion of hogs from Illinois is probably greater than upon beef 
cattle. Tlie great bulk of pork from the hogs slaughtered here is packed 
and sent to other places for consumption ; large quantities of it to Europe. 
A small portion of the beef is packed and sent abroad. The great bulk of 
it, and all the veal and nearly all of the sheep, and a vast quantity besides 
that comes in ready dressed from the country, goes to furnish fresh meat to 
the cities of New York and Brooklyn, three small cities in New Jersey, and 
several towns within fifty miles, ships in port, and most of our armed ships 
and forts and soldiers on the coast between Hampton lioads and Key West. 



58 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



Estimated average price of beef cattle per net pound each year, 1854-G3 : 
1854, 9 cents full; 1855, 10 cents; 1856, 9i cents nearly; 1857, lOi cents 
nearly; 1858, Si cents nearly; 1859, 9 cents; 1800, 8 cents full; 1861, 7^ 
cents; 1862, 7| cents ; 1863, 9i cents. Up to March, lS6i, prices have ranged 
from 9 to 16 cents a pound net, -whieh vras higher than before since 1857. 

During 1863, the live-weight price of corn-fed hogs ranged from 4 to 7 
cents per pound. In February, 18G4, it reached 8^ and 9 cents per pound, 
■which was the highest price for Western stock ever attained. 

That all who read this page may see what an immense interest is involved 
in tlie live-stock trade of the country with New York city, we add the fol- 
lowing calculation of number of pounds of meat and estimated value: 

COXSUMPTIOX OF TEN TEAKS — 1851-1803, 

Beeves— 2,100.518 head av. 700 lbs. net. ..1,505.362,000 lbs. at 9 cents per lb. net. . $135,482,034 

Culvcs— 418,774 head av. 75 lbs. net 31,408,050 " atlOceutsperlb.net.. 3,140,805 

Sheep and lambs^,938,108he.idav. 42 lbs. 207,390,-530 " atlOeentsperlb.net.. 20,739,053 

Swine— 5,289,039 bead av. 125 lbs 061,204,800 " at 6centsperlb.net.. 39,672,288 

Total 2,406,365,986 lbs S199,034,7^0 

Average per annum for the ten years.. . . 240,530,598 " 19,903,178 

Farmers, look at these figures. They teach you an important lesson ; one 
well worthy of being placed upon this permanent record, to remind you and 
your cliildren of the great importance of the live-stock interest of the country. 
You see by the tables tlie rapid increase of the trade, and the enormous sum 
that it amounts to in ten years. Lest you should be confused by the sum in 
numerical figures, let us repeat it in words. Two billions four hundred and 
five millions three hundred and sixty-five thousand niue hundred and 
ciglity-si.x pounds of meat, amounting to one hundred and ninety-nine 
millions thirty-four thousand seven hundred and eiglity dollars. Tliis is 
the sum that New York city has disbursed to the farming interest for ten 
years' supply of meat, derived from tlie slaughter of twelve millions seven 
hundred and ninety-seven thousand and thirty-nine animals. 

These statistics enable us to realize the vast resources of America. The 
country is now feeding a million of men in the army, fighting for freedom, 
full rations of meat, and sending nearly two millions a year of animals to 
the city shambles of New York, for which the city is sending back to the 
country twenty millions of dollars. 

This is the greatest meat-eating country in the world; it produces all that 
it consumes and a great surplus to send abroad. 

71. Cattle Transportation!— Nearly all the stock sold in the New York 
market is transported upon railway cars. "We assume that the beeves for 
ten years'.supply have paid a tariff of $10 a bead average to railroads, 
making the sum of $21,505,180; calves at fifty cents a head, $209,387; 
slieep at seventy-five cents, $3,703,681 ; hogs at $1 25 each, $6,612,018. 
Total $32,030,296, as tlie estimated amount paid for the transportation of 
animals butchered in New York for ten years. 

Improvement is needed in transportation. Animals are forced to stand 
without food or water two or three days, or as long as their tired legs ■will 



Sec. 5.] 



STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET. 



59 



sustain them, and when they fail, as sometimes they do, the fainting creature 
falls and is trampled to death. 

We must have an improvoinent in cattle-cars. It certainly would not be 
difficult to construct them so that cattle should stand with heads to one side, 
where water could be given them in a trough by means of hose ; and if this 
can not be done, it must be made a criminal offense to keep the animals on 
a car more than 30 houi's without water. In fact, it would be better for all 
parties if tlie number were limited that a car should contain, and that in no 
case should the stock remain on the cars over 30 hours, without being 
unloaded, rested, fed, and watered. The present practice is a loss to owners 
and an injury to consumers, by making the beasts feverish and unhealthy, 
besides being an outrageous act of cruelty to animals. The whole commu- 
nity is interested, and should cry out against the wicked practice, which is 
enough to make humanity shudder. 

75. Comparative Measurfmcnls of Cattle. — Inquiries are often made in 
regard to the relative size of different breeds of cattle. It is not easy to give 
a very definite answer to questions of this kind ; but as several of the leading 
breeds of this country were derived from England, where they are bred in 
greater numbers than they are liere, an idea of their comparative size may 
be had from certain* measurements taken of prize animals at the English 
shows. We give the following tables in reference to Short-horns, Ilerefords, 
and Devons, which took prizes at the shows of the Eoyal Agricultural 
Society, in 1858 and 1859. The first was prepared for the Society by Mr. 
Robert Smith. 



CLASS. 
Short- HORNS 

Aged bulls 4 

Yearling bulls 1 

Bull calves 

Cows 3 

Two-year-old heifers . 2 
Yearlings 1 



Average Age. 
yrs. mos. 



ft. 



n- 

9i. 
9 . 
6 . 
4 . 



Averflge Girth. 
in. 

8 
10 

4i 



Herefords. 



Aged bulls. ... 
Yearliug bulls. 
Bull calves . . . 



5 . 
104. 
105. 



3 

04 
lU 



CLASS. Average Age. 

Herefords. )ts. mos. 

Cows 7 8 . . 

Two-year-old heifers .2 11. . 

Yearlings 1 9j.. 

Devons. 

Aged bulls 3 6 .. 

Yearling bulls 1 .6:5.. 

Bull calves Sj.. 

Cows 6 2i.. 

Two-year-old heifers. 2 6 .. 

Yearlings 1 7}. . 



Average Girlh. 
fl. in. 

7 2 

7 4J 

6 6i 



.7 
.6 
.5 
.6 
.<3 
.6 



93 
10 
1 



The next table was furnislied by Mr. Thos. Duckham, the editor of the 
" Herd-Book of Hereford Cattle." A^ far as it goes, it comprises measure- 
ments of Short-horns and Ilerefords, which received prizes at the Warwick 
show that year, the rank of the awards having been according to the order 
observed in the table. 



CLASS. 
Short-uorns. 

Aged bulls 4 

4 

2 

Yearling bulls 1 

1 

1 

Bull calves 

Cows 4 



Average Age. Average Girth. ! CLASS. Average Age. 

yra. moa. ft. in. j Herefords. ys. mos. 

8 6 I Aged bulls 2 10 .. 

8 6 i " 4 6... 

7 7i " 2 10... 

7 7 Yearling bulls 1 9 . . . 

7 2 " 1 11... 

7 4 " 1 9... 

5 9i Bull calves 11... 

5 lOJ: " 11... 

8 ! Cowa 3 7... 



Average Girth. 
n. in. 



0. 

3. 

7. 
10. 

8. 
11. 

9. 
10. 

3. 



5 
7 

3 
5 
1 
2 

14 
1 



60 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



76. The Improvement in Breeds and Weights of Cattle.— What lias raised 
the average weight of beef cattle from 500 to 800 lbs., and some individuals 
up to 3,600 lbs. ? AVhat has raised the crops of corn to double their former 
yield, and in several instances produced over 190 bushels of corn to the acre 
— that was in Kentucky ; but in the State of New York whole fields have 
averaged 100 bushels. In Connecticut, 131 bushels of ears of corn have been 
produced upon half an acre, at an expense for culture and harvest of less 
than $3. What has induced men to root up old orchards of natural fruit, 
"five to the pint," and plant pippins, baldwins, greenings, russets, etc., some 
of which have been sold from $8 to $20 a barrel, and retailed at a guinea 
a dozen? What has induced ingenious men to devote the best energies of 
their minds to inventing plows, harrows, drills, reaping-machines, and every 
other implement of husbandry, while every class of domestic animals has 
also been improved — neat cattle probably the most of all ? 

The answer is, the publication of just such facts as we are now giving, 
which tend to show what has been done by some men, and may be done by 
others. This encourages us to continue our labor. 



SECTION VI.-FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 

clectiBi? Calves for Rearing. — Use judgment in 
selecting such heifer calves as are to be reared. 
Select only those whose mothers are good milkers, 
and whose sires have come from jjood milking 
stock ; at the same time, the calf itself should have 
those characteristics that indicate an aptitude to develop 
good milking cpialities, viz. : small, fine head, rather long 
in the muzzle ; bright eyes ; thin, tapering neck ; small, 
well-shaped legs ; long body ; large hind quarters, set M-ide 
behind ; soft skin ; fine hair — the color of which is immate- 
rial ; and, above all,[the milk-mirror or udder-veins should 
be large and well developed. 

The raising of bull calves for breeders had better be left 
to those who have time and means to devote their attention 
to it, who procure the best animals to begin with. It would be no loss to 
the country, were the numerous specimens of scrub bulls, too. often seen, 
condemned to perpetual exile. 

But there is no reason why a portion of the male calves, at least, should 
not be reared as bullocks, either for the team or the butcher; and it is 
important that such as are reserved for this purpose should possess certain 
points indicative of future excellence, viz.: well-shaped head; small ears; 
short, thick neck ; deep brisket ; broad chest and shoulders ; fine bone ; long 




Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 61 

body, well rounded behind the slioulders ; straight back ; wide loins ; full 
quarters ; tail thin and tapering ; skin soft, and not too thin. 

It is too often the case that animals are selected for rearing from being of 
pretty color— that takes the fancy of some member of the family — or the 
calf of some pet cow of the dairy-maid, without attention being paid to its 
promise of excellences. Not unfreqnently valuable calves are fattened for 
veal, simply because their color is unpleasing to the eye. 

Tliis is about the most important branch of the stock-raiser's business. 
Too many persons pursue the careless mode of the person who wrote the 
following item : 

" In the spring of 1S5S my two cows had bull calves, Avhich I determined 
to raise for sale, and so gave them a good chance to grow, adding an extra 
in the shape of a handful of barley meal, with their feeds of milk. They 
grew finely, or rather Bobby did, for Billy, taking a sudden dislike to sour 
milk, had rather slim rations for the last six weeks before weaning. I told 
him he might starve if he liked, and took no special pains to humor his 
fancies. In September I had an offer of $6 for Bobby, and concluded to 
let him go, but the buyer was behind time about two weeks, and thought 
the additional keeping worth nothing, so I did not turn him off. So, of 
course, Bobby was kept, and grew up to propagate the race of Bob calves." 

78. Calves — Give Ihem Shelter. — It is almost impossible to winter calves 
without shelter ; if they survive tlie winter, they are mere skeletons, and 
have to be lifted up before spring, and never make anything but poor, raw- 
boned, unprofitable stock. Sheep are many times allowed to pick up what 
they can get for half the winter; but the dead lambs, and probably dead 
sheep, that lie scattered over the fields, tell the profit of such a course. 
When protected, all food not required to maintain the natural waste of the 
system goes toward increasing the growth of the animal. To obtain perfect 
form, animals should be kept continually growing until they arrive at 
maturity. They are often turned out in the spring so poor that it requires 
half the summer to make them as good as they were the fall before — a loss 
of three quarters of the year in the growth of the animal. A grazier lately 
said to us, in speaking of such a lot of cattle that he bought, " It took the 
whole summer to soak their hides loose, so that they could begin to grow. 
Tliey seemed as hard and dry as a pair of old boots, and in some spots as 
destitute of hair." 

79. Training Steers. — At the Maine State Fair, a boy of fifteen years, 
from the town of "Woodstock, had a pair of three-year-old steers, which 
obeyed him as an obedient boy will his parents. By a motion of his band 
they would go forward, halt, and return, go to the right or left, kneel down, 
and perform other things, much to the surprise of some older farmers, who 
are m the habit of putting the brad through the hide. At a I^ew York 
State Fair there was a perfect Rarey of an ox-tamer, who practices breaking 
steers for farmers, and as he never treats them inhumanly, he soon has them 
under perfect coutrol, and as bidable as well-trained children. 



62 • DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



SO. Unruly Animals. — As a general rule, our domestic animals are never 
nnruly, except when taught to be so. For instance, some persons, in turning 
stock from one iield to another, only let down a few of the top rails or bars, 
and force the animals to jump over. Too lazy to put up as well as to let 
down, they leave the gap half closed, as a temptation to the stock to jump 
back again. A few practical lessons of this kind make stock unruly. Care- 
lessness in regard to putting up fences when thrown down, or in repairing 
weak spots, confirms the habit. A writer says his practice has always been 
to teach his cows, calves, sheep, and hogs to go through or under, rather 
than over, tlie bars or fences, always leaving a rail or bar up at the top. 
Taught this way, they never think of jumping, and he has never been 
troubled with uin-nly animals, even when his fences were low. 

81. Kindness to Brutes. — No man can afford to be unkind to his domestic 
animals, because animals which are treated the. most kindly are the most 
gentle and obedient, and also tlirive the best; hence, no one can afford to 
use them unkindly. By kindness, mingled with firmness, the most ferocious 
animals are subdued, and it is vain to suppose that the same means would 
not be effectual in training domestic animals. Surely, no one should degrade 
himself by continuing a practice which is both unprofitable and inhuman — 
a practice that makes man the brute instead of the quadruped. There is no 
economy in lialf starving any stock through the winter, and causing them to 
take all the storms without any shelter; but, on the contrary, it is a clear 
waste and loss to the owner. 

82. Shelter for CattiC. — Next to the necessity of an adequate supply of 
food for stock, comes the importance of shelter. It needs no argument to 
prove the truism that animals can not live without food; and it is just as 
certain that our domestic stock, artificially susceptible to the storms and 
changes of our Northern climate, can not thrive without proper shelter. It 
seems now to be well settled, tiiat a due degree of warmth is equivalent, in 
a measure, lo food ; and we all know that an entire abandon to ease and 
comfort, while in a state of rest — a perfect freedom from apprehension of 
any kind, which may arise from a lack of food, or from exposure, or any 
other cause — is necessary to the maximum of thrift or usefulness. 

On old, improved, rich lands, it would be policy in the farmer to stable or 
yard his cattle and horses during the whole year ; but I should prefer yarding 
in the summer season, as more air and room for exercise would be allowed, 
both of which would be conducive to the health of the animals. 

One acre of land, in good condition, sown to corn, and cut and fed from 
the time it begins to tassel until it begins to glaze, will keep six head of 
cattle during the time, and perhaps more — say two months — while it would 
have taken six acres of pasture to keep them the same length of time. 

On farms where tlie pasture is generally the roughest, poorest part of the 
farm, and that which could not be applied as profitably to other purposes — 
on such lands the cattle must be allowed to get their own living in summer. 

The above are excerpta from several ex-cellent essays in the Genesee 



& 



seo. c] feeding cattle and care of farm-stock. 63 

Farmer, and might have been much more extended, only that we have a 
great many other good things to glean from other sources. 

83. Straw for Cattlei — Mr, Johnson says, in a letter to the Oenesee 
Farmer : " You say that I put straw in my boxes for my cows. This is not so. 
No man ever saw me feed straw to cattle, at least for the last twenty -five years. 
If they choose, they can eat the straw spread out for litter, but I never 
compel them to eat straw. I know cattle can be fatted on grain and straw, 
but I don't think so jDrofitably as part grain and part hay, or part oil-cake 
and part hay. Grass is the natural food of sheep and cattle ; and hay made 
from grass, if properly made, puts on fat, even if very little else is fed. I 
am satisfied that either cows or fatting cattle do much better in j'ards, with 
ample sheds and plenty of straw for clean, dry beds. I can not ieed any 
kind of stock profitably unless they have such beds." 

S-i. Winteriug TaUICi — There is yet a good deal of wisdom to be learned 
upon this subject, even by those whose talk is of bullocks, and particularly 
in wintering calves. The one great error is in neglecting them in autumn, 
after the frost has destroyed the sweetness of the grass, and allowing them 
to commence getting poor before winter feeding is commenced. There is no 
error more fatal to success than such neglect. It is often the foundation of 
disease that the animal never recovers from. Tliere is no condition so good 
for an animal going into winter quarters as a thriving fatness; and if that 
can be kept up till mid-winter, the danger of starvation upon very light 
feed in the spring is greatly diminished. It is one of the worst things in all 
farm economy to neglect feeding stock in the full, because it is not yet time 
to begin to fodder. You had better begin in July, if your past,ure fails, 
so that your animals begin to lose flesh. All that is saved of fodder in the 
fall, upon the plea tliat " cattle can shift a while longer," exactly verifies the 
old saw about " saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung." 

85. Feeding PumpkinSi — A subscriber sends a long communication against 
feeding pumpkins to cows. The writer's reasoning is not entirely sound, and 
does not agree with our own experience and observation. As a general rule, 
we are quite sure that pumpkins increase rather than diminish the quantity 
of milk ; and instead of making neat stock grow poor, we have fattened 
large numbers of cattle on pumpkins alone. There is one suggestion in our 
correspondent's letter, however, which may be worthy of attention. He 
refers to the fact that the seeds of pumpkins have a decided diuretic (urine- 
producing) effect upon the human orgaijs, and that if they have the same 
effect upon cows, the excessive flow of urine must necessarily reduce the 
flow of the milky fluid. He advises that when pumpkins are fed, the seeds 
should be taken out. Tlie idea is plausible, and worth being acted on. 

86. Keeping: Stock Warm, and Variety of Food. — Man craves a variety of 
food ; that is, a variety of substances, cither one of which would sustain life, 
but would not be satisfactory. Nature demands the variation, and the mix- 
ing together the several substances. Why ? Simply because no one will 
give all the elements that go to make uj) the animal economy. One article 



64: DOMESTIC ANIiLiLS. [Chap. I. 



furnishes phosphate for bones, which another article is destitute of, yet it 
may contain matter tliat will clothe the bones with muscle. Food that con- 
tains neither fat nor sugar will be found sufficient to keep up the animal 
heat. Food that contained all the elements of bone, muscle, fiber, fat, and 
heftt-producing qualities, might be so concentrated as to be unhealthy. 

A man fed upon pemmican, would have a disposition to eat straw, husks, 
and twigs, or gnaw the bark from trees, to get something to distend the 
stomach and enable it to perform its functions healthily. Let this be thought 
of in feeding domestic animals. It will furnish an easy rule for your 
guidance. Judge them by yourself, and .act accordingly; you will find it 
an easy and sure road to success. We do not for animals, quadruped or 
biped, recommend a variety of food at the same meal — only a change from 
time to time, so as to give variety, and consequently all the elements neces- 
sary to produce growth. 

Never neglect to give your cattle water until you learn to do without it 
yourself, and never oifer them drink where you would .vomit if compelled 
to slake your own thirst. 

I^ever leave a horse, a cow, a sheep, out in a cold winter storm, until 3-ou 
arrive at that condition of unfeelingness that you could endure it yourfolf. 
When you think you could find comfortable shelter under a common rail 
fence, you may leave your cattle there. No domestic animal can ever reach 
the highest state of perfection its nature is capable of unless always kept in 
a healthy, growing condition, in an equable climate, or in warm shelter if 
the inhabitant of a cold one. 

Farmei-s do not j^ay sulficient attention to the warmth of their stock, but 
sufier them to roam about in the open air, exposed to the inclement weather. 
The amount of exercise is another most important point to attend to. The 
more an animal moves about, the quicker it will breathe, and -the more 
starch, gum, sugar, fat, and other respiratory elements it must have in its 
food ; and if an additional quantity of these substances be not given to 
supply the increased demand, the fat and other parts of the body will be 
drawn upon, and the animal Avill become thinner ; also, as before observed, 
every motion of the body produces a corresponding destruction of the mus- 
cles which produce that motion. It is therefore quite evident that the more 
the animal moves about, the more of the heat-producing and flesh-forming 
principle it must receive in its food. Hence we see the propriety of keeping 
our cattle in sheds and yards, and not sufl'ering those (particularly which 
we intend to fatten) to rove about, consuming more food, and wasting away 
more rapidly the various tissues of the body already formed, and making it 
more expensive and diflicult to fiittcn them. 

87. Fattening €attle upon Cay. — Speaking upon this subject, a committee 
of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, of which John Brooks and Paoli 
Lathrop are members, remark : 

" Fattening cattle in winter upon hay alone is a resort of many farmer?, 
and where hay is plenty and distant from maiket, the practice is not incon- 



Seo. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 65 

sistent with economy. If well attended, good animals consuming four per 
cent, of their live weight of good hay daily, will gain daily two pounds of 
flesh. Suppose the flesh gained to be worth 16 cents, it will be equal to $8 
a ton for the hay. The better practice, however, is to give only three per 
cent, of the live weight of the animal in hay daily, and an equivalent for 
the other one per cent, in Indian meal or roots. The gain would be greater 
for tlie same cost of food." 

Another remark worth quoting is the following : 

"The best age for feeding cattle for beef is from four to eight years. 
Young growing cattle may be fattened, but it will require more food in pro- 
portion, and longer time." 

88. How to Feed Roots. — ^There seems to be much diversity of opinion as 
to the value of turnips, carrots, etc., for feeding. One man feeds his hogs a 
great amount of them, but neglects to provide a bed secure from the intru- 
sion of cold M'inds and snow, and then wonders they do not grow ; or feeds 
a cow four bushels per day, and Avonders she does not fat. How could she ? 
She is almost physicked to death, and her urinary organs are injured by 
ovei'-exertion ; and although she is thoroughly littered with straw, still her 
feet are in the water ; and when she lies down, her side is wet. 

After many trials in a similar way, many have come to the conclusion 
that root feeding is an unprofitable business in our climate. If hogs must 
sleep in snow;banks, give them corn by all means, and give them plenty of 
it. If cattle can not be stabled, or kejjt so sheltered that they may be dry, 
then roots will not give one half the return they would under a judicious 
system of management. 

After many trials of fattening sheep and horned cattle, and feeding store 
stock of all kinds with roots, I came to the conclusion that they are all valu- 
able when properly fed with hay and grain, but that their relative value to 
grain is often overrated in this countr}' of cheap com. Roots, unless cooked, 
are not economical food for swine. 

The great error in relation to feeding roots is, that they are too much fed 
to the exclusion of grain. A farmer has shoats to winter, or horned cattle 
to fatten ; he first feeds his turnips, carrots, beets, small potatoes ; next his 
corn or meal. This is wrong. The corn should be fed from the first. A 
dozen shoats of 100 lbs. each would profitably receive a bushel per day of 
roots, if cooked witli corn. A fattening ox should have one bushel, or not 
over two, per day, with six or eight quarts of meal. Cows should have one 
half bushel per day, whether being milked or not. That amount will bring 
them out, in the spring, fat and ready to do good service at the pail, provided, 
of course, that they have hay and stalks in due proportion. Calves and 
yearlings should always liave one fourth bushel per day, with a very small 
allowance of grain. 

The above is partly from the StocTc Jorniial, and the following from the 
Working Farmer ; both of which arc good authority. 

We beg again to remind our readers, particularly tliose who are engaged 



66 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

in dairy and stock farming, to appropriate a full amount of land to root- 
growing. Carrots, beets, turnips, parsiieps, may all be raised with prolit 
wherever stock is to be fed. For horses, carrots are invahiablo. For milch 
cows, they not only furnish a milk of superior flavor, butter of fine color and 
odor, but, when used as a portion of their food, they guarantee a healthful 
condition. The power of the pectic acid of the carrot to gelatinize all veg- 
etable matter held in solution in the stomach, puts its contents in such a 
condition that the peristaltic motion of the intestines can manage it. Flat- 
ulence is prevented, and thorough digestion secured. The dung of the 
horse fed partly on carrots, never contains the undecomposed shell of the 
oat, nor large amounts of starch unappropriated ; and it is for this reason 
that a bushel of oats and a bushel of carrots will do more for the horse than 
two bushels of oats ; and not because the carrot contains as much flesh- 
making material as the oat, but because it causes all the flesh-making ma- 
terial of tlie oat to be appropriated, instead of being voided with the excretia. 
For cows and oxen, other roots may occasionally be substituted with profit, 
as variety to all animals is pleasing in their food ; and no one root should 
be so continuously used. Since the introduction of pulping machines, pulped 
roots mixed with cut hay, cut straw, and other cheap material, add much to 
the economy of the firm as well as to the health of the cattle. 

Si). Feeding Linseed and fotton-seed Oil-CakCi — Never having had per- 
sonal experience enough in feeding oil-cake, having always preferred corn- 
meal, to give an opinion which we would ask others to rely upon, we select 
the following from a lecture by Prof. Voelcker, before the meeting of the 
council of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, in June, 1860. It is 
worthy of attention from all cattle-feeders. He says : 

" It is not my object, in giving a practical turn to the lecture to-day, to 
record any experiments of my own, or in any way to presume to teach the 
feeder of stock in what way he may best expend his money in the purchase 
of food, but I shall endeavor simply to give to the practical man some indi- 
cations whereby I hope he will be enabled to form for himself a trustworthy 
opinion respecting the relative value of difl'erent cakes, and likewise Avhat is 
perhaps of more importance to him, to introduce some remarks ■which will 
enable him to distinguish a good from a bad cake; and in conclusion, shall 
allude briefly to the various substances with which oil-cakes are at the in-es- 
ent time often largely adulterated. 

90. Fat in Food. — " Let me first point out to you some peculiarities in 
the composition of oil-cakes. A reference to their composition is necessary 
to the understanding the remarks which will follow. I would then observe, 
that what characterizes oil-cakes, distinguishing them from all other articles 
of food pre-eminently, is the large amount of oil that is left in the cakes, 
obtained by expression of the oil-seeds. If you glance at the diagram (see 
table on page 71), you will find that they contain a considerable quantity of 
oil — from G to 12 per cent. ; and in some instances, as in the decorticated 
cotton-cake, even 16 per cent, of oil. I may observe at once that the value 



Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM^STOCK. 67 

of oil-cake in a very great measure depends upon the amount of oil which is 
left in the cake. And I may further say, that the tendency of the manufac- 
turer at the present day is to produce an inferior description of cake, inas 
much as improved machinery enables him to squeeze out more oil than 
formerly, and thus to render the refuse less fattening, less valuable to the 
feeder of stock. I am very much inclined to believe that the oil is by far 
the most valuable constituent of all oil-cakes. I am aware that it was the 
fashion, not many years ago, to measure the feeding properties and even the 
fattening qualities of articles of food by the amount of nitrogenous or flesh- 
forming matters ; but these views are not supported by any ^^ractical 
experiments, nor, indeed, by the every-day experience that we have respect- 
ing not only human, but cattle food. We pay more for food rich in starch, 
mucilage, and matters capable of producing fat, tlian we pay for food which, 
like bean-meal, is extremely rich in. nitrogenous matter, but which does not 
produce so much butchers' meat. It is a matter of much importance to the 
farmer to know how much he gets back for the money he expends in the 
purchase of food. I have no hesitation in saying that more money is made 
by the purchase of food rich in oil, starch, or sugar, than in the purchase 
of food which contains an excess of nitrogenous matters. 

91. Flesh iu Food. — " Still, we ought not to leave unnoticed that the 
flesh-forming matters are very important indeed, and that oil-cakes are 
peculiarly rich in them. In one sense they are perhaps most essential — per- 
haps even more essentially necessary than the other constituents of food 
which produce fat, or are employed in the animal economy to keep up the 
animal heat. They are more important in this sense ; whereas the animal or- 
ganization has the power to make fat from gum, sugar, mucilage, and even 
from young cellulose or young vegetable fiber, it has not the power of makino- 
a particle of flesh. Unless, therefore, food is given to animals which contains 
ready-made flesh, an animal can not grow, and the other constituents of food 
remain unavailable. It is in this sense that the nitrogenous matters of food 
are extremely valuable ; but iu a purely practical sense they are not so val- 
uable as the oil, starch, or sugar of food, because by spending a certain amount 
of money in food, we do not get so great a return in tiie shape of butchers' 
meat by purchasing these flesh-forming matters as by purchasing feeding 
substances rich iu oil or starch. However, in speaking of the relative value 
of the various constituents, especially tlie oily and the flesh-forming constit- 
uents, we are not to overlook that tlie quantity of nitrogenous matter M'hich 
is not applied for the formation of flesh, passes through tlie animal, ami is 
obtained again in the dung, with the exception of a small quantity tliat 
escapes by evaporation through the skin or through the lungs. A certain 
quantity of nitrogenous food evaporates through the skin, or with the per- 
spiration ; but by far the largest proportion, according to some experiments, 
nineteen twentieths, of the flesh-forming or nitrogenous matters of food are 
found again in the dung; according to'other.s the amount is seven eighths. 
But, speaking in round numbers, I think we are not far wrong in saying that 



68 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



we may fairly expect three fourths of the iiitrogenized matters of oil-cake back 
again in the manure ; and perhaps we are safe, likewise, in asserting that 
fully one half of the money value of rape and the best cotton cakes is ob- 
tained back again in the manure. So we must not put down these constit- 
uents, which are called nitrogenous, as useless, because they alone do not 
produce much butchers' meat ; nor must we estimate the value of oil-cake 
entirely by the increase in the live weight of cattle fed upon the cake, but 
also, and chiefly, I believe, by the increased value of the manure which is 
produced through the instrumentality of oil-cake. 

92. Bone in Foodi — " I will now direct attention to the inorganic matters 
or ash of oil-cakes. These inorganic matters may be called bone material ; 
for the ash of oil-cakes is particularly rich in phosphates of lime, or the ma- 
terial of which the greater part of the bone is composed. Now, the large 
proportion of oil ; next, the large proportion of flesh-forming matters ; and 
third, a considerable proportion of bone material are characteristics that 
confer a particular value upon oil-cake, either directly as food, or indirectly 
as useful material for increasing the value. of farm-yard manure. For let me 
observe, that oily matters and substances that make butchers' meat are the 
most valuable constituents in all feeding materials, and therefore also in an 
oil-cake. On the other hand, the flesh-forming constituents and the bone- 
forming materials — in other words, the nitrogen and the phosphates of the 
cake — are the two most valuable fertilizing constituents. "VVe have thus in 
oil-cakes, in a concentrated state, materials that produce butchers' meat, 
and, at the same time, yield the most valuable fertilizing constituents. There 
is no other description of food which unites these useful properties. 

93. Linseed-CakCi — ■" You are all aware we distinguish chiefly the follow- 
ing kinds of linseed-cake : English cake, American cake, and foreign cakes. 
Among foreign cakes there are various descriptions. There is the Baltic, 
the Marseilles, the Naples cake, and various others. We have here an ex- 
cellent specimen of good English cake. The English cake is made now of 
two qualities, thick and thin cake ; the latter is made in imitation of the 
American barrel cake, of which specimens are before you. You observe 
how closely the thin English cake resembles the American barrel cake. The 
latter has gained much favor, and therefore the manufacturers in England 
have found it to their advantage to imitate the form in which it is sold. In 
the first place, notice that the American cake occasionally is as bad as 
English and foreign cakes. It is not every description of American cake 
which is good, but generally speaking, as it comes into the market, espe- 
cially the barrel cake, it is of a very superior character. But the question 
whether it is generally superior to the Englisli cake or not, is one which is 
not very readily decided ; you may get English cake quite as good, if not 
better, than the American cake. 

" Some years ago it M-as the fashion to buy the English cake in preference 
to any other, but it is now the fashi&n to buy the American barrel cake. I 
can only account for this by the fact that the English cake, being produced 



Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 69 



in good quality, was rapidly consumed ; the American cake was usually 
sent in a very damaged condition to this country, coming as it did in bags ; 
our sliarp American friends very soon found that they must send their cake 
here in a good condition. They dried it previously to sending it over, and 
imported it in barrels, and this improved condition of the American cake 
greatly increased its re]^utation, which has been kept up ; so that at the pres 
ent time in most markets, American cake, especially the barrel cake, fetches 
a higher price than the English. But a reference to the diagram will show 
you that tliere is no essential diflercnce between good English cake and 
good American ; indeed, if anytliing, the advantage is in favor of the speci- 
mens of English cake. The difference is extremely small. There is the 
same quantity of oil in both cases. The proportion of flesh-forming matters 
is rather larger in the English than in the American. There is the same 
amount of ash in both. The proportion of sa'nd hardly amounts to one per 
cent, in the English cake, and in the American it is only a half per cent. 
These differences are extremely small and unimportant, so that you may 
get, and often do get, as good English cake as American. And occasion- 
ally, also, you get bad American cakes ; but on the whole, the exporters 
of American cake are very jealous as to the kind of article they send to this 
country, especially if they go to the expense of packing it in barrels. 

94. Cotton-rak6> — " We distinguish now principally two kinds of this cake 
— the one made of the wliole seed, and the other of the shelled seed. The 
difi'erencc in the two qualities of cake will at once become intelligible by 
an examination of the seeds, or the raw materials from which the cakes are 
made. The decorticated or shelled cake is made of the kernel of the cotton 
seed ; the whole cake, in which we recognize an abundance of tlie husk, is 
made of the entire seed ; and inasmuch as the cotton seed contains full half 
its weight, and some descriptions contain as mueli as GO per cent, of the hard 
husk, we must not expect that the cake made of the whole seed should be 
so valuable as the decorticated cake. There are several specimens of cotton- 
cake on the table. Tliere is very little value in the husk itself; the difference 
in the two kinds of cotton-cake, then, arises from the different mode in which 
they are made. The one, the decorticated cake, is made from the kernel; 
the otlier kind is made from the whole seed. The difference in the compo- 
sition of the two kinds of cake is very great. Tlie decorticated cotton-cake 
contains IG per cent, of oil (more than any other description of cake), while 
the whole-seed cake contains only 6 per cent. The proportion of albuminous 
or flesh-forming mat' ers in the decorticated cake amounts to 41 per cent. • 
in the whole-seed cake it is only 23 per cent, or just one half So with 
respect to the other constituents, the pmportion of woody fiber is very much 
larger in the whole-seed cake than in the other. The husk in the whole- 
seed cake for a long time was a great impediment to the general use to 
which cotton-cake is now applied in this country. I remember when the 
first cargoes of cotton-cake came into England, before tlie decorticated 
cotton-cake was known ; trials were made of it, which proved quite unsuc- 



70 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



cessful. People did not like it at all, and I believe the cotton-cake would 
never have been extensively used if it had not been for the invention of a 
very useful machine, patented in America, by means of which the hard 
husks can be removed from the kernel. The use of this machine gives us a 
superior oil and a superior cake. The cotton-seed oil made from the kernel 
alone is a very useful article, aud so is the cake, whereas the oil expressed 
from the whole seed is dark-brown in color, and can not be used except for 
the commonest purposes for which oil is employed. The difference in the 
value of the two descriptions of cake is so great, that I almost think two 
tuns of the oil-cake, made of the whole seed, do not go further than one tun 
of the best decorticated cotton-seed cake. Moreover, there is a certain 
danger in using the whole-seed cake. Several cases of so-called poisoning 
have been brought under my notice within the last year or two. Animals 
that have freely partaken of the whole-seed cake have died suddenly, and 
people have imagined that there was something injurious in the husk; but 
examination has shown that the effect produced is very much like that which 
is occasionally produced in the case of boys who die from inflammation of 
the bowels in countries where cherries are very abundant. Being very 
greedy, and eating the cherries with the stones, they get a stoppage of the 
bowels, and so die from inflammation. There is nothing poisonous in the 
husk of the cotton-seed, and when given judiciously, no injury will result; 
but if animals are supplied with an unlimited quantity of dry food with the 
whole seed, there is indeed a danger. The hard husk is indigestible, and 
may roll together in such large masses that inflammation of the bowels ^rll\ 
ensue. There is no such danger, however, in the use of decorticated cotton- 
cake. The decorticated cake occurs of various degrees of quality. And 
allow me to observe, with respect to all kinds of cake, that not only the 
composition, but, even in a higher degree, the condition of the cake, deter- 
mines in a great measure its value. I have here a specimen which you 
would hardly recognize as of the same description as another specimen also 
on the table, of a very beautiful character ; it is the same kind of cake, only 
it is in a bad condition. I say, then, the condition of a cake determines 
everything. 

95. Condition of fakei — " Some time ago I was very much gratified in 
finding what great care Mr. Stratton, of Broad Hinton, a celebrated short- 
horn breeder, takes in selecting the very best of American barrel cake for 
his stock. We often forget that animals liave appetites as we have, and that 
they like food in a good condition better than food in a bad one. The com- 
position of two samples of the same food may not vary much, }-et the prac- 
tical effect produced by them may vary exceedingly. There is nothing 
remarkable in this, for we know that if we get good, wholesome bread, which 
is one or two days old, we do well upon it ; but if it remains in a damp 
cellar and gets moldy, stale, and moist, it loses its fine flavor, and in this 
condition may do us harm. So it is with stale, moldy cakes. Animals 
never do well on very old cakes. In examining, therefore, the diflerent 



Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 71 

cakes, we ought to examine particularly their condition. I allude especially 
to the examination of cotton-cake, because every person lias the means of 
examining its condition with very little trouble. It is not so easy to examine 
the condition of linseed ; it presupposes an extensive acquaintance with 
various descriptions of linseod-cake. You must have seen a great many 
samples of cake before you can give a trustworthy opinion. Not so with 
decorticated cotton-cake. In this the color affords an excellent criterion as 
to its freshness. Tiie freshest cotton-cake is as yellow as' mustard. I hold a 
piece of cake in my hand, the exterior of which is brown ; but if I cut away 
a portion, you will observe that the interior is bright yellow — very different 
from the part that has been exposed to the air. This was an excellent cake 
when we first got it for feeding purposes, and we are feeding it extensively 
on our farm at Cirencester. When we first had it, it was of a bright yellow 
color ; but you observe how it has since changed. From this we may learn 
a very useful lesson, that we may take the color as a guide to the condition 
and age of the cakes. If we are presented with a cake which is as brown 
as the specimen before me, and if you find on cutting it that the brown color 
has penetrated deep into the interior, we may at once conclude that it is a 
stale old cake. The deeper it has penetrated, the older the cake, and the 
more it has suffered by bad keeping. If it is kept in a damp place, its color 
and condition are raj)idly deteriorated. 

COMPOSITION OF LINSEED AND OF OIL CAKES. 

T j««_«^ 'Kr..nt...^ Cotlon-seed cake PoppT- 

Llnsecd. Lms^d- Eope-cnke. ""'i"''' mode of seed 

™''^- '^""- whole seed. cake. 

Water 7.50 12.44 10.68 11.90 11.19 11.53 

Oil 34.00 12.79 11.10 6.69 9.08 5.75 

Flesh-forming matters 24.44 27.69 29.53 23.48 25.16 31.40 

Heat-giving constituents 30.73 40.95 40.90 52.14 48.93 38.18 

Inorganic mattera (ash) 3.33 6.13 7.79 5.79 5.64 12.98 



lOO.OO 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 

96. Salt for StOCk< — A great deal has been written upon the use of salt 
for animals, and much reasoning employed to prove various positions ; but 
very few accurate experiments have been made. Loose and general observ- 
ations have been the basis for most of the opinions formed. A certain 
quantity of salt is unquestionably useful ; an excess is as certainly hurtful. 
The proper amount is what we want to have determined. All ordinary food 
of animals contains more or less salt — as, for example, a tun of barley or 
oats straw, and of some kinds of hay, contains six pounds of salt ; a tun of 
carrots contains four pounds. We can not, therefore, speak of animals eating 
no salt — they all partake of it, but we wish to know the right quantity. 

The Genesee 'Farmer, from which we have frequently extracted useful 
facts, and to which we are indebted for the next half dozen, says of salt for 
cattle feeding for the shambles : 

" We have had our doubts whether it was good economy to allow animals 
feeding for the hiitcher the free use of salt. Salt is doubtless conducive to 
health, favoring the formation of bile, and aiding in carrying efi'ete matter 



72 DOMESTIC ANIMiVLS. [Chap. I. 



from the system ; but there is no reason to suppose that it favors the accu- 
mulation of fat. Liebig, indeed, asserts that ' the ahsence of common salt is 
favorahh to the formation of fat,'' and that the ' fattening of an animal is 
rendered impossible, when we add to its food an excess of salt, although 
short of the quantity required to pr()duce a purgative effect.' Recently, 
however, in allusion to experiments made since the publication of the work 
in which the above sentences occur, Liebig says: 'Salt does not act as a 
producer of flesh ; but it neutralizes the injurious actions of the conditions 
which must be united in the unnatural state of animals fed or fattened in 
order to produce flesh; and (he advantages attendiiig its use caxi hardly be 
estimated too highly.' 

" Boussingault is also in favor of salt. Two lots of steers were fed thirteen 
months, one with and one without salt. The average weight per head of 
the salted lot, at the commencement of the experiment, was 995 lbs. ; at the 
end of thirteen months, 2,090 lbs. Increase, 1,135 lbs. They consumed per 
head 15,972 lbs. of hay. One tun of hay, therefore, produced 143 lbs. of 
increase of animal. 

" The second lot, which received no salt, averaged at the commencement 
of the experiment 896 lbs. ; at the end of thirteen months, 1,890 lbs. 
Increase, 994 lbs. They consumed per head 14,553 lbs. of hay, or one tun 
of hay produced 137 lbs. of increase of animal. 

" The steers receiving salt produced six pounds more increase for each tun 
of hay consumed than those which were not allowed salt. This may be 
considered only a slight advantage, and in France did not pay the cost of 
the salt ; in this country, however, where salt is much cheaper, its use will 
doubtless be profitable. Boussingault remarks : ' The salt exercises no con- 
siderable influence on the growth, yet it appears to exert a beneficial efliect 
on the appearance and condition of the animal.' Up to the first fourteen 
days no perceptible diflbrence was observed between the two lots ; but in the 
course of the month following, the diS"erence was visible, even to the 
unpracticed eye." 

With such good authority, it is presumed feeders will continue the use of 
salt ; but let us give them this one word of caution — do not give it in excess. 
If you can not get rock-salt, or if that is too expensive, mix fine salt with 
soft clay, and dry that in large cakes, and lay them under cover for the cattle 
to lick. 

97. Rock-Salt. — We reiterate that rock-salt is not only the most econom- 
ical, but the most convenient for the farmer to salt his cattle, since it can be 
placed where they can lick it at their leisure, and there it will remain, sum- 
mer and winter ; the rains have very little efiect upon it while in a lump, 
as it comes from the quarry, it being really what its name indicates, a piece 
of rock. When broken fine it dissolves easily, but not before. 

A farmer who has the least idea of economy should learn how much he 
can save in a year, or a lifetime, by the simple operation of substituting rock- 
salt in place of that in ordinary use for farm-stock. A lump of rock-salt 



Seo. g.] feeding cattle and care of farm-stock. 73 

may be placed in any out-door situation, wliere cattle can go and lick it 
whenever their apjictite inclines them to do so, and it will not waste by 
exposure to dew or rain, because it is not hygrometric, as is the manufactured 
salt in common use. Another thing in its favor is this — your stock, with 
salt always before them, will never cat too much. Neither will they cat it 
too fast, as they almost always do when salted with fine salt ; nor waste it 
by scattering it in the dirt, or leaving it to dissolve and sink into the earth. 
Another difficulty is obviated by the use of rock-salt constantly within reach 
of stock, and that is, the hooking and punching of the weaker animals by 
the strong ones, in fighting their way to the once-a-week, or perhaps once- 
a-month, salting-place. 

Ilock-salt is a mineral as much as marble, and almost as solid and hard, 
and is quarried out of mines, like coal or other mineral substances. The 
most extensive salt mines are at Cracow, in Poland, where there are regular 
cartways, streets, and villages of miners' huts, where men, women, and 
children, and domestic animals live deep down in the earth. Our principal 
supply of rock-salt comes from Cheshire, England, where there are extensive 
mines. In its mineral state, the salt is of a slightly reddish color, and dingy 
white, and some of it needs to be melted and purified for culinary purposes. 
The purest portion may be reduced at once to powder by breaking and 
grinding, and is then quite white. The salt known here as Liverpool salt is 
refined rock-salt from the Cheshire mines. 

A lump of rock-salt as big as a man's head may be fixed by pins upon a 
rock or block, where the water will not stand around it, and it will remain 
until all licked away by the cattle's tongues. In case of stock in stables, a 
lump may be placed in each manger. 

98. Bones for AnimalSt — A good deal has been lately said about feeding 
animals with bone-meal. We give several opinions upon the subject : 

E. C. Wright, of Gallatin County, 111., states, on the authority ^if the Rev. 
John Crawford, of Crawford, in that county, that the bones of swine dying 
with what is called hog cholera, decay as rapidly as the flesh, and that portions 
of the skin outlast the bones. He wants scientific men to give attention to 
this strange consumption of the solids, and thinks that it may be the means 
of suggesting a remedy for the disease so fatal and so pecuniarily distressing 
to a vast number of farmers in the "West. Now, as we know that feeding 
bone-meal to animals and phosphate of lime to plants that need it, has 
proved beneficial, is it impossible or improbable that feeding it to swine 
suftering from a disease that produces the eflTect described, may not be the 
means of curing or preventing the disease ? 

Dr. Waterbury says : " Tliere are some new theories in relation to feeding 
phosphates to animals. It is possible that this may have some eflect. There 
is an idea prevailing that feeding material that makes bones will increase 
their size. It is a subject well worthy of more attention." 

Prof. Mapes states that, when a calf is deficient in bone, that is, too weak 
to stand, feeding bone-meal to the cow that suckles the calf will furnish it 



T4 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



with the necessary material. This fact is well known to many farmers, and 
that cows eat old bones with great avidity. "We also know that physicians 
are using a solution of phosphate of lime in their practice, and there is no 
doubt it may be administered to domestic animals with equally good effect; 
and whether, in the case named, it worked a cure or not, it is well worth 
trying. Many things much more simple have produced wonderful results. 

99. Water for Stocki — See that your stock have an abundance of clear, 
good water in hot weather. If it is pumped from wells, it should always be 
standing in boxes or troughs, so that stock can have access to it. Select, for 
hot days, fields with jjlenty of shade trees in them, to protect stock from the 
burning sun. Pastures should always contain shade trees, and they should 
be planted, if not there. 

Mr. Strawn, the great Illinois farmer, has successfully tried this method 
of keeping water on a stock farm : 

Dig a basin five or ten rods square, and ten feet deep, upon a high knoll ; 
feed corn in the basin to your hogs and cattle, until it is well puddled by 
the tramping of their feet, which will make it almost water-tight. Mr. 
Strawn says the rains of a single winter sufliced to accommodate several 
hundred head of stock, and that it had been dry but once in twelve years. 

For watering at the barn, in all situations where digging wells is expen- 
sive, cisterns should be provided, if running water from some brook or 
spring can not be brouglit in pipes, or sent up by a water-ram. 

100. Cliafiing Food for Stock. — There is no disputing the fact that chaffing 
food, particularly all coarse forage, will pay well, where it is as dear as it is 
in the vicinity of New York. At the State Fair Farmers' Club, at Elmira, 
October, 1860, the following opinions were given upon the subject: 

A. B. Dickenson said : " On good hay you can fat cattle, but you can not 
upon corn-stalks, but they are better than poor hay. I can not make an 
acre of corn-stalks as good as an acre of grass. If you want to raise a big 
crop of corn, put on barn-yard manure year after year on grass, and after- 
ward plow it in and make it mellow and rich, sixteen inches deep, and then 
corn will never exhaust the soil. Corn-stalks must always be chaflTed to 
obtain their full value." 

Col. Butterfield, of Utica, said: "Up to two or three years ago, I thought 
but little of corn-fodder. I then cut the top stalks ; now I cut up by the 
ground, and my cattle do first-rate on corn-stalks till March. To get the 
greatest benefit from corn-stalks, they must be chaffed and steamed." 

Hon. T. C. Peters, of Darien, N. Y., said : " I grow corn for fodder as well 
as grain, and cut up from the ground, and chaff the stalks for feeding. Tliere 
is no other feed for milch cows in winter equally valuable if it is well cured 
and then chafied ; and if steamed, it is still better." 

Mr. Lyman Barnard, of Steuben County, said : " I cut up my corn from 
the ground, and cut the stalks up fine in a stalk-cutter, and mix with cut 
straw, and I find my cattle and horses do as well, or better, than upon good 
timothy hay." 



Seo. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 75 

Mr. Plumb, of Onondaga County, said : " We don't raise any crop as val- 
uable as corn, and we do raise good wheat. I foddered 150 sheep and 12 
cows till March upon ten acres of corn-stalks, allowing the stock to run at a 
straw-stack besides. I raise the large eight-i'owed yellow corn with a small 
oob, and like it better than Button corn. It yields better than any white 
corn." 

It is the opinion of some really scientific men we have conversed with 
upon the subject, that in all places where hay usually sells as high as $20 a 
tun, and power is not unusually expensive, that it would pay, not only to 
chaff all hay, stalks, straw, etc., but actually to grind these substances into 
meal — not very fine, to be sure, but so that none of the particles would be 
more than an eighth of an inch in length. "We saw, a few years ago, the 
model of a newly-invented mill that was most admirably well calculated for 
doing such work as reducing hay and straw to meal. It was the invention 
of Mr. Blanchard, of Boston. 

Flint, in his " Dairy Fanning," in speaking of feeding milch cows, says : 
" One of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of 
milking — which I prefer — or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting 
of hay, oats, millet, or corn-stalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian, linseed, 
or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot 
or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows 
will generally give down the milk more readily. The stalls and mangere 
ought always to be well cleaned out first." 

101. Nutritive Value of Various Kinds of Fodder. — The following tables 
will be useful, as showing the relative value of various substances : 

^-Percentage of Nitrogen. — , 
Net. equivalent. Dried. Undried. 

1. Meadow hay 100 1.34 1.15 

2. Red clover hay 75 1.70 1.54 

3. Bye-straw 479 0.30 0.24 

4. Oat-straw 383 0.36 0.30 

5. Wheat-straw 426 0.36 0.27 

6. Barley-straw 460 0.30 0.25 

7. Pea-straw 64 1.45 1.79 

The following is the composition of these several substances, in which 
their relative value will more distinctly appear : 

•Water. Woody fiber. S'a'g'^h^O""'. ^^^^I^'J^ Fatty matter. Saline matter. 

14 30 40 7.i 2 to 5 5 to 10 

14 25 40 9.3 3 to 5 9 

12 to 15 45 38 1.3 — 4 

12 45 35 1.3 0.8 6 

12 to 15 50 30 i.3 2 to 3 5 

12 to 15 50 30 1.3 — 5 

10 to 15 25 45 12.3 1.5 4 to 6 

From these tables it will be seen that, taking good English or meadow 
hay as the standard of comparison, and calling that one, 4.79 times the 
weight of rye-straw, or 3.83 times the weight of oat-straw, contains the same 
amount of nutritive matter ; that is, it would take 4.79 times as much rye- 
straw to produce the same result as good meadow hay. 



76 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Chap. I. 



NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS. (Practical and Tiieoketical. ) 



ARTICLES OF POOD. 



English hay 

Lucern 

Red clover hay 

Eed clover (green) . . . 

Rye-3traw 

Oat-3traw 

Carrot-leaves (tops). .. 

Swedish turnips 

Mnngel-nf urzf I 

White siliciaa beet . . . 

Carrots 

Potatoes 

Potatoes kept in pits.. 

Beans 

Peas 

Indian corn 

Buclcwbeat 

Barley 

Oats 

Eve 

Wheal 

Oil-cake (linseed) 



THEORETICAL VALUES. 



BOLeBlNCAl'LT. 






11.0 
16.6 
10.1 
T6.0 
18.7 
21.0 
70.9 
91.0 

85.6 
87.6 
7.5.9 
76.3 
7.9 
8.6 
18.0 
12.5 
13.2 
12.4 
11.5 
10.5 
18.4 



1.S4 
1.66 
1.70 

.80 

.86 

2.94 

1.83 

1.43 

2.40 
1.50 
1.18 
5.50 
4.20 
2.00 
2.40 
2.02 
2.22 
2.27 
2.33 
6.0O 



l.li. 

1.8S 

1.54 

.64 



.24 (479 

.30 am 

.85 I 135 
.17 676 



.18 

.30 

.86 

.80 

6.U 

8.S4 

1.64 

2.10 

1.76 

1.92 

2.00 

2.09 

6.20 



1 to 6.08 



1 to 24.40 
1 to 12.50 



1 to 7.26 

1 to 7. 84 

1 to 9.00 

1 to 2.8 

I to 2.14 

1 to 6.55 

1 to 6.05 

1 to 4.25 

1 to 4.118 

1 to 4.42 

1 to 2.43 



100 
77.9 



527 7-12 
415 5-12 



891i 

542.1 
S3u 6-12 

84 5-12 
S4J 

93 6-12 

58 11-12 
. 58 1-16 
38 5-6 



Practical TalusBf as obtained by experlmeuts Id 
leedius, ftccgi'diog to 



89J 

33 
27 
42 



100 
90 
90 

600 
200 

300 
4O0 

2.^0 
200 



100 



54 
64 
62 
64 
61 
71 
65 
52 
108 



100 

90 

90 

460 

1.50 666 I 350 
150 19J ! 200 

— 800 I 250 
250 460 250 



225 
150 



300 I 250 
200 • 200 



100 
101 
100 



400 



270 
200 



BoUHnin- 
gft'ill. 



100 



267 
2 



866{ 



8"0 
200 



SO 
80 



85 

37t 

831 

80 

43 



Oats in the bun(ile, well cut up, straw and all, make excellent, cheap feed 
for horses or other stock ; in many cases it is much better than threshing 
them. For heavy teams hard at work, a little sound corn-meal mixed wet 
with them, makes a feed that can not well be beaten. It is a highly econ- 
omical and satisfactory way of feeding, both to man and beast, where oats 
sell at a low price by the busliel. 

103. A Treatise ou Feeding. — A valuable treatise on feeding, which might 
be studied with profit by all farmers, has been made by Mr. Horsefall, an 
English farmer, and published in the journal of the Eoyal Agricultural 
Society, which may be found complete as an appendix to Flint's " Dairy 
Farming." 

103. Soiling Cattle* — Soiling is a term applied to the iiractice of confining 
animals to the stable, and growing a green crop, such as sowed corn, sorgo, 
wheat, rye, or oats, clover, etc., which is cut up as needed, and carried to the 
animals, instead of allowing them to have the range of the pastures. Mr. 
Philo Gregory, of Chester, Orange Co., N. Y., sowed a patch of half an 
acre, with corn for fodder, making the rows thirty inches apart. With the 
product he kept twenty-five cows for six ^oeels without other food. 

The most extensive and successful system of soiling is pursued by Hon. 
Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston, who has published a small volume giving 
details of his practice. One of the great advantages of soiling is the saving 
of manure, the quantity being largely increased over that made by an equal 
number of cattle at pasture, or fed in the ordinary way. We recommend 
any one disposed to attempt the soiling system to read Mr. Quiney's book. 

104. Diseases of €attle< — We shall not attempt to give a treatise upon the 



Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 77 

diseases of cattle and the remedies ; for this, we must refer the reader to 
Dr. Dadd, veterinary surgeon, Boston, and his vahiable writings, as well as 
several other good publications, not forgetting the Stock Journal, New 
York. We will give, however, the following sensible remarks upon one 
of the most common diseases, or symptoms of disease, from Thos. E. Hatch, 
Keeue, N. II. 

105. The Horn Ail. — Mr. Hatch says : " ' Horn Ail,' or ' Hollow Horn,' 
is an absurd misnomer for an imaginary disease in many cases, and for a 
symptom of fever in others. Many a farmer has reluctantly ' cut off one 
inch,' or more, from the tail of a beautiful animal, when it was turned out 
to pasture, under the erroneous impression that it would do better, 'for the 
hair hung in curls,' although the animal was in perfect liQaltli and good 
condition, and needed no remedy of any kind. In fever, the degree of 
arterial excitement is estimated in part by the heat at the base of the horn, 
which is very thin, and covers the most vascular bone in the animal, thereby 
displaying symptoms of great value to those capable of appreciating them. 

" But even in fever there can never be the slightest occasion for ' cutting 
off one inch of the tail,' nor for pourmg hoiling loater upon the horns of a 
suffering animal until he ^dodges' A cathartic of epsom or glauber salts, 
sulphur or linseed-oil, comfined with ginger, red pepper, or any stimulant 
aromatic, will do all the good, and much more, than the slight bleeding from 
the cut can do, and not leave the animal to thump its sides the remainder 
of its life with a mutilated stamp, a living monument that all the darkness 
of the dark ages has not yet passed away. 

" The liope tliat I may be the means, in a single case, of preserving intact 
one of the beauties of the bovine race, to the unfortunate animal suffering 
from ' Horn Ail' or ' Tail Sickness,' is the only apology that I can offer for 
this communication. I would as soon knock off the horn, or slit tlie ears of 
a favorite animal, as to ' cut off one inch of the tail,' and should have as 
good physiological reasons for so doing. The disfigurement in either case 
would be about equal, but the inconvenience which the animal would suffer 
from the loss of the long, silky brush so kindly furnished by nature, espe- 
cially in ' fly time,' would be immeasurably greater." 

Tlie Ohio Iteiruma, an ounce to a dose, given in whisky a few times to 
a cow with this disease, is recommended as a valuable cure. In our opinion, 
good feed and warm stables as a preventive are worth more than all the cures. 

106. Cure of Scours in Cattle. — An English farmer recommends the use 
of acorn-meal as a sure cure of diarrhea in horned cattle, sheep, and lambs, 
and young stock generally. He says : 

" I sent the dried acorns to the mill to be ground into flour, and when I 
found symptoms of scour or diarrhea in my cattle, I ordered two handfuls 
to be mixed in a bran mash, and given warm immediately, and to continue 
it once a day, until the disease disappeared. Tliis proved a never-failing 
cure — insomuch that I never had any trouble from the disease afterward ; 
and my neighbors, seeing this, liad recoui"se to me for a little of my acorn 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

flour, when the disease appeared in their cattle, which, of course, I was glad 
to give them, the result being the same as in my own case." 

107. To Cure Lice oa Cattle. — Some farmers have great faith in the 
efficacy of onions for ridding cows or oxen of lice. Mr. Roe, of Orange 
County, N. Y., claims to have found them an infallible remedy in his prac- 
tice. They also give a tone to the stomach, and are especially valuable in 
hot Aveathei', when working cattle will lie in the shade at noon-time, and 
refuse to eat. Mr. Roe i;ses the " scullions," or small, unsalable onions, and 
those which become soft or sprouted toward spring. lie gives a feed of half 
a peck once a daj-, at noon, and says that two feeds are sufficient to extirpate 
any number of vermin. 

A correspondent recommends tlie following remedy for lice or ticks : " One 
tablespoonful of sulphur to one pint of salt, mix thoroughly together, and 
feed to cattle or sheep once a week, in quantities, as we usually feed cattle, 
for two months in succession, and there will be no ticks or lice on them." 

108. Cattle Poisoned with Brine. — Many farmers have learned to their 
sorrow that old brine, placed within tlie reach of hogs, cattle, and perhaps 
other fiirm stock, will cause death ; and as there are others who may not have 
learned this fact, we now place it on record for their benefit. "We will also 
give the results of certain investigations made at the Veterinary School, at 
Ayort, France, by M. Reynal, which throw additional light upon the subject. 
It is ascertained that the poisonous properties of brine are not immediately 
acquired ; but it assumes this condition only after it has been in contact for 
several months with the meat, when, if mixed with the food of stock, even 
in small quantities, it will produce death ; but when hogs and other stock can 
get to it, unmixed with food, its efiects are still more speedily fatal. The 
poison acts as a local irritant, exciting violent intestinal co'ngestion and 
inflammation. It likewise increases the secretion of the skin and kidneys, 
and exerts a direct eflfect upon the nervous system, giving rise to trembling, 
loss of sensation, convulsions, etc. 

The salt of the worst brine may be saved in a pure state by boiling the 
brine and carefully skimming off" all the scum. The remainder may then be 
used as brine, or reduced to salt by still more boiling. 

109. ("attic Poisoued by Wild flierry Leaves.— It is not an unusual thing 
for cattle to be poisoned with the leaves of the common wild cherry-tree, 
which are almost sure death if eaten in a wilted state, unless a remedy is 
immediately administered. The most convenient, ready remedy which a 
farmer can use is hog's lard and molasses, mixed in about equal quanti- 
ties, by melting the lard and warming the molasses. It should be given in 
doses of a pint or a quart, by means of a black bottle, pouring it well down 
the animal's throat. 

110. Overstocking the Farm. — Tliis is about the worst practice in farming, 
as regards stock, either in summer or winter. It is not only unprofitable to 
keep useless animals, such as horses or oxen, but if you are overstocked, the 
whole must deteriorate. There is nothing about a farm that has a more 



Seo. c] feeding CxVttle and care of farm-stock. 79 

distressed appearance than half-starved auimals, and there is nothing about 
farming that is more unprofitable. Even the manure accumulated from 
such stock is far less valuable than that saved from well-fed animals. 

The most important thing in farm-stock is a good team, and that should 
be the iirst consideration. Have a team or teams sutficient to do all your 
work, except some particular things, such as threshing, and for such extra 
work have a standing arrangement, if possible, with a neighbor to exchange 
team work. You can not afford to keep any extra team. You may be 
overstocked in any other kind of animals with less damage than working 
ones, but you can in no way afford to do without enough of them, and the 
better they are, the better it will be for you. Farm-stock must be adapted 
to circumstances to bo profitable. When milk sells at two cents a quart, at 
or near the farm, milch cows are profitable stock, because if one average five 
quarts a day, her milk will bring $36 50 a year, and some of the milch dairy 
cows near New York double that. Tlie average we have heard estimated 
at $-15 for all the cows kept on a farm. We have known the profit of 
grazing a herd of fatting bullocks through the season often to range from 
$38 to $40 a head, but we could not recommend every one to go into the 
business, because it requires skill in buying, keeping, and selling that all do 
not and are not likely to possess. In all cases farm-stock should be adapted 
to circumstances, and' there is certainly a want of judgment in this respect 
that is amazing. Men in Mississippi have tried to raise fine-wool sheep 
suited to Yermont, and men in Vermont have tried to use mules for farm- 
work, instead of their own hardy breed of horses, because they had read 
that they were much the most economical for farm-work in all the Southern 
States. The pastures of New England are noted for their sweet grass and 
excellent red cattle ; and the blue-grass fields and fat Durhams of Kentucky 
are equally noted, and all should know that it would not serve either section 
to advantage to exchange breeds of cattle. The adaptability of stock to the 
farm is a subject tiiat we do not wish to dictate upon, but we ask reasonable 
men to take counsel with reason, and apply that in all cases to their own 
cii'cumstances. • 

111. Imported vs. IVativc Stocki — Eobert Purvis, of Byberry, Penn., has 
a farm in a high state of cultivation, one of the best in Pennsylvania, and 
consequently, in our opinion, his ideas are entitled to a share of our respect. 
He says : 

"For many years I have made it my business, as it has been my pleasure, 
to do what I could to promote the improvements of farm-stock. My chief 
attention has been given to cows, hogs, and fowls, though I have not been 
unmindful to other varieties. Of cows, I have raised the Durham, Ayr- 
shire, and the Devonshire ; of hogs, the Berkshire and the Suffolk ; and of 
fowls, a great variety. I have confined my attention chiefly to those of for- 
eign growth or origin. That I have succeeded as well as others, may be 
inferred from the fact that at the various shows I have taken a fair share of 
the premiums. Nevertheless, my success, though encouraging, has not been 



80 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

altogether satisfactory ; that is, it lias not proved to me that any of these 
foreign breeds, whether of cows, hogs, or fowls, are the best that we can 
liave in this country, or are just the thing we want. On the contrary, it has 
demonstrated to me quite tlie oj^posite, viz. : Tliat before we can attain the 
desired success in tliis field of experiment, we must give more attention than 
we are now giving to animals which are the growth of our oicn soil. .Kot 
that I would undervalue the advantages of importing the best varieties of 
foreign breeds, for too much praise can not be rendered those public-spirited 
men who spend their money liberally in bringing to our shores the best 
specimens they can obtain of European animals ; but, at the same time, too 
little credit may be given to others who are doing what they can to improve 
our native breeds. 

" I don't know how it may be with others, but according to my experience 
and observation, there is an unvarying tendency in all imported stock to 
deterioration. Whether it is owing to the climate, or soil, or what, I 
don't pretend to eay ; but this tendency to degenerate in all foreign animals, 
whatever pains may have been taken with them, has been, according to my 
knowledge, without an exception. Now, assuming this to be true, which, 
understand me, I do not aver, the question arises : "Would it not be better for 
us, in trying to improve our stock, to make our selections for the purpose 
without regard to the animal's origin? In milch cows, for instance, ought 
we not to choose the finest-looking animal and best milker we can find, 
whether native, imported, or mixed ? and ought we not to see that the off- 
spring are the product of a sire chosen on the same j)rinciple ? Is it not 
likely, and does not experience, so far as it has been made, show that the 
tendency of this sort of breeding is to a continual improvement in the stock? 
I would ask the same questions in regard to hogs, fowls, horses, sheep, and 
all other kinds of animals. In other words, ought Ave not to make more ac- 
count of our native breeds, and seek, by judicious crossing and care in other 
respects, to attain the end which we have not yet reached in the matter of 
stock-raising ?" 

Do farmers generally sufficiently appreciate the reason why imported or 
high-bred cattle look" so much better than the natives ? Is it not because 
one class is high-fed as well as high-bred, and treated with the greatest pos- 
sible care, while many of the poor natives are treated with the greatest 
possible neglect — exposed to storms, summer and winter, and kept upon 
short pasture while it is possible for the animals to get a living, and then 
grudgingly fed coarse herbage to carry them alive through the winter. 
With such treatment, the poor natives have no fair chance to compete with 
the pampered stock lately imported ; yet, with equally good treatment and 
constant care in breeding, we believe as good cattle may be raised up out 
of some of the natives as can be found among those imported and maintained 
at such great extra expense. At least, we believe that if as much care liad 
been bestowed on our native stock as has been on tlie imported breeds for the 
last thirty years, the natives would now be nearly equal to the imported. 



PLATE VI. 

(Page 81.) 

The subject of feeding swine is treated of in Section II., but to 
enable readers to understand the style of the different breeds, fed 
to a condition for show, we have preferred to direct his attention to 
this picture rather than to a written description. Upon the left 
hand he will see representatives of the Berkshire, black and white. 
In the center are the beautiful white, thin-haired Suffolk, and on 
the right the black, thin-haired Essex, a favorite breed in England, 
lately introduced into this country. Indeed, all three of these 
named are favorite English breeds. On the right, in the rear, an 
American breed, the Chester , County, is represented. All that is 
known of the history of this breed is briefly told in ^ 13. This 
picture of four families of swine is equal to any other ever printed. 
It is worthy of careful attention. 

Above the swine, as they always should be, in the estimation of 
farmers, are the sheep, showing good representatives of the three 
great famihes of long wool, fine wool, and medium. On the right, 
the long-wool variety, under the name of Cotswold, are well repre- 
sented. In the center, the pair of merinos stand as fair types of 
the fine wool, and are handsome portraits of the large-sized sheep 
of this variety. The noble South Downs on the left show what this 
breed looks like. Their black faces and legs and round, full bodies 
are characteristics of the family. Altogether, these four families of 
swine and three of sheep make a picture that is not to be passed 
lightly over. 



Seo. 7.] 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



81 



Wliy eliould we import hogs ? All the improved English breeds are 
made tip. And wliy we can not just as well make a breed here that shall 
suit our circumstances, and need no acclimating, we can not imagine. Tlie 
fecundity of pigs gives the breeder a greater facility in improving his hogs 
than he possesses with any other large domestic animal. Let him have an 
object in view and steadily pursue it for a few years, and success and great 
profit are certain. 



Zv^^^^ 




SECTION VII.-SHEEP HUSBA^DRY, 

reeds of English Sheep.— At a recent meeting of 
the Central Farmers' Club at London, Mr. Charles 
Howard delivered an address on the subject of 
"The Merits of Pure-Bred and Cross-Bred Sheep." 
Li tliis address he gave the origin and merits of 
several of tlie "established" breeds. We condense as 
follows : 

SouTHDOWNS. — "The South, or Sussex Downs, are de- 
scended from small, gray, and dark-faced sheep whicli 
were found on the hilly and mountainous districts throuo-li- 
out England. John Ellman was the original improver. 
He was followed and surpassed b}' Jonas Webb, who has 
made the Southdown perfect. The peculiarity of this sheep is its supe- 
rior quality of mutton and wool. Average weight, from thirteen to fifteen 
months, is 12G lbs. ; weight of fleece, 6 lbs. The ewes are capital breeders, 
and generally produce one third twins. They are best adapted to elevated 
situations and bare pasturage. Among the nobility and fancy farmers they 
are regarded as the elite of sheep. 

IL Hampshire Downs. — "This valuable sheep has been established fronj 
various crosses, commencing with the century. They present as great a 
uniformity in wool, color, and general appearance as their smaller but hand 
somer cousins, the Southdowns. They have risen into favor i-apidly. Thev 
are very hardy, and of good constitutions, and good wool-bearers, the aver- 
age fleece being 6 to 7 lbs., of early maturity, and have plenty of lean as 
well as fat meat, and will graze to almost any weight you may choose to 
make them. The ewes are good breeders and sucklers. 

in. Leicesters. — "Tliese originated with Bakewell. To this breed all 
other long-wooled sheep are indebted for their improved shape and greater 
disposition to fatten. Their chief characteristics are, great aptitude to fatten 
with a comparatively small consumption of food, and early maturity ; fleece, 
7 lbs. ; carcass, at fourteen or fifteen months, 140 lbs. They are not very 
good breeders, and it is a rare thing to have more lambs than ewes. 

IV. The Cotswold. — " This is one of the oldest of the established breeds. 



82 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



They were originally lieavy, coarse animals, with a thick, heavy fleece, well 
adapted to the bleak, iininclosed Cotswold hills. They are now very hardy, 
and will succeed well in almost any situation, and produce a great amount 
of wool and mutton at an early age. They sometimes reach 86 lbs. to the 
quarter. Tlie average weight of an ordinary flock when flt for the butcher, 
at fourteen or fifteen months old, is about 180 lbs., and the weight of wool 
of the whole flock would be about 1\ lbs. each. Many of these sheep ai"e 
now being exported to Australia to produce mutton for the miners. 

V. LiNcoLNsniKES. — " As the western part of Great Britain is famous for 
its Cotswolds, so is the northeastern esteemed for the iieavy-woaled and 
large-framed Lincolns, to which district they especially belong, and where 
for many years they held their own. They, like the Cotswolds, have been 
improved by an admixture of Leicester blood. The present improved Lin- 
coln sheep partakes largely of the peculiarities of the Cotswold and Leices- 
ter, having the expansive frame and nobility of appearance of the one, with 
the quality of flesh, compactness of form, beauty of countenance, and pro- 
pensity to fatten of the other ; but they far exceed either in weight of fleece. 
Three-year olds sometimes weigh 96^ lbs. to the quarter, and yearlings 71 
lbs. The weight of wool of an entire flock, under fair average management, 
is about 8ilbs. each; weight of carcass at twenty-eight months, 160 lbs. 
The Lincoln breeders consider the mutton excellent, having less fat and a 
greater proportion of fine-grained, lean flesh than the Leicesters. The ewes 
are good breeders, but, like the Cotswolds and Leicesters, they are not good 
sucklers. 

VL Shropshires. — -"These are crosses. Their merit consists in their su- 
periority over any other breed in their own country. Tliey possess hardiness 
of constitution, excellent quality of mutton, and are prolific breeders; but 
they are not equal to other breeds. 

VIL OxFOEDSHiKE DowNS. — " This breed of sheep was produced twenty, 
seven years ago by crossing the Hampshire, and in some instances South- 
down ewes, with Cotswold rams, and then putting the crosses together. 
Tiiey drop their lambs in February, and at thirteen or fourteen months old 
they are ready for market, weighing, on an average, 140 lbs. each, with a 
fleece varying from 7 to 10 lbs. The ewes are good mothers, and produce a 
great proportion of twins." 

"We might add here, as these last two breeds are crosses, that Mr. Howard 
stated, at the conclusion of his experience and address, " that from a judicious 
pairing of cross-bred animals, it is practicable to establish a new breed alto- 
gether," and for some locations better fitted than most of the existing breeds. 

113. Production of Sexes among Sheep. — Ihe Journal 6^ Agriculture Pra- 
tique Has a paper giving a variety of facts on this subject — from' which the 
deduction is made, that the sex depends on the greater or less vigor of the 
individuals coupled. This has long been known and acted upon. It is fur- 
ther stated, as shown by careful observation and experiment, that more 
males are born among the first and last births in a flock reared by a single 



Sbo. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 83 



ram, tlian among the lambs bom in the intervening period, when the male 
is weakened by excessive exertion; and that the ewes which produce males 
are on an average lighter than those which produce females, and lose more 
weight than the latter daring the nursing period. Thus vigor in the male 
tends to produce males, but more from the weaker than the stronger ewes ; 
and the opposite fact in regard to females tends to keep up the equilibrium, 
and secure the perfection and preservation of the sj^ecies, by confining the 
reproduction of either sex to the most perfect type of each respectively. 

114. First Importation of Merinos. — The first importation of Spanish sheep 
into the United States took place in ISOl. Four were shipped by Mr. Deles- 
sert, a banker of Paris, thi-ee of which perished on the passage. In 1802 a 
large importation was made by Col. Humphreys ; and in 1809, '10, and '11, 
the Hon. Wm. Jarvis, the American consul at Lisbon, sent home large and 
valuable flocks to his farm in Weathersfield, Vt. 

115. General Care and Management of Slieep. — There are not many men in 
this country more capable of giving information upon this subject than T. S. 
Gold, of Cornwall, Connecticut. In the series of Yale College lectures, in 
the winter of 1859, '60, Mr. Gold gave a lecture upon sheep husbandry, in 
which he made the following points, worthy of note by all sheep farmers : 

" Thrift. — It should always be the object of the flock-master to keep his 
sheep in a thriving condition. The quality of the wool, as well as its quan- 
tity, and the general productiveness of the flock, demand this system. 

" Shelter is the first necessity in providing for wintering sheep success- 
fully. The Southdowns will bear exposure better than any other class of 
sheep. The open fleece of the long-wooled parts on the back when wet, and 
admits the water, which completely drenches the animal, so that his abund- 
ant fleece is no longer a protection from cold. 

" Economy in feeding demands shelter for all sheep, as not only less food 
is required, but also it is better preserved from waste. Water-soaked hay, 
or that which is in any way soiled, is always rejected. The improvement 
in the quality of the manure forms another argument in favor of shelter. 
That this is not only healthful but grateful to the sheep at all seasons of the 
year, we see in the fact that even in summer they will seek their winter 
sheds at the approach of a storm if they are within their reach. 

" Ventilation is of paramount importance as connected with shelter ; and 
to insure this, sheds open to the south are to be preferred. A stable with 
an open window will answer for a small number, but the crowding of a 
large flock in such a place aff'ects the organs of respiration, and may result 
in serious disease, and should never be tolerated. 

" The best form of racJc has posts three feet high in the corners, a bottom 
of boards, the sides and ends of two boards each, and the lower one the 
widest, with narrow perpendicular strips nailed on to keep the stronger 
sheep from crowding the weaker. Tlic spaces are larger in their perpen- 
dicular than their horizontal opening. The size of these, as well as the 
width of the rack, must be in proportion to the size of the sheep. iNot more 



84 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



than one hundred of the fine-wooled sheep should be confined in the same 
yard, while the long-wooled will not thrive with more than twenty-five. A 
hospital, snug and comfortable, should receive any sheep that may be weak 
from age or disease, until, by careful feeding and nursing, they can be re- 
turned to the flock. 

" It is the worst possible practice to allow tlie sheep to fall away in flesli, 
as the grass fails in autumn. The increasing wool conceals the shrinking 
carcass, much to the disappointment of the careless flock-masters. Better 
confine them in the yard than allow them to ramble about in search of some 
field of winter grain, which furnishes a little green food, but too light to be 
of any real value. 

" Winter fodder should embrace, in addition to the dry food, a due pro- 
portion of that which is green and succulent. Fine early-cut clover hay, 
well cured — that from old meadows, consisting of a variety of grasses — 
forms the best dry fodder. Economy demands tliat the quality should be 
good, else much waste ensues ; yet the sheep is very fond of variety, and al- 
most all of the so-called weeds become a choice morsel. The botanist knows 
full well that a sheep-range will be most barren of the objects of his search. 
The immortal Linnaeus tested the plants most indigenous to Sweden by 
ofi'ering them, fresh gathered, to the various domesticated animals. Horses 
ate 262 species, and refused 212 ; cattle ate 276 species, and refused 218 ; 
while sheep took readily 385, and refused only 141 species. For fattening, 
add to the hay, roots, grain, or linseed, or cotton-seed meal. The Englisli 
system of winter feeding on turnips in the field is here prevented by ex- 
cessive cold. Use them in the yards in moderate weatlicr. Sudden changes 
from green to dry food, and the reverse, should be avoided, liegularity in 
the hours of feeding is very important. 

" The amount of fodder varies with tlie kind of sheep, though it is not 
directly proportioned to the live weight. Ten small, fine wooled sheep will 
eat as much as a cow, the larger ones requiring more. Two to two and a 
half, or even three and one third per cent, of the live weight in hay value is 
estimated by difl'erent authors as daily required. 

" No other animals except calves should lie in the yards with sheep. Tiie 
losses from the horns of steers and the heels of colts more than balance any 
supposed gain. As the breathing of the sheep on the hay does not of itself 
render it distasteful to cattle, it may be gathered from the racks and fed in 
another inclosure. 

" It is estimated that 300 lbs. of good hay will winter a small sheep, while 
larger ones may take three times the amount. 

" Water is absolutely necessary to the thrift of the sheep in the winter. It 
is best brought into the yards, as the steep banks of streams prove danger- 
ous to the sheep. 

i^ Salt may be provided in winter by a moderate salting of the hay — 
two to four quarts a tun ; but excessive salting must be avoided, for with it 
neither sheep nor cattle will thrive. 



Sbo. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 85 

" As tlie lambing season aiiproaehes, snug quarters must be provided for 
the breeding ewes, where they wm be clean, warm, and dry." 

116. Grain for Sheep. — Major Wm. Lee, one of the most successful wool- 
growcr.s of western Pennsylvania, manages his sheep as follows, according to 
the Oliio Farmer : " They are not contined to sheds ; they are only provided 
with a dry place for shelter and rest. After they r se of tlieir own accord, in 
the morning, he feeds again, two thirds corn, and one third barley or oats. Af- 
terwards he feeds hay, and also at three o'clock again, so that the sheep have 
finished eating before nightfall. lie considers that corn will make more 
■wool than oats, and general opinion favors out-door feeding. Sheep housed 
■will not eat as much, nor will they shear as much wool." 

Another sheep-farmer says : " I am willing to make affidavit that with 
me, in many years' experience carefully tested, sheep of the same kind, weigh- 
ing from 110 to 130 lbs., will put on more fat and gain a great deal more 
weight on 1 or 1 j lbs. of grain or oil-cake per day, in three or four months, 
loith only straw for fodder, than those weighing SO to 90 lbs. ; and I value 
a sheep weighing 125 to 1.30 lbs. as worth half a cent more per pound of live 
weight, for me to feed fat than one weighing 90 or 100 lbs. Now, no man 
will suppose that the straw will put on any fat, or make sheep gain in weight. 
If you feed sheep straw only, they would lose weight, and that greatly ; but 
with a pound of meal or grain daily, they will gain daily. I can prove all I 
have said by neighbors who have been feeding for a few years past, and who 
will now only buy the largest sheep of their class, or the largest cattle of 
their age." 

117. Weight of Hay for Sheep. — The question, IIow much hay do sheep 
or cattle require per day? is thus answered by Alexander Speck von Stern- 
berg, of Lutzchena, Saxony, to the lion. Joseph A. Wright, American min- 
ister at Berlin. He says : " One thirtieth part of the weight of the live 
animal, in good hay, is considered necessary per day for its sustenance. 
According to the quality of the fodder, and its abundance or scarcity, this 
may be increased to one twentieth part ; but less than one thirtieth part 
ought not to be given. Taking good meadow hay as the fodder standard, a 
ram should receive about Sj lbs. per day, a ewe about SJ lbs., yearlings, 
etc., in that proportion — taking die average of a full-grown ram at 110 lbs., 
of a ewe at 72 lbs., the weight of each varying, according to age, size, and 
condition, between 105 and 125 lbs. as regards the full-sized rams, and from 
7n to 85 lbs. as regards the full-grown ewes. The weight of a wether varies 
between 80 lbs. in lean condition, and 1 10 to 115 lbs., if strong and fat for 
the butcher. One pound of good mendow hay is considered equivalent to 
1 = lbs. of oat, pea, wheat, or barley strav,-, 4 lbs. of turnips, or 2 lbs. of grains 
in the wet state, as delivered from the brewery in winter. When the time 
for stabling for winter arrives, the sheep-master has his sup]ilies of straw, 
hay, and turnips allotted to him on the basis of the above calculation, and 
he is bound to make them serve out the proper time, under-feeding being as 
much guarded against as over-feeding and waste." 



86 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Another wnter says : " The usual rate of the consumption of food is at 
the rate of 3^ lbs. of hay daily for every 100 lbs. of live weight. If we take 
the average of flocks, the live weight of 100 common sheep would be about 
7,500 lbs., or from that up to 8,000 lbs. It is rare tliat a Nvliole flock of 
fine-wooled sheep will average more than 70 lbs. for each head, though it may 
be that this weight is exceeded in some instances. At the rate mentioned, 
a flock of 100 sheep should use up or consume 280 lbs. of hay per day, or a 
total of 25 tuns in the winter season that lasted 180 days. This would also 
equal 50-J: lbs. to eacli single sheep ; or it may he stated as a general rule, 
that a full-grown Merino sheep, averaging in live weiglit from 75 to 100 lbs., 
will consume during the winter season a quarter of a tun of hay, or its equiv- 
alent, if comfortably kept. If grain forms a part of the ration, of course 
some of the l>ay may be saved ; but if the animal is to be kept growing 
wool, it will need its full ratio of hay, and a little grain, too." 

118. CliangtU!? Pasture. — Some sheep-farmers arc very particular about 
changing puslnres. This is riglit, if the inclosnres are small. If there is a 
wide range, it is of no particular advantage to confine slieep to one portion 
of it, and then shift them to another. 

119. Feeding Sheep vs. Beeves. — Mechi, who is a highly enlightened and 
practical English agriculturist, says he is convinced that beef must sell at 
20 per cent, higher tiian mutton to make them pay alike. He also remarks, 
that he agrees with a friend of his, who says, that he who keeps many bul- 
locks will never need to make a will. 

Our observation in relation to the comparative profits in this country 
coincides witli Mr. Mechi. 

Thos. Bell, of Monmouth County, ]*S. J., makes the following statement in 
regard to the profits of feeding sheep : 

"I usually keep about 100 sheep, and renew my flock every year. My 
neighbors and myself agree with a di-over to take certain numbers, and lie 
goes up the Delaware into the State of Kew York, where he obtains a large 
strain of connnon sheep. I buy the best ones in the flock, paying the high- 
est market })rice, which this year was $3 50 a head, while my neighbors prefer 
to take the lower-priced sheep, graduating down to $2 50 or $2 25 a head. I 
get my new flock in about the 1st of October, and immediately put tlie ewes to 
full-blood Southdown bucks, so as to have the lambs dropped early in April. 
I have good autumn pasture, so as to keep the flock in good condition to go 
into winter quarters, wliere I keep them in yards with open sheds, fifty sheep 
in a pen, with feeding-racks, and freedom to lay under cover or out in tlio 
oi)cn weather. Their own instinct governs them about seeking shelter when 
it storms. I feed the flock once a day uiion hay, and once a day upon whole 
stalks of Indian corn cut from the ground as soon as it is hard enough to 
ripen in the shock, when the shocks arc well cured, and afterward the corn 
is husked and stalks stored for winter. The sheep trim them of leaves, 
and the dry st.ilks make good bedding for th.em. I watch my ewes and take 
them out of the flock as the time approaches to drop their lambs, and put 



Sec. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 8( 



them ill othei* yards, where they are fed on grain and good liay, and I sel- 
dom lose a lamb. I graze my Hock upon less than elgiiteen acres of good 
pasture, whicli has been made to produce sweet grass by the application of 
green sand marl, by which I have renovated a worn-out farm. By the end 
of July I have my lambs, which are large and fat, and well marked with the 
Southdown characteristics, all off to the butcher — this year at $i 75 each, 
selling the whole lot to one man. I could have sold them in small lots so as 
to average $5 a head. The ewes, after the lambs are taken off, become fat 
upon grass alone, so as to bring the best market price of that class of sheep 
in September. I have just sold all off, and find that the 100 head which 1 
purchased at $3 50 one year ago, have yielded me in wool, lambs, and old 
sheep $7 50 a head over the cost of the stock. Last year I realized $7 a 
head profit, or rather, I got that for keeping 100 head of sheep one year, and 
I think that sum may be safely calculated upon every year. And besides 
this ]iro!lt, I find my sheep are enriching my land and are more advan 
tageous in every way than any other kind of stock. Every fixrmer keeping 
sheep should have a lot of movable fence, and inclose small plots — say half 
an acre at a time — of the poorest parts of the farm, such as gravelly knolls, 
upon which to yard the flock nights. The onl}- drawback to keeping sheep 
upon hundreds of farms near New York is the wortliless cur dogs. In New 
Jersey we have a good law which gives out of the general tax $5 a head for 
all slieep killed by dogs. That insures every common sheep, but does not 
warrant me in keeping full-blood Southdown or other valuable breeds. The 
State of New York needs a stringent law against dogs to protect the interest 
of fanners who keep sheep, particularly in the counties near the city." 

The above statement of Mr. Bell is a very encouraging one, and would 
doubtless encourage many of the farmers convenient to the city market to 
adopt the same course if the State Legislature would protect them against 
dogs. The question resolves itself into this simple form : Is it of more gen- 
eral advantage to the State to grow wool and mutton than it is to grow dogs 
— dogs, too, of the most worthless sorts ? It is one of the rarest things in tlie 
world that a shepherd dog or a good house watch-dog ever kills sheep. It 
is only the meanest, prowling, thieving, worthless curs, of no value to their 
owners, that destroy sheep. Let us have a law to annihilate them, and then 
every man can keep sheep with the same results as Mr. Bell. 

Mr. Carpenter, of Elniira, said : " A neighbor of mine makes just about 
the same average upon his flock of grade Soutlidowns. He shears six pounds 
of wool per head, and he sells his lambs at $i." 

Samuel Tliorne, of Dutchess County, N. Y., pursues the same course, 
with the same results, as Mr. Bell. 

Mr. Wade, of Canada "West, says: "Tliat he prefers the long-wool sorts, 
because they are more hardy. The mutton sells readily, and the wool, 
though not worth s6 much a pound as the flne-wool sorts, weighs so 
much more that the value of the fleece is equal. We don't grow much 
corn, but we feed a great many roots, and feed well. It is foolish to try to 



88 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



keep any animal upon low diet. We feed anything that sheep eat best, and 
I fatten principally upon turnips and hay, with a little meal. The long-wool 
sheep are better adaj^ted to Canada than the fine-wool. We shear eight 
pounds of clean wool per head. The Cotswold variety are preferred ; they 
have stronger constitutions than the Leicester sheep." 

Gen. Harmon, of Monroe County, says : " I commenced with fine-wool 
sheep, forty years ago. I then tried Leicestershire, and then came back to 
Merino. I have less than 200 acres, and grow 30 or 40 acres of wheat every 
year ; the land improves by sheep. My average weight of fleece is five pounds. 
I keep 330 head, and get over $700 a year for wool and increase. I stable 
50 sheep in a room 14 by 40 feet, without change in the winter. I wash my 
sheep clean and let thena run six or eight days, and then shear. I don't 
• breed from gummy sheep. I leed in board-racks, with straight sticks, so 
the sheep can put in their heads. There are about 25 acres of reclaimed land 
on my farm that will keep sheep alive, but won't fat them. My farm is 
limestone, and I prefer fine-wool sheep to any other for profit ; and I con- 
sider sheep twice as profitable as cattle upon any grain farm. I never 
breed from ewes less than three years old. I don't like the cross of Lei- 
cester bucks ujjon fine ewes. I have sold of wool and sheep over $900 a 
year." 

Lewis F. Allen, of Black Rock, says: "I have kept sheep twenty-five 
years upon a clay loam, natural to sweet grasses, limestone formation, on the 
Niagara River. There is no general rule us to the profit of keeping sJieep. 
All depends upon circumstances. In Canada I have seen the best long-wool 
slieep I ever saw, but these sheep are too fat for eating. You might as well 
dine off a cake of tallow as such meat. Such sheep may be profitable in 
Canada. With me those sheep require good shelter. They are not kept 
warm by their long fleeces. My sheep sheared five to eight pounds of wool. 
I don't approve of feeding many roots e.xcept to breeding ewes. They are 
likely to scour sheep ; at least they do mine. 

" On some soils it may be best to jJow in clover ; on other soils it is not. 
As to mutton sheep, I have fed Southdowns, and the cheapest way that I 
can make mutton is upon grass, and wethers of 150 lbs. bring five cents a 
pound gross at Buffalo. I would keep mutton sheep if I had a good farm on 
a railroad. I can always sell my lambs at $2. My Southdown fleeces bring 
$1 50 average. Southdown mutton is the best we have, and the sheep 
always sell well for mutton. The fine-wool sheep mutton is apt to taste of 
the greasy wool. The Merino sheep are a hardy race of sheep, but they are 
not a good breed to feed for mutton." 

Mr. Bowen, of Orleans County, says : " I have bred both coarse and fine 
sheep. I have raised coarse- wooled sheep that weighed 150 lbs. each at one 
year old. I find the coarse-wool breed the most profitable. My sheep 
average six pounds of wool, that sells at 31 cents a lb. My sheep are a 
cross of Cotswold, and are close-wooled and hardy. I live on a gravelly 
loam, wheat soil, and 1 think it desirable to increase the stock of sheep in 



Sec. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 89 

this State. A field of clover fed off by sheep will yield more wheat than 
if not fed off." 

Mr. Pettibone, of Vermont, says: "If a man keeps but few sheep he 
should keep a mutton breed. If be keeps a large flock, or say 200 or 300, 
he should keep flne-wool sorts. The trouble in sheej^-breeding is in letting 
them run down in October. I winter 300 head, and 100 ewes will give 10(t 
lambs. I use 400 acres, but many of them are on the mountain, and valued 
at only $7 an acre. I do not let all my ewes breed. I kecj:) my sheep in 
very close winter quarters on hay. I feed breeding ewes one peck of corn a 
day to 100 head. In eleven years I have not had a lamb die, and ewes are 
kept without grain, but always with water and salt by them. There is a 
material difference in the value of the fleece, according to the way sheep 
are kept. I prefer always to have my sheep fat. In January I select my 
ewes, and never sell the choice ones. I have a ewe that has produced 
eighteen lambs and shears four pounds of good wool. I do not select the 
most gummy sheep for my use ; they are much more tender than those less 
gummy. Still, you must have greasy wool if you have fine wool. I feed 
generally twice a day — sometimes only once. The sales of my wool last 
year produced over $2 a head for my flock, and the average for fifteen years 
has been four and three quarter pounds, such as sold this year at 50 cents 
a pound. My land is limestone clay loam. I have picked out and sold 
twenty wether lambs to a neighbor who sheared eight pounds a head, and 
sold two sheep for mutton at $3 50 a head. A flock of 300 head of sheep 
ought to average five pounds of clean wool. I select in the fall eight or ten 
wethers, and feed them with meal through the winter, and give them good 
grazing in summer, and kill through the summer, and the tallow averages 
10 or 12 lbs. and the meat 10 or 15 lbs. per quarter. The pelts sell at 75 
cents. A three-year old wether, pure Merino breed, often weighs 75 lbs. 
I have sheared 14 lbs. of wool per head from bucks, which sold for 50 cents 
a 11.., and 8 lbs. of wool from uwe^." 

A. B. Dickinson says : "I have sheared 11,000 sheep in a year, and know 
something of them. The man who raises sheep for mutton had better raise 
the largest kind, for they produce the most money, though they may not make 
the best kind of mutton. For wool, I would keep none but the fine-wooled 
variety of sheep, but I would not keep the gummy sort, because the clean 
wool will always produce the most money. In washing sheep, I am sure 
that the wool can always be made cleaner when the sheep are washed in a 
vat than in a stream. If 20 sheep will weigh 20 cwt., they will eat just 
about as much as two bullocks of that weight — -that is, if they are ma- 
ture sheep. Young sheep eat more, according to live weight, than old 
ones." 

Mr. Johnston bought thirty Leiccsters one fall, put them in his yards, fed 
them each twelve ounces of oil-meal with wheat straw, and no /taij, all 
winter. In spring he sheared from them five pounds of wool each, pastured 
them all summer, kept them over until the following Februar}', and sold 



90 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



them for 7ii>ie dollars and twenty cents each. They cost liiin two dollars. 
Sheep fed with oil-cake inL-al or grain cut but little salt, make richer manure, 
more wool, and more carcass. lie gives usually one pound of oil-meal when 
feeding with straw, and half a pound with hay. If there should be any 
signs of foot-rot in the flock, he pares the hoof, and rubs into the sorcrs a 
salve of blue vitriol and lard. In very hot weather lie mixes tar -with the 
salve, to make it adhere. Sheep ai-e never let out of the yards in winter, 
but to the yard they have free access at all times from the low, open sheds, 
and every part of the sheds and yard are deeply bedded with clean straw. 
The shepherd, instead of wading through a slough worse than that described 
by Banyan, walks on a soft bed of straw, so clean at any time as not to soil 
the white fleece of the cleanest Leicester. 

Wm. H. Ladd, of Ohio, says : " My practice is to turn the lambs in with 
their mothers, after they have been separated some twelve hours, and as soon 
as they nurse, separate them again ; then, after twenty-four hours, allow 
them to nurse once more. Since I have adopted this plan, I have never had 
a ewe's udder injured. Lambs should have a very little salt frequently, 
when first weaned, as the herbage lacks the large proportion of salt which 
the mother's milk contains. But great care should be used not to give them 
much salt at once, or it will set them to purging; and if a lamb commences 
to purge soon after being taken from the mother, it seldom, if ever, recovers 
from it. 

" Lambs that come early are invariably the largest, strongest, and most 
healthy ; consequently they are the best breeders. The ewe that has her 
lamb early has sufiicient lime to get in good order before -winter, and after 
the lamb is weaned, she is not subject to weakness and disease, as those of 
late weaning, and is consequently a better breeder the next season. Poor, 
late feeble lambs and ewes should never be permitted to breed, for if such 
are, it invariably follows that the flock will degenerate. Generating or 
breeding ewes should be carefully selected. Ewes sometimes continue strong 
and productive until twelve or fifteen years of age ; this depends on their 
general health and constitution." 

120. Age of Sheep for Mutton. — A late English writer says: "A sheep, to 
be in high order for the palate of the epicure, should not be killed earlier 
than five years old, at which age the mutton will be rich and succulent, of a 
dark color, and full of the richest gravy— whereas, if only two years old, it 
is flabby, pale, and flavorless." 

121. Grub in Sheep. — Take one quart of whisky and two ounces of yellow 
snuflT, mix, and warm to blood-heat. Let one man hold the sheep, and 
another take a small syringe, and discharge about a teaspoonful of the mix- 
ture into each nostril. It is said to be a certain cure.' 

122. Gross and Net Weight of Sheep. — The usual estimate of gross and net 
weight of sheep is, that the dressed carcass will weigh one half as much as 
the gross weight, and therefore, when the sheep are sold at, say five cents a 
pound alive, the price is equivalent to ten cents a pound for the meat, sinking 



Sec. T.] sheep HUSBANDRY. 91 



the pelt and all the oifal, so that the butcher, if he could sell the carcass at 
cost, would still have the pelt, rough tat, head, etc., for a profit. Ilenee it 
will be seen how it is that mutton in the carcass is often quoted in market 
reports at less than it appears by livestock reports to have actually cost. 

123. Western Mutton.— It is one of the incomprehensible things in Western 
agriculture that so little attention is paid to the business of flattening sheep. 
AVith a vast country, as Avell adapted to making mutton as pork, and in many 
respects even better, it is one of the rarest things to see a farm devoted to 
the raising of sheep for their meat alone, while it is equally rare to find a 
farmer who does not raise hogs and fatten them for their pork. 

We are aware that the West is full of sheep, and that the business is not 
considered very profitable. There are some good flocks — in fact, some large 
flock-masters, whose principal business is to raise sheep — but it is for their 
fleece alone. Very few farmers. East or West, have ever made a business of 
making mutton. The sheep are almost entirely bred for wool, not for meat. 
And besides this, more than one half of all the sheep in the United States 
are not bred distinctly for meat or wool, but simply because they are sheep, 
and will answer in some sort for both purposes ; but their fleece is often of 
a coarse, unprofitable kind, and their bodies lean and light. Such sheep are 
naturally slow to acquire fat, when fed for that purpose, just as their fleece 
is naturally of light weight or coarse fiber. Such sheep are not profitable, 
although so common all over the country. 

Of all varieties of domestic animals, the flesh of sheep is least used, except 
in cities, in proportion to the quantity that is, or rather might be, profitably 
consumed. We esteem mutton almost the very best kind of meat provided 
for a civilized people. That its production would be found among the most 
profitable we have no doubt, provided a good breed of sheep were selected, 
especially for their meat-producing qualities. For this purpose we esteem 
the Southdown variety the very best. We have known flocks of fat sheep 
of this sort sold here for $25 per head. Certainly this is a paying price. 
We have several times reported sales of sheep in New York, of the long-wooled 
kind, at $12 to $20 per head, which was equal to 12 to 16 cents a pound 
for tlic iiic;it. Is this a profitable price for the farmer, particularly the 
farmer of the West, the greatest country in the world for the production of 
pork ? 

All the long-wooled varieties of sheep, known as Bakewell, Leicester, 
Cotswold, New Oxfordshire, etc., are fat-producing animals; that is, they 
are as naturally inclined to acquire fat as other animals are to produce only 
lean meat. In England, such mutton is much esteemed. In this country 
the lean kinds are preferred. In Ohio and other Western States there is a 
grade of sheep called common, that are as well fitted for the purposes of the 
Western farmer as any he could obtain in this country (except the South- 
downs) to breed for mutton, if careful selections were made, and some care 
exercised in breeding and feeding. It is true ithey are a mongrel breed, 
made up of crosses of all the varieties ever imported, but they are strong 



92 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [CnAP. I. 

and hardy and long-legged, which are valuable qualities for the drover. 
Tlieir bodies, when well fatted, at two or three years old, will weigh from 
fifty to sixty -five pounds, and the meat is just fat enough to suit the Ameri- 
can taste. The heavier carcasses of the long-wooled variety are generally 
too fat, though we think the taste for fat mutton is an acquired one, like that 
for fat pork. 

But, fat or lean, mutton will always find ready sale in this city at remu- 
nerating prices. Western farmers should turn their attention more earnestly 
to the subject of raising sheep, not for wool, but meat for the supply of all 
the Eastern cities. We profess to be tolerably well acquainted with the 
great prairies of the West, and fully believe that there is no branch of agri- 
culture so certain to produce sure and profitable returns as that of raising 
sheep of the kind we have indicated. We know of no other pursuit that 
the new settlers in Kansas could adopt at all to compare with this. Such a 
town, for instance, as Lawrence, might own a hundred thousand shcei), all 
of which should be kept out on the broad prairies in summer, under the care 
of shepherds and their dogs, to guard them night and day from their greatest 
enemy, the prairie wolf. In winter they could be provided for on a hundred 
farms, under cheap shelter, with earth walls and grass roofs. They winter 
well upon well-cured wild hay, without grain, except for those in hospital, 
if fed occasionally upon any kind of roots, such as can be grown in great 
abundance in that soil. In the fall or latter part of summer, select the best 
animals for market, and start them eastward across Iowa and Illinois, feeding 
them on cheap grain when the grass fails on the great prairie pasture. 

The raising of cattle must be the business of Kansas settlers, and we 
believe the best of all will be mutton sheep. The new settlers, too, must for 
a time make meat their principal diet — in fact, it is the national diet of that 
region, just as vegetables are in China. We do not know of a greater act 
of folly, or a greater humbug, than inducing people to go to Kansas to 
practice the peculiar, not to say stupid, doct"ii;e of vegetarianism. 

What the people of the West want — what all who grow meat and all wlio 
consume it want — is to have the great sea of prairie grass converted into 
meat — cheap meat. This should be the leading object of all emigrants to 
the West. The business of grain-growing naturally belongs to a pastoral 
people, upon old farms, rather than to new settlers. It is a subject to be 
thought of both by emigrants and old settlers, which is the most profitable, 
stock or grain, and if stock, which particular kind. 

124. Sheep in Texas. — There is, or has been, a sort of mania about sheep in 
Texas. The start made a few years ago by G. W. Kendall, and his success, 
after going through all the phases of ill luck, losses, and discouragements, 
which perseverance overcame, has induced many others to establish great 
sheep-farms in that State. Major Wm. Leland, one of the proprietors of 
the Metro]>olitan Hotel in this city, is one of the number who has followed 
the lead of Mr. Kendall, with every prospect of success. There is, besides 
the fine wool-flocks established in Texas, a constant and large importation 



Seo. 7.] SUEEP IIUSBANDR-i*. 93 



of the coarse-wool sheep of Mexico. It is estimated that a fourth of a 
niilliou of Mexican slieep have crossed the line into Texas since the first of 
1859, and the number is constantly increasing. These Mexican sheep are 
crossed with Northern stock, and make a valuable progeny, botli for wool 
and mutton. AVe shall expect before many years more to see Texas mutton 
sheep in the New York market more frequently than we now see Texas 
beef-cattle, and that they will be much better liked, both by butchers and 
mutton-eaters, than the bullocks are. 

A Massachusetts correspondent wants to know more than we do about 
sheep-farming in Texas. We commend him to "Wm. Wilkinson, Comal 
Ranche, near New Braunfels, Texas. 

We don't know " what part of the State is most suitable for slieep 
husbandry," but we do know that part of it is, as above indicated, for there 
George W. Kendall and others have succeeded. 

"• AYhat breeds of sheep are to be chosen?" We can answer: All breeds 
that have succeeded in the Northern States have succeeded in Texas. 

" What are the pecuniary advantages ?" This question we can answer by 
stating that the first cost of land for a location is very small compared with 
the cost in Massachusetts, while there is a boundless range of open country 
upon which great flocks can be grazed, in charge of the shepherd and his 
dogs ; and as for winter feeding, that is not worth mentioning, and tlie rudest 
shelters — mere earth walls — to break the force of the wind, will answer at 
first in place of costly barns. Subsistence, too, for hirelings, is also quite 
inexpensive, and, taken altogether, Texas certainly appears to have many 
advantages for sheep husbandry. 

There are, to be sure, some drawbacks. It is a long way from the great 
center of commerce to which wool must be transported, and so far as we can 
see, it is so far away from mutton-eating communities, that the meat is nearly 
valueless. We very well remember, however, when the same thing was 
true of Ohio, where thousands of sheep have been slaughtered for tlie pelts 
and fat, and the meat fed to the pigs. Now, slieep are worth in Ohio within 
a dollar what they are in New York. Time may work a similar change for 
Texas, and then it will rival all other States as a sheep-producer, for that is 
a business that can and will be conducted without slave labor. 

125. Producing Twius.— A large sheep-breeder has declared " that sheep 
highly fed with meal or other good provender, about the time the buck is 
with them in the fall, will almost invariably have two lambs apiece, and that 
these may nearly all be raised by proper attention to the motliers. The 
great mistake in regard to sheep is in not keeping them well enough. If 
you wish them to be prolific or profitable, give them plenty of the best hay 
through the winter, and meal daily, and for shelter a warm barn-cellar, 
wherein is an open tank of pure water. No kind of grain need be ground for 
feeding sheep — the hardest is thoroughly masticated and digested by them. 
The importance of good feeding is unquestionable." 

It is by no means an unheard-of thing for all the ewes of a flock to average 



9* DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



twins. An average of 130 per cent, to 150 per cent, is quite usual, and with 
some breeds a much greater increase is the general rule. The sheep oifers 
her owner more sources of profit than any other animal. First, her natural 
increase ; second, her wool ; third, her flesh ; and this is the most important 
of all the considerations connected with sheep husbandry, because a greatly 
increased consumption of the flesh of sheep will greatly promote health. 

Sheep " come in play" wonderfully in well-managed farms, especially such 
as are pushed to their utmost capacity, as a means of increasing fertility in 
various ways, feeding ofl' green crops, such as clover or rye, previous to 
plowing them under, securing thus the advantage of passing the crop thioiigh 
the animal system without moving it from the field, scattering the manure 
very evenly previous to plowing, and giving what remains of the green crop 
when plowed in the advantage of undergoing its decomposition in contact 
with animal excrements. The sheep possesses other and greater advantages 
over other kinds of stock, which recommend it for general culture. Among 
these is its great fecundity. 

126. Numbering Sheep. — "W. D. Dickinson, of Victor, Ontario Co., N. Y., 
gives, in the Stock Journal, tlie following plan of numbering sheep : 

"About twelve years since I commenced numbering, classifying, and 
registering my flock, which has been of great advantage to me, enabling me 
to select at all times for sale (whicli I invariably do myself) such as are of 
the least value, whether with regard to age, weight of fleece, quality of 
wool, or value as breeders. 

" My method of numbering is by notches in the ear, as follows : A notch 
in tlie fore part of the left ear stands for 1, one in the back part of the same 
for 3. With these I number up to 10 ; thus, two notches in the fore part, 2 ; 
two in the back part, 6 ; two in each, 8, etc. A notch in the fore part of 
the right ear stands for 10, one in the back part of the same, 30. Witli 
these I number to 100. This is as far as I have occasion to go in my flock, 
as I seldom have over 300, and consequently never have as many as 100 
lambs of each sex in one year. Tliis might be carried much farther by 
cutting oft" the end of the left ear for 100, and of the right for 200; a notch 
might then be made in the end of the left ear for 400, and in the end of the 
right for 800. 

" The age of my sheep is known by tlie /wles through the ears. A hole 
through the left ear stands for 1 — that is, the year 1841, '51, or '61, showing 
the year in which the sheep was born ; one .in the right ear for 3, so that a 
sheep born in the year '56 would bave two holes through the right ear; if in 
'57, two holes through the riglit and one tlirough the left ; for '58 would re- 
quire two through each, instead of whicli I simply make a notch in the end 
of the left car; and for '59, one in the end of tlie right. Tlie years '40, '50, 
'60, etc., the ears are left without any holes — thus commencing anew every 
ten years, by which time those of that age are usually gone. I number my 
lambs as they are dropped, commencing each year with No. 1, both buck 
and ewe lambs. 



Sko. 7.] 



SHEEP nUSBANDRY. 



95 



" My bool, 


is kept in t! 


le following manner : 










No. of 
Kwus, 


Tear 
born. 


Class. 


Live 
weight. 


Weight of 
Fleece. 


Buck uMd. 


Yeaned. 
April. 


Sheared. 
June. 


Buck 
Lambg. 

1 

2 


Ewe 
Lambs. 


Remarks. 


7 

15 

3 


■51 
'51 
'54 


3 

1 
2 


84 
93 
83 


C-1 
4-1 
4 


34-53 
39-53 
51-53 


12 
13 
13 


11 

2G 
24 


1 





" In the first column is the number of the ewe ; in the second, the year in 
M-hich she was born ; in tlie third, the class denoting the quality of the wool, 
which is regulated by the number of curves to the inch ; the first containing 
24 and upward ; the second, 22 to 24: ; the third, 20 to 22 ; the fourth, 18 to 
20. The fourth column gives the weight of the sheep when sheared ; the 
fifth, the weight of fleece ; the sixth, the number of buck used and the year 
in which he was born ; the seventh, the month and day the lamb was 
dropped ; the eighth, the time when the ewe Avas sheared ; the ninth and 
tenth, the number of the buck and ewe lambs. My flock now numbers 267, 
principally breeding ewes and yearlings. My average weight of fleeces, 
when well washed, is usually abcnit 41 lbs., the quality of wool equal to me- 
dium Saxon, numbering from 20 to 28 curves to the inch, averaging about 24." 

Another plan is given as follows, for numbering sheep, which, though not 
quite as permanent as the method detailed above, may be preferred by some 
persons on the score of humanity. 

" "We were handed a sheet of paper upon which was noted the weight of 
fleece of each sheep in the flock ; opposite was set the number of the sheep, 
a corresponding number having been branded upon the animal itself at the 
time of taking its last clip, by applying a mixture of lampblack and tar with 
cast-iron figures. This course had been pursued for some years, and its 
results were apparent in a wool crop brought up from an average of four 
pounds to over five, and a corresponding increase in the size and quality of 
sheep. The practice had been to slaughter and otherwise dispose of all ani- 
mals ranking lowest in weight of fleece and to improve upon the quality of 
the remainder by judicious crossing." 

127. Shearing Sheepi — An old sheep-shearer, who can clip a sheep hand- 
somely in three minutes, or shear and tie up the fleece in four minutes, who 
has often clipped 100 sheep a day, wants us to give our readers the benefit 
of his plan of doing it. First, have two pairs of good shears; one pair to 
trim with, and the other to do the principal work, and never use dull shears. 
A good oil-stone is the best sharpener. What is termed a down-set shear, 
with blades five inches long, he considers best. In using them, never draw 
the shears backward while making the clip, but rather push forward and 
keep the shears level and close, and never clip twice in one spot, as that cuts 
the wool. 

To hold the sheep, have a bench as high as the lower part of the knee- 
cap ; or if the sheep is large, it may be lower. Lay the sheep back to you, 
with head to your right hand. Put your right knee gently on the sheep's 
neck, with its right fore leg in the bend of yours as you kneel, having the 
sheep close to the edge of the bench, with its back braced against jour left 



96 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Ohap. I. 

leg. Kest your left arm on the sheep's left flank, while jou hold its right 
liind leg in that hand, stretched out to the edge of the bench, and Jiolding to 
it if you wish, if the sheep is disposed to struggle. 

Commence shearing at the opening on the left side of the breast, and trim 
off all the wool on the belly and inside of the hind legs, and remove it to 
one side till the fleece is ofi", when the trimmings of clean wool are to be 
wrapped in it. 

To shear the body, place your left leg on the bench astride of tlie sheep, 
taking the jaws in your left hand, and clipping the foretop and right side 
of the neck, and down on the left breast. Then you change position, step- 
ping back a little and raising the sheep on its hips, by catching hold of the 
left liind leg with your right hand without laying down the shears. Pull 
the slieep close to the edge of the bench and place your right leg between 
its liind legs, with its neck and shoulders on your left knee, as it rests on the 
bench. Now clip over the point of the shoulder, and then straighten the 
neck with your left hand, without stopping the shears, and finish off the 
brisket and the neck, and then clip on down the side, and over the hijj and 
back, letting the sheej) down gradually, so as always to have the skin you 
are clipping free of wrinkles. Now take your left knee off the neck, and 
hold it with your left hand while you remove your right leg and place the 
left one in its place, so that you can bring the right knee upon the bench, 
keeping the sheara going all the time with the right hand. Then lift the 
head with the left hand, and clip that side over the point of the shoulder, 
and, raising the sheep gently, bring its head between your legs, while you 
finish clipping. Take care that the sheep does not struggle, and when done, 
lift it clear of the fleece, so as not to tear it. Told the fleece with all the loose 
wool that is clean inside and roll it very snug, with the cut end of the wool 
out, and tie with cotton twine, so as to look neat and bear handling without 
getting loose and ragged. 

Following the above directions, you will need to stop but twice for a mo- 
ment to turn the sheep, so that the shears are almost incessantly clipping 
from the time you begin till you have finished. 

128. Taggiag. — One of the cares of sheep most important for their health 
and comfort is tagging, and this is most often neglected. Probably the 
only attention over given to this matter is at shearing-time, and we have 
seen, even then, sheep sent off out of the shearer's hands with the tag-locks 
untouched. If there is anything in farming more slovenly than this, we 
don't know vdiat it is. 

129. To Cleanse Fine Wool. — ^There are a few old-fashioned houses from 
which the spinning-wheel is not yet entirely abandoned. Tlic inmates of 
such do not always know how to cleanse the gum out of Merino wool before 
sending it to the carding-machine. Let them be sure to remember this 
direction, by which we have cleaned many a hundred-weight, some of which 
was almost as black as my hat, with dirt and gum, characteristic of all fine- 
wool sheep. 



PLATE VII. 

(Page 97.) 

In this plate we present to the reader such a collection, of excellent 
portraits of the most celebrated horses in America as can nowhere 
else be procured. The four upjoer figures will be at once recognized 
as correct hkenesses of animals that have won a name that makes 
them famous in equine history. That of the Justin Morgan horse 
will be found in this chapter. He is the progenitor of a family that 
has won the hearts of the people. Flying Childers stands as the 
representative of the race-com'se. Patchen and Flora Temple are 
the most noted of the great family of American fast trotters. The 
Arabian here rejDresented is a portrait of one of the noted horses 
presented to Hon. William H. Seward, and by him to the New York 
State Agricultural Society, and this picture gives one a good idea 
of the spirited appearance of that breed. The Cleveland Bay is the 
representative of a class of noble carriage horses which has given 
character to many of the same class in this country, particularly in 
Central New York. 

The Norman horse, as we see him here, gives a good idea of the 
appearance of the heavy diligence and common work-horses of France, 
having a thick neck, short, strong legs, and round, compact body, 
capable of sustaining great burdens, and pulhng immense loads at 
a slow gait, as compared with some of our American fast horses. 
This breed was made quite notorious in this country by the import- 
ation of the late Edward Harris, of New Jersey, about twenty years 
ago. The portrait of the , Canadian horse is a fine representative 
of his class, which was formed by a mixture of the Norman horses 
of the early French settlers of Canada with some smaller breed, 
which, by neglect and exposure, and carelessness of improvement in 
breeding, has produced a race of small, hardy horses, known as 
Canadian, which are sometimes, though erroneously, called ponies. 
A careful study of these portraits will be useful to all farmers, as 
well as many other persons. 



lOlKPJBlHlKrfT BKTREDS OF MOJKtSJSS. 



"VK 




Sao. 8.] 



HORSES AND MULES. 



97 



For 100 lbs. of wool, take four gallons of urine and eight gallons of rain- 
water ; mix and heat a little above blood-heat, until the scum rises, which 
skim off. Keep it at the same heat in a kettle on coals or a little fire out of 
doors. Put in what wool the kettle will conveniently hold, and let it remain 
about five minutes ; take it out on a board that will drain the liquid back 
into the kettle, or else put it in a basket over a tub, so as not waste the liquid, 
for it will be equally good for the last batch as the first. When it is drained, 
put the basket under a stream of water running on it if convenient, or in a 
running stream if you can, or else with plenty of clear water in a large tub ; 
it will wash very easily, and be as " wliite as wool." 

Don't forget to sprinkle the dirty liquid upon the poorest spot in the gar- 
den, for it is a powerful manure. 

The same kind of liquid is the best thing known to take the dirt and 
grease out of any kind of foul woolen clothes or yarn. 



SECTION VIII.-HORSES AND 5IULES. 

GENEEAL history of the horse and his uses, ^ind 
how to use him, will not be looked for in a work 
that only professes to give little items of informa- 
tion upon a great many things. It would occupy 
a volume larger than this one to give a tolerably 
full history of the equine race, since it has been sub- 
jected to the use of man. 

£'quus is the generic name of the quadrupeds which 
have a single digit and hoof upon each foot, as has 
the horse, ass, zebra. Tlie horse has been a domestic 
as well as a wild animal from a very early time. He 
mentioned in Genesis as being in harness when 
Joseph transferred the remains of his father from 
Egypt to Canaan. 

Horses exist in a wild state in various parts of the 
globe. They were once quite numerous in the territory embraced in some 
of our most western States. Domestication works material change, the most 
marked of which is an increase in the size of the trunk. Then follows an 
increased size of all parts, and a loss of the fleetness natural to the horse in 
'lis wild state. 

The Arafcian horse, though domesticated by a semi-savage race, still re- 
ains somo of his wild characteristics, one of which is fleetness and long 
endurance. Tlie Arab tradition in regard to the horse is, " that he was 
created out of the wind, as Adam was out of the earth." Hence, " fleet as 
the wind," is often applied to the horse. The tradition is, that the male of 
the horse was created first, as the more noble of the two, and that the horse 




r~ 



98 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



was created before man, and after he was created he was told to choose the 
most beautiful of all animals, and he chose the horse; upon which God said 
to Adam : " You have chosen that which is a glory to you, and will be to 
your children." The Arabs profess to know the pure Arabian horse, the 
descendant of Zad-el-Iiakeh, which Solomon presented to their tribe, by the 
firmness of his lips and cartilage of the lower part of the nose ; by the dilata- 
tion of his nostrils ; by the leanness of the flesh about the veins of his head ; 
by the elegance of the neck and shoulders ; by the softness of his hair, mane, 
and skin; by the fullness of his breast ; by the large size of his joints; and by 
the dryness of his extremities ; and also by his moral indications, for a noble 
horse has no malice in him. He loves his master, and frecpiently will suffer 
no other to mount him. IIo refrains from doing what nature prompts as 
necessary while his master is on his back. lie will not eat food left by 
another horse. He loves to splash limpid water whenever he meets it. His 
instinct, smell, sight, hearing, intelligence, and address are all used for his 
master ; and he will fight for him. Hence the Arab's love of his horse. It 
will be well for us all to remember some of the traditions of the Arab, for 
they describe valuable points in a horse. 

130. TUoroush-Bredi — This term does not appear to have any very def- 
inite meaning in this country. It is generally supposed to trace back to 
something in the way of pure blood, of a better stock than the common one 
of the country ; but what that stock is, perhaps not one in ten who own? 
horses can tell. A writer in the (English) Fariner''s Magazine says : 

"The term thorough-bred is an expression not. clearly defined as regards 
any of our domestic animals, but it would be very desirable to have some 
rule established. It may be accepted as a principle that breeding from ani- 
mals endowed with certain properties and perfections through several gen- 
erations, constitutes the claim to distinction ; hut there is no adopted rule to 
determine how many generatio7is are sufficient to establish the title." 

Yet, according to our understanding of tlie term, a " thorough-bred" horse 
must trace back, free from contamination of baser blood, to the pure Arabian 
stock. The original of that stock in England, so far as pedigrees are at- 
tempted to be traced, was the " Darley Arabian," brought from " Araby the 
blest" by a Mr. Darley. That horse was the sire of Flying Childers, and 
grandsire of Eclipse, one of the most remarkable horses ever on the English 
race-course. He was not what would be considered a handsome horse, by a 
breeder of Morgan stock, but his flcetness and endurance were beyond com- 
petition, and his stock have followed in his footsteps. He died at the ago 
of twenty-five years, after having begotten a greater number of prize-win 
ning colts than any other horse that ever lived. 

If a horSe can trace back to old Eclipse, or any of his famous colts, there 
is no mistake about his being " thorough-bred." So he would be if he 
traces back to the " Godolphin Arabian," a Barb that was introduced into 
England at a later period than the Darley Arabian. 

There should be some definite rule established among horse-breeders and 



Seo. 8.] HORSES— ENGLISH BREEDS. 99 

our several State agricultural societies as to how far back and to what stock 
the pedigree of a horse should go to make him eligible to a prize as a '' thor- 
ough-bred." 

131. Euglisli Hunters. — Tliis is a term given to a breed of English horses 
which are high up in thorougii-bred blood, with a strain of other blood 
possessing great powers of endurance. The head of a hunter of perfect form 
is small ; his neck thin, particularly below ; a firm and arched crest ; jaws 
wide, and very light on the bit. 

132. An English Coach-Horse.— Tlie type of this variety is the " Cleveland 
Bay," some of which have been imported into this country, and have left 
their mark upon the finest coach-horses we have in the United States — such 
as are to be found more abundantly in Central New York, than in any other 
locality. 

133. English Roadsters. — Tlie term more common for this class in En- 
gland is "Hackney" — a term seldom heard in this country, and if lieard, 
would be more likely to be understood as meaning a "hack-horse." The 
nearest type of a hackney that we have, as a distinct breed, is the Morgan horse. 

Youatt says : " A hackney is a hunter in miniatnre. His hight should 
rarely exceed fifteen hands and an inch. He will be sufficiently strong and 
more pleasant for general work below that standard. He should be of a 
more compact form than the hunter, of more bulk according to his hight. 
It is of essential consequence that the bones beneath the knee should be 
deep and flat, and the tendon not tied in. The pastern should be sliort, and 
less oblique or slanting than that of the hunter or race-horse. The foot 
should be of a size corresponding with the bulk of the animal — neither too 
hollow nor too flat, and open at the heels. The forelegs should be perfectly 
straight ; for a horse with his knees bent will, from a slight cause, and espe- 
cially if overweighted, come down. Tiie back should be straight and short, 
yet sufliciently long to leave comfortable room for the saddle between the 
shoulders and the luck without pressing upon either. Some persons prefer 
a hollow-backed horse. It is generally an easy one to go. It will canter 
well with a lady, but it will not carry a heavy weight, or stand mncli hard 
work. The road-horse should be high in the forehead, round in the barrel, 
and deep in the chest." 

134r. The English Dray-Horse. — Tliere is a variety of horses known as the 
dray-horse, or more generally in this country as the English cart-horse ; a 
very heavy, strong, slow-gaited horse, originated hj a cross of the Flanders 
or Norman horse with the Sufiolk Punch, a sorrel liorse of fifteen or sixteen 
hands high, with low, rounded shoulders ; thick 'on the top ; low back ; 
deep, round chest; long back; high croup; large, strong quarters; full 
flanks ; round legs, and short pasterns. Tiiis is a good description of a 
strong work-horse. "We have something like it, though rather increased in 
size, in the Pennsylvania wagon-horse. 

135. Morgan Horses. — Tlie most distinct strain of Amei-ican liorses — in 
fact, the only one which assumes the character of a race — is that now widely 



100 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



knowu as the Morgan. The origin of this race is given in the following ex- 
tracts from letters written by a son and a relative of the original owner of the 
old Morgan horse : 

The following is an extract from a letter of Justin Morgan, originally 
furnished for the Cultivator (vol. ix., p. 99), dated Stockbridge, Yt., March 
1, 1842. After stating that his father owned the horse from which the race 
of Morgan horses sprung, he says : 

" I will now relate the facts relative to said Morgan horse as I recollect 
them. My father, Justin Morgan, brought said horse, or rather said colt, 
into Randolph, Vt., in the summer or autumn of 1795. Said colt was only 
two years old when my father brought him to Randolph, and had never 
been handled in any way, not even to be led by a halter. My father went 
to Springfield, Mass., the place of his nativity, and the place from which he 
removed to Randolph, in the spring or summer of 1795, after money that 
was due to him at that place, as he said ; and instead of getting money, as 
he expected, he got two colts — one, a three-year-old gelding colt, which he 
led ; the other, a two-year-old stallion colt, which followed all the way from 
Springfield to Randolph ; having been, as my father said, always kept with 
and much attached to the colt he led. Said two-year-old colt was the same 
that has since been known all over New England by the name of the Morgan 
horse. My father broke said colt himself, and, as I have before remarked, 
owned and kept him to the time of his decease, which took place in March, 
1798, and said horse was five years old the spring my father died ; and, as 
before stated, soon after my father's decease, lie passed from my father's 
estate into the possession of Wm. Rice, of Woodstock, Vt. I can not state 
positively that my father purchased said colt in Springfield, Mass., but I am 
very confident that he purchased him in that town or iu the immediate 
vicinity, on Connecticut River." 

We next offer an extract from a letter of John Morgan (see Cultivator, 
vol. ix., p. 110), in which it will be seen that the material points set forth 
by Justin Morgan are confirmed, and some further light given in regard to 
the blood of the first Morgan horse. John Morgan resides at Lima, New 
York, and is, we believe, a relative of Justin Morgan, Sr., and was a near 
neighbor of the latter previous to his removal from Springfield to Vermont. 
In reference to the colt above described by Justin Morgan (2d), John Mor- 
gan says : " He was sired by a horse owned by Sealy Norton, of East Hart- 
ford, Conn., called the 'True Briton, or Beautiful Bay.' He was kept at 
Springfield one season by the said Justin Morgan [Sr.], and two years after, I 
kept him two seasons. Chis horse was said to have been raised by General 
Delancy, commander of the refugee troops on Long Island, and rode by him 
in the Revolution. It was said that one Smith stole the horse from the 
General at King's Bridge, while the General was in the tavern ; ran him 
across the bridge and took him to the American army, near White Plains, 
and sold him to Joseph Ward, of Hartford, Conn., for $300. It was also 
said at that time that he was sired by the imported horse called ' Traveler,' 



Seo. 8.] 



HORSES— THE MORGAN BREED. 



101 



said to have been kept in New Jersey. Ward was a mes*chant, and kept the 
liorse three or four years for a saddle and carriage horse, and tlien traded 
him off to Norton, and Norton kept him for mares while he lived. The 
description of the Morgan breed given by Mr. G. Barnard {Cultivator^ vol. 
ix., p. 33), answers well to the stock of ' True Briton.' I have always under- 
stood that Morgan kept the colt for a stallion at Randolph, and was very 
celebrated for his stock." 

Tlie above statements of Justin and John Morgan comprise, as we believe, 
the true history, so far as it is known, of the origin of the far-famed Morgan 
horses. From tiie position of the Messrs. Morgan, they have had tlic best 
possible facilities for obtaining correct information on this subject, and we 
are not aware of anything which should hinder their statement from receiv- 
ing full credence. 

" Of the old Morgan's progeny, three became famous as stallions, viz., the 
Sherman Morgan, the Woodbury or Burbank, and the Chelsea. Of these 
the Sherman Morgan was greatly the most distinguished. I have ascer- 
tained to a certainty that he died in the winter of 1835. Black Hawk was 
sired by him." 

136. Black-Uawk Mor)i;aDS. — Fifteen years ago, S. W. Jewett, of Vermont, 
wrote of these as follows : 

" I believe the Morgan blood to be the best that was ever infused into the 
' Northern horse.' They are well known, and are esteemed for activity, 
hardiness, gentleness, and docility througliout the New England States ; 
well adapted for all work; good in every spot, except for racers on the turf. 
They are lively and spirited, lofty and elegant in their action, carrying them- 
selves gracefully in the harness. They have size in proportion to hight ; 
boneclean; sinewj'legs; compactness; sliort, strong backs ; powerful lungs; 
strength and endurance. A mixture of the Morgan blood, though small, 
may be easily known from any other stock in the country. There is a re- 
markable similarity prevailing in all of this race. They are known by their 
short, lean heads, wide across the face at the eyes ; eyes lively and prom- 
inent ; open and wide in the under jaws, large windpipe, deep brisket, 
heavy and round in the body, broad in the back, short limbs in proportion 
to size, broad quarters ; a livel}', quick action ; indomitable spii-it ; move 
true and easy in a good round trot ; fast on the walk. Color : dark bay, 
chestnut, brown or black, with dark flowing wavy mane and tail ; head up, and 
move without a whip ; about fifteen hands high ; action powerful and spirited. 

"Thej' are highly celebrated for general usefulness, make the best of 
roadsters, and live to a great age. In fact, they are the perfect ' Yankee 
harness horse.' 

"The Morgans arc very like the noble Arab, with similar eyes, upright 
ears, high withers, powerful quarters, hocks well placed under their weight, 
vigorous arms and flat legs, short from the knee to the pastern, close jointed, 
possessing immense power for their ^ize, with great fire and courage. But 
a few of the Morgans, however, evince extraordinary sj^eed. 



102 DOMESTIC ANIM^U^S. [Chap. I. 

" It is said that the best stock of horses in the New Enghind States are 
found among the progeny and descendants of the Sherman Morgan, which 
was owned by Mr. Bellows, of Vermont. 

" The figure given on another page is a portrait of Black Hawk, ' a colt 
of the Sherman Morgan, which was got by the old Justin Morgan horse. 
The dam of Black Hawk was a three-quarter-blooded English mare, raised 
in the province of New Brunswick. She could trot a mile in less than three 
minutes, and weighed 1,025 lbs., and was in every respect a most perfect 
animal.' 

" Black Hawk was bred by Mr. Matthews, of Durham, N. H. He is a 
jet-black color ; weighs, in good flesh, 1,040 lbs. ; his bight is fifteen hands 
and one inch. A line drawn from the hip even with the ham, just below 
the setting on of the tail, is four inches longer than the back, or the distance 
from the hip to the withers. A line dropped perpendicular from the neck, 
parallel with the fore leg, is nineteen inches forward of the junction of the 
withers. The distance between the hip and the ribs is only one and a half 
inches. He has a broad and vigorous arm, fat and clean leg, large muscles, 
short from the knee to the pastern, large windpipe and nostril, well open 
when under motion. He is one of the best ])roportioned and most elegant 
moving horses that can be produced. He is perfectly sound, a close-jointed, 
clean-limbed animal, and carries a beautiful waving head, mane, and tail. 
His legs are flat and hard, clean from long hairs on the fetlock ; his eves 
stand out prominent; his disposition kind and playful. He keeps fat with 
very little feed of oats and bran, three quarts of each daily, and five or six 
pounds of timothy each day. 

" No fault can be found with the horse, unless it be in his size ; however, 
his stock are sufliciently large for roadsters and for general usefulness in 
this State." 

137. The Faults of the Blorgau Horse. — Of the Morgan horses as they 
were at the time Mr. Jewett wrote, particularly the Black Hawk strain of 
the blood, v,-e have no fault to find — we rather indorse his statement. But 
fifteen years have wrought a change. As a general thing, Morgan horses 
have been bred too much in-and-in, and without regard to size. They are 
no longer " lofty" in proportion to the weight, but, on the contrary, are 
" squatty," and to the eye of a good judge of horses, far less attractive than 
they were formerl}*. What is needed, is an infusion of blood of a taller race 
—such as gave character to the Black Hawks. Wherever they have been 
crossed with Messenger stock, Cleveland Bay, or others of similar form, the 
improvement has been marked, and some of the very finest roadsters and 
carriage-horses have resulted. The Morgans, crossed upon other good 
breeds, do not improve those as much as it improves theirs. It is still a 
favorite breed of horses in New England, but not as much so as it was some 
years ago. Tlie uniform color of the family has been a great recommenda- 
tion, and there has been also a greater degree of general beauty in the Mor- 
gan family of horses than in any other ever extensively bred in this country. 



Seo. 8.] HORSES— SIZE OF ROADSTERS. 103 



We shall now give a few useful items for owners of horses of whatever 
breed, mongrel or thorough-bred. 

138. Driving— The Start. — The first mile is the most important of the jour- 
ney. More horses are injured in the start than in the balance of the whole 
day. You should carefully avoid rapid driving immediately after a horse 
has been full fed. Many old travelers feed over-night all tlie grain they 
intend the horse to eat in the twenty four hours. Others feed at night and 
at noon, and then give time after the horse has eaten his mess before start- 
ing, or else drive very slowly for an hour, making up time as night 
approaches. In all cases when a horse has been fed and watered an hour or 
two before starting upon a journey or drive of several miles, it is proper to 
drive slowly for the first mile or two ; but when the feeding and watering 
have been more recent, the propriety of going along at a jog or easy pace 
is still more urgent. Colic, founder, broken wind, have all of them resulted 
from too rapid driving when a horse was full. A friend of ours, a pliysi- 
cian, who had occasion sometimes to violate this dictate of good manage- 
ment in his haste to reach some case of great urgency, once informed us 
that when he drove at a rapid rate immediately after feeding, his horse 
would scour almost invariably, and seem to suffer considerably. 

Even in such cases where a horse must be driven upon a full stomach, it 
is better to divide the distance into equal parts — say ten miles, which you 
intend to drive in an hour, and give forty minutes to the first half, and do 
the other five in twenty minutes. In that case be careful, wheu you stop, 
not to leave the horse to cool suddenly. If the weather is hot, and you have 
driven hard, don't mind trying to get your horse in a cool shade. Tlie sun 
won't hurt him. 

There is another great error in driving which has often been suggested to 
us. It is that of constantly urging a horse to exert himself beyond what is 
natural to him. For instance, if a horse is urged to perform in two hours 
a distance that he would, at his natural pace, require three hours to do, it 
will injure him more than four hours' driving at his regular pace; and if 
this urging is continued all day, he will break down, just as a man would, if 
urged to double his speed in walking. 

139. Size of Roadsters. — A road horse should be about fifteen hands high 
(a hand being four inches), measured from the top of the shoulder or withers 
to the ground, wlien the horse stands naturally ; his weight should be about 
1,000 lbs. ; for such weight in an animal fifteen hands high, in moderate 
flesh, indicates compactness and power somewhere. Experience has proved 
tliat horses of this size carry their weight better on long journeys, injure 
their feet less on the pavements and hard roads, and are apt to be more fleet 
than those of a larger class ; for while greater length and hight will give an 
increased stride, either running or trotting, the power to gather rapidly, and 
especially for long distances, requires much greater muscular exertion in 
large than in small horses, from the greater weight to be propelled. Our 
fastest trotters have generally been from this class. 



104 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. 1. 



14:0. Walking Horses. — The best gait a liorse ever had for every-day use 
is a good walk. It is a gait that not one in ten possesses. Colts are not 
trained to walk in all the Eastern States. Young America wants more speed. 
Kentucky has more good walking horses than any other State, for there horse- 
back traveling has long been in fashion for men and women over a country 
where muddy roads, at some seasons, rendered any other gait impossible, and 
so horses have been bred for the saddle and trained to a walking gait. This 
is also the case in all the Western States, and perhaps might have been so in 
New England, when our grandmothers rode to meeting on a pillion behind our 
grandfathers. But one-horse wagons have put horseback riding out of fashion, 
and now a good walking horse is more rare than one that can trot a mile in 2.40. 

At the Springfield (Mass.) horse show of ISGO, the writer was one of a 
committee to award prizes to the two best walking horses. Out of seven- 
teen entered, the committee found but one which was considered a first-rate 
walker. This was a Morrill mare, which walked five miles an hour with ease. 
Two others were fair walkers, and the others knew no gait that could be 
called walking. At the New York State Fair the same state of facts was 
again developed. A letter from Wisconsin says : " I think horses trained to 
walk fast would be a greater benefit to farmers in general than fast trotters, 
as almost all of his work has to be done with a walk. I once knew a man 
in Massachusetts who, before the railroads were built, kept from two to four 
teams at work on the road, and never allowed them to trot at all, and made 
the distance in quicker time than his neighbors, who made their horses trot 
at every convenient place. He said that when a horse commenced to walk 
after a trot, he walked much slower than his common gait if kept on a walk, 
and thereby lost more than he gained." Will farmers think of this, and pay 
more attention to walking horses ? 

141. lustrumeuts of Torture Used by Horsemen. — The following sensible 
remarks are from the Irish J^armer^s Gazette. They are quite applicable 
here : 

" The good old English roadster's style of walk, trot, or canter is too steady 
for your fast young man ; he thinks it far beneath him to speak a kindly 
word to his horse, or to control him by an easy signal ; and however quiet 
the horse may be, he is rarely seen on his back without at least ybw;' unnec- 
essary instruments of torture — namely, two spurs with sharp rowels, one 
whip, and a severe curb bridle. Why should it be the universal custom in 
this country for men armed with these cruel instruments of torture to ride 
quiet, docile horses, and often punish them for a fanciful fault which they 
themselves bring about by their own want of experience and knowledge of 
the horse's nature ? 

" If a man has not the ability to handle a horse lightly, and at the same 
time keep his balance in the saddle, he has no business to ride one of value 
and high courage. It M'ould be better for the horse and safer for the man 
to keep his feet on terra firma. 

" The more a horse's mouth is used to a severe bit, the less be will care 



Seo. 8.] HORSES AND HORSE STABLES. 105 

for it, as be will soon learn to neutralize its effects hy puIUnfj and keejiing 
the reins in a state of tension, and thereby prevent the rider from cheeking 
or wriggling the bit — to punish him. The dead, steady pull is far less pain- 
ful to him than the jaw-breaking the rider would be able to inflict upon him 
if allowed to keep his reins slack and ready for a jerk. 

" One of the many causes which makes pulling horses is the unsteady seat 
of their riders. Many men can not ride a light-mouthed horse, but they can 
sit a, puller with ease, because the firm hold this horse allows them to have 
on the reins is the main thing upon which they depend to keep their balance. 

"I have seen the most inveterate pullers in some people's hands ridden in 
bits invented by their owners, regular jaw-breaking or choking power, and 
still pulling so hard as to tear the skin of their rider's hands. And I have 
no hesitation in saying — having frequently proved my assertions by prac- 
tice — that if one of these tear-away pullers changed hands, and his new 
owner would bridle him with an easy snaffle, and let him stand in the stable 
— to feel the diff'erence — an hour before he was mounted he would forget his 
old habit." 

142. Saddle-Horses.— One of the meanest things ever taught a saddle- 
horse is to cavort and curve, and go dancing and prancing about as though 
trying to keep within a circle just large enough to hold his four feet closely 
drawn together. If you are selecting a saddle-horse, see that he does not 
stand square upon his forward feet. They should reach weJl forward, and 
then there will be such an easy spring that you may ride at a smart trot 
without feeling as though you are struck with a sledge at every step, as you 
may upon some horses whose hoofs arc square under the legs, and appear to 
have about the same degree of spring that you would have upon wooden 
pins stejiping along, and brought down at every step like a pavier's rammer. 
Never select a very round-backed horse for the saddle. It does not hold 
its place well upon such a back. A good saddle-horse must possess good 
sense as well as a good gait and gentleness. 

143. Color Indicative of Gentleness< — It is asserted that the reason why 
circus managers select parti-colored horses is not their fancy color, but be- 
cause it indicates gentleness and tractability, and that the animals will 
submit to training better than horses of one color. A little thought and 
observation upon this subject will enable any farmer to settle the question 
In his own mind. Perhaps there is more than appears at first view in the 
common expression, " a fiery black horse." Is it not because black indi- 
cates a fiery temper ? Independent of color, we would look in the counte- 
nance of a horse to see whether he would bear training. In some animals 
there is a general appearance of an ugly disposition. A face broad and full 
between the eyes indicates good sense, which is one of the most important 
things in a horse. 

144. Horse Stables should be light, roomy, and well ventilated. Never 
put a horse in a cellar. Build your stables high ; that is, high between 
floors. Most stables are built low "because they are warmer." But such 



106 DOMESTIC ANm,\LS. [Chap. 1. 



people forget that warmth is obtained at a sacrifice of pure air and the 
health of the animal. Shut a man up in a tight, small box ; the air may 
be warm, but it will soon lay him out dead and cold if ha continues to 
breathe it. If stables are tight, they should have high ceilings; if they 
are not tight, but open to admit cold currents of air from all directions, they 
are equally faulty. 

Slatted floors are getting into vogue. My own stable is built with a tight 
floor nine feet long and four and a half feet wide for each stall, with a pitch 
of two inches. At the end of tlie plank there is a slatted portion, four feet 
wide, two inches lower than the jflank. Through these slats all the urine 
runs into the manure pile in the cellar, and so leaves the beds of the horses dry. 

145. Sand for llorscs' Beds. — Mr. Small, of Dundalk, Scotland, a veteri- 
nary surgeon of considerable experience, states that sand is not only an ex- 
cellent substitute for straw for horees' beds, but superior to straw, as the 
sand does not heat, and saves tlie hoofs of the horses. He states that sand is 
exclusively used for horses' beds in his repository. 

146. To Remove Morses from a Buildiug: on Fire. — The great difiiculty of 
getting horses from a stable, wliere surrounding buildings are in a state of 
conflagration, is well known. Wilkes' Spirit of the Times says, a gentleman 
whose horses had been in great peril from such a cause, having in vain tried 
to save them, hit upon the experiment of having them harnessed, when, to 
his astonishment, they were led from the stable without difficulty. Throw- 
ing a blanket over a horse's head will often answer, also, and may be easily 
tried before harnessing. 

147. Proportiou of Uorscs to Men. — ^The following curious account is given 
in Appleton's Encyclopedia, of the number of horses in the various parts of the 
world : "The general estimate has been eight to ten horses in Europe for every 
hundred inhabitants. Denmark has 45 horses to every hundred inhabitants, 
•which is more than any other European country. Great Britain and Ire- 
land have 2,500,000 horses ; France, 3,000,000 ; Austrian Empire, exclusive 
of Italy, 2,500,000 ; Eussia, 3,500,000. The United States have 5,000,000, 
which is more tlian any European country. The horses of the whole world 
are estimated at 57,420,000." 

14S. What Constitutes Legal Fusoundness in Ilorses. — A Knee-sprung horse 
can hardly be said to be unsound. He may be a very fast horse, and can 
endure with ease the labor of any common, ordinary horse, although there 
is an alteration of structure which unfits him for the race-course. This 
would not be likely to produce disease or lameness ; he would be more 
likely to grow better than worse, if used for common purj^oses. But if so 
bad as to produce stumbling and falling, he would be unsound, and a war- 
ranty should be taken against such deftKis. 

Capped IIocJis can not be considered unsoundness, if produced by an un- 
even stable floor or by kicking ; but if produced by a sprain, and a perma- 
nent thickening and enlargement of the membranes, there would be unsound- 
ness. A special warranty should be required in such cases. 



MU- 




Milk InciHiirs. 
Il,„l,l W,.',-.J......r- .'....■. 



HO»SK8 TRKTH at DlMTRHKWT AUKS . 



IX 




IllouMy.w Twktu .vr H i i.-kk h kvi\ Ai'.ks . 



PLATES VIII., IX. 

(Pages 106, 107.) 

These plates need no description ; they require study. As they 
contain all that could be said to fully understand the subject illus- 
trated, we have written nothing about the art of "telling the age 
of horses by examining their teeth." Whoever studies these plates 
wiU learn that art. Observe the steady change, year, by year, as 
it is mapped out before you. Open the mouth of your horse, and 
compare its appearance with the illustration of the year correspond- 
ing to his known age, and so on of aU others. Thus you will learn 
the art and the value of these engraved representations. 



Sao. 8.] HORSES— WHEN UNSOUND. 107 



Contraction of the Iloofh a considerable deviation from the natural form 
of the foot, but does not necessarily constitute unsoundness. It requires, 
however, a most careful examination by the purchaser to ascertain that there 
is no fever or ossification of the cartilage ; that the frog is not diseased ; that 
the animal is not tender-footed or lame. Unless some of these symptoms 
are indicated, he must not be j^ronoimced unsound. A special warranty 
should be required where the feet are contracted. 

Corns manifestly constitute unsoundness. Although few men lay much 
stress on this malady, still much inconvenience, and many times serious 
difficulties, must be encountered by them, as they are seldom thorongldy 
cured. Many horses are almost constantly lame with corns, through a scrof- 
ulous habit of the system. A warranty against such animals would be safe. 

Trevihling Knees. — This can not be considered unsoundness, yet it is a 
precursory symptom of Tcnee-sprimg. Trembling of the knees, after a smart 
exercise, indicates weakness, and should be regarded as objectionable. 

A Cough constitutes unsoundness, however slight or of short standing. 
If a horse is noticed to cough before the purchase, or immediately after- 
ward, he is diseased ; but if warranted sound, and the cough is not discov- 
ered till one or two days afterward, he is not retiirnable ; for a few hours are 
sufficient to contract a cough, by taking cold while standing in a damp, 
musty stable, or by eating different feed, musty hay, etc. 

Roanng, 'Whccz'mg, or Whistling is unsoundness, being tlie result of alter- 
ation of structure or disease in the air-passages. Although there have been 
decisions to the contrary, courts and jurors are often at a loss for the want 
of intelligent witnesses ; and if a veterinary surgeon is called to the stand, 
not having seen the animal, he is liable to be mistaken from misrepresenta- 
tion. Broken Wind is still more decidedly unsoundness. 

Crib Biting. — A difference of opinion exists as to this being unsoundness, 
and courts have given opposite decisions in respect to it. There are cribbers 
that can scarcely be said to be unsound, as they are not perceptibly injured, 
and it does not interfere with their condition or endurance. Others inhale 
and swallow a gi'cat amount of wind ; they bloat and are subject to colic, 
which iiiterfcies with their health and strength ; this would constitute un- 
soundness. A warranty should always be taken against injury from crib- 
bing ; then if he breaks his teeth or injures himself, recompense may be had. 

Curi constitutes unsoundness as long as it lasts, and perhaps while the 
swelling remains, although no inflammation exists ; for a horse that has once 
thrown out a curb, is liable to do so again on the slightest exertion. A 
horse, however, should not be returned if he spring a curb five minutes after 
purchase, for it is done in a moment, and does not indicate any previous 
unsoundness. 

149. Soiling IlorseSi — "We commend the following statement of J. C. Ad- 
ams, of Seymour, iN". Y., to the attention of all owners of small farms, like 
the little one where we practice the same course : 

" I have in close proximity to my bam a jjatch of ground, 7^ rods by 16 



.fr 



108 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

(three quarters of an acre), seeded to clover, from which I kept one span of 
horses in thriving condition from the first day of June last to the last day 
of August, besides cutting 900 lbs. of good hay, which I put into the barn, 
and harvested of the second mowing seed sufficient to stock an acre or two 
of ground. This may, and undoubtedly will, seem to many like a big barn 
well stretched. In fact, I should doubt the reality of such a story myself, had 
not my eyes seen and my hands felt the truth of such a statement. By the 
time I had mowed two thirds of this little patch, the remainder was fit to be 
made into hay, which I accordingly did up after the most approved fashion. 
And that part mowed first was sufficiently large to mow again. I fed them 
three times a day all they could eat. They smelt not, touched not, tasted 
not one particle of grain during the three months ; used them more or less 
every day, and at the end there was a perceptible gain in flesh. Never, 
since I could say ffiy team, have I summered a team so cheaply. The great- 
est cost is cutting and putting it before the horses. I oifered them water, 
but they did not drink to exceed a pailful a week. 

" I am of the opinion that if they had been turned loose upon this piece 
of ground, ten days would have been sufficient time to eat up and trample 
into the earth everything green upon it. As five acres of good pasture is 
little enough to summer a span of horses when allowed to run, there is almost 
an incalculable saving in soiling them." 

150. Breediu,^ for Longevity. — "We have had a few instances of horses liv- 
ing to the age of thirty years, but they are so rare, that such an old horse is 
looked upon as a curiosity. Lewis B. Brown, of Westchester County, N. Y., 
has a team of four, the aggregate age of which is 108 years, the oldest being 
over 30 years, and all in such vigor of constitution that but few teams can 
hold their own with this upon the road. The exhibition of this old team at 
the Springfield show, in 1860, attracted universal attention. This shows that 
such old horses are rare, and it proves that old horses are not worthless. It 
also induces the question, whether we can not breed with a special reference 
to longevity. If selections were made upon both sides, of stock which had 
ancestors noted for longevity, and this course continued through several 
generations, with mares and stallions which have arrived at mature age, still 
retaining a vigor like that exhibited in Mr. Brown's team, who can say that 
we should not obtain a breed noted for longevity, and that horses forty or 
fifty years old would then be no rarity? This is a subject worth thinking 
about. 

151. Treatnicnt of Coils. — "When first foaled, if parturition is at maturity, 
the colt should have eight front teeth, four in each jaw ; but it sometimes 
happens that these are not all cut through, and the gums are inflamed and 
so tender that the colt can not suck well. This should always be looked to, 
and the gums cut with a sharp knife, and, if need be, the colt fed until it can 
suck freely. 

Colts as well as calves are sometimes aflfected by lice ; these may be got rid 
of in various ways. Take white-oak bark, boil it in water, making a strong 



Sko. 8.] HORSES AND THEIR DISExVSES. 109 

decoctiou ; wash tlie animals on tlie back and on the sides. In twenty-four 
hours the lice will be completely tanned. Tanner's oil is also first-rate. So 
is snuif or a decoction of tobacco ; and we have heard of Peruvian guano 
being used and answering the same purpose as snufF. 

152. Remedies for Some of the most Common Diseases of Horses. — Tliere 
are a great many little simple complaints that can be cured without sending 
for a veterinary surgeon. We can afford room for only a few, because every 
person desiring information upon the diseases and cures ot domestic animals, 
will find it in the Appendix. 

153. To Cure Scratches. — "Wlien the horse comes in at night, his legs 
should be washed clean and rubbed as dry as may be ; then apply good 
vinegar, rubbing it well to the skin. Two applications a day are sufficient. 
1 have always found it a sure preventive and a certain cure. If the legs 
have become cracked and sore, apply the vinega? freely and add a piece of 
copperas the size of a common hickory nut to a quart of vinegar. 

Another excellent remedy, which we have used a great many times, is 
beef brine. If the dirt is carefully washed off with warm soap-suds, and then 
the legs well bathed with the brine, it will require but two or three applica- 
tions to cure a very bad case of scratches. 

The Maine Farmer gives another remedy. It says : " Take fresh slaked 
lime, and dust the affected parts well with it twice a day. It will not cause 
the horse any uneasiness, and will be sure to effect a cure in a few dfiys. 

154. For Ileavcs iu Horses. — ^Take smart-weed, steep it in boiling water till 
the strength is all out ; give one quart everyday for eight or ten days. Or mix 
it with brau or shorts. Give him green or cut-up feed, wet up with water, 
during the operation, and it will cure. 

155. Chaflng Under the Collar. — A gentleman who has tried the plan suc- 
cessfully for five years, communicates the annexed method of preventing 
horses from chafing under the collar. He says he gets a piece of leather, and 
has what he terms a false collar made, which is simply cutting the leather 
in such a shape as to lie singly between the shoulders of the horse and the 
collar. This fends off all the friction, as the collar slips and moves on the 
leather, and not on the shoulders of the horse. Chafing is caused by fric- 
tion, hence, you see, the thing is entirely feasible. Some persons put pads 
or sheep-skins under the collar ; these, they say, do as much hurt as good, 
for they augment the heat. A single piece of leather, like that composing 
the outside of a collar, without any lining or stuffing, is better than any- 
thing else. 

156. For Fistula. — Salt, one tablespoonful ; soft soap, one tablespoonful ; 
whisky, one tablespoonful ; turpentine, one tablespoonful. Mix in a tin 
cup ; place on the horse's nose a twitch, to prevent his moving ; have vour 
mixture placed on a little fire, and as soon as it boils up, pour immediately 
upon the diseased part ; repeat the operation every ten or twelve days, till ap- 
plied three or four times, if necessary. It will not take off the hair or leave 
any scar. 



110 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



Tliis is not more effectual than the following much simpler remedy, whicli 
we have proved for both fistula and poll-evil. Take a lump of potash 
or saleratus, as big as you can crowd into the pipe of the fistula, and it 
causes it to discharge more freely for a day or two, and then it begins to 
heal. In one case of poll-evil, a large mare would not allow any one to 
touch her head to apply the remedy, or in fact to be bridled. For tliis case 
we took about two ounces of saleratus and tied it in a cloth, in the form of a 
pad, inside the strap of a halter, where it crossed the top of the head, and by dint 
of perseverance succeeded a,t length in getting it on and firmly secured, when 
we bid her go and live or die, as she liked — we would do no more for her. 
A shower fell soon after, and the next time we saw our patient she was par- 
tially healed : tlie caustic had taken the liair off, and it had also affected the 
disease. A fortnight later we caught her, and found, slie did not object to 
being handled. The disease was cured, and the mare Avas worth a hundred 
dollars. When turned out, she could not have been sold for a hundred 
cents, and the cure had not cost five cents. 

Here is another remedy which may be tried, if it is preferred to the other. 
Tiie following is sent us as a valuable prescription for several of the ills that 
horse-flesh is heir to, such as fistula, poll-evil, ring-bone, big liead, etc. : 
12 oz. of alcohol, 1 oz. of spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. of corrosive sublimate, 
1 oz. of camphor gum, 1 oz. of oil of spike, 1 oz. of castile soap, 1 oz. of aqua- 
fortis—mixed and dissolved, and applied M'ith a swab for a day or two, and 
then intermixed, and apply again. Take care only to touch the part af- 
fected ; and, to prevent injury to the hair or hoof adjacent, rub it well with 
grease. 

157. While Lead, its Value on SoreSi — White lead in oil, as an external 
application or remedy, has no equal. In abrasions, or galls from the sad- 
dle or collar, or from anj' other cause, it will speedily aid the part in healing. 
Applied to the leg of a horse — the outer coating of hair and skin of which 
was torn off— with a painter's brush, caused it to heal and leave no scar. It 
is good for scratches and all sores upon horses or other animals, and equally 
good for men. It forms an air-tight coating, and sootlies pain. Every farmer 
should keep a pot and brush ready for use, and lie should not fail to apply it 
to all abraded spots on tools, as well as stock. White lead is the carbonate 
of the metal, and, when pure, is very white. That having a grayish tint is 
impure, being generally adulterated. For use as a paint, a lead color is 
produced by adding lampblack, and a drab or stone color, by adding burnt 
umber. 

15S. Liniment for Sweeney in Ilorsesi — One oz. of oil of spike, 1 oz. of oil 
of amber, 1 oz. of Venice turpentine, and a small quantity of rock-oil. 

159. Blind ^taggersi— This disease is more common in the Southern than 
it is in the Northern States. Tlie Cotton Planter newspaper gives the fol- 
lowing remedy : " Take 1 gal. of green hickory wood ashes, 1 half pint of 
spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. of gum camphor, and a sufficiency of lye to make 
a thin mush. Fill a horn with tliis mush, while boiling hot, and with a thin 



Sko. 8.] nORSES— IMPERFECT VISION. Ill 



cloth stretched over the end of the horn, apply it four times upon or over 
the region of the brain, each time filling the horn with the boiling mush, 
which will blister the skin. In connection with this, it is necessary to burn 
rags wet with spirits of turpentine under the horse's nose until you produce 
a free discharge. You yhould also bleed freely from the neck, and give one 
pint of linseed-oil as a purge. 

160. How to Detect Imperfect Vision or Blindness in Horses. — You may 
have good grounds for suspicion of imperfect vision when the horse moves 
his ears in a constant and rapid motion, directing them in quick succession 
to ever}'' quarter from whence the least sound proceeds. Also if his action is 
lofty and faltering, and he lifts up his feet and replaces them on the ground 
as if stepping over some obstacle, when there is actually nothing to impede 
his free progression, notwithstanding these symptoms would be sufficient to 
create suspicion, there are other causes by which similar symptoms would 
appear in horses. If a horse with perfect eyes were led from a dark stable 
into the sunshine, the sudden contraction of the pupil of his eye would 
render it imjiossible, for a few moments, for him to see but very indistinctly ; 
hence symptoms of uncertainty in his movements, until the pupil becomes 
steady after the sudden contraction. The dilating and contracting of the 
pupil furnish means of ascertaining whether blindness exists in one eye or 
both, as this pupil varies in size according to the degree of light which is 
brought to bear upon it. In a dark stable the pupil is expanded, so I'hat a 
greater portion of light falls upon the cornea ; but if the horse is led to the 
door of the stable, the pupil will contract bo as to exclude more light than 
could be endured, and if suddenly exposed to the sun, the aperture will be 
all but closed ; therefore carefully notice the eyes, whether they contract or 
expand equally by the increase and decrease of the light. If the horse 
should be examined in the open air, notice whether both pupils are of ex- 
actly the same size. After this, carefully place the hand, so as not to alarm 
the horse, over each eye, to shade off the light, and hold it there for a short 
time, noticing the extent to which the pupil dilates ; then pass the hand 
over the other eye, and ascertain whether it also dilates to the same extent, 
and if still it be uncertain, place both hands in the positions of shades over 
both the eyes of the horse, and you will at once perceive whether they are 
perfect, and if not, which of the two is imperfect. 

Nothing tends more to injure the eyes of a horse than dark or badly venti- 
lated stables. Attention to the lighting, draining, and ventilation of horse 
stables is an imperative duty. There are thousands of stables in which the 
door is the only aperture for the ingress or egress of pure air, and even this 
is in most instances closed, both when the horse is at rest, or at work or ex- 
ercise; thus he has. while in the stable, to constantly breathe vitiated air. 

161. Remedy for Galls on Horses.— Use whisky, saturated Avith alum, 
to wash the parts liable to chafe, which tends to harden the skin and pre- 
vents its rubbing oflf. For galls already formed, the following receipt for a 
salve is good ; so it is for human flesh-sores. 



112 



DOMESTIO ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



" Take of honey, twelve ounces ; yellow beeswax, four ounces ; compound 
galbanuni plaster, six ounces ; sweet oil, half a pint. Put the honey into a 
jar by the fire, then melt the other ingredients and mix them together ; 
spread very thin on linen, and apply twice every day." 

162. Horsc-Shoeing. — It is wonderful how little the mass of smiths who 
shoe horses know of the anatomy of a horse's foot ; of its delicate organiza- 
tion, and susceptibility to injury by improper paring of the hoof, formation 
of the shoes, and attachment of the same! Horses are peculiarly sensitive 
to lameness, and it is obvious that great care in the particulars mentioned 
should be observed, in order that a firm, positive, and comfortable tread 
should be given the feet, so as to make them capable of exerting the won- 
derful degree of muscular strength of which they are possessed without 
injury to the exquisitely constructed parts which are brought into play. In 
one of the numbers of the DuUin Agricultural Sevieio we find a long article, 
written by William Miles, extracted from the Journal of the Eoyal Agri- 
cultural Society of London. We heartily commend this able production to 
the perusal of those of our readers interested in this important subject. It 
commences as follows : 

" If I were asked to account for my horses' legs and feet being in better 
order than those of my neighbors, I should attribute it to the four following 
circumstances : First, that they are all shod with few nails, so placed in the 
shoe as to permit the foot to expand every time they move ; secondly, that 
they all live in boxes instead of stalls, and can move whenever they please ; 
thirdly, that they have two hours' daily walking exercise wlien they are not 
at work ; and fourthly, that I have not a head-stall or rack-chain in my 
stable. These four circumstances comjirehend the whole mystery of keeping 
horses' legs fine, and their feet in sound working condition up to a good old age. 

" All that is really required is, to take one anatomical anil one phys- 
iological fact on trust, and believe that the horse's hoof is lined by a very 
sensitive membrane which must on no account ever be wounded, and that 
the hoof itself is elastic, and expands when the weight of the horse is thrown 
on the foot, and contracts when it is taken oif again ; all the rest is purely 
mechanical, and merely calls for the exercise of a little thought and patience 
to understand the principle and apply it. 

" The result of the numberless experiments I have made at various times 
on all sorts of horses doing every kind of work is, that there is but one prin- 
ciple to be observed in horse-shoeing which will admit of no variation or 
compromise : the shoe must fit the foot, whatever the shape of the foot may 
happen to be, and it must be nailed to the hoof in such a manner as will 
permit the foot to expand to the weight of the horse ; this latter condition 
will be best complied with by placing three nails in the outer limb of the 
shoe, and two in the inner limb between the toe and the commencement of 
the inner quarter ; a larger number than five nails can never be required in 
any shoe of any size, or under any circumstances, excepting for the sole pur- 
pose of counteracting defective and clumsy fitting. 



Sko. 8.] HORSES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 113 



"Xo horse should have more thai; one foot bared at a time; however 
strong his feet may happen to be, he is sure to stand quieter on a shod foot 
than he can on a bare one, and it -will prevent liis breaking the crust. A 
horse with weak flat feet is in positive misery when forced to sustain his 
whole weight on a bare foot, while the opposite foot is held up. 

" A strong foot with an arched sole, when the roads are in good order, 
will require to have the toe shortened, the quarters and heels lowered, and 
the sole pared, until it will yield in some slight degree to very hard pressure 
from the thumb ; but on no account should it ever be pared thin enough to 
yield to moderate pressure ; the angles formed by tlie crust and the bars at 
the heels must be cleared out, and all the dead horn removed therefrom, aud 
the bars should be lowered nearly to a level with the sole. 

" A weak flat foot, on the contrary, will bear no shortening of the toe, and 
very little paring or lowering anywhere ; the heels of such feet are sure to be 
too low already, and the sole too thin ; in fact, the less that is done to them the 
better beyond clearing out the dead horn from the angles at the heels, and 
making the crust bear evenly on the shoe ; but the hollow between the bars 
and the frog, or the frog itself, must never be touched by a knife in any foot, 
whether it be a weak one or a strong one ; and as these latter directions 
difli"er materially from the usual practice of smiths, I may, perhaps, be ex- 
pected to state my reasons for wishing to enforce them in opposition to what 
they no doubt consider a time-honored custom ; I mean the inveterate habit 
they all have of trimming the frog, and opening out the heels at every 
shoeing ; but I think I shall be able to show that ' it is a custom more hon- 
ored in the breach than in the observance.' 

" The shoe should be neither too light nor too narrow in the web ; light 
shoes are apt to bend before they are half worn out, and narrow-webbed 
shoes expose the sole and frog to unnecessary injury from stones in the road. 
Every fore-shoe should be more or less seated on the foot-sui*face, to prevent 
it pressing on and bruising the sole ; but a perfectly flat surface should be 
preserved around the edge of the foot-surface of the shoe, from heel to heel, 
for the crust to rest upon. The amoimt of seating to be employed must bo 
determined by the description of foot to be shod ; for instance, a broad foot, 
with a flat sole and weak horn, will require a wide web, considerably seated, 
to prevent it coming in contact with the sole and bruising it ; but a narrow 
foot, with an arched sole and strong horn, will require less width of web 
and less seating, otherwise the dirt and grit of the road would become im- 
jjacted between the shoe and the sole, and cause as much pressure and injury 
as the iron would have done." 

Many men who own and use horses seem to be indifferent as to the man- 
ner in which they are shod, so much so that they take them to any one who 
can drive a nail, leave everything to him, and take it for granted that if the 
horse has got four good stout shoes on his feet that will stay on as long as 
they last, it is all right. This is a great mistake, and will often lead to the 
discomfort and ultimate ruin of the horse. 



114 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

No horse that is badly shod can travel easily, safely, or well ; and many 
who use horses that cut their legs or trij^, suppose that the fault is in the 
horse, while in fact uo one is in fault but the shoer. There are hardly two 
horses that require precisely the same shaped shoe, or that it be put on in 
precisely the same way ; hence to shoe every horse so as not to pinch, and 
consequently injure the feet, and at the same time so that he can perform 
his work easily and well, requires considerable experience and more than 
common skill and intelligence on the part of horse-shoers. 

One of the objects in applying the shoe is to preserve the natural con- 
cavity of the sole of the foot. A horse in his natural state, and, indeed, up 
to the period of his first introduction within the precincts of the " smithy," 
has generally a concave sole ; and wisely is it so ordained. Were it other- 
wise, the animal would be unable to secure foothold ; as it is, the inferior edge 
of the hoof — that is, the ground surface — projecting beyond the sole, may be 
compared to the point of a cat's claw or the nails of a man ; they grasp, as it 
were, bodies with which they come in contact, and thus secure a point of 
resistance which aids in advancing limb or body over a smooth surface. 
Kow, in order to preserve the natural mechanical functions of the horn and 
sole, the ground surface of the shoe must corresjjond to the ground surface 
of the foot ; that is to say, the ground surface of the shoe must be beveled 
cup fashion ; its outer edge being prominent, takes the place of tiie hoof; its 
inner surface being concave, corresponds to the natural concavity of the foot. 
It is a custom among some blacksmiths to reverse the above procedure, and 
place the concave surface next the foot, and often the ground surface appears 
to be more convex than concave. An iron shoe tacked on to a horse's foot 
is one of the unavoidable evils of domestication, yet, when properly applied, 
is not so great an evil as some persons might suppose. 

E. Jennings, veterinary surgeon, Philadelphia, gives his views as follows 
upon this subject : 

163. f ontractiou of tlic Feet of Horses— The Cause and Remedy. — " The 
tendency of a horse's feet, in a healthy condition, is to expand whenever 
the weight of the body is thrown upon them. Being a very complicated 
piece of mechanism, they arc very easily disarranged, and, once out of order, 
are dii^eult of repair ; hence the necessity of preserving them in a sound 
condition. 

" Contraction is caused, 1st, by cutting away the bars of the feet, which 
are the main stays for the support of the quarters ; 2d, by (opening the 
heels, as the smith calls it) cutting away a portion of the frog, in conse- 
quence of which the moisture of the frog becomes absorbed, losing its elas- 
ticity and destroying its function, thus exposing the feet to injury by 
concussion ; 3d, by standing upon plank floors ; 4th, by improper shoeing. 

" An ordinary observer will, xipon an examination of the common shoe, 
notice that it inclines from without inward at the heels, thus forming a con- 
cavity for the feet to rest in ; the consequence is a lateral resistance to the 
expansion of the hoofs when the weight of the animal is thrown upon them. 



Sec. 8.] HORSES AND MULES. 115 

The eflects of this resistance are to force tlie heels together, creating pressure 
upon the sensitive parts within the horny case ; establishing fever, by which 
the moisture of the hoofs is rapidly absorbed, rendering the hoofs hard, 
brittle, and liable to crack, and frequently causing corns, navicular joint 
lameness, bony deposits to be thrown out from the lateral wings or processes 
of the coffin bones, rendering the animal permanently lame or unsound. 
These are but few of the bad eflects arising from contraction — enough, how- 
ever, to serve our purpose at present. 

" liemcdy. — Preserve a level bearing by making the shoes perfectly flat 
on the quarters, so as not to interfere with the expansion of the feet. 
Should contraction already exist to considerable extent, bevel the shoes 
slightly outward at the heels, in order to facilitate expansion. Care should 
be used not to bevel too much, or bulging of the lower part of the hoofs at 
the quarters will be the result. The shoes should in all cases be forged, and 
not twisted, as is sometimes done to save trouble by the bungling smith. 
Proper applications, to soften the horny parts and promote elasticity, should 
also be used. Such preparations are put up in the form of hoof ointments." 

164. MuleSt — Few of the farmers of this country are aware what a debt of 
gratitude they owe George Washington for the introduction of mules into 
general i\se for farm purposes. 

Previous to 1783 there were but very few, and those of such an inferior 
order as to prejudice farmers against them as unfit to compete Avith horses in 
work upon the road or farm. Consequently there were no good jacks, and 
no disposition to increase the stock ; but Washington became convinced that 
the inti'oduction of mules generally among Southern planters would prove 
to them a great blessing, as they are less liable to disease, and longer lived, 
and work upon shorter feed, and are much less liable to be injured by care- 
less servants than horses. 

As soon as it became known abroad that the illustrious Washington de- 
sired to stock his Mount Vernon estate with mules, the King of Spain sent 
him a jack and two jennies from the royal stables, and Lafayette sent another 
jack and jennies from the island of Malta. 

Tl:e first was of a gray color, sixteen hands high, heavily made, and of a 
sluggish nature. lie was named the Royal Gift. The other was called the 
Knight of Malta ; he was about as high, but lighter made, black color, and 
lithe and fiery, even to ferocity. 

The two diflerent sets of animals gave him the most favorable opportunity 
of making improvements by cross-breeding, the result of which was a favor- 
ite jack which he called Compound, because he partook of the best points in 
both of the original jacks. The General bred his blooded mares to these 
jacks, even taking those from his family coach for that purpose, and pro- 
duced such superb mules that the country was all agog to breed some of the 
same sort, and they soon became quite common. Tliis was the origin of 
improved mnles in the United States; though over seventy years since, there 
is no doubl there are now some of the third and fourth generations of 



116 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



Knight of Malta and Royal Gift to be found in Virginia, and the great ben- 
efits arising from their introduction to the country are to be seen upon almost 
every cultivated acre in the Southern States. N^otwithstanding the enor- 
mous increase of late years, arising from a systematic course of breeding in 
the Northern States for the Southern market, mules were never more valua- 
ble than at present, or more ready of sale at liigli prices. 

165. Longevity of MulcSi — We have numerous reports of mules attaining 
the age of forty, fifty, or sixty years, and Col. Middleton, of South Carolina, 
stated some years ago that he had one at work on his pilantation eighty years 
old ; and we have seen an account of a mule in Ireland certified to have been 
at work since 1707, making him over 150 years old. This is, of course, a 
very uncommon age, but we are satisfied tliat, with proper usage, mules 
would commonly attain to about forty years, being serviceable to the last, 
and this should be counted as one of their elements of value. 

166. The Largest Mule in the Worid.— If the following statement is cor- 
rectly given, it tells of the largest mule, probably, ever produced. We 
found it in the Commercial, of Cincinnati, in 1860. It says : 

" The largest mule ever produced in the world is now in this city. It is a 
mare mule, nineteen and a half hands high, and weighs eighteen hundred 
and thirty-two pounds. This extraordinary animal is the property of Charles 
Frost, of Wayne County, Ind., recently purchased near Lexington, Ky." 

167. Mules, Uorses, Oxen. — We read in almost every agricultural paper, 
we hear in most agricultural addresses, and we often hear in conversation, 
that one or the other of these animals is the one, and the only one, that 
farmers should use, yet we have never seen a farmer who could say, " I 
know." One who has always done his farm-work with oxen is sure that 
they are the best in all respects ; while fifty miles away he would search a 
hundred farms to find as many yoke of oxen, and wliere he did find them he 
would probably be told they were only fit for drudgery — that horses only 
are suitable for farm-work, and their owners are ready with loads of reasons 
to substantiate their theory. But take another day's journey, and the theory 
is upset with mules — mules here, there, everywhere ; nothing but mules, 
and nothing fit for a farm but mules, because they are so strong and hardy 
they never tire, and live upon almost nothing for their daily rations, and are 
the very persotiification of life everlasting. 

Now, while the advocates of each class of animals disagree so widely, how 
are the seekers after truth to satisfy themselves ? Do they look to us for an 
opinion ? We can give it ; here it is. All are best, and upon a large farm 
all would be found economical to keep for different classes of work ; and it 
is our opinion that no man who farms a hundred acres can afford to do with- 
out oxen, mules, and at least one horse. If his oxen are well trained, tliey 
will travel as fast before the plow and wagon as naules ; but the latter are so 
much more enduring in hot weather, at all sorts of hard work, that their 
services are then particularly valuable. They are better, too, to go off upon 
the road, or to carry produce to market, because they may be, though nat- 



Sko. 8.] HORSES AND MULES. 117 

urall\' about as slow as oxen, trained to travel homeward without a load at 
a round trot. For working singly in the cultivation of crops, mules are far 
superior to horses, and of course can do a great deal of work that could not 
be done by oxen. We have seen mules that were fair substitutes for saddle- 
horses, having one good quality, that of sure-footedness. There is one ob- 
jection to mules on a farm where the stock is generally pastured : there is 
nothing short of a Mississippi fence that will hold them — that is, twelve rails 
liigli, and stake-and-ridered ; and we have heard planters declare that they 
had often known the brutes to climb over sucii a fence as that. In advising 
a Northern farmer to keep mules, we therefore advise him to make his cal- 
culation to keep them in a stable all the time they are out of harness. 

16S. Breeding of Horses and Mules. — There are certain universal laws of 
breeding which can not be ignored, except at the sacrifice of all success. In 
Kentucky and Tennessee, a very large strain of mules have been obtained 
by using jacks of_^immense size. We recollect seeing one at R. Cockrill's, 
near Nashville, over eighteen hands high. We have seen several mules of 
that bight, and numerous ones of sixteen and seventeen hands high. It is 
still a question whether such large mules are as economical as the smaller 
sizes, which cost less at first and cost less for sustenance ; and some persons 
contend that at ordinary labor the small mule will do as much and last 
longer. 

In breeding either horses or mules, a writer upon the subject says : " If we 
would have sound stock, we mast have constitutional soundness in both dam 
and sire. There are hundreds, ay, thousands, who will scour the country and 
compare the merits of a dozen horses — will give time and money to secure 
the services of a good stallion — and all with the expectation of procuring a 
fine colt from a miserable, puny, ill-shaped, broken-winded, spavined old 
mare. How often do we hear it said, ' Oh, she will do to raise a colt 
from ;' or — after hard service and cruel usage have left a mere wreck of 
what, away back in the farmer's memory, was once a beast of power, activ- 
ity, excellent temper, and noblcbcaring — 'we must now turn the old mare 
out to breed from.' The start is wrong, the foundation is defective — what 
wonder should the structure tumble to the earth ? 

" In the mare we need size and symmetry ; if there be blood, all the bet- 
ter — it will tell. Without the first two, however— even though all the 
blood that has flowed through thorough-brcds, from the days of Godolpliin 
to the present, were in her veins — she is utterly unfit for a breeder. Many 
animals possess some favorable peculiarity which owners wish to transmit, 
and though there may be a structural deficiency' in some other part, the 
mare is brought to the breeding jiaddock in the hope that the desirable 
features will be prominent in the colt, even if it be at the expense of other 
points of strength and action. The breeder here commits an error. It 
would be better to let the marc go, for in the very large majority of cases 
the deficiencies will be transmitted while the excellences will not. 

"In choosing a mare for breeding purposes, she should be so formed in 



118 DOMESTIC ANIMAXS. [Chap. I. 

frame, as to be capable of carrying and well nourishing her offspring ; that 
is, she should be Avhat is called " roomy." Tliere is a formation of the hips 
•which is i)articularly unlit for breeding purposes, and yet Avhich is some- 
times carefully selected, because it is considered elegant ; this is the level 
and straight hip, in which the tail is set on very high, and the end of the 
haunch bone is nearly on a level with the projection of the hip bone. 
Nearly the opposite form is the more desirable, where, on examining the 
pelvis, it will be seen that the haunch bone forms a considerable angle with 
the sacrum, and that there is, as a consequence, plenty of room, not only for 
carrying the foal, but for allowing it to pass into the world. Both of these 
points are important, the former evidently so, and the latter no less so on 
consideration ; because, if the foal is injured in the birth, either of necessity 
or from ignorance, it will often fail to recover its powers and will remain 
permanently injured. Tlie pelvis, then, should be wide and deep — that is to 
say, large and roomy, and there should also be a little more than the average 
length from hip to the shoulder, so as to give plenty of bed for the foal, a.« 
■well as a good depth of back ribs, which are necessary to give the strength 
to support this increased length. Beyond this roomy frame, necessary as 
the egg-shell of the foal, the mare only requires such a shape and make as 
is well adapted for the purpose she is intended for — that is to say, for pro- 
ducing colts of the style and form she is intended to produce. TVe will add, 
that she must have four good legs under her, and those legs standing on a 
foundation of good, well-shaped, large feet, open heeled, and by no means 
flat-soled.' 

"'In health,' says the same writer, 'the brood mare should be as near 
perfection as the artificial state of the animal will allow ; at all events, it is 
the most important point of all, and in every case the mare should be very 
carefully examined with a view to discover what deviations from a natural 
state have been entailed upon her by her own labors, and what she has in- 
herited from her ancestors. All nccidental defects, such as broken knees, 
dislocated hips, etc., may be passed over ; the latter, however, only when 
the stock from which the mare is descended are famous for standing their 
work without this frailty of sinew and ligament. Spavins, ring-bones, large 
splents, side-bones, and, in fact, all bony enlargements, are constitutional 
defects, and will be almost sure to be perpetuated, more or less, according to 
the degree in which they exist in the particular case.' 

" Having said thus much upon the requisites on the side of the dam, let 
us see what should be sought for in a sire. It is maintained by all writers 
upon this subject, that JAood should be possessed by a stallion in an eminent 
degree ; that the essential on the part of the sire is the greatest amount of 
pure blood compatible with size, weight, and power according to the pur- 
poses for which we intend to breed. Our best veterinarians argue that the 
degree of strength in the bone, .sinew, and frame of a blooded horse is, in 
proportion to extent, vastly superior to that contained by his coarser and 
more mammoth brother, tiie English cart-horse. The diflFerence in the form 



Sec. 8.] HORSES AND MULES— BKEEDING. 119 



and texture of the muscular Bystem, and in the lesser tendency to form 
flabby, useless flesh, is also in favor of blood. In addition to all this, the 
general constitution of the animal is calculated to furnish him witli greater 
vitality, recuperative energy, and physical power — in proportion to size and 
weight — and, as a consequence, quicker movement, greater courage, and 
better powers of endurance. 

" Herbert, in his ' Ilints to Horse-Keepers,' gives his views upon this 
branch of our subject so concisely and clearly, that we can not refrain from 
quoting a paragraph, as follows : ' To breed from a small horse with the hope 
of getting a large colt; from a long-backed, leggy horse, witla the ho])e of 
getting a short, comjiact, powerful one ; from a broken-winded, or blind, or 
flat-footed, or spavined, or ring-boned, or navicular-joint diseased horse, with 
the hope of getting a sound one ; from a vicious horse, a cowardly horse— 
what is technically called a dunghill — with the hope of getting a kind-tem- 
pered and brave one ; all or any of these would be the hight of folly. The 
blood sire (and the blood sliould always be on the sire's side) should be, for 
the farmer-breeder's purposes, of medium hight, say 15i hands high, short- 
backed, well ribbed up, short in the saddle-place, long below. He should 
have high withers, broad loins, broad chest, a straight rumj), the converse of 
what is often seen in trotters, and known as the goose-rump • a high and 
muscular, but not beefy crest; a lean, bony, well-set-on head ; a clear, bright, 
smallish, well-placed eye ; broad nostrils and small ears. His fore legs 
should be as long and as muscidar as possible above the knee, and his hind 
legs above the hock; and as lean, short, and bony as possible below those 
joints. The bones can not by any means be too flat, too clear of excres- 
cences, or too large. Tlie sinews should be clear, straight, firm, and hard to 
the touch. From such a horse, where the breeder can find one, and from a 
well-choseu mare (she may be a little larger, more bony, more roomy, and 
in every way coarser than the horse, to the advantage of the stock), sound, 
healthy, and well-limbed, he may be certain, accidents and contingences set 
aside, of raising an animal that will be creditable to him as a scientific stock- 
breeder, and profitable to him in a pecuniary sense." 

"With these general remarks upon what we require in breeding, we think 
■we may close the section upon horses. We hope what we have given in re- 
lation to breeding horses will be carefully studied and breeds compared, and 
that what we have said will be just sufficient to awaken an interest that will 
tend to the improvement of this most faithful beast in the service of man. 
If we have not got the right breed, let us inquire where is the deficiency, 
and amend it. Above all, let us think what purpose we are breeding for, 
and not attempt to get an animal suitable for a lady's saddle from an English 
cart-horse or the Norman diligence. 

ltJ9. Ilorse-Gcaringi — If a Xew Mexican, or even a full-blood North Caro- 
lina mountaineer, should appear in the city of New York with his horse 
harnessed, as we have have often seen, it would attract much attention, as 
the whole gearing might not have a particle of leather or iron in its compo- 



120 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



sition, the collar being made of braided corn-ehucks, the hames of natural 
crooked sticks, the traces of raw hide, fastened to the hames by a liole and 
a knot, and to the whiffletree by a loop around the end. Rude as this gear- 
ing is, it answers a good purpose, and does not gall or sweat the horse like 
the great English collars, or like those known in our boyhood as the " old 
Dutch collar," which was so much like the breeching of the same harness 
that it was rather difficult to tell which belonsred forward and which behind. 

Tlie old English collar, specimens of which may be seen occasionally in 
this country, was a most cumbersome piece of horse-gearing which a sensible 
man will not be likely to copy. It is made like our American collars, only 
very much heavier, and has attached to its upper end as an ornament two 
pieces of stiff sole leatlier as big as the skirts of a saddle, with a great deal 
of ornamental stitching around its edge. Some of these collars weigh 12 to 
15 lbs., and the hames are furnished with two brass horns that stick up sev- 
eral inches above the flap. 

The Scotch collars are also made with a great superfluity of leather, and 
are very heavy, though difiering in form from the English collars. 

The weight of a Scotch plow harness is given in Stephens' book of " The 
Farm" at 38 lbs. We have often seen a horse equally well harnessed to a 
plow in this country when the whole gearing would not weigh half as much, 
nor cost half as much, as an English collar. These English collars are often 
ornamented with red worsted fringe and tassels, and give a six-hoi-se team, 
wearing bells, a very formidable appearance. 

We recommend as an improvement upon our own light, easy, and, we 
think, handsome collars — handsome, because fitting for their purpose — that 
tliey should be made open at the bottom. We drove one pair of horses from 
Chicago to New Orleans, and from New Orleans to New York, making 
many detours, and in all driving some five thousand miles in one journey, 
with a pair of collars open at the bottom ; and although out in all sorts of 
weather, never had a sore shoulder or even chafed off the hair. Neither did 
we use breeching in all that journey, yet wc traveled ovef some very rough 
and mountainous roads. Wc are satisfied that a horse will hold back a light 
carriage with a good strong padded girt as well as with breeching. Our plan 
of a harness is exactly the contrast of an English one. Theirs is, to use up 
all the leather and labor possible, and ours to use just as little as possible. 
We do not believe in blinders, check-reins, breeching, nor heavy collars. 
Tlie harness should be made as light as it can be and be strong. Strength is 
an important particular. For a farm-wagon or plow harness we recommend 
short leather tugs and chains as preferable to long tugs or long chains. 

170. Working Three Horses Abreast.— In the north part of this country it 
is not very common to see three horses worked abreast. It is quite common 
in Louisiana, particularly in working horses to carts. It is much practiced 
in England, and perhaps would be more so here if farmers had proper gear- 
ing. We have seen it practiced sometimes by hitching the middle horse to 
the center of the swing-bar. This gives no chance of equalizing the draft 



Sec. 8.] HORSES AND HARNESS. 121 



between the three horses. The English have what are called compensating 
bars between the swing-bar (which we call the double-tree), and the three 
single-trees, so that each horse may be seen to pull equal to the others. 

These bars should be made of iron, one and a half inches wide and three 
eighths of an incli thick. Two of the bars are each 27 inches long, and these 
are attached, as the single-tree usually is, to the ends of the swing-bar, by a 
fulcrum just one third of the length from the outer end. Then a center 
bar, 20 inches long, is attached by working joints to the ends of these out- 
side bars, and the single-tree of the center horse is attached to the center 
of this bar, and the single-trees of the outside horses are attached to the 
ends of the other bars. This equalizes the strain upon all the horses, for it 
is impossible for one to start ahead without imparting motion backward to 
both of the other horses. 

The irons of a single or double-tree should always be made so as to clasp 
the M'ood, which should never have a hole bored through it to pull by. 

171. Dimensions of Double and Single-Trees. — Perhaps every farmer knows 
how to gear a horse, and what are the proper dimensions of a set of double 
or single-trees. But there are many persons who take to farming in after- 
life, find others who may have occasion to make this part of a set of horse- 
gearing, and these will be glad to have the following directions to refer to. 

The bar of a double-tree should be three feet nine inches long and three 
and a half inches wide at the center, and one and a quarter inches thick, and 
it should be made of the strongest kind of wood that can be procured, and 
straisrht grained and free from knots. The best wood we have for this pur- 
pose is second growth white ash, such as all of our best hoe and shovel 
handles are made of in the United States. 

A single-tree should be three feet three inches long, two and a half inches 
wide, and one and a quarter inches thick. The irons of double and single- 
trees may be all made of the same form and strength ; that is, a piece of the 
very best flat bar iron, one and three quarter inches wide and one fourth 
of an inch thick, is bent so as to clasp around the back part, and the ends 
come about two thirds of the width toward the front edge, with half-inch 
holes through the end and through the wood. In this hole a piece of half- 
inch iron is to be inserted by tapering the ends so that they will go through 
the hole from each way and clinch fast on the flat iron, leaving the bend 
forward so as to form a loop in which to put the hook of the single-tree, or 
the chain, or a loose ring, as may be required. Tliese irons can not come 
off, even if they should get loose, and the wood is not likely to break, be- 
cause there is no strain upon it. The strain is all upon the irons, and when 
the loop wears out, a new one is easily inserted in its place. The center irons 
of the double or single-trees are put on after the same fashion,the loop of the 
round iron being back, instead of forward, and both the flat and round irons 
for the center may be a little stronger than the ends. 

This plan is far better than making the irons to drive on like a ring, fast- 
ening them by a few stub-nails driven in the end of the single-tree. Acci- 



122 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



dents often occur from the irons of single-trees, put on like rings, getting 
loose and working off. Such things seem always to happen at the most un- 
propitious times. We knew one man well, who lost his life in consequence 
of just such an accident. He was crossing one of the Western prairies upon 
a cold, stormy night, when the accident occurred, by which he was unable 
to proceed, and, as was supposed, while getting his horses loose, that he 
might ride to the nearest house, some miles distant, lie became so chilled as 
to be unable to mount on horseback, and before morning his horses left him 
alone to perish — all in consecpience of having bad gearing. 

We have ourselves had some very unpleasant experience in our prairie 
traveling, arising from broken swing-trees, and therefore warn you to make 
them very strong — no matter about the looks. Utility is everything. 

Ploioinrj loithfoiir horses, though not much practiced in this country, is 
sometimes necessary, and, for want of practice, but few know how to attach 
four horses to a plow so as to work in the easiest manner. 

The common way is to hitch the double-tree of the leading pair to a hook 
in the center of the double-tree of the rear pair. Tliis gives a dead pull to 
the leaders without afl'ecting the other pair. To obviate this, and give a 
compensating balance to both pair, the following plan has been adopted : 
Attached to the hook of the plow-beam is an iron pulley, about six inches 
diameter. The chain from the first set of double-trees, instead of being 
hooked to the plow-beam, is rove through this pulley, and the end carried 
forward and hooked to the forward double-trees. The working of this is, 
that neither pair can give a dead pull independent of the other pair. If you 
touch up the hind pair so that they start suddenly forward, the pull does 
not give the plow a jerk, because the chain yields around the pulley and 
soon draws back upon the leaders, giving them a hint to press forward, and 
thus keep the strain even. To prevent either pair from drawing too much 
of the chain through the pulley, you can insert an open ring into a link at a 
suitable distance on either side. 

There is no other plan that we have ever seen in operation, so simple as 
this is, to give a perfect equilibrium and balance the forces of each pair of 
horses. In fact, the whole four, by the aid of the swing-trees and pulley, are 
all kept in equilibrium. 

It will be well for the hind pair of horses to wear a common wagon neck- 
yoke, and pass the chain that extends to the double-trees of the forward 
horses tlu-ough the ring, or if that is too high, through a loop attached to 
the ring. The chain is sometimes supported by a strap swinging between 
the rear horses, each end attached to a back band on to the Lames. 



PLATE X. 

(Page 123.) 

This picture speaks for itself, and does credit to the artist. It ia 
one that will interest more persons than any other. The descrip- 
tions of these fowls will be found in Section IX., ^ 180, 181, 182, 
together with several other kinds. Those here illustrated comprise 
most of the best unproved varieties, and quite as many as any farmer 
wiU care to possess. By comparing the descriptions with the pic- 
tures, it will enable any one to make a suitable selection. The de- 
scription of poultry fails to give satisfaction without pictorial aid. 
It is here complete. We may well feel proud of this picture. 



c 



Seo. 9.] 



POULTRY. 



123 




SECTIOX IX.-POULTRY. 

? axims for Poultry Keepers.— Tliose who expect to 

/' be successful in raising or managing poultry, or 

liope to make it a paying part of farm business, 

should observe a few simple rules which will 

save them from much disappointment and trouble. 

1. It is not advisable to keep large numbers of hens 

together, or go into the poultry business on a large scale. 

It is found impracticable and unprofitable; besides, they 

can not be kept in so healthy a condition as where but 

few are together. 

2. It is impossible to keep hens to advantage without 
having a properly arranged house for their accommoda- 
tion. This is as necessary as that a, farmer should have 
a stable for his cattle or a dwelling for his family. 
3. In connection with the house, a poultry-yard should be provided, which 
should contain a grass-plot, gravel, some quantities of slacked lime, and dry 
ashes. 

•t. The inside of the poultry-house should be whitewashed twice a year, or 
oftcner, which will serve to keep it free from vermin, and the hens will be 
kept in bettor condition. 

5. Pure water, in sufficient quantities, must be provided several times a 
day, in winter and in summer. 

6. Feed should be given at regular periods. To fatten fowls, they must 
not bo allowed to run at large. 

These rules are subject to variation imder certain circumstances. A new 
settler in the woods would not consider them applicable. It would be more 
profitable to let his poultry run at large. So it is upon all fiirms at some 
seasons, but there arc but few farmers who would not sometimes find it prof- 
itable to shut up all his poultry, the gallinaceous portion of it particularly. 
For this purpose a poultry-yard will be found always a great convenience, 
if not a great profit. It should be so constructed that its first cost will not 
be money unprofitably spent. Many persons have found it profitable to 
have a tolerably large inelosure for poultry, and plant that with plum-trees. 
It is asserted that curculio insects never disturb plums upon such trees. It 
is onr opinion that it would be found very profitable to have a portable 
poultry house and yard, which could be conveniently moved from place to 
place, keeping it upon one spot one year, and upon another the next. By 
this means some bad brier-patches would be subdued, and some poor si:)ols 
cheaply enriched. 

If poultry are kept in a yard, the ground should be often dug up. If the 
yard is large enough, it may be plowed. It is a good way to have a large 



124: DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



yard in two parts, and plow and sow grain in one, and when it gets large 
enough for the hens to eat, turn them in and plow and sow the otlier. 

Hens that run at large are often very troublesome, sometimes doing 
"more mischief than their necks are worth." The following device is for 
such mischievous pests. 

173. Shoeing Heils. — "We observe a recent notice, in some paper, of the 
practice of making woolen shoes (or rather boots), to prevent hens from 
scratching. A flock of fifty fowls, like our own, would require considerable 
labor in tlie manufacture of a hundred woolen boots, which might be worn 
through in a short time and need renewing. It is much better, we think, to 
procure a breed that will not scratch. There is another point of import- 
ance — that is, to keep the animals well fed during the season when scratch- 
ing is most feared." 

One man says : " I keep from thirty to fifty of the white Shanghae — a 
very quiet, well-behaved, and profitable fowl — and adopt the most econom- 
ical mode, namely, regular feeding with grain ; and although there is no 
barrier between their ordinary range and tlie kitchen garden, they do not 
scratch yearly enough to do twenty-five cents' damage." 

174. Number of Hens to Keep, and Time to Selli — A con-espondent of the 
Illinois Prairie Farmer says: "We havfe kept as many as 150 fowls, and 
fed them three pecks of shelled corn daily. But our experience has been, 
that we could get more than half as many eggs from twenty -five fowls as 
we could from one hundred. We have carried chicks the size of quails to 
market and found them ready sale at twenty-five cents each. We might 
have kept them four months longer, and found them dull sale at a dime 
apiece." 

175. Feeding Ileus Meat. — We have been advised to feed plenty of meat to 
our hens, if we M'anted them to lay steadilj'. Now there is a time to feed 
meat and a time not to feed it. When the temperature is low and the 
ground is frozen, feed meat, but when the weather is warm, or even mod- 
erate, if the chickens can scratch the ground and find worms and insects, 
they need no meat. The insects and worms furnish meat suificicnt, and too 
much in many cases, causing them to lay eggs without any shell. They 
should then have plenty of lime or old mortar, gravel, etc. 

Young chickens generally do best in coops, raised some inches from the 
ground, until they are six or eight weeks old ; if they droop after this, the 
next hour of warm sunshine will bring them up again. A correspondent 
says, the last time he tried to raise tliem on the ground, he lost 59 out of 
60. He has often raised 60 or 70 at a time since without losing one, simply 
by cooping them away from the ground until six weeks old. 

A writer in the English Agricultural Gazette recommends that a piece of 
iron be kept constantly in the water to which fowls have access. Iron rust, 
he says, is an excellent tonic. A roll of brimstone is also recommended to 
be kept in the water. 

176. How to Keep Hens Shut up. — It is one of the most important matters 



Sko. 9.] POULTRY. 125 

about poultry keeping, particularly to small farmers and villagers, to know 
how to keep hens in continement. It is very convenient for many persons 
who could not allow them to run at large to annoy themselves and neigh- 
bors, to keep enough to supply the family with fresh eggs, and pei-hai)s a 
few chickens. 

As confinement is an unnatural condition for fowls, it is often an un- 
healthy condition. The question is, can they be kept shut up in close quar- 
ters and keep healthy? If large numbers are together, they are very apt to 
get a disease which makes them lose their feathers. Sometimes the}' pull 
them off of one another. Great attention eliould be paid to cleanliness, 
wiicre fowls are shut up. Lime for the hens to eat — lime scattered over the 
floor — lime used as whitewash, should never be neglected. The following 
rules are very good : 

1st. Do not keep more than ten hens confined in one small yard. They 
will be more profitable than fifty. If you wish to keep a large number, have 
several places for tliem. 

2d. Do not confine them in a damp or shaded place, but in a dry one, 
where they can have both shade and sunshine. The latter is very important. 

3d. As they can not remove from the filth that accumulates, it should be 
removed from them. Tliere is no permanent success in keeping fowls in 
confinement without the utmost neatness. Their droppings should be daily 
removed from the roosting-place, and the yard should be well littered with 
fresh straw, tan, or other material, as often as is necessary. 

4th. The hen is omnivorous — that is, she eats almost everything ; insects, 
flesh, grain, and fruit arc taken with avidity. All attempts, therefore, to 
confine hens to a single article of diet will fail. Give them a good supply 
of grain and butchers' scraps, boiled potatoes, sour milk, and the refuse of 
the kitchen, and during the summer months an occasional taste of fruit, and, 
in addition, egg-shells and oyster-shells crushed ; or, if you can not get 
these, pound up the bones that always collect about yards. It is wonderful 
with what avidity fowls, especially when confined, will eat broken bones. 

5th. Plenty of clean water is always necessary. Stagnant or filthy water 
will not do. It alone is sufficient to cause disease. Running water is best, 
but clean, fresh water will answer. 

6th. Exercise is quite an important part of the plan. Turn them out an 
hour before sunset to pick up insects, gravel, and other substances, and it 
will quicken their circulation and add much to their powers of resisting dis- 
ease. We have heard a poultry keeper say, who followed these rules, that 
with him the balance-sheet gave a large profit. 

Although the above remarks are applicable principally to residents of 
towns or villages, yet we would like to add a word for the benefit of farmers. 
How few of them keep poultry at a profit ! Indeed, as generally kept about 
the farm, with free range of the barn, grain, and often portions of tlie house, 
they are of no profit, and very often are an almost intolerable nuisance. 

177. The Food of Fowls. — This is a very important question. A great 



126 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

many expedients have been resorted to in order to cheapen the food of fowls. 
Chandlers' greaves are largely used by parties in the vicinity of New York 
to fatten poultry for market. These are good for an occasional feeding, but 
for exclusive food we have our doubts, and think others will, after reading 
the following extract : 

ITS. Are Fowls Wholesome which are Fed on Putrid Meat ?— Such is the 
question considered by Dr. Duchesne in the January number of the Annales 
(Tl/t/giene Puhlique. 

It is well known that man can not indulge in putrid meat with impunity, 
and numerous cases are on record where accidents have occurred from this 
kind of food. Little is knowu, however, of the effects produced by the flesh 
of animals otherwise in good health, but nourished with flesh in a state of 
putrefaction. Certain animals can undoubtedly be nourished on such putrid 
matters ; but it is important, in a hygienic point of view, to determine the 
modifications which the exclusive use of putrid viands may produce in the 
quality and the preservability of fowls destined for the market. 

On the occasion of a complaint against a farmer in the neighborhood of 
Paris, Dr. Duchesne visited his establishment on a warm day in July, and 
toward the afternoon. The food of the poultry he found to consist of flesh 
in a state of putrid decomposition, which had been obtained from the 
slaughter-houses of Paris. The fat is first removed by cooking, and bran is 
added; and this mixture is given morning and evening to the fowls, who 
fight for it with avidity. A very fetid odor came from the barrels in which 
the food was contained, from the vessels where it was supplied to the fowls, 
and also from the ground round about them. The fowls, however, appeared 
to be in perfect health. Dr. Duchesne supplied himself with three eggs laid 
that day, and also with a fowl and duck of a year old, which were killed 
before him. In thi'ee hours' time the poultry gave out a A^ery strong odor, 
and the intestines were so offensive that they had to be removed to a dis- 
tance. Decomposition rapidly set in. The fowl, at the end of twenty hours 
after being cooked, had an unpleasant, strong taste, and the duck, at the end 
of twenty-four hours, was in such a state that it could not be eaten. Next 
day, when the flesh was cold, and the smell abated, portions of the duck 
were partaken of by the servants. The eggs, too, were found, if kept a rea- 
sonable time, to become very unpalatable. In fine, it was shown that 
though fowls nourished in this way were ajjparently healthy, and could be 
eaten at a pinch without great inconvenience, yet that it was most probable 
that the continued use of such articles of diet would be attended witli danjrer. 
The Council of Health at once interdicted the sale of fowls fed iu this ob- 
jectionable manner. 

Dr. Duchesne continued his inquiries at the great knackery of Aubervil- 
liers, where pigs and fowls are fed in great numbers on flesh, raw and 
cooked, and where similar animals arc reared on a mixed food, consisting of 
flesh and grain. The results of his observations are embodied in the follow- 
ing conclusions : 



Sec. 9.] " POULTRY. 127 

1. Fowls and pigs may bo fed on sound flesh, raw and cooked ; on flesh, 
raw and cooked, of animals aflccted with contagious diseases, as glanders, 
malignant pustule, hj'drophobia, etc. ; and even on flesh, raw or cooked, in 
a veiy advanced state of putrefaction, without any alteration in their health. 

2. Chickens are reared with difficulty if their food be restricted to flesh, 
raw or cooked, even when sound ; and a larger number of them jDerish than 
wiien fed on ordinary kinds of food. 

3. Tiie eggs of fowls thus nourished are as palatable as the eggs of fowls 
nourished in the common way. The shell, however, is thinner and more 
easily broken. 

4. The flesh of fowls and pigs nourished on flesh raw or cooked, is softer, 
more difficult to preserve, and the fat is yello-sv and more difiluent. 

5. The doctor has still doubts as to the absolute wholesomeness of fowls 
and pigs fed on animals dying of glanders, etc., and recommends that the 
use of the flesh of such animals should be prohibited for the rearing of fowls 
and pigs. 

6. The use of flesh in a state of putrefaction, for similar purposes, should 
be absolutely prohibited as unwholesome. 

7. Fowls should not be fed too long or too abundantly on worms, cater- 
pillars, beetles, etc., as such food communicates a strong taste to the flesh. 

8. The continued use of flesh, otherwise healthy, and either raw or cooked, 
ultimately injures the growth of the fowls and the quality of their flesh. 

9. Tlie best method of rearing undoubtedly is, to give flesh but once a 
da}', and to finish with a meal of grain. 

10. For market use, the use of flesh should be stopped, and the fowls re- 
stricted for some time to the use of a vegetable diet. 

170. Choice of a fockt — In breeding, the choice of a cock is a very import- 
ant matter. The following are some of the " points" insisted upon by 
poultry fanciers : 

It is accounted that he has every requisite quality, when he is of good 
size, carries his head high, has a quick and animated look, a strong, shrill 
voice, the bill thick and short, the comb a fine red, and in a manner var- 
nished ; a membraneous wattle of a large size, and colored the same as the 
comb, the breast broad, the wings strong, the thighs very muscular, the legs 
thick, the claws with nails rather bent, and with a very keen point ; when 
he is free in his motions, crows often, and scratches the earth with vigor and 
is constantly in search of worms — not so much for himself as liis mates — 
when he is spirited, ardent, and clever in caressing them, quick in defending 
them, attentive in soliciting ihem to eat, in keeping them together in the 
day, and assembling them at night. 

There are some cocks, which, by being too high mettled, are snappish and 
quarrelsome. Tiie way to quiet the turbulent ones is plain : their foot must 
be put through a leather, in a round shape ; they become as quiet as men 
■who are fettered at their hands, feet, and neck. 

180. The Varieties of Common Fowls.— As to the variety to be chosen, that 



128 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

must be left to the fancy of those who are to raise the fowls. Li a fanner's 
family, this will generally be the female portion of it, and the gudewife or 
children who take the fowls under their charge, should be consulted. At 
least the different varieties should be made known to them, by placing in 
their hands some good treatise upon poultry. Several volumes have been 
published, with portraits and full descriptions, and how to conduct the 
business of poultry raising on a large or small scale. We can not give this 
information in full ; we will only name the several sorts which are to be 
found among poultry fanciers in this country, with short descriptions, and re- 
fer readers, for comparison of size and form, to the beautiful engraved illus- 
trations of varieties, found in standard English works on Domestic Poultry. 

181. The Shanghae and China Breed. — A few years ago a good many 
people in this country, atflicted with the " hen fever," went into ecstasies over 
the Shanghae, or China, breed of fowls, some of which are enormously large. 
Cocks are spoken of as being twenty-eight inches high. The wings are 
short, and placed high upon the body. The tail is short, with a thick clump 
of feathers over the root of the tail feathers. The cocks have large combs 
and wattles ; the hens are seldom large. The legs are feathered. Tiie eggs 
are not large in proportion over the size of eggs of our old-style fowls ; the 
color is nankeen, and the ends rather blunt. 

Those who breed Shanghae fowls consider the flesh very good, and the 
full-grown bodies of cocks weigh eight or ten pounds, and pullets six or 
eight pounds. There arc varieties of colors among the Shanghaes — some 
being pure white ; others', a reddish brown, etc. 

The variety known as Cochili-China fowls differ very much in quality, 
habits, and general appearance from the Shanghaes, to whicli they are closely 
related. Their eggs are nearly the sam.e shape, size, and color. The main 
difference is in the somewhat deeper and fuller breast, and being generally 
smootli-legged. They also have the same hollow, harsh voice, when crow- 
ing, in their peculiar sonorous tone, long drawn out, and very unlike the 
shrill ringing clarion of our old-style barn-door cock. 

The Malay, or Chittagong, is another name of one of the varieties of the 
China breed of fowls, which are supposed to be larger than the Cochins ; 
the size, by weight, accorded to some of them seems enormous. 

"We believe the variety called Malay fowls are considered identical with 
the variety called Chittagong. The full-grown Malay cock is said to weigh 
12 lbs., and the hens 8 to 10 lbs. They are of all shades of color, and have 
small, thick combs and small wattles, and no top-knot ; the legs not feath- 
ered. Their eggs are larger than those of the other large varieties. The 
crow of the Malay cock is loud and harsh, but terminates abruptly. 

182. Ornamental Varieties of Fowls. — As the China breed, which we have 
described, can not be said to be ornamental around a genteel farm-house or 
rural residence, we will name some which are so, and at the same time are, 
at least some of them, very valuable for all domestic purposes. The general 
appearance of the various sorts may be judged from reading the short notes 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. ' 129 



which vro append. The most ornamental tiling about a yard full of fowls 
is to have them all of one variety ; for instance, Dominiqucs, all looking bo 
much alike that individuals would be hardly distinguishable. 

The Pheasant- Malay is the name given to a variety of imported fowls, 
which are esteemed by some as quite desirable, particularly as ornamental 
stock. They are called good layers, good sitters, and good mothers. The 
cocks have black tails, and black on the neck and wings. Full-sized eggs 
weigh two ounces each. The newly hatched chicks are yellow, with a black 
mark down the back. Some of the hens are described as of a pheasant 
color, with long velvety black necks. 

Guelderland fowls is the name of another variety ; they are jet black in 
the plumage, without combs, and small wattles ; bodies short and plump ; 
legs long and feathered ; eggs large, white, oval-shaped, and rich. The 
hens are not esteemed good layers nor sitters. This variety comes from the 
north of Holland. 

The Dorkings. — ^This, in onr opinion, is one of, if not the, best varieties we 
have in this country for the every-day purposes of farmers. It is the sort 
mostly iised for caponizing in England. There are white, gray, and brown 
Dorkings. The legs are white or flesh-colored, smooth, and terminate in 
five toes. They feed well, to a good size, and tlie flesh is considered partic- 
ularly delicate. The cock's comb is large and erect, and deep serrated, free 
from top-knot ; wattles, large. They are noted for hardiness ; are prolific, 
and chickens easily raised. The eggs are large, pure white, very round, and 
nearly equal in size at the ends. The chicks are brownish yellow, with a 
broad stripe down the middle of the back, and a narrower one on each side ; 
feet and legs yellow. 

Black Spanish is the name of a variety of very ornamental as well as 
useful fowls. The plumage is glossy black ; the combs of both cocks and 
hens large and red ; and their general appearance spirited and handsome. 
Tliey have a singular mark, which distinguishes the variety — it is a white 
mark on each cheek, not of feathers, but a fleshy substance, which in the 
cocks is very conspicuous. The hens are great layers, but not inclined to 
sit. The eggs are large and white, and so is their skin and flesh, which is 
tender and juicy. The chicks are black, with a white spot on the breast, 
and are long in getting feathered ; so none but early spring chickens should 
be attempted, and these must be obtained by setting hens of another variety 
upon the Spanish eggs. 

Game Fowls. — ^There are several distinctly marked sorts of game fowls — 
black, white, gray, and brown, all having the same general characteristics, 
the most marked of which is pugnaciousness. The general size is 3i to 5^ 
lbs. The eggs are smaller than the eggs of the most common fowls, uni- 
formly shaped, and cook rich and delicate. In form the game fowl is tho 
handsomest of the race. The head is thin and long ; eyes large and full ; 
beak stout and crooked ; long neck ; body compact, short, and round in the 
breast ; thighs thick, stout, handsome, taper-shaped ; legs long and thick 

9 



130 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



and polored like the beak ; feet thin, broad, strong, with very long claws. 
The cock walks witli a proud, defiant courage, and appears always ready for 
a fight. It is a good variety to breed from for domestic purposes, if care is 
taken not to allow cocks of any other sort upon the premises, and not to 
allow cocks ever to be pitted against each otlier. 

The Mexicans appear to have a variety of game fowls quite distinct from 
the English varieties. It was first introduced into the United States in 1844, 
by General Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina. The cocks and hens have 
but few marks to distinguish one from the other. The original stock are 
pheasant-colored, and in some of those bred in South Carolina, black tail 
feathers, and a tendency to gray or light yellow plumage. This variety are 
great fighters ; they have strong, muscular frames, and are quick and firm 
in action. The cocks have large lustrous eyes and strong bills and upright 
combs. The hens are good layers and sitters, and good nurses. This is the 
breed of game-cocks patronized by General Santa Anna, who Avas the great- 
est cock-fighter in Mexico. 

The Java fov:l is a very large varietj^ of black color, said to be found, 
though probably not pure, on Long Island, and around Philadelphia. They 
are sometimes called Saddle-backs, on account of being so broad across the 
rump. 

The Jersey Blue is the name of a variety quite common in New Jersey, 
the excellence of which is so great, that anything particularly good is figura- 
tively spoken of as " one of the old bine hen's chickens." The color is light 
blue, sometimes approaching a dun ; legs generally dark, and sometimes 
lightly feathered. Cocks weigh 7 to 9 lbs. ; and hens, 6 to 8 lbs. 

The Poland fowls take their name, not from Poland, but from a resem- 
blance to the tuft of white feathers worn by Polish soldiers. They are 
glossy black, except the top-knot, which resembles a fidl, wliite rose. Like 
the Black Spanish, the Polands are great layers and bad sitters. The skin 
and flesh are white, and good for the table. The cocks weigh 4 to 4i lbs., and 
hens, 3 to 3| lbs. Their form is plump, and legs not very long, being well- 
proportioned and handsome-shaped, and they are particularly ornamental 
to a country seat. The eggs are of good size, and white, but though abun- 
dant, are not as rich as some others. 

Another variety of the so-called Poland fowls are white, with black top- 
knots ; and another sort are gold-spangled. These are exceedingly orna- 
mental ; the crest being large, golden, and brown ; legs, light blue, and 
toes partially webbed. 

The Stiver Polands are spangled with silver instead of gold, and the hens 
are the most ornamental. Even the chicks of this variety are pretty. 

The Poland variety of fowls are only fit for neat places, where they can 
run upon grassy yards or lawns. In dirty pens the crest becomes loaded 
with dirt, and blinds the poor birds. Where they can run at large around 
the house, even if the hens were not, as they are, such good layers, they 
might well be kept for ornament alone. 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 131 



Tlie Spangled Hamburg fowls are another ornamental variety, with top- 
knots and beautiful plumage, both gold and silver spangled. The weight 
of male birds is about ^i or 5 lbs., and the hens, 3 or 3j lbs. The cock 
stands twenty inches high, and hen eighteen inches. 

The Bolton Gray is another ornamental variety, and also a very useful 
one, the hens being excellent layers. They are said to have come from 
Holland to Bolton, England. The color is remarkable ; the ground work 
pure white, delicately penciled with black over the body. The neck is 
white, and heads surmounted with large, red, serrated combs. The weight 
of cocks may be 4 to i\ lbs., and hens, 3 to Z\ lbs. They belong to the 
small-sized varieties, but are the most perfect patterns of neatness and sym- 
metrical beauty of the domestic fowl family. The chicks are white, except 
a dark streak on the head and back of the neck, which seems curious, as, 
when grown, the necks are white and bodies marked with black. The 
chicks are rather hard to raise. The eggs are small, tapering at one end, 
and pure white. 

The Sill-ij fowls are also classed among the ornamental, and comprise sev- 
eral varieties, originating in India. Some have white plumage, with dark 
skin and bones. The combs of some are black, with black plumage and 
black bones ; and the feathers are so unlike featliers, the hens get tiie name 
of silky. They are not considered a valuable bird. 

The Frizzled foiols is anotlier variety, but not one that we can recommend 
any one to cultivate. This sort may be known by the description given to 
us when we first saw any of the kind in our boyhood, and asked tlie reason 
of their singular appearance, and were told that the chickens got turned in 
the shell in an earthquake, which upset things generally and turned the 
chickens' feathers wrong end foremost. That is the appearance of the pure 
breed. Every feather looks as though it had been curled and turned wrong 
end foremost with a pair of such curling-tongs as the girls used to frizzle 
their hair with in olden time. To our mind, tlie Frizzles are ugl}' beasts, 
not worth raising on account of any good qualities, and only to be indulged 
in by those who can afford to keep curiosities. 

The Cuclcoo foxol is a variety found in some English farm-yards, and per- 
haps in this country. It has a barred plumage, somewhat resembling the 
breast of a cuckoo. The general color is a slate blue, tinged with white ; the 
com!) is small ; the iris of tlie eyes, bright orange ; feet and legs, light flesh 
color ; so that it will be seen tiiat the breed is rather an ornamental one. 
The birds grow to a large size ; the eggs are very white, smootli, and about 
two ounces weight. 

Tlie Blue Dun fowls originated in Dorsetshire, England, and are rather an 
ornamental variety, under size, slender made, with high, deeply serrated, 
single combs. Sometimes the Elue Dun cock is gold or scarlet spangled, 
and very pretty. The hens are good layers, and make good pets. The 
cocks are rather gamy. The hens are good mothers, and the chicks are real 
little curiosities. This variety is esteemed for the table. 



132 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



The Large-Crested fowl is anotlier old English ornamental variety, tlie crest 
bein^ larger than the Polands, and the fowls of various colors, some of them 
very brilliant white — more dazzling than the white Guinea fowl, which gives 
them and the homestead where they are kept a very lively appearance. 
When dressed for market, their appearance is very clean and attractive. 
Their general good qualities make them favorites upon many a farm in 
England. 

The Bantams are also rated among the ornamental fowls. Some of them 
are reallj' so. The Sebrlghts have beautiful plumage of a delicate speckled 
dark and golden color. There are also black, white, and nankeen colored 
bantams. Their model is perfect and plumage beautiful, and of only about 
a pound average weight for the hens, and one and a quarter to one and a 
half pounds for cocks. They are great pets with many persons in England, 
and are held at fabulous prices. The bantams are good layers, and good 
sitters, and good mothers. Some of the cocks are very gamy. "We de- 
cidedly approve of keeping bantams as ornaments of the farm-yard. And 
we recommend that the feather-legged variety bo avoided, as they are not 
60 neat in muddy weather in their appearance as the naked-legged sort. 
The color is a mere matter of taste. 

The Dominique fowl is not only an ornamental variety, but a very good 
one for every-day purposes on the farm. The true color is a peculiar ar- 
rangement of white and blue, that gives a sort of greenish tint to the 
plumage. The combs are double ; the wattles small ; the legs white or yel- 
low. The Dominiques are hardy ; above medium size ; very domestic ; and 
the hens are good layers, and most excellent sitters and mothers ; the eggs 
good size and quality, and the birds excellent for the table. 

There are many other sorts of ornamental fowls not entirely worthy of 
recommendation for domestication in this country — among which is the 
Banklva cock, from the East Indies, of the bantana order, but twice as large 
as the common bantams. 

The Forked-Tail cock is another India variety, something like the Bankiva 
cock. This is a wild sort in Java. 

Sonerafs wild code is also an Indian variety, which has been attempt- 
ed to be domesticated on account of its beautiful plumage, which is a deep 
gray, tinged with lighter gray on the edges, with deep green tails ; beak, 
legs, and feet yellow. 

183. Chicken Coops. — " Anybody knows how to make a chicken coop." No 
he don't. Not one farmer in ten can make a decent chicken coop. Conse- 
quently, old barrels and boxes are substituted. They may be " good enough ;" 
they are not ornamental, and for ornamental poultry you should have orna- 
mental coops. To make a convenient, light coop, take half or three-eighth- 
inch boards, six inches wide, and nail them upon posts exactly like siding 
on a house, if that is the way your house and farm buildings are sided, so as 
to have a nniformity. If buildings arc boarded up and down with battens, 
make coops in the same way. Board three sides close, and the other side fix 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 133 

■with slats two inches wide and two inches apart, with extra shits that can bo 
shoved in between, being held in place by a bar in front at top, and one at 
bottom. One of the other slats should also be made movable, so it can 
be raised to allow the hen to go in and out. If the coop is double, which we 
prefer, make a movable slat for each room. The dimensions of a double 
coop may be two feet long, one and a half feet wide, one and a half feet 
high on the back, and two feet in front, with a close partition in the middle, 
ifake the roof of five pieces of boards — one at each end and one in the mid- 
dle, nailed fast, and two others hinged and buttoned down on the others, so 
as to make openings about six inches wide into the coops. One room is for 
the nest and one for the brood. If two hens are very docile, they may oc- 
cupy one coop. Outside of the front slats nail a little trough, one foot long, 
to serve both rooms for water, which will be comeatable outside and in. 
These are the dimensions of a coop of the smallest size, which will be so 
light that a child can move it from place to place. It should have a floor; 
and if rats are troublesome, it can be set up from the ground, particularly at 
night. The dimensions in length may be increased as much as desired. Set 
it face to the sun, and in case of storm, or in cold nights, close all the slats, 
leaving open a hole in each end, high up, about two inches square or round, 
for ventilation. If you wish to raise your chickens without a mother, line 
one room of the coop with old carpet, and put a board, covered with woolly 
sheep-skin, about six or eight inches square, in one corner, just high enough 
for the chicks to creep under, and look well to them for a few days, and they 
will do bettor than with a bad mother. As they grow large enough to go 
out of doors, let them in a small yard, in front of the coop, to scratch and 
bask in the sun. The best fence for such a yard is wove-wire, one and a 
half or two feet high. With nice, warm, dry coops, early chickens can be 
raised almost as sure as late ones, and where grown for sale, will generally 
sell for as much when half grown as late ones will full grown. 

Stoves ill C'hiclce7i- Houses. — It has been found profitable, in raising early 
chickens, to use artificial warmth. A small, warm room, warmed in cold 
weather by a stove, so as to keep the temperature at about 55 degrees, 
will allow you tosetj-our hens in January or February, and get chickens 
which will sell, when the size of quails (say 75 cents a pair), for as much as 
old fowls. Tliesc warm-house chickens must not be allowed to run out iu 
the cold or wet grass, but will be benefited by allowing them to run out in 
the sun. If we made a business of raising poultry for market, we would set 
hens in a stove-room all winter. A tun of coal, costing say six dollars, 
would warm a room all winter, large enough to raise two or three hundred 
chickens, which would sell in the city markets, certainly at twenty-five cents 
apiece, when the size of quails. 

184-. Set Hens EarlVi — It is a great object to set hens as early as possible 
in spring, as early chickens will begin to lay in October, and give eggs in 
November and December. Be careful to give your early sitters a warm, 
dry nest. After the hen has been sitting ten da3's, examine the eggs to see 



134 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



if all are good, and throw out the bad ones. To tell which are good, hold 
au egg up to a hole or crevice of a dark room, and look at it, and if all below 
the vacuum in the butt is dark-colored opaque, it is in a fair way to hatch. 
If it is light-colored and yellowish, so that the sunliglit can be seen through 
it, you may throw it out at once ; and if all are so, you can dismiss the old 
hen with your thanks for her good intentions. 

" Double eggs" rarely hatch, and when they do, are just as likely to pro- 
duce two distinct chickens as a Siamese one. 

Nests should be made shallow. If boxes are nsed, not over five inches 
deep. 

185. Periods of Incdbationi — A common fowl lien sits 20 days ; a Guinea 
fowl hen, 25i days ; a duck, 26 days ; a turkey hen, 27 days ; a goose, 29 
days ; a musk duck, 32 or 33 days ; a pea-hen, 27 to 29 days. 

To hatch healthy chicks in these periods, the birds must have good warm 
nests in a sheltered situation. Chickens have been hatched in nineteen 
days, and the period has been prolonged to twenty-seven days. 

186. Weights of Various Breeds of Fowls and other Poultry: 



Black Polish cock, three years old 

" hen, " ■' " 

" pullet 

Golden Polish cock 

" hen 

Another hen 

Golden Polish pullet 

Malay hen 

Creole (Silver Hamburgh) hen 

Black Nondescript hen 

Globe-crested Polish hen 

Silver Polish hen 

Game-cock 

" hen 

Young Blue Dun cock 

Blue Dun hen 

Large Dun Hybrid hen 

Pheasant-Malay cocks, two years old, 
average each 

" cockerel, five months old 

" hen 

" pullet, seventeen months old 

" (crossed with Dorkmg hen), four 

years old 

Specified Surrey hen, two years old 

Spanish hen 

Two Dorking cocks, each 

' ' hens 

Cock turkey, two years and a half old. . 
Hen ' ' one year and a half old 



Lbs. Oz. I 
5 3 
3 4 I 
2 6 
5 



Turkey cock, sixteen months old. . . , 
" hen, three or four years old 



Musk drake (molting) 

White China gander, six years old 

White China goose 

Common China goose, Cynoides, six 
years old 

Cochin-China cock, about sixteen months 
old, molting 

Cochiti-Cliina hen, " " ".. 

Malay cock, about sixteen months old . 
" hen, " " " " . . 

Pheasant-Malay cock 

" " hen, molting 

Game-cockerel, about five months old . 

Golden Hamburgh cockerel, just arrived 
from a long journey, about live 

months old 

" pullet, " " " 

Cochin-China cockerel, six months old. 

Another, " " " . 

Silver Hamburgh cockerel, after travel- 
ing, about live months old 

" pullet, " " " " 

Black Polish hen, molting 

Golden Hamburgh, " 

Andalusian cockerel, four months old . 
" pullet, " ■ " " . . 

Black Spanish cockerel " " .. 

" pullet, " " " .. 

Silver Polish cockerel, four months and 
a half old 

Golden Poland pullet, about five months 
old 

White-crested Golden Poland pullet, ' ' 



Lbs. Oi. 


9 


12 


12 


13 


11 


13 


10 


10 


G 


5 


4 


6 


6 


14 


4 


8 


5 


7 


3 


8 


4 


2 


3 


8 


o 


4 


4 


14 


4 


13J 


3 


1 


i| 


8 


3 





o 


3 


3 


8 


o 


Gh 


2 


U 


2 


11 


2 


m 


2 


8 


o 


3 



187. Capons and Poulardes> — Tliese are terms applied to emasculated cocks 
and pullets. Every person who makes a business of poultry raising to 
supply a city market, should learn the art of making capons and poulardes, 
because they will always sell for nearly twice as much as other fowls. 



Sko. 9.J POULTRY. 135 



The instriiinents used to perforin the operation are few and simple, and 
inexpensive, and the art easily learned. 

A set of first-class caponizing instruments is included in the following 
list : a scalpel, 62^ cents ; silver retractor, $1 50 ; spring forceps, 87^ cents ; 
spoon, with hook, 75 cents ; double silver canula, $1 75 ; total, $5 50. 

A much cheaper set of instruments would answer all practical purposes. 

The proper age for caponizing chickens is from one to three months. The 
cock is confined upon a table by weights upon the wings and legs, with the 
right side up ; the feathers are tlien plucked off a spot on the right side near 
the liip joint, about an inch across, where the incision is to be made, by 
which the parts are exposed that are to be removed. The operation takes 
but a few minutes for a skillful operator. 

18S. Pea-Fowls, — Of all the ornamental poultry ever kept on a place, the 
pea-fowls take the lead, and well they miglit, for they are the most useless, 
and a very expensive luxury. They will not bear confinement ; will not 
even roost in a house, but occupy the tops of the higliest buildings or tall 
trees. And for mischief, from which tliey can not be restrained, tliey excel 
all the feathered tribe. Tliey are cunning beyond belief. They will watch 
opportunities to visit the garden and steal fruit, and be out before they are 
suspected. Driving them out with all possible marks of ill-treatment has 
no effect upon them, as it does upon other poultry. The pea-fowls will bear 
a repetition of abuse every day, and every day return to their thieving. So 
no one who has a garden and lawn in one inclosure should attempt to keep 
pea-fowl ; nor where there is any chance for them to get into mischief. 

A gardenless mansion may, and should have numbers of pea-fowls. A 
single pair makes but little show, while a flock makes a most dazzling, 
splendid appearance. Peahens are two or three years in coming to maturity. 
They then lay four to seven eggs, which require twenty-seven to twenty-nine 
days' incubation. Peahens always steal their nests, and their eggs must 
never be touched, if you wish the hen to incubate them. They may be taken 
and incubated under a common fowl, or, better, under a turkey, and then the 
peahen may find another sly place and lay again. Tlie peacock has the 
reputation of being a bad fatlier, and killing liis own progeny. Therefore 
the hen hides from him as well as from men. 

189. Turkeys. — Every farmer can and should keep turkeys, and as there 
are several varieties, he should get the best and keep no other. 

Turkeys are less mischievous than most other poultry, and in some cases 
they are of great assistance to the farmer in destroying insects. The tobacco 
planters keep turkeys purposely to assist them in ridding the plants of the 
destructive worms. 

The turkey is a much more recent introduction to the poultry-yard than 
the other varieties. It is said that the black sort was carried from its na- 
tive wilds of America to England, and that the American stock has been 
all drawn from the woods, and that the different sorts have come from a 
Southern and Korthern race. We think, though, that it has come from 



136 DOMESTIC ANIMAXS. [Chap. I. 



mixing the black wild variety with a white or party-colored one imported 
from the other side of tlie Atlantic. We prefer the pure black breed, for it 
gives us the largest and hardiest birds, and we think, also, the handsomest. 
The pure white turkey, it is true, is quite ornamental, but it is not as hardy 
a sort as the black. As for yellow or party-colored turkeys, Ave would not 
have them on a place a moment longer than necessary to fatten, kill, and 
eat tliem. 

The wild hen turkey is wild in the extreme, while the tame one is so do- 
mestic that you may rob her secret nest every day of the new-laid egg, yet 
she will return again and again until she has finished her season, and then 
commence her period of incubation upon the empty nest. Now, if you have 
a nest prepared under cover, with the eggs in it, you may bring home the 
hen and put her gently upon her eggs, and she will manifest great satisfac- 
tion, and after carefully examining and placing them all right, will sit upon 
them as though the nest was all her own. Thirteen eggs are enough for an 
ordinary-sized turkey, and if she has a good nest she will cover that number, 
60 as to give all a fair chance to hatch. It is not necessary to turn the eggs, 
as some persons do — the hen attends to that — nor look at them until about 
the time the four weeks are up, when it will be well to remove the chicks as 
they come out, or else take out all the shells and rotten eggs, if there are 
any, to give the chicks room, for they generally are better off in a good nest 
than out of it. Shut the hen in a coop, where the chicks can bask in the 
sun, and not get in the wet grass. You need not feed much the first day ; a 
few bread crumbs will answer. Then give all they will eat of hard-boiled 
eo-o-, chopped fine ; chopped meat, fat and lean ; curds, boiled rice or hom- 
iny, M-ith cress, lettuce, and green onions. Don't stuff them with pepper- 
corns. The idea that that is necessary is all stuff. Liver, boiled and chopped 
up, is good food ; so is barley meal and suet. Melt the suet and pour over 
the meal and mix, and then crumb up when cold. Many green things may 
be chopped up and mixed with milk and water and meal. Don't try to cut 
up feed very tine. The young turkeys, you will find, can swallow big 
lumps. After ten days you may let the hen run, if the weather is fine. In 
bad weather they are apt to take cold, and cramp, and die. Care and high 
feeding are all that are needed to raise turkeys. 

"We knew a woman in Louisiana who raised fifteen hundred out of sixteen 
hundred hatched. She had an old negro woman and a boy to attend to the 
wants of the turkeys, and in wet, chilly weatiier the young broods were all 
gathered into a log-cabin, warmed by a generous wood fire. 

We have also before us another example of successful turkey raising by a 
woman, that is worthy of attention by some other farmers' wives, who may 
go and do likewise. Lydia Eldridge, of Andover, Mass., writes her expe- 
rience in raising turkeys, under date of Dec. 25, 1853 : 

" Last spring my husband purchased a farm in this town, and I obtained 
one turkey, and she laid 24 eggs, hatched them all out at one litter, and I 
raised them all. Yesterday we dressed the last of them. The united weight 



Sbo. 9.] POULTRY. 137 

of the whole, when dressed, was 212ilbs. ; 198 lbs. were sold for a shilling 
a pound, New England currency, amounting in the aggregate to $33. The 
whole number at that price would have amounted to $35 41. Now I think 
that is doing qnite well, and if anybody among your army of readers can do 
better than that, I tliink they deserve a premium ; but until that is done, I 
think I can claim the palm." 

And, in our opinion, she is fairly entitled to it. We hope, however, that 
some other woman will try to win it from her by fair competition in this ap- 
propriate field of woman's labor. 

And here is another of the same sort, which should tend to encourage 
other women to attempt the same plan to make a little " pin [feather] 
money." It is to encourage others that we collect and publish these 
facts. 

" J. E. Alton, of Quinsigamond, Mass., writes us that Mrs. M. Bennett, of 
Auburn, Mass., had a three-fourths wild turkey, of very large size, which 
laid 11 eggs, all of which she hatched and raised. At six months old the 
united weight of the eleven was 220 lbs. Some of the male birds weighed 
34 lbs., and the lightest hens 17 lbs. One male sold for $7, and the whole 
for S55." 

Tliese, however, are fancy prices ; but at the steady market prices of 
dressed turkeys, which will average 10 cents a pound wholesale, in New 
York, and considerably more for choice birds, the raising and fatting of 
turkeys is a profitable branch of farming. 

It is true that young turkeys, from the time they are old enough to turn 
out to range for themselves, are voracious eaters, and would destroy some 
crops, and so would swine, if permitted to run at large. Tiie farmer finds it 
profitable to keep a lot for swine, and so would he to devote a whole field to 
turkeys ; and if he will do that, where they can forage for themselves, they 
will need very little attention, and will not be likely to get into much mis- 
chief. If rightly managed, a flock of turkeys will do more good than harm 
on a farm, for they are great destroyers of insects. It will be found profit- 
able to plant cabbages, turnips, bagas, peas, oats, wheat, and clover pur- 
posely for the turkeys to feed upon. This can be managed on a small scale 
to advantage by using a movable fence. "We have no doubt about the fact 
that a turkey farm would be as profitable as a sheep farm, or a milk farm, 
or a beef or pork-making farm. In all new sections of country, where mast 
is abundant, turkeys will fatten upon it entirely ; and in all sections where 
field feeding is pi-acticed, there is no better stock to run in a corn-field than 
turkeys. Even where corn is worth a dollar a bushel, it has been found 
profitable to feed it to turkeys to fatten them for market. One considerable 
item in the account in all the old States would be the value of the manure 
made from such feeding. 

The most important fact in turkey raising is not to overstock yourself, for 
then your flock of turkeys will become pests to yourself and neighbors — a 
set of marauding, piratical thieves. 



138 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. 1. 

A writer in the Gerniantown Telegyaph furnishes that journal with the fol- 
lowing statement : 

" Much has been published of late in our agricultural journals respecting 
the alimentary properties of charcoal. It has been repeatedly asserted that 
domestic fowls may be fattened on it without any other food, and that, too, 
in a shorter time than on the most nutritive grain. I made an experiment, 
and must say that the result surprised me, as I had always been rather 
skeptical. Four turkeys were confined in a pen, and fed on meal, boiled po- 
tatoes, and oats. Four others of the same breed were at the same time con- 
fined in another pen and fed with tlie same articles, but with one pint of 
finely pulverized charcoal mixed daily with their meal and potatoes. They 
also liad a plentiful supply of broken charcoal in their pen. The eight were 
killed on the same day, and there was a difference of one and a half pounds 
each in favor of the fowls that had been supplied with charcoal, they being 
much the fattest, and their meat greatly superior in point of tenderness and 
flavor." 

K. 11. Avery, of "Wampsville, Madison County, N. Y,, is entitled to the 
first prize of honor for improvement in the breed of turkeys. From a cross 
of the American wild turkey, made fourteen years ago upon the best domes- 
ticated birds of pure black color that could be obtained, and by careful at- 
tention to breeding since that time, he has succeeded in producing a male 
bird of superlative beauty, of glossy black plumage, which, at two and a 
half years old, weighed 34 lbs. alive ; and a female bird, two years old, 
weighing 20i lbs. alive ; and a female bird, one year old, dressed ready for 
the spit, 151 lbs. weight ; and as the stock has been continiiously improving 
both in size, beauty of form, and plumage for years, it is impossible to 
determine any limit. He has lately procured a pair of pure wild birds from 
Canada for the purpose of infusing a new strain of wild blood into his stock 
whenever he sees a chance to improve. The ordinary weight of male tur- 
keys, two years old, as they are prepared for the market, will not exceed 15 
lbs., and a female of 8 lbs. is accounted a very good one. 

Just after the election of Mr. Buchanan, a cock turkey from Mr. Avery's 
farm, that weighed 35 lbs., was bought at $1 a pound, and sent to the Pres- 
ident to serve as one of the members of his (kitchen) cabinet ; and another 
of still larger size was presented to President Lincoln. 

Turkeys grow big in Illinois, according to a correspondent who writes 
from Stebbinsville, who says that 28 to 36 lbs. is not an imcommon weight 
for a wild turkey, and one old gobbler that he sliot weighed 41 lbs., and spread 
a tail over nine feet around the circle. He thinks some of the brag " im- 
provers of the breed" had better send for some of the Illinois wild stock for 
a cross upon the biggest in all Yankeedom. 

B. F. Langworthy, of Alfred Center, objects to our directions to scald tur- 
keys. He says : 

" Scalded turkeys and chickens sell about two cents a pound less in Bos- 
ton than those picked dry — do not look as well, and certainly will not keep 



Sko. 9.] POULTRY. 139 

as long, nor please the customer as much ; while the advance price will 
amply pay for the diflercnce of time in dressing." 

On the contrary, in New York, dry-picked poultry does not sell as well as 
that wliich is scalded. 

100. The Guinea-Fowl. — A union of two breeds of fowls is seen in some 
measure united in the Guinea-fowl. It appears to have some of the charac- 
teristics of the turkey and the pheasant. Its head is bare like the turkey ; 
its body and plumage, and general form and appearance, Bomewhat like the 
pheasant. Tiie plumage of the most common sort in this country is of a 
bluish ground, delicately spotted with -white. The wing feathers are nearly 
white. There are also fowls of this family entirely white. The greatest ob- 
jection to the Guinea-fowl is the almost continual noise they make, which to 
some is intolerable. It is about as musical as the sharp squeak of a grind- 
stone or old cart. The noise is, however, tolerated for their good qualities, 
which are not a few. Their noise tends to keep off hawks and other pests 
of the poultry-yard. They are very ornamental, and give a plaoe a lively, 
pleasant appearance. Their flesh is pretty good for the table ; they are 
good layers, and their eggs are large, and rich, and good for cookery, but 
not so good as common hens' eggs for the table. 

The young clucks are hardy, and very pretty. Tliere is no prettier sight 
in connection with poultry than a fine Guinea-hen with her brood. The 
hen sits a month, and nine eggs are enough for her to cover. Tlie eggs may 
be hatched under a common hen, but a good sitter must be selected, because 
the time is longer than her own. Ilard-boilod eggs chopped fine, bread 
crumbs, chopped meat or suet, are good food for young chicks. Some per- 
sons procure maggots on purpose to feed chicks. Any kind of small worms 
are devoured greedily by the young Guineas, wliich are real cormorants. 
They will eat a dozen times a-day, and a full supply of food is one of the 
great secrets of success in raising these as well as turkeys. 

There is no domestic hen that gives such a bountiful supply of eggs all the 
year round as a Guinea-hen ; consequently they are not good sitters, and 
other hens have to be used when it is desired to increase the stock rapidly. 

191. DiirkSi — Wherever suitable conveniences exist for keeping ducks, 
they are not only ornamental to the farm, but profitable. Some of the vari- 
eties are particularly ornamental — the little Wood duck the most so of all. 
The Pintail duck is a very neat-looking bird. The Aylesbury sort are pure 
white. The plumage of the drakes of some of the wild sorts wliich have 
been domesticated, is very beautiful. A few ornamental ducks might be 
kept upon almost every fann, and furnished with artificial water. We 
would never raise but a single brood or two a year, except we had natural 
water. A drake and pair of ducks, with their progeny, would cost but 
little, and the amount of good they would do is incalculable. They are 
great destroyers of slugs, snails, worms, and all larvae ; and if you should 
see an old duck pitch into a nest of young mice, you would learn what good 
she can do in that way of ridding the farm of pests. 



140 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



Ducks' eggs are not esteemed for the table, but are in cookery. The birds 
when well fatted are alwaj-s salable, or good for home consumption, and 
pay as well for the corn they eat as ai>ything in tlie poultry-yard. 

In selecting a variety of ducks, the purposes for which they are to bo bred 
must be considered. If for ornament, select the prettiest. If for scaven- 
gers, we would use the common gray duck and drake with green head. 

The best white duck is the Aylesbury. It has yellow legs and feet and 
flesh-colored bill. White ducks should never be kept except where water 
and grass are both abundant. In the water or on a lawn they are pretty. 
In a muddy yard they are not so. 

There is a great variety of colors, but we recommend you to confine yours 
to a single color, whether white, black, gray, blue, or slate. The feathers 
of ducks are as good as geese feathers, and some housewives pluck them in 
the same way. 

The duck sits thirty days ; and the hen should be confined an equal length 
of time, where the ducklets can go out, and into natural or artificial water. 
You can not feed them too much, and they are no way dainty. "When 
large enough, give them a wide range, bringing them home at night. The 
best food for grown ducks is Indian corn, and the best ducks for the table 
are domesticated wild ones, fatted on corn, or wild ones that have had a 
full range in corn-fields. Beech-mast also makes the flesh of wild ducks 
excellent. 

192. Geese. — As geese are generally kept by farmers, they are neither 
profitable nor ornamental, but, on the contrary, an unmitigated nuisance, 
befouling grass and water, door-yards and roadsides, and always poking 
their heads through holes into mischief 

Geese never should be kept upon or about any farm, except in a lot 
appropriated to their particular use. A man who would turn out a flock of 
geese upon the public highway to pirate their living, we would not trust 
about our hen-roost of a dark night. 

If geese are kept on a large scale, where water is good, and pastured like 
any other stock, and finally fatted for market, upon tlie same principle that 
pigs are fed and fatted, we will insure the largest profit from the geese, 
particularly if the best breeds are selected. 

Tlie Chinese or Hong-Kong geese and the Bremen geese are much larger 
varieties tlian tlie breed common in this country. The Bremen geese have 
pure wliite plumage, with clean yellow legs and bills. They attain to 
great weight and age — twenty or thirty years, and as many pounds. Tlie 
flesh of a young, fat Bremen goose is esteemed above all tlie domesticated 
tribe, and the feathers are salable at the very highest rates. 

This breed is very prolific, laying twelve or fifteen eggs a year, and the 
geese are good sitters and nurses. They are somewhat inclined to commence 
laying too early in the season. To prevent this, shut the whole flock in a 
dark room, about the twentieth of February, and feed and water once a day, 
and allow them an hour out once a week to wash and have a run. In a few 



PLATE XI. 

(Page 140.) 

Here is another picture, more beautiful, if possible, than No. X. 
It comprises some of the most ornamental, and some of the most 
substantially useful birds that help to adorn our landscape. Many 
who read this book will have no opportunity to see the graceful 
swans that adorn the ponds in Central Park, New York. Let them 
study these life-pictures. The peacock is more common, yet many 
will get their first idea of its appearance from this picture. The 
Hong-Kong goose is also rare, and so are some of the ducks, and in 
many places the Guinea fowls are unknown. The turkey is com- 
mon, still his likeness adds to the beauty of this scene. 



Sbo. 9.] POULTRY. 141 



days after they are let out of jail, the geese will make nests and begin their 
work. 

The eggs should be removed carefully every day, and deposited in cotton 
in a dry, temperate room. Then when all your flock are ready to sit, which 
they will be about the same day, have capacious nests filled with cliafled 
straw, in which place twelve eggs for each goose. Where a good many 
geese are kept, it will pay to have an attendant, who should be careful to 
allow only one sitter to leave tiie nest at one time. When one comes off, 
shut the doors of the other boxes till she returns. This will prevent con- 
fusion of getting on the wrong nests. By attention, nearly all the goslings 
of a large flock may be brought out in one day. 

Goslings should be left in the nest twenty -four hours after they hatch, par- 
ticularly if the weather is rough ; and as they are tender animals, tiiey should 
be carefully nursed for a month, allowing them a small pool of water to 
bathe in, and plenty of green grass. The whole anser family belong to the 
graziers. It is not necessary to feed goslings on much grain. 

The white China goose is as pure white as the Bremen, and should not 
be mistaken for that — the Bremen is preferable. 

The Brent and Sandwich Island goose are both very small varieties, well 
suited to situations on the salt water. 

The Berwick goose is said to be a great weed-eater. 

The Canadian or wild goose variety are quite ornamental upon a well- 
watered location. This breed are greater worm and insect eaters than any 
other variety of the anser family. The hens do not lay until two years old 
in their domesticated state. 

193. SwanSi — ^This variety of ornamental birds has been but little culti- 
vated in this country. The greatest collection is at the New York Central 
Park. This bird, of all others, puts the finishing stroke to the landscape 
inclosing a still lake oi* pond. 

There are white and black swans ; both are magnificent, but the white 
ones, are the most showy on the water, where they float by the hour as still 
as the water beneath them. Although domestic and tame, swans are apt to 
go astray— to prevent which the last joint of one wing is skillfully dissecied. 
They are weed-feeders, but in places where they are generally kept they re- 
quire feeding. Their feed is most abundant in foul, shallow water, and they 
are often seen abroad at night in pursuit of food. Besides vegetables, they 
eat minute insects found in the water, and probably fish-spawn. 

The hen birds are very curious about their nests, and will select them, if 
possible, in some low bushy islet or headland, and under favorable circum- 
stances will hatch eight or nine young cygnets — the name which young swans 
are known by. The male birds allow no intruders about the nests or young. 
A man would find a terrible antagonist if attacked by a swan while swimming. 

Tlie cygnets, when fat, are esteemed a great delicacy upon the tabic, 
stuffed with the lean part of a round of beef, seasoned merely with cayenne 
pepper and salt, and served with rich gravy and currant jelly. 



142 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



194. The Pleasures of Poultry Raising. — Besides the profit of a well-con- 
ducted poultry business, tliere is an actual pleasure attending it over that 
of keeping any other kind of domestic animals. Although the aim appears 
always to be profit, we think if those who can keep poultry would look at it 
in another point of view, they would be better satisfied if it did not always 
pay. One advocates having a lawn and a flower garden attached to bis 
house, saying that it will give new life and beauty to all around, and 
exert a beautiful and ennobling influence upon every member of the house- 
hold, and even visitors and passers-by will catch from it a sweet spirit of 
love and good-will ; but the question with the calculating and careful farmer 
is. Will it pay f So with every improvement upon his house and around 
his farm ; if he does not see a prospect ahead of a return in liard money for 
his outlay of time and his work, the close-calculating man sets it down as 
being a thing that won't pay, and consequently abandons it entirely. 

It is just so in regard to poultry. Nothing is kept for ornament ; yet we 
have already shown that several varieties are not only ornamental, but prof- 
itable. But setting all other considerations aside, we would keep poultry 
just for the pleasure attending the siglit of the birds, particularly the dear 
little chicks. Quoting from a sensible writer upon this subject, we adopt 
his words : ; 

" One of my neighbors says it will pay to keep just as many hens as will 
get their living around the barn through the winter ; but he thinks it will not 
pay to keep them if they have to be fed. I will own that I have a few notions 
in common with all poultry fanciers ; I look somewhat to the profit, but make 
it a point of secondary importance. Farmers, in general, who keep hens, are 
more troubled with them than with any other one thing upon their farms, 
considering the amount of work which they do. They are always scratch- 
ing in the garden, digging up corn, or committing other depredations which 
keep the farmer and his girls running to keep them out of mischief." 

Of course they are, because they must scratch for a living. If you don't 
want hens in mischief, feed them ; :ind at times when it is really necessary, 
shut them in a poultry-yard and feed them, and adopt this simple rule ibr 
feeding fowls, known to most housewives in tlie country who have charge 
of the poultry, but it may be useful to amateurs, and as it is very short, we 
print it. Here it is: Don't feed too much. That is all ; though we may 
add that food should never be given to fowls unless they are hungry enough 
to "run crazy" after it; and just as soon as they stop running crazy, you 
stop throwing feed, and never — no, never — leave feed lying by your fowls 
" for them to eat at leisure." This same rule does pretty well for all other 
domestic animals — children included. 

If you don't feed your hens, and let them run in the garden, and they 
scratch, don't swear. It is natural for them to scratch, and although they do 
mischief, they also do good. Then, don't set the dog upon them ; it only 
makes matters worse. There is a cure for your trouble : build a yard in 
which to shut the hens when they are troublesome in the garden, and train 



Sko. 9.] 



POULTRY. 



143 



them so that they will follow you like a dog, and then just at night take 
them out on a walk and see what an immense number of hurtful insects 
they will destroy. Your liens are the most profitable stock you have if you 
treat them rightly. Don't swear at them ; keep your temper and build a 
poultry-yard, but don't keep it always closed. It is better for you, and the 
hens too, to let them nui at large at all times when they are not liable to 
do mischief. 

Wc know of nothing around a country residence which gives the whole 
such a delightful and pleasant aspect as all kinds of poultry. How Down- 
ing loved them when he wrote : " With proper conveniences for managing 
them, they are among the most agreeable, profitable, and useful objects in 
country life. To children especially, fowls are objects of exceeding interest, 
and form an almost necessary part of the means of developing the moral and 
industrial energies of a country household." Oh, who would be without 
them? What country resident would neglect to have a noble collection of 
hens, ducks, and turkeys — with right modes to keep and manage them — to 
give a lively aspect to the scenery of his home, and impart beauty to the 
whole place ? The merry cackle of the " old yellow hen" in the beautiful 
spring-time ; the love and kind protection manifested for her brood of young, 
and then to see them huddle together under her wing ! The shrill sound of 
the cock as he proclaims the dawn of morning ! Oh, who would not keep 
poultry, even if it didn't pay f We would not keep 

Shanghaes. — ^These Chinese monstrosities, on the contrary, we recommend 
every one to get rid of as soon as possible. They have had their day, and 
in spite of their crowing, Barnum's showing, and their owners' blowing, they 
are about blown out. It begins to be found out that 10 lbs. of meat can be 
produced upon two pairs of legs just as cheaply, and of much better quality, 
tlian upon one pair. No Shanghae, Cochin-China, Chittagong, or any other 
imported breed of fowls has ever been, or will ever be, more esteemed on 
all accounts than the old yellow-legged Dominique, a domestic, handsome, 
and good-sized fowl. 

A particular friend, candid and intelligent, said to us lately : " I have 
tried almost all varieties of hens, and have settled upon the Black Spanish, 
or crosses of them upon the old stock, such as I can pick up in market at 
fifty cents a pair. I have also tried the experiment of keeping hens in the 
city and the cost of eggs. I keep them in a house at the back of the yard, 
letting them out for exercise just before roosting time, feeding them on 
scraps from the kitchen, potatoes, meat, etc., and corn, and find my eggs 
cost just three cents a dozen on an average through the year." 

Another one, alluding to the fact of feeding poultry upon dead horses at a 
great poultry establishment near Paris, said : "The less hens I keep, I think 
the better for me. I have fed dead horses and all sorts of food, but I can't 
make it profitable to myself, or neighbors either." Of course not. The last 
words tell the reason ; he lets them run at large, half fed. 

195. Hen-Roosts and Poultry Vermin.— The poles or ladders should be 



Ui 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



sucli that tliey can be whitewashed thorouglily every Jniie, and the wliole 
hen-liouse should undergo the same operation. Poultry that are lousy 
should have wood-ashes to wallow in, and a few handfuls of flour of sulphur 
stirred in among them makes them much more efficient. Good ashes will 
eflect a cure, however. The fowls should have also dry earth or a dusty 
road, for it will be found that they will usually alternate from one to the 
other. The best means for sujjplying lime to hens is to crack up fresh 
oyster-shells with a hammer or a sledge. Nests never should be made or 
allowed in the room where fowls roost. Keep it clean of all trash, sti'aw, 
or nest-boxes. Have them in another apartment. 

A poultry raiser asks us to tell him how to get rid of the great nui- 
sance of lice upon poultry. He says he feeds well, and gives the hens the 
range of a grass lot, and has used turpentine sprinkled in the nests, and 
applied blue vitriol mixed with grease to their bodies, and anointed them 
with lamp oil, and yet they are infested. The breed is that called Black 
Spanish, but that, we think, has nothing to do with the ditiiculty, which is 
so great that he is ready, if there is no remedy, to sacrifice his hens and buy 
his eggs and chickens. In a case like this, we should endeavor to purify 
the roost of everything that could give shelter to an insect, and perhaps 
abandon the old roost altogether, and take care tliat the hens had a wallow- 
ing-box, well supplied with dry wood-ashes, renewed by a little addition 
every day or two, and feed sulphur occasionally in the food, and have a 
constant supply of lime for the hens, and keep them fat; and if all these 
would not preserve them free of lice, we would abandon the business. 

We have received several letters upon the important subject noticed under 
this head, giving " infallible" remedies to rid poultry of lice. The following 
looks as if it might be a '' dead shot :" 

" I have had the care of a poultry-yard for a number of years. During 
that time a continual war of extermination was waged, and many expedients 
were resorted to, but never did anything, in a single instance, prove a safe- 
guard until tobacco was tried. This weed, in my case, has never failed in 
answering all practical purposes ; and this fact goes far to show that it was 
intended to act out higher and nobler ones than are commonly assigned to it. 
The fine-cut is the best kind, and in using it spread it thickly over the sur- 
face of the nests, scatter it upon the floor, and suspend large leaves about the 
difterent parts of the house. This, used in connection with your directions, 
will put the enemy to flight, and with it will disappear all the annoyances 
your subscriber complains of." 

Another letter says : " Sprinkle Scotch snuff plentifully on the fowls, so 
it will reach the skin, and I'll warrant that the vermin will be more scarce 
than even money in these ' tight times.' As you say, ' the roost must be 
kept clean ;' also lime must be sprinkled on it to destroy the eflect of the 
ammonia arising from their manure." 

Another says : "All the remedies named are not equal to onions, chopped 
fine and mixed with their food every day for a week. This will exterminate 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 145 



tlicm entirely from the heus ; and if tlie roosts and pen be ■washed with onion 
water, they will trouble your hens no more." 

Another writer says, hens that roost upon sassafras poles are never 
troubled with lice. 

Now all these facts are worth knowing, as the vermin some years are un- 
commonly numerous, and will eat more poultry than the people will, unless 
we can head them off with some of the remedies named. 

19G. Water jour Door-Fard Fowls.— Fill a bottle with water and place it 
bottom np through a hole in a board, so that its nose shall be inserted into a 
saucer, or any shallow, open vessel. As the fowls exhaust the water from 
the shallow vessel, the bottle will pay out new supplies. 

197. Mode of Killing Fowls. — A tavorite mode of killing fowls with some 
persons is sticking an awl in the neck. Tliey say that the blood adds to the 
good looks and value of all sorts of poultry. 

198. Corn-Fed Geese — Value of Corn. — The following detail of an experi- 
ment in feeding corn to geese, by Kufiis Brown, of Chelsea, Orange County, 
Vt., is well worthy the attention of all farmers, and goes to prove that corn 
may be as profitably fed to poultry as pigs. Mr. Brown writes : 

" In answer to your question, ' Does anybody know anything about any- 
thing ?' I answer. Yes. I know how much ten quarts of corn is worth. On 
the 22d of November I shut up a flock of goslings, which, allowing the 
usual shrinkage for dressing, would not have dressed over six pounds per 
head, and would have been called scalawags, and sold accordingly at six to 
seven cents per pound. Taking the maximum (seven cents), they would 
have brought 42 cents each, dressed, at the time mentioned. They were put 
in a warm, well-littered stable, allowing three to four square feet of room for 
each, and kept constantly furnished with corn in the kernel and plenty of 
water; tiiis constituted their entire feed. They were thus kept till Dec. 9 ; 
they had then consumed 10 quarts each ; when, after allowing them one day 
of fasting, they were dressed according to the custom practiced from boyhood, 
and which I respectfully i-ecommend to others, viz. : after life had become 
extinct they were carefully scalded by immersing head first in boiling water, 
and allowed to remain about one minute, and then taken out head first and 
allowed to drain, and tlien covered in a thick ■woolen blanket and allowed 
to remain about five minutes ; then carefully picked clean ; then the intes- 
tines were drawn, their legs tied together and laid upon their backs on 
boards in a cool place, with their necks turned under and laid close to- 
gether to keep the wings close to their sides. They were then considered 
choice, and sold readily to the dealer at 10^ cents per lb., and averaged 
10 lbs., amounting to §1 05 each. Deduct 42 cents, and this leaves 63 cents 
for the 10 quarts of corn, the market-price of which, at the time of feeding, 
was 75 cents a bushel. 

199. Prices of Poultry. — At the time of the great " poultry show" at Bar- 
num's Museum, in 1857, there was an auction sale, and the following prices 
were realized, and although fancy birds^ brought fancy prices upon the more 

10 



H6 DOMESTIC AKIMALS. [Ciiap. I. 

common sort there was a dead loss upon the cost in England of about an 
average of 7 per cent. The following are decidedly among the fancies : 

1 pair of white swans, $100 ; 1 white female swan, $50 ; 1 black female 
Ewan, $60 ; 1 pair of black swans, $99 ; 1 pair of Japanese peacocks, $100 ; 
1 pair of Barnacle geese, $40 ; 3 hoop-bill ducks, $75 ; 1 pair of golden 
pheasants, $18 ; 4 pair of English pheasants, at $10, $11, and $15 per pair ; 
3 male golden pheasants, at $5, $8 50, and $12 50 each ; 3 male silver 
pheasants, at $10, $10 50, and $16 each ; 1 pair of Call ducks, $15 ; 1 shel- 
drake duck, $10; 3 spoon-bill ducks, $15; 1 pair of pin-tail ducks, $19; 
1 pair of widgeon ducks, $12 ; 1 pair of widgeon ducks, $7 ; 3 widgeon 
ducks, $9. 

But the climax of fancy prices was reached in the sale of one pair of Man- 
darin ducks for $150. This was a beautiful pair of very rare birds, and we 
hope will remain rare — ^"that is, that no more will ever be imported at that 
price. It was said that they cost 75 guineas in England. Mr. Barnum 
ofiered $35 advance upon the purchaser's bargain. They are about the size 
of our common wood duck, and of just about equal beauty. It is certainly 
somewhat extraordinary that, with money " tight" with most people, any 
one can find loose change enough to buy ducks at $150 a pair. 

The sales of Shanghaes, and birds in that line, went off at what the owner 
called " sickly prices." The following indicate the prevailing rates : 

1 pair of gray Dorkings, $10 ; 3 gray Dorkings, $15 ; 6 Sebright bantams, 
in two lots, $5 each ; 2 Sebright bantams, hens, $2 each ; 3 Golden bantams, 
$1 67 each ; 3 English bantams, $1 25 each ; 3 English bantams, $2 37 
each ; 4 Bramahpootras, 1 cock and 3 hens, $2 50 each ; 1 Poland hen, 
$1 25 ; 1 Bolton Gray hen, $1 25 ; 1 pair of Golden Ilamburghs, $2 25 ; 1 
pair of black Spanish fowls, $10 ; 1 pair of black Spanish fowls, $5 50 ; 2 
black Shanghae hens, $3. 

Turkeys. — 1 pair of beautiful white turkeys, $5. 

Geese. — 2 pair of Barnacle geese, $12 and $14 ; 2 pair of Egyptian geese, 
$10 and $16. 

200. Consumption of Poultry In New Torkt — ^To give some idea of the 
quantity of poultry consumed in New York, we give the following extracts 
from an article published about Christmas, 1857 : 

" On Dec. 23d the American Express Company had three car-loads to 
deliver from their depot in Duane Street, and about 11 tuns received from 
Albany by the steamer. On Dec. 24th their receipts are stated in round 
numbers at 40 tuns, making about 80 tuns received in two days by only one 
transportation line. 

" This Company's freight was nearly all from this State and Vermont, 
with a little from western Pennsylvania, and a very small portion from 
Ohio. A large quantity also came from the river counties by steamers and 
barges on the Hudson, as the mildness of the winter has enabled them to 
keep running. Western New York also sent in great quantities by the Erie 
Eailroad, while every New Jersey railroad and numerous wagons brought 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 147 

vast quantities from that State, and some from Pennsylvania. A great deal 
also came from Long Island, and considerable from Connecticut. 

" Tlie Messrs. Beatty, who make a bnsincss of feeding poultry, had on sale 
at once by a commission-house, two days before Christinas, four tuns, all pre- 
pared upon their own premises, and some of the turkeys were as handsome 
birds as we ever saw, and sold for $3 and $3 50 each." 

Mr. White, of Chautauqua County, another great poultry feeder and packer, 
had as much more. It is really a blessing, both to producer and consumer, 
to have such men as those engaged in the business. The farmer particu- 
larl}' reaps a decided advantage, because such skillful poulterers can and do 
give them more for their birds than they would get if killed by themselves 
and sent to market in the rough condition that much of the poultry comes 
into this market. For instance, we noticed, while one commission-house was 
selling well-prepared geese at 13 cents, a lot of geese, side by side of these, 
were offered and refused at 65 cents, the fault being that they were not well 
fatted, and were picked dry and roughly packed. 

Another lot of well-fatted poultry, well packed, and received in good con- 
dition from Vermont, the owner was fully convinced would have netted him 
from one to two cents a pound more if he had followed the directions given 
in Xo. 201, for killing and preparing poultry for market. 

Relative to the efl'ect of the weather upon the business of fatting poultry 
and some other facts, we are indebted to the Messrs. Beatty for the follow- 
ing. They say : 

" Owing to the lateness of the season, turkeys did not grow sufficiently to 
fat well for the early market. It is unprofitable to feed these birds to fatten 
them until they get their growth ; and in such warm weather as we have 
had this season they do not fatten well, being inclined to wander. To fat 
turkeys well and cheaply we must have cold weather. It is owing to this, 
and having to feed a longer time, that we have not been as successful as last 
year ; and it was so warm when our Cliristmas lot was dressed, consisting 
of four tuns, that with all our appliances it required not only experienced 
skill, but great care to preserve the whole in good order till ready for ship- 
ment. The fault with that lot [alluding to one then unpacking] is, that the 
birds were packed before all the animal heat was out of them. This must 
be carefully guarded against in such weather as we have had this season. 

"It has been very difficult for farmers to raise turkeys the past summer 
on account of cold and wet, so that the stock in the country is probably not 
more than half as large as it was last year, and that is the only reason that 
the price, notwithstanding the money pressure, has kept up so well. We 
have fed this year 1,000 turkeys in one lot together, having had in all 1,300, 
and between 200 and 300 geese, with other poultry in proportion. We use, 
and recommend to others, to feed good, sound Indian corn, and with it a lib- 
eral supply of charcoal, which we consider indispensable. It promotes health 
and improves the quality of the flesh." 

Will all poultry-raisers remember this important fact, whicli alone is 



14:8 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. L 



worth more to them than all we shall ever receive for preparing this volume 
of valuable information ? 

201. Preparing Poultry for Market. — We have repeatedly published di- 
rections for preparing poultry for market, and we can not make a more 
valuable finish to this section upon poultry than by giving in brief such 
directions as all must rigidly follow, who scud such fiirm produce to the 
great market of New York. The professional poultry feeders and packers 
need no instructions, but many farmers do. Many of them have already 
saved a handsome per-centage on the value of their poultry by giving it a 
proper preparation, and others may. 

As a preliminary rule, and make it unalterable, never kill a bird imless 
it is fat. Never cut off the head of a turkey or goose, but hang them by the 
heels where they can not bruise themselves iu the death-struggle, and stick 
them with a small knife and bleed them to death. Ducks and common 
fowls, if decapitated, shoiild be held or tied and hung up to bleed to death. 
Never kill your birds until quite fat; you will lose in price, in reputation, 
and in weight. Never strangle them, so as to leave the blood in. The best 
plan is to tie all kinds of birds to a line drawn from post to post or tree to 
tree, and stick them just in the forward end of the neck, either with a broad- 
bladed awl or a penknife. It is undoubtedly the best mode of killing. If 
the head is cut off, the skin recedes, and the neck-bone looks repulsive. To 
obtain the best prices, the birds must look good as well as be good. 

There is an exception, however, to the above recommendation about stick- 
ing, for some dealers prefer the birds with heads on, and some do not. In 
some towns it is always customary to cut off all the heads. When this is to 
be done, draw the skin back from the head as far as possible, so that when 
you cut off the head, which should be done close to it, there will be some 
loose skin to draw over the end of the nock-bone, where it should be tied 
close. We doubt whether it is not worth while to pay freight upon heads. 
It is worth while to pay freight on the intestines, because the meat can not 
be kept sweet long after they are drawn and the air admitted inside of the 
body. Therefore, never draw a bird. 

It is a practice of some of the best poultrymen, while the birds are bleed- 
ing, to hold them firmly by one hand, and pluck the feathers with the other, 
as they conic out easily while the fowls are warm. This treatment is only 
for turkeys and common fowls. They are then ready for scalding. Take 
hold of the legs, and plunge the body in quick succession, two or three 
times, in boiling water. This should be done in a warm room, and the birds 
hung upon a line to pick clean, taking care not to tear the skin. Geese and 
ducks are plunged two or three times in l)oiling water, drawing them out by 
the head, and then wrapped in a woolen blanket to steam ten minutes. 
Take them on your lap to pick. Do not scald the legs, nor heat the bodies 
of birds against the sides of the kettle. After the birds are neatly picked, 
they are put through the plumping process. Tliis gives them a finish, and 
increases their value iu market. 



Seo. 9.J POULTRY. 149 

The rule for " plumping" is to dip the birds about two seconds into water 
nearly or quite boiling hot, and then at once into cold water about the same 
length of time. Some think the hot plunge sufficient without the cold. Tiie 
neatest poultry-dressers use both the hot and cold plunge. The poultry 
should be entirely cold, but not frozen before being packed. If poultry 
reaches market sound, without freezing, it will sell all the better. 

After plumping, hang or lay the birds where they will dry, and then 
remove them to the cooling-room, laying the bodies nicely arranged upon 
clean boards in a cold room till perfectly cool, but not frozen, and tlien pack 
in boxes, with clean rye straw, about 800 or 400 lbs. in a box, filled full ; 
mark the contents on a paper inside, and on the lid outside, and direct it to 
your commission-merchant plainly, and senS it by express, and one invoice 
by mail, and place another in one of the boxes, if there is more than one, 
and mark on that, invoice, and then it will be opened first, and the merchant 
knows whence it comes, and what the consignment consists of. It is also a 
good plan to mark the contents of each box outside, thus: In box 

No. 1—12 turkeys, 144 lbs. ; 20 geese, 160 lbs. ; 50 spring chickens, 125 lbs. 

]^o. 2—100 fowls, 300 lbs. ; 24 ducks, 96 lbs. 

This lot will pack in two square dry-goods i)oxes. If clean hand-threshed 
rye straw can not be had, wheat or oat straw will answer, if clean and free 
from dust. Place a layer of straw at the bottom of the box, then alternate 
layers of poultry and straw — taking care to stow snugly, backs upward, 
filling vacancies with straw, and filling the package so that the cover will 
draw down snugly upon the contents. Common dry-goods boxes, holding 
not over 300 lbs., are the best packages. 

Never kill your birds on a damp day, nor pack them, if you can avoid it, 
except in a clear, cold, dry atmosphere ; and try to avoid night- work, when 
you are tired and your help sleepy, and all of you careless. 

No matter liow light your boxes are, they must look clean, or your poultry 
will not sell at first prices. In packing, press the wings close, and press 
the bird down hard on the breast, the legs extending back, and fill each 
course full, and then lay on straw and another course of birds. Nail tight, 
but don't let a nail project inward to tear the birds. 

Give your name and residence in full on the bill in tlie box and on the 
invoice by mail. Don't tliiidc because yon know in what State you live, that 
everybody else will know it if you name tlie town. 

Never pack in barrels if you can get good dry-goods boxes, as the rolling 
of barrels injures the poultry, where it is likely to be much handled, unless 
very closely packed. Besides, it does not pack to as good advantage to the 
shape of the birds as it does in boxes. Small lots may be packed in "shoe 
or hat boxes," but they must be carefully hooped, and so should be all boxes. 
Don't use a rough, black board for a cover ; you had better spend an hour 
to plane it. Don't acknowledge, by sending unplaned boards, that you 
don't own a plane. It is bad economy to use heavy packages, or liave any 
waste room, because freight is charged by the pound, aud for long distances 



150 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



the express charges may amount to four or five cents a pound, and all the 
weight of the box counts equally with the contents. 

It is a practice with some — and a very foolish practice it is — to stuff fowls 
just before they are killed, thinking to sell corn at the price of meat. Better 
give no food for twenty-four hours previous to killing. Food in the crop is 
liable to sour, and always injures the sale, for it looks to purchasers as though 
tliere was a design to cheat. 

Yon may pick turkeys and fowls dry if you will not tear the skin, and 
tlien scald them afterward by dipping them suddenly in and out of boiling 
water. Geese and ducks must always be scalded. Do not scald the legs too 
much, whether you ])ick first or afterward. Be careful of that. You must 
pick them clean, and the after-scalding makes them look plump and good. 
Well-packed boxes of well prepared birds will keep sweet a long time in 
cool weather, and may be transported by express from Ohio for three cents 
a pound ; from Chicago and most of Illinois for five cents ; from Iowa for 
six or si.x and a half cents, and arriving in good order, will be sold at good 
prices, and your money remitted to you, less 10 per cent. Now, following 
tiiese directions, and getting these prices, if it is better for you Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan farmers to send your poultry East- 
ward for sale, you know how to do it; and if it opens to you a new and im- 
proved market, it will be worth more to you than the whole cost of this 
volume upon every box of poultry sold. In fact, these directions, given in 
part heretofore to the public, have been the means of saving great sums of 
money to the poultry producers. 

After boxes are packed, if there is any chance of not getting them imme- 
diately into market, or if a change in prices makes it desirable to hold back, 
it will be a good plan to place them where the contents will freeze solid ; 
then they will stand a long spell of warm weather, such as makes badly- 
packed ponltry slimy. If you could be sure of cold Aveather, so that the 
birds would remain frozen, very little straw Avould be requisite in packing; 
but as a general thing, a liberal allowance of straw will more than pay its 
cost of transportation in keeping the birds in good order. 

When packages are frozen before shipment, it will be well to advise con- 
signees of the fact, as we have known a thaw to come on gradually, until 
very warm, and have then seen packages opened in perfect order that wei-e 
frozen up two or three months before. In fact, we knew one such that got 
mislaid and covered with empty boxes in a cellar, that kept sweet till it was 
accidentally discovered in May. 

Water for scalding any kind of poultry should be as near to the boiling 
point as possible, without actually boiling; the bird being held by the legs, 
should be immersed and lifted up and down in the water three times ; the 
motion helps the hot water to penetrate the plumage and take proper effect 
upon the skin. Continue to hold the bird by the legs with one hand while 
plucking the feathers with the other without a moment's delay after taking 
it out ; if skillfully handled in this way, the feathers and pin-feathers may all 



Sec. 9. J 



POULTRY. 



151 



be removed without breaking the skin. A torn or broken skin greatly 
injures the appearance, and tiie price will be low in proportion. 

Do not bend tlie birds with tail and wing feathers in, unless it may be 
occasionally in a very handsome turkey. 

Geese always sell best the week before Christmas, and they should always 
lie stall-fed. Christmas jirices are usually for well-fed geese, such as will 
warrant their increased production, since it is contended by persons whose 
opinion is entitled to great respect, that with proper care and skill, upon a 
farm well fitted for the business, a tun of geese can be made at the same 
cost as a tun of beef, leaving the feathers as an excess of profit. 

Now let all who read, remember that common-sense attention to these 
rules, in regard to preparing poultry, will often insure 25 per cent, higher 
prices than poultry of the same value originally will bring, if slovenly dressed 
and packed, and carelessly directed and stupidly forwarded, as often hap- 
pens. To bring the highest market-prices, poultry must be good and well 
handled. 

203. Preparing Game for Market. — "Wild turkeys, wild ducks, and the 
smaller birds should be packed in the natural state. In cold weather they 
may be packed snugly, backs up, with or without clean straw, taking care 
to keep the plumage as smooth as possible. If the weather becomes warm 
during the transit, straw between the laj^ers acts beneficially as an absorbent 
of moisture. Birds should never be drawn, and if mutilated by gun-shot, 
the market value will be much reduced. 

Woodcock, quails, and other small birds are in cool weather sometimes 
each wrapped in paper, and packed in dry sawdust. In hot weather they 
may be packed without the paper in coarse sawdust and ice. They sel Jom ar- 
rive in good order if more than twenty-four hours on the way in hot weather. 

In venison it is best to send only the hind part of the carcass, including, 
say, two or three ribs with the saddle. The skin should be stripped from 
the fore part and carefully wrapped about the saddle, thus keeping it clean 
and in good order. 

By the " game laws" of the State of New York, the killing of any wild 
deer, partridge, quail, woodcock, or snipe during the months of February, 
March, April, May, June, and July is prohibited under penalty of $25 for 
each offense. 

Common carriers or their agents may, in the discharge of their legitimate 
business, transport deer or game during the inhibited period without viola- 
tion of the law ; and commission merchants and dealers are protected if they 
can show, to the satisfaction of the court, that the game in question came 
from any other State, or foreign country, or that it was not killed during the 
inhibited period. 

The taking of speckled or brook trout is prohibited between the 15tli day 
of September and the 15th day of February, under the same penalties and 
provisions as in the case of game; but the Cayuga, Seneca, Crooked, and 
Otsego lakes are excepted from this prohibition. 



152 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



203. Eggs— How to Produce them iu Winter.— Pork scraps or greaves, fed 
in moderate quantity, are found to have a marvelous effect in the produc- 
tion of winter eggs. Give hens also sand, and gravel, and lime, and see 
that they have water. Egg-shells should never be fed whole, but they may 
be mashed \\p fine and mixed with feed to good advantage. Some hens 
are much more productive of eggs than others. Eighty hens, belonging to 
Capt. Thos. A. Norton, of Yarmouth, Mass., have laid during one year 637 
dozen eggs. At the average price of eggs, that would be about $1 25 for 
each hen. 

204. How to Detect the Sex iu Domestic Fowls' Eggs.— A person who has 
paid attention to the subject declares that he can tell the se.x of eggs in the 
following manner. He says : 

" I began examining eggs, classing them according to the difference I 
found in the formation of each, marking each class, and putting them under 
hens as soon as opportunity offered ; when, in less than twelve months, I 
was fully convinced that I had discovered either a method or the method 
of foretelling the sex in the egg, which was proved by ocular demonstration 
in the chickens produced. 

" At the large end of the egg there is a circular space or cavity containing 
air, which country folks call the ' crown' of the egg ; its proper name I know 
not. When you examine the egg, hold it, the large end uppermost, before 
a candle or gaslight, and in looking through it you will observe a dark cir- 
cular mark, something similar to the moon when partially eclipsed. This 
dark circular mark is the space filled with air or ' the crown' of the egg, and 
when in the center it indicates that the egg will produce a male. 

" My method of examining the egg is as follows : I make use of the thumb 
and forefinger of my left hand as two points, placing the small end of the 
egg on my thumb, my forefinger covering the large end of it, and as near 
the center of the end as possible. I then place the egg in this position 
steadily before a candle and gently turn it around ; if the crown be in the 
center it will be scarcely visible, the forefinger nearly covering it. On the 
contrary, if the crown be on the side you will only see it on one side of the 
egg as you turn it around." Tliere is a little contrivance, called the ooni- 
scope, to detect bad eggs. The egg is placed in a hole of a box, and the 
light reflects on a mirror inside and tells unerringly the true condition of 
the egg. A little practice enables any one to discover whether eggs are 
fresh or not. 

f05. Vitality of Eggs AlTeeted by Transportation. — It has been stated upon 
good authority that railroad transportation injures the vitality of eggs. That 
pack them as you will, if they are carried any considerable distance, say 100 
miles, the continued shaking will shake the life out of them. Traveling on 
the Harlem Eoad one day, we met an acquaintance carefully carrying a 
small basket in his hands. "VVe remarked that he handled his basket as 
carefully as though he was carrying eggs. " And so I am," he replied ; " I am 
taking them about a hundi-cd miles to a friend, and will insure every one to 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 153 



hatcli out a chicken, so far as transportation may affect tlieni. But I learned 
this by experience. I had a lot sent up the road only twenty-five miles, in 
the ordinary vraj, and did not get one chicken to fifty eggs, while out of 
another lot, carried in my hands in this wa}', not one missed." He said : " As 
a general rule, it may be set down for fact, that eggs tliat have been traii.s- 
ported by railroad will never bring forth chickens." This is important in- 
formation, and should be well remembered. So, too, let it be reaiemliercd 
that eggs intended for incubation can not be too carefully handled in taking 
them from the nests and keeping them about the house till the hen is ready 
to take them in charge. 

20G. Selling Eggs by Weight. — "We have frequently recommended that eggs 
should always be sold by weight, instead of by count. "We recommended it 
because we thought it more fair both for producer and consumer ; but reall}', 
with the present system of trade, we do not see much to encourage the change, 
and nothing to encourage the production of eggs of a large size while small 
ones sell at the same i:)rice as the largest, per dozen or hundred, and consumers 
are guilty of the great folly of making no distinction. Do they ever think of 
the difference in weight? Do they know how many eggs there should be 
to the pound ? The largest-sized eggs of the common barn-door fowl weigh 
three ounces each, but the average is about ten to the pound. We inquired 
once of a retail groceryman, " Have you any fresh eggs ?" " Yes ; there is a 
lot of fine ones, just in, all of this State, in good order." " At what i>rice V 
" Twelve cents a dozen." " May I pick them out at that ?" " Oh, yes, cer- 
tainly ; they are all alike, good." Of this we liad no doubt as to the good ; 
but that they were otherwise alike, we intended to prove that he was mis- 
taken. So we picked out a dozen and laid them in the scales, with a li lb. 
weight opposite, thinking they were just the size that takes eight to the 
pound, for that is just what good, fair-sized hen's-cggs always will average. 
These were a little heavier, and we added two more, and balanced two 
pounds — seven eggs to the pound. Then wc picked out of the same cask 
thirteen more, and these weighed just one pound, not quite 100 per cent, 
difference whether you buy large or small eggs. Now, if farmers and fools 
meet, is it right that the one should take advaniagc of the other in this way? 
or is it right that one man should keep a brood of small hens, the keeping 
of which costs less than half that of larger ones, and get the same price for 
the eggs ? If honesty is the best policy in all of our dealings, then it is the 
best policy to sell eggs by the pound, and not by the dozen. 

207. To Preserve Eggs. — We can not vouch for the following. If it is as 
stated, it is much more simple and convenient than packing in lime, salt, 
etc. "Provide a small cupboard, safe, or tier of shelves; bore these shelves 
full of holes one and a quarter inches in diameter, and place the eggs in 
them, point downward. They will keep sound for several months. Other 
modes, such as packing in salt, etc., depend for their success simply on 
placing the points down ; the shelves are more convenient and accessible." 

208. Eggs Consumed in England. — In the statistics of British commerce. 



154 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

the home production is put down at 75,000 tuns annually, which are valued 
at $15,000,000. Tlie importation of eggs tor eight years, ending with 1847, 
ranged from 90,000,000 in 1840, to 77,500,000 in 1847, and the importa- 
tions of the succeeding years are given in the following table : 



Number. 

1848 88,012,585 

1849 97,745.849 

1850 105,089,060 

1851 115,526,240 



Number. 

1852 108,281,233 

1853 123,450,678 

1854 121,966,220 

1855 100,005,200 



The first six months of 1856, 68,062,600. This was nearly 14,000,000 in 
excess of tlie number received in the first six months of 1855, but not so 
large as in 1854. The imports of eggs in 1854 were, from 



Number. 

Belgium 10,415,517 

France 104,126,918 

Portugal 419,860 



Number. 

Spain 5,983,161 

Channel Islands 794,400 

Other parts 226,424 



Up to the 8th of August, 1854, eggs were entered by number, but since 
that tliey have been entered by cubic feet, internal measurement. In order 
to reduce the whole to a uniform standard, 200 eggs are estimated to be 
packed in one cubic foot. The duty charged is 8d. per cubic foot of eggs 
from foreign countries, and Iialf that duty from British possessions. In 
the metropolis the egg trade is a very important branch of commerce, giving 
employment to sixty egg merchants and salesmen on a large scale, exclusive 
of the number of shopkeepers who sell eggs. These salesmen distribute the 
boxes of esxss over the various consuming localities in Yvjiht carts. 

The principal importation is from France and Belgium. Quantities of 
Portuguese eggs are occasionally imported into England by the Peninsular 
Mail steamers. The eggs of the Spanish fowls being very large, are much 
esteemed, and valued at Id. to l|d. each. Spain imports a certain quantity 
from the French province of Oran, in Algeria. The eggs of the Bedouin 
fowls are sold in the European markets at 5d. to 6d. the dozen. 

Tlie supplies of eggs sent from Ireland to Liverpool, and thence into the 
manufacturing districts, are enormous, frequently exceeding 1,000,000 a 
day. Tliey are packed with straw in ci'ates, boxes, or hampers. The crates 
contain from 6,000 to 8,000 eggs, the boxes about 2,500. Sometimes largo 
boxes contain 13,000 or more eggs. 

In 1852, 9,260 tuns of Irish eggs were imported into Liverpool, and it is 
estimated that that is not more than one fifth of the product of that island. 

209. Eggs in Frauce> — M. Legrand, a French statistical writer, estimated 
the consumption of eggs in 1835 in Paris at 138 per head of all the inhab- 
itants, and in the provinces at double that ratio. " The consumption of 
eggs for the whole kingdom," he observes, " is estimated at 7,231,160,000 ; 
add to this number those exported and those necessary for reproduction, and 
it will result that 7,380,925,000 were laid in France during the year 1835." 

Since that time the production has largely increased. M. Armand IIus- 
son, in his interesting book on the " Consommation" of Paris, just pub- 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 155 



Number. Av. pr. per 1,000. 

18.51 12y,7:W,-J99 42f. Oil centimes. 

IS.5'2 160,000,000 41f. 35 centimes. 

lad-d 175,000,000 



lished, returns the number of eggs consumed in the French metropolis at 
175,000,000, or 175 to each liead of the population, worth about §1 35. 
The vahie of the eggs consumed in Paris one year would be also about 
£300,000 ; but probably three quarters of a million sterling would be a 
nearer estimate of the poultry and eggs consumed annually in Paris. 

The consumption and prices may be judged of from the following figures: 

Number. Av.pr. per 1,000. 

1847 120,940,724 57 Iraiu-s. 

1848 106,747,222 48f. 40 centimes. 

1849 113,587,732 46f. 70 centimes. 

1850 124,597,150 43f. 93 centimes. 

A number of Galignani^s Messenger says that, in 1815, the number of 
eggs exported from France was 1,700,000 ; in 1816 it rose to 8,000,000. 
Six years later, in 1S22, the number was 55,000,000 ; and 99,500,000 in 
1824. In 1830 the number declined to 55,000,000 ; then gradually increased 
until 1845, when it was 88,200,000, for which an export duty of 114,000 
francs was paid. Kearly all these eggs go to England. The yearly consump- 
tion of eggs in Paris is estimated at 165,000,000, and the total consumption 
of all France at 9,000,000,000 ; so that, reckoning eggs at a sou, this single 
article represents 465,000,000 francs. 

210. The Egg Trade in this fouutry. — Steamboats and railways have done 
much to increase and improve the trade in poultry and eggs, in butter and 
milk, as well as in carcass meat and fish of all kinds, for the supply of large 
cities and dense populations in Europe and America, situate far from the 
chief seats of production or fishing. The poultry dealers of New York 
made their appearance on the shores of the great American lakes within a 
few days after the regular trains were in motion on the Erie Railroad. 
Poultry and eggs M-ere swept away by them at an advance of 25 to 30 per 
cent, on their ordinary value, and a decided stimulus has been given to the 
jjroduction of poultry and eggs. 

The British American provinces are now supplying the United States 
towns with eggs, which are imported duty free under the Keciprocity Treaty. 
1,260 dozen eggs from Nova Scotia were entered very recently at the Cus- 
tom-house, Boston, in one day. In the season of 1852, about 8,000 barrels 
of eggs, containing 84 dozen per barrel, were shipiped from the port of Mon- 
treal to the United States, and sold at about IGc. the dozen. 

One merchant in Marion County, Ohio, has shipped in one season 124,950 
dozen of eggs, in 1,785 barrels, costing, at 7 cents a dozen, $8,746 50. 

211. Packing Eggs for Marked — ^There is probably in no one article of the 
same relative value so much depreciation and loss from injudicious manage- 
ment and unskillful packing as in eggs. This is best illustrated in the 
AVestern trade, especially during the warm season, when the average price 
of Western eggs rules, say, three to five cents per dozen below those from this 
State ; but at the same time we have some Western marks that bring nearly 
or quite as much as the best State, showing conclusively that it is entirely 
practicable to forward them in prime order from the far "West. If the fol- 



156 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



lowing directions are intelligently carried out, there will be very little donbt 
of success. 

Be sure (especially in the summer season) that your eggs are not only 
sound, but recently laid. Eggs may be "candled" or examined by the 
" ooniscope," and repacked at the West ; but if they are stale, though still 
apparently sound, they will be sure to reach this market in bad order, or 
will so rapidly change, on being opened, tliat dealers will be sure to lose 
money on them. The motion of the cars over such long distances so mud- 
dles all eggs, not entirely fresh, that they appear cloudy and stale, aud will 
Boon spoil, if indeed they are not already unsalable. 

Use very strong, stiff barrels, put a little soft straw or hay evenly over 
the bottom with a stiff paper on the top of the straw, then oats or cut straw, 
say, two to three inches, then a layer of eggs, laid snugly together upon the 
sides, evenly imbedded in the oats, with the ends toward but about one inch 
from the staves. Cover the layer with oats and shake down gently but thor- 
oughly, leaving, say, one inch of oats upon the layer of eggs ; thus continue 
shaking down thoroughly with each layer until the barrel is full. Place 
about three inches of oats over the last layer, then a stiff paper and a 
little soft hay or straw next the head, filling so high that the head must be 
pressed to its place by a lever or other mechanical power, that the contents 
may be held so firmly that they can never shift or loosen in tjie barrels. In 
the winter, to guard against frost, use more packing, leaving the eggs farther 
from the sides of the barrels. Use clean, bright oats ; they are salable at 
all seasons, though of late merchants seem to prefer cut straw. Mark plainly 
the number of dozen and the quantity of oats in each barrel. Be very par- 
ticular to have the count right. A good reputation for accuracy is very 
valuable. 

One person says: "I use a board some six or eight inches square, with a 
loop or staple in tlie center for pressing each layer of oats firmly down. 
There will be something gained by lifting and dropping the barrel square on 
the end, but not by shaking, as it disturbs the layers. When it gets too 
heavy to lift, use a board three fourths as large as the head, and get on it, 
increasing your weight with a spring, and on the head driving it in. The 
secret lies all in packing the oats. Oats are better worth sending to market 
than hay, and just as safe. I have sent ten barrels at a time without losing 
a single egg. You must pack tight. Remember that." 



PLATE XII. 

(Page 157.) 

This picture is intended to be both suggestive and instructive. 
First, it suggests to any one who may chance to open the book at 
this page, the study of bee-culture, and the propriety of adding this 
kind of farm-stock to the larger animals already owned. It is placed 
here for that purjDOse. It is to attract attention to the subject, and 
induce readers to turn over a few pages and read just enough to 
whet the appetite for more knowledge. It is instructive, as it 
shows the different form and size of the three classes of bees, so 
that any one, after studying this picture, need make no mistake. 
It shows how a swarm issues from a hive and settles upon a limb 
of a neighboring tree, and how fearlessly the bee-keeper approaches 
the swarm and puts it in the hive, which he will cover up and carry 
to its place on the stand. The author has frequently climbed to the 
top of a tree as high as this appears, and sawed off the limb upon 
which the swarm had alighted, and brought it down a long ladder 
to the hive, with no protection to face or hands. This picture, 
therefore, is intended to induce you to keep bees, and as a hint that 
you can easily leai-n all the art of bee-keeping. 




IK 



TBtB AFJAHSa'o IFHE JBEJB '■KDEKIPJEK: AT MIS -WiiJSJ^ . 




CHAPTER II. 
SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 

SECTION X.-BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF UONEY. 

UR opening chapter was devoted to a general sur- 
vey of farm-stock. This will be devoted to observ- 
ations upon bees, birds, bugs, insects, and worms ; 
, cats, rabbits, rats, mice, moles ; camels as beasts 
urden ; goats of Caslimere, their value as ferm- 
fish-breeding, for domestic use or market; ani- 
yielding fur, and alpacas, and other small stock of the 

In tlie leading article of this chapter we shall notice what 
may very appropriately be ranked as profitable stock upon 
a farm, for the product of the hive often aifords a consid- 
erable income, and it is nearly all clear profit. Birds, 
although they do not produce a direct income, are among 
the greatest helj^s to that end, for they are great destroyers 
of those pests, the bugs, insects, and worms, which we shall also introduce 
into this chapter. Dogs, as an adjunct of the farm, and when only kept in 
very limited numbers, are not, perhaps, unprofitable stock ; but as they at 
present exist, they are pests of the very worst kinds. Cats are a necessity, 
for without them we should be over-run with rats and mice, and so we give 
each a small space in this chapter. Rabbits, too, though small, must have a 
place ; and camels, though large enough to fill a chapter, like the rabbit, 
must be contented with a paragraph. And the Cashmere goat, the only one 
of any value to farmers, is as yet so little diffused among them, that we can 
only afford space to give it a passing notice ; and tlie alpaca, an equally im- 
portant domestic animal, we must treat in the same short-hand way. 

Fish-breeding is of vast importance to every farmer who has the facility 
for making a fish-pond, and therefore we have added it to this second chapter 
of animals, domestic or wild, upon the farm. And finally, we add fur ani- 
mals, merely to call the attention of those who own suitable locations, to the 
fact that it is possible that such animals may be bred for their skins, to say 
nothing of the value of their flesh. 

So much by way of introduction. Now let us take up our subjects, item 
by item, each under its appropriate head. 

212. Bees. — History of their Introduction.— It is not quite certain whether 
the honey-bee is indigenous to America or not. Our opinion is that it is, 



158 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



because several varieties now exist upon tlie continent, and certainly those 
in Central America appear to be natives, so far as it is possible to trace tlieir 
history. It is possible that the early immigrants, not finding bees in the 
districts first occupied by them, either in New England or Virginia, did 
import them, though this supposition appears doubtful when we consider 
the length of voyages in that age of ocean navigation. And it is still further 
against the tlieory of importation, to know that as early as 16-lS — forty years 
only after Captain John Smith's advent — George Pelton, of Virginia, was in 
possession of a good stock of honey-bees ; and they were noticed by Beverly 
as a common thing among the Virginia planters previous to 1720. 

In 1755, beeswax was an article of export from Savannah, Georgia. It is 
impossible to state the quantity, because it is combined with myrtle-berry 
wax, and both are set down at 909 lbs. Five years later the quantity of both 
is given at 3,910 lbs., and in 1770 at 4,058 lbs. 

Ii» 1767, the export tables show 35 barrels of beeswax, sent from the port 
of Philadeli>hia ; and only four years later the quantity is given as 29,201 lbs. 

The history of Cuba credits Florida witii bees imported from there in 1764. 

The above facts prove that if there were no honey-bees in this part of the 
continent when our forefathers came to it, their importations were very suc- 
cessful, and the original stock was widely disseminated, and multiplied with 
great rapidity, for the census of 1850 gives the annual product of honey and 
wax at 14,853,790 lbs ; and that at a time wlien the bee-moth epidemic had 
greatly lessened the stock in the country, and consequently the production 
was not as great as it had been. 

It is a fact, too, that the immigrants of the Northwestern Territory found 
wild bees scattered all through the forests of what is now Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois. 

As an offset to this, it is a fact that the first American settlers of California 
found no honey-bees in that State, notwithstanding tlie fact of its early occu- 
pancy by the Spanish ; and the first bees ever seen in that State have been 
carried there from New York, by sea, since 1850, and already the stock of 
bees has multiplied to an extent whicli would populate the State to as great or 
greater extent than tlie Atlantic States have been with both wild and domes- 
tic stocks, in a far less time than has elapsed since the landing at Jamestown 
or Plymouth rock, of those who may have introduced the bee from Europe. 

Bee-culture in California has already assumed such an importance that 
associations of apiarists have been formed there, and the exhibition of bees is 
quite a feature at the State fair. Bees have become so numerous in the 
neighborhood of Sacramento, that they have been charged with extensive 
depredations upon the vineyards, by sucking the sweets out of the ripe 
grapes. Mr. Harbison, a large bee-keeper, who went from Pennsylvania 
with a large shipment of them, two or three years ago, however, denies the 
charge of bees injuring the fruit, and asserts that he has proved by actual 
experiment that they will only attack the grapes after the skin has burst by 
the pressure of the interior growth. Still, there are many persons who are 



Sko. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION' OF HONEY. 



159 



deeply interested in grape-growing in tliat State, who think this business 
and bee-keeping never can flourish together. It is a matter tliat will prob- 
ably be investigated, since it involves two so great interests, particularly in 
California, where both branches flourish in so remarkable a degree of health- 
iness. Certainly, in no part of the United States has bee-keeping given such 
a promise of success. 

Bees, although they appear to thrive best, or at least with but little care, 
in warm latitudes, are not confined to those regions. An article now before 
us gives an account of the successful introduction of bees into Aroostook 
County, Maine, where the thermometer sometimes freezes, and afterward 
the discovery of a wild swarm in a hollow l»ee, which was removed to a 
hive and wintered in a dark, dry cellar, where they consumed very little 
honey. This is a very good way to winter bees in all cold regions ; for one 
of the greatest difficulties attending bee-culture in the most northern local- 
ities where they are found, is winter killing, not by freezing up in the hive, 
though that sometimes occurs, but by the bees being aroused from tlieir 
torpid state by a few sunny days, till they come out of the hive and are 
overcome by cold before they can return again, and thus perish. "We have 
sometimes lost great quantities in this way, no farther north than lat. 4!^. 

Notwithstanding bees appear to jjossess a considerable degree of reason, 
and the power of ratiocination (a power that many men do not possess), 
they are, like men and women, very apt to be caught by outside appear- 
ances, and venture forth from their warm homes upon sunny wings, to meet 
tlie chilling blast of the outside world, and perish. 

Certainly, many acts of the honey-bee seem to be results of a reasoning 
faculty; or is it that undefined something tliat mankind call instinct? It 
is indeed wonderful that so tiny an insect should possess a faculty scarcely 
possessed by man, of constructing its domicile, or rather store-house, so as 
not to waste an iota of material or space ; for that is a fact, in relation to 
the honey-bee's comb. And all their interior household arrangements, the 
order of their work, family government, and perfect order and harmony, are 
such as should make mankind blush at their own inefficiency. Many of 
them should blush to think such an insect is so much more industrious and 
frugal than themselves, and so much more careful to lay up winter stores. 

One of the marks of reason, judgment, or instinct in the bee is manifested 
in their never leaving the hive, although ready to swarm, in a stormy day, 
nor when a storm or very high wind is approaching, which would be likely 
to blow away one portion of the swarm from the other. 

When the swarm does come forth it seems to be all by a given signal, and 
the movement is sudden and simultaneous, guided by the call of their queen. 
If by any accident or mistake the queen gets separated, or fails to cluster 
with the swarm, it is idle to try to hive them. They will not take a new 
abode without a queen. Is it reason that teaches them that they must re- 
turn to the old hive, where they can make a new queen out of the young 
larva3 in the cells of the old brood-comb ? 



160 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. XL 



213. Bee-HiveSi — The best hive is one with movable supports for each 
sheet of comb. Although hives of this kind may have been patented, the 
patent is not good for anything, nor should it bar any one from the use of 
such a hive, because the invention is not new. Bevan, an English writer 
upon bees, described such a hive many years ago, as in use by him, and 
recommended it to others. More than twenty years ago, I described a hive 
for movable frames to sustain the separate sheets of comb, in the Albany 
Cultivator, and although the plan might have been patentable, it was dis- 
tinctly stated that it was not, nor would be patented, and any one who liked 
it was recommended to use it. The form of the liive there recommended 
was to hang the frames by liook-and-eye hinges to the back of the hive, so 
that all would swing like the leaves of a book standing on its end. The 
front, or cover to the edge of the leaves, being opened, by turning it around 
to the left hand, leaf after leaf could be swung around to the riglit, and a 
sheet of comb cut out of any one, or the frame could be lifted off its hinges 
and taken away, and a new one put in its place. We thought the plan a 
more convenient one than lifting the frames out at the top of the hive. 

There is an objection to all movable frame hives, that they furnish har- 
boring-places for moths. They also, on the other hand, afford facilities for 
searching after them, and removing any infested comb. 

Bees are like any other wild insect or animal that has been domesticated. 
By good treatment they can be made very domestic, so that their keeper can 
handle them about as easily as any other pets. 

The next best form of hive is a scpiaro box, made of planed boards one- 
and-a-haii or full onc-and-a-quarter inch stuff, -well seasoned, and tongued, 
and grooved, and firmly nailed together, so as to be water-tight, and nearly 
air-tight, and well painted. A box fifteen inches deep, and twelve inches 
across each way, contains 2,1G0 cubic inclies — ten in excess of a bushel. 
Tliis is a good size and form for a hive. It will add much to the conveni- 
ence of the liive to insert a pane of glass in the side opposite to the open- 
ings wliere the bees enter, which should be six three-eighth-inch holes, an 
inch above the bottom. The glass sliould liave a tight-fitting shutter ; and 
the bottom should be screwed on, or hinged and fastened with a hook so 
that it could be opened. If it is screwed on, make an opening two inches 
across in the center of the bottom board, with a close-fitting shutter that you 
can take out occasionally to allow the bees to sweep out their room. Open 
this only in tlie morning, and close it before night. There will then be no 
entrance for the moth except through the bee holes, and these the sentinels 
will guard. Bore four inch holes in the top, and fit corks in tliem. Have 
a cap fitted on top to cover four boxes, five or six inches square, made with 
one glass side. "When the lower part is filled, which you can tell by obsei-v- 
ation at the glass in the back, or by weighing, then open the top holes, and 
put on the boxes, open side down, and shut the cap over them, and the bees 
will soon find that they have extra store-room, and go to work and fill it 
with new comb, and fresh honey, free of bee-bread or brood-comb. As soon 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AXH THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION" OF HONEY. 



161 



as a box is full, take it off, and put an empty one in its place. A stock of fifty 
swarms in the spring will produce two thousand pounds of surplus honey, 
and increase to a hundred swarms in the autumn. Counting all labor be- 
stowed in the care of a stock of bees, and all expense of hives, etc., and the 
cost of honey is estimated at only three to six cents a pound ; varying with 
locations, and favorable or unfavorable seasons. But if it always costs ten 
cents a pound, the bee-keeper would find sale for it at a profit. 

214. Straw Uivcs. — There are a few bee-keepers who still adhere to the 
opinion that straw hives are the best that can be used. We can not think 
so. Their greatest advantage is, that they maintain a more even tempera- 
ture than board hives, and are inexpensive. They can be manufactured by 
the winter fireside, and packed away for future use in a small space, one 
within another. "Wlien wanted for use, a couple of cross-sticks must be put 
in to support the comb, as the hive is in the shape of an inverted bowl, and 
not as good to support comb as a straight-sided box. It is a good plan, 
however, to use the supports in all hives. They should be so arranged that 
they can be easily taken out, as it would greatly facilitate the removal of 
comb. If straw hives are used, they should be made to hold a bushel, of 
clean rye straw, tied very tightly together, so as to make the walls full an 
inch and a half thick, and smooth outside and in. Never use them after they 
get old, and never place them where they will get wet. If kept dry, the 
bees winter in straw hives bettor than board ones. 

It has been recommended to make cases for board hives, to set over them 
in winter as protection from the changes in the weather. If this is done, the 
cases should be taken ofl' as soon as possible in the spring to prevent moths 
making harbors in them. 

215. Patent Uives. — We have never seen a patent for a bee-hive, nor " beo 
palace," that we would give a dime for. They are no better than any handj 
man with tools can make himself. As to " bee-palaces," where bees are tc 
live in community, the thing is preposterous. It is founded upon wrong 
principles. 

Bee-housos, where collections of swarms in separate hives are to be kept, 
we have tried as well as the community system, and repudiate both. 

Movable comb-hives may be made without buying a patent, by making a 
chest of the capacity to hold a bushel, besides tiie frames, or say 15 inches 
square inside, and make 10 frames of strips of boards an inch and a half 
wide, nailed togethet flatwise at the ends so as to form sashes that will set 
in the box and just fill it. Bore holes for the entrance of the bees, through 
the sides of the box and frames. Tlie lid of the chest shuts tight, and may 
be locked. When you want to draw a frame, insert a common wood-screw 
or two to pull it out by. You can tell as soon as you lift it a little, whether 
it is full or not, and if not, try another. 

We have tried several patent hives, and if choosing between any one of 
them and a " bee gum," would take the latter for all practical purposes ; 
not that we would recommend farmers always to use hollow logs, though 



162 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. IL 



we certainly have seen some most successful bee-keeping where the swarms 
were kept only in that rough way. 

216. Where to Keep UiveSt — ^The location and mode of support are im- 
portant matters in placing bee hives. And here again, the most " rough 
and ready" way has always appeared to be the best. We have frequently 
seen the hives standing about here and there, without any regard to order ; 
some directly on the ground, and some on a flat stone or board ; notwith- 
standing such apparent disregai'd to all care, the bees were doing better than 
others where every attention was paid to them. We do not advocate quite 
BO much negligence, but we do believe the best situation for hives is in an 
open field, set a rod or two apart, or, rather, suspended to stakes. An 
orchard, where the trees are somewhat scattering, and the grass short, or kept 
short by mowing or pasturage of some geese, turkeys, or sheep, is a good 
place for bee-hives, one under each tree. A hive may be fastened to a tree 
or post by two hooks and staples, care being taken to fix it so it Avill be firm, 
and not liable to be shaken by wind. It may also be fixed upon two stakes 
set in the ground just wide enough apart for the hive to slip in between 
them and rest upon a block nailed upon each side of the hive, notched on 
the lower edge so as to clasp the top of the stake to prevent slipping side- 
wise. Hives jilaced about in the open ground should have a board laid 
over the top, wide enough to give some shade to the hive. Lay this board 
on four pebbles, or four nails driven in to keep it half an inch or an inch 
from the top. This shade-board may be held in its place by a screw or nail, 
or a stone. The hive need not be placed more than six inches from the 
ground. A little strip, an inch wide, should be nailed on level with the 
entrance holes, for the bees to alight upon. 

If hives are placed under a shady tree, they will need no other protection. 
If placed close together, a rough shed may be built over a row of hives, so 
placed that it will shade them from nine till four o'clock in the day. A hive 
should be painted white, because that color does not absorb the rays of heat 
as much as a dark color. Sometimes a hive becomes heated so as to soften 
the cement, and let the comb fall to the bottom. 

217. Swarming. — The location of bee-hives should be convenient to low 
bushes, such as lilacs, altheas, or small peach or plum trees, for them to 
light upon when swarming. We have heard of clustering bees upon a large 
woolen stocking, stretched over the end of a pole, and. held up in the midst 
of the swarm as they collected after leaving the hive.'l^ When all have been 
gathered in the cluster, it is gently laid upon the table and the pole with- 
drawn, and a hive set over the bees. After they go up into the hive, the 
stocking is taken away. 

Swarming is just as natural for bees as calving for cows. It increases 
the stock. The process can not be interfered with advantageously, either to 
retard or increase the operation. 

The owner of bees should make them as well acquainted with his person 
as his horse or dog is, and then he can handle them as easily. 



Seo. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 163 

It is true there are some persons with whom the bees never will become 
friendly, or allow of any familiarity. Such persons should never try to 
handle bees. Others (the writer is one) can handle them with impunity. 
I have often had them light upon my face, and head, and hands, and remain 
as long as they liked, and then go away again. 

When a swarm comes out, go immediately right into the midst of it, and 
donotbe alarmed if it should cluster upon your hat. Such things have been, 
and no harm come of it. You must show no excitement ; be moderate and 
calm in your movements, as if surrounded by a flock of wild birds which 
j-ou were afraid of scaring away. An excitable man will be very apt to 
alarm the bees, and an angry one will be sure to make theiii angry and 
drive him from the field. 

It sometimes happens that bees leave the hive pre-determined to fly away. 
In such cases it is diflacult to stop them. If it is a dusty time, and they are 
gathering for flight so low that you can throw handful after handful of dust 
among them, you may succeed in confusing them until tlicy will alight. 
Swarms have been stopped on the wing by firing a musket directly forward 
of them, so that both noise and smoke would confuse them. It is idle to 
fire after them, and shot sent into the swarm may kill the queen ; when the 
bees must be returned to the hive, or put into one with a piece of brood-comb. 

Some people make a great noise, beating drums, tin kettles, barrels, or 
blowing horns, when a swarm comes out. The philosophy of this is, that 
the noise may drown the voice of the queen, and thus confuse the bees, 
when they may alight ; but, as a general thing, noise will have no more 
effect toward stopping runaway bees than runaway horses. 

Tlie very best thing that we can recommend to a new bee-keeper is : Be 
gentle, and keep yourself on familiar terras with your bees. Make them 
familiar with your presence and jJersonal appearance, and alwaj's go among 
them, as near as possible, in the same garb ; and never in a filthy garb, 
right from the manure-yard, perhaps ; and never in your shirt-sleeves, reek- 
ing with perspiration. There is nothing more offensive to bees ; for they 
are as neat as they are industrious, and never sweat anything out of their 
little bodies but clean white wax, of which they build their cells. 

Thoroughly domesticated bees seldom offer to fly away when they swarm, 
if you have conveniences for them to cluster ; and such bees are always 
easily handled, so that they can be hived without difficulty, even by the 
(judewifc or children, if the gudeman is awa'. 

If you are afraid of stings, i^ut on gloves and tie your sleeves down ; tuck 
your pants in your boot-tops ; put on a broad-brimmed hat, with a piece of 
mosquito-netting over it, tucked in close around your neck, and thus iiro- 
tected, the most timid may go among his own, or strange bees, which always 
are the most dangerous. 

If you happen to go near bees, and one comes at you, do not fight, run, 
nor scream. Walk away gently, and aim to get behind a bush, tree, fence, 
or buildinjr. 



164 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

Place your hive in the place where it is to stand, as soon as possible after 
the swarm is in ; because the workers commence comb-building immediately, 
and moving disturbs them, and if only a day or two at work, moving may 
break down the comb. 

218. What a Snarm Consists ofi — A swarm of bees in working order con- 
sists of one queen, two or three hundred drones, and from ten to fifty 
thousand workers. The queen would more properly be called a mother, as 
she is so, in fact, of all the colony. The drones are the males ; they never 
work nor fight — they are stingless. The workers are impei'fectly developed 
females. According to T. B. Miner, author of a bee manual, the swarm in 
the spring consists of the queen and about two or three thousand workers, 
and these increase as soon as food can be provided in spring, enough to make 
a new swarm, which goes off, led by the old queen, while a new one is pro- 
vided for the old colony, which also goes off sometimes, with another swarm ; 
and occasionally a third one is sent oif, and finally, the swarm remaining con- 
sists of about 20,000 bees, and all but two or three thousand die off before 
spring ; the life of a bee being calculated at only about nine months. 

A queen-bee is so distinguished from other bees by her shape, size, and 
color, that when you have once learned how, you can always distinguish 
her. So you can by the noise she makes. A queen is larger than a worker, 
but not as large around as a drone, though longer ; and the rings of her 
abdomen are less fully developed, and consequently not so plainly distin- 
guishable. In short, a queen is more wasp-like in her form than a drone ; 
and is of a darker color, particularly upon the back part of the abdomen ; 
while on its under side it is of a yellowish hue. The wings of the queen, in 
proportion to her body, as compared to either of the others, are wider, 
stouter, and shorter. She is seldom on the wing ; only at swarming time, 
and when she cohabits with the males. It is supposed that she is always 
impregnated during her flight, and that impregnation in the fall, before the 
drones are destroyed, serves for the eggs she will lay in the spring. Those 
who have made observations upon them, declare that a queen-bee is capable 
of laying hundreds, perhaps thousands, of eggs a day. 

Drones are idle fellows ; their only service being attendance upon the 
queen. Their life is a very short one ; generally from April to August ; say 
four months. ^None are allowed to live over -winter. You must not mis- 
take the slaughter of the drones for war with other bees, which sometimes 
occurs. 

The workers are always busy whenever it is possible for them to carry on 
their labors. Tliey often begin the very hour they enter a new hive to 
build comb, and the second day the honey and pollen gatherers begin to 
bring in their stores. To work to advantage they must have a good house. 
Sometimes when a swarm goes into a hollow tree, the labor is immense, to 
clear out and fit the room for use. So it is when put into a mean, dirty hive. 
It requires a great deal of labor sometimes for the bees to stop up the cracks 
of an old hive with bee-glue — a substance gathered in the forest, and not 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF nONEY. 165 

made by the bees. It is harder and stifl'er when dry than wax, and entirely 
unlike it. 

219. Weight of a Swarnit — It is estimated that a full swarm of bees should 
weigli 11 to 12 lbs. Hence all excess over that is honey and comb, so that 
the quantity can be ascertained by weighing the hive, if the weight of that 
is known, as it always should be, and marked upon it when new. 

Hives should always be constructed with some conveniences for weighing, 
such as a staple in the top, if that is a fi.xed one, or one in each side, and 
then have a movable bail to hook in, to attach to the hook of the weighing 
balance. 

220. Bee-Paslure and Bee-Feeding. — It has been a question for a long time, 
whether a country could be overstocked with bees so that their pasturage 
would be short. In a conversation with Mr. Quinby, one of the greatest 
apiarists in the country, we learned his opinion was that it was next to 
impossible to overstock any section with bees. We find from the " Bee 
Journal," published in Germany, that the same opinion prevails there. Mr. 
Dzierzon, president of a convention of apiarisfs at Munich, says : 

" I have numerous accounts of apiaries, in close proximity, of from 200 to 
300 hives each. Ehrenfels had 1,000 in three separate establishments, but 
so close that he could visit all in half an hour's ride. In Russia and Hun- 
gary, apiaries numbering from 2,000 to 5,000 are not unfrequent ; and we 
know that as many as 4,000 colonies are often congregated together on the 
heaths of Germany. Hence I think that we need not fear that an}' district 
of this country, so distinguished for abundant natural vegetation and divers- 
ified culture, will very speedily become ovei'stocked, particularly after the 
importance of having stocks populous early in the spring comes to be under- 
stood and appreciated. Mr. Kaden, one of the oldest contributors to the 
' Bee Journal,' says that a district of country can not be overstocked with 
bees, and that however numerous the colonies, all can procure sufiicient sus- 
tenance, if the surrounding country contain honey-yielding plants in the 
usual degree ; where utter barrenness prevails, the case is dififerent, of course, 
as well as rare. 

" According to statistical tables, there are 600,000 colonies in the province 
of Lunenburg, or 141 to the square mile. The number of square miles in 
this country stocked even to this extent are, I suspect, 'few and far be- 
tween.' 

" A German writer alleges that the bees of Lunenburg pay all their taxes, 
and leave a surplus besides. The importance attached to bee-culture accounts 
in part for the fact, that the people of this district (so barren that it has been 
called the ' Arabia of Germany') are almost without an exception in easy 
circumstances. 

" In the province of Attica, Greece, containing 45 square miles, 20,000 
colonies are kept, or one colony to each inhabitant, producing annually 30 
lbs. of honey and two of wax each. East Friesland (Holland), containing 
1,200 square miles, has an average of 2,000 colonies to the square mile. In 



166 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



1857, the yield of honey and wax, in the Empire of Austria, was estimated 
to be worth over seven millions of dollars ! !" 

Could not still more favorable results be obtained in this country, under 
a rational system of management availing itself of the aid of science, art, and 
skill ? The island of Corsica produces about 800 lbs. of honey to the square 
mile, per annum. 

There is no probability that any section of this country will reach such a 
state of productiveness in this generation. Yet we hope all who read these 
extracts Avill think M'hat an immense loss is sustained annually by our neg- 
lect to employ harvesters to gather the great crop of sweets that might be 
saved if our bee population were large enough to gather it all. 

Upon the subject of bee-pasturage, and those plants from which bees draw 
their stores of honey, we find some useful hints in Harbison's work on Bees 
and Bee-keeping. He saj's : 

'• The best kinds of early pasturage are the alders, hazel, and willows, some 
of which yield honey and others pollen ; most species of tlowers yield both. 
My observations lead me to believe that the male ilower yields pollen, and 
the female honey ; I have frequently seen bees gathering both honey and 
pollen from the same kind of flowers at the same time. It can be tested by 
examining both the honey-sack and the baskets on the thigh. These trees 
are the first to aflord the bees provision in the spring ; where these abound, 
the bees advance earlier than elsewhere. The soft maple {acer rubrum) 
yields a considerable quantity of honey very early, if the weather is fine; 
the golden or yellow willow also yields supplies quite early ; peach, cherry, 
and pear trees put forth early ; gooseberries, currants, strawberries, etc., all 
afford rich supplies. To close this list of early flowers, the dandelion and 
apple come forth in rich profusion, all of which are of the utmost importance 
for the prosperity of the bees during the season. If this early pastui-age 
fails, or if the weather should be so unfavorable as to prevent the bees from 
gathering a supply of provisions, they will fail to rear a suflicient quantity 
of brood to swarm early or to harvest the clover honey to advantage. 

" It is but seldom, if ever, that a suflicient quantity of honey is gathered 
from these early flowers to cause the bees to store it in surplus boxes, yet 
enoxigh is frequently obtained to fill up a large portion of the combs from 
which the honey has been consumed during the winter, and serves to supply 
their immediate wants until clover blooms. 

" The next pasturage comes from turnips, cabbage, and the hard maple 
{acer saccharinum), which yield a considerable quantity of honey, but later 
than the soft maple. Turnips produce a very copious supply of both honey 
and pollen, and if left standing in the ground over winter, they bloom just 
at a time to fill the interval between the fruit-tree flowers and the clover. 
This is also the case with the cabbage family, all of which yield large quan- 
tities of honey. A field of either turnips or cabbage at this early season is 
of greater value to the bees than the same quantity of either clover or buck- 
wheat. 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 



1G7 



" I would here impress upon the minds of all bee-keepers the importance 
of cultivating a field in turnips each year. In the fall gather in all the large, 
fine ones, either for marketing or for feeding sheep and cattle during the 
winter, for which they are very valuable, and will well repay the expense of 
raising them ; enough small ones will be left standing in the ground over 
winter to make a rich field of pasturage for the bees in the spring, leaving 
the ground in fine condition for a crop of buckwheat, or to sow down in wheat 
in autumn, or to again put down in turnips. 

" Tlie various kinds of blackberries, and the wild or bird cherry {co^asus 
scrotina), yield honey, and serve to supply to some extent the interval above 
referred to. "VVe have also a species of kale, or wild turnip, which if sowed 
very early in the spring will commence to bloom toward the latter part of 
May, and is very valuable. 

" Kaspberries of all kinds yield an immense amount of honey, and con- 
tinue blooming, giving a succession of fresh flowers, for about three weeks. ■, 
But few if any flowers produce such quantities of honey as the raspberry, in 
proportion to the number of flowers. 

" Catnip, mother-wort, hoarhound, honey-suckles, and various other kinds 
of flowers, put forth about the same time ; each would be of great value, if 
in suflicient quantities. 

" Then come other early summer flowers. At the head of this list pre-em- 
inently stands white clover {trifolium rej}ens), which is found along the road- 
sides, in meadows, grain-fields, gardens, pasture-fields, in fact, it may be seen 
everywhere. The seeds, which are very abundant and very small, are 
driven in every direction by the winds ; this has been overlooked by previous 
writers. The heads, which contain the seed, are quite small and very light ; 
the stalks stand erect until winter sets in and the ground is frozen, by which 
time the stalk of it has become brittle, and every wind breaks off and rolls 
along the ground a portion of these little seed-pods, until they meet some 
obstruction ; here they will germinate. Thus they are scattered in every 
direction. I have frequently seen them driven furiously on the crust of a 
shallow snow, through which the heads would project. The value of this 
clover is entirely underrated as a pasture for cattle or horses, as well as bees ; 
it is always selected by stock in preference to the red clover. The honey 
gathered from it is of the highest excellence, both jn beauty and flavor ; and 
I believe in good seasons, all the bees, in any neighborhood where it 
abounds, could not gather the fourth part, so great is the quantity produced. 
"The tulip-tree {liriodcndron), or poplar, as it is called by some, by others 
white wood, is a great producer of honey. Nothing of the tree kind that I 
have ever seen exceeds it ; the flowers expand in succession, are of a bell- 
like shape, mouth upward. In dry, warm weather I have seen a teaspoonful 
of pure honey or saccharine matter in a single cup or flower. Bees work 
upon it with the same vigor they manifest when carrying honey from some 
other hive, or when it is fed to them. 

"The yellow and black locust trees yield large quantities of honey. 



168 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



" The linden, or bass-wood {tilia Americana), produces honey to a large 
amount. All of these varieties of trees should be extensively cultivated, 
both as shade and ornamental trees, as well as for their timber and the vast 
quantities of honey they yield. Sumach also produces honey bountifully ; 
the difficulty, however, is, that there are but few places where these are 
found in sufficient quantities to be of importance. I trust they will be 
extensively cultivated. 

" The common black mustard is one of the most valuable plants to culti- 
vate as a pasture for bees ; it is easily raised, by simply sowing it on ground 
when well plowed and pulverized by harrowing smooth, and then brushing 
it in with a light brush or very light harrow. It should be sown early in 
the spring, on good ground. 

" Those interested in bee-keeping should give the cultivation of mustard 
some attention. As a bee-pasture it has few superiors, yielding both pollen 
'and honey in great abundance ; it begins to open its flowers when quite 
young and continues as the bush expands, until it becomes very large ; each 
day brings forth new blossoms. A field of mustard in full bloom is a most 
magnificent sight ; it is like a vast pile of golden flowers ; tlie plants are 
completely enveloped with flowers, from the ground up as high as a man's 
head. There is no other plant that I ever noticed that produces so many 
flowers to any given quantity of ground, nor yields so much honey. 

" In almost any of the Atlantic States it serves to fill the interval that occurs 
between the closing of the white clover and the opening of the buckwheat 
flowers, a period of about four weeks, which is the very best part of the year 
for gathering honey, as the weather is generally warm and calm ; hence the 
propriety of raising this crop to employ the bees profitably. 

" The honey produced from it resembles that yielded from the linden, both 
in color and taste. 

" Mignonette, a modest, unpresuming little flower, found in all well- 
assorted collections, is one of the greatest value as a bee-pasture, if grown in 
sufficient quantities to be an object. It is low growing and spreading in its 
habits, similar to white clover, and yields both honey and pollen ; it will 
bloom continually, from the middle of June until killed by frosts in the fall. 
It is easily raised in large quantities if the ground is clear of weed seed, 
plowed, and well pulverized by harrowing before sowing. Sow thinly and 
brush it in with a light brush ; all that is required after this is to pull out 
any large-growing weeds that may chance to make their appearance before 
the mignonette spreads over the ground ; where it takes possession of the 
grouud, it needs no further care. A bed of these flowers will perfume the air 
for quite a distance around, so rich is it. Bees will work on it from daylight 
until dark ; two or three may be seen at once on a single head or flower. 

"The cej>halanthus Canadensis, or butter-bush, which grows in swamps, 
and low, wet, marshy grounds in almost every part of the United States, 
preserving the same appearance wherever found, produces honey of the 
highest excellence. The honey gathered from this shrub is of a very light 



Seo. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 169 

straw color, of a thick, heavy body, and very excellent flavor. Bees thrive 
and store honey very rapidly when they have access to large quantities of 
these flowers. The time of blooming varies with different localities, but it 
generally begins to put forth flowers about the first of July, and continues 
for three or four weeks. 

" In all places where buckwheat is raised, it becomes an important acces- 
sion to bee-pasturage. A field of buckwheat yields an incredible quantity 
of honey, which perfumes the air for a considerable distance around. When 
the weather is favorable, the bees store honey from it very rapidly, faster at 
times than they can build combs to receive it. I have seen them fill pieces 
of old combs laid close to the entrance of the hive, with honey, and have 
known colonies to fill four boxes of honey, or about 50 lbs., during the con- 
tinuance of buckwheat. This is by no means an uncommon occurrence, and 
goes to show that this honey harvest is one of great importance to the bee- 
keeper. Buckwheat may be sown about a month earlier than usual, to fur- 
nish pasturage to come in about the close of clover, to great advantage." 

In relation to artificial feeding there are many opinions. There is prob- 
ably no better food for bees than brown sugar, moistened with honey, such 
as can be bought at a low price by the barrel or gallon in any town. Add 
just enough honey to the sugar to make it into a dough by kneading. Put 
this feed in a shallow tray, with a few straws on top, and let the bees take 
their own way and time with it. It is well to give a little salt to bees, if 
they can not get it conveniently. The best way is to jjlace a lump of rock- 
salt near the hives, and there let it remain year after year. 

A practical bee-keeper says : " If the season has been unpropitions, the 
hives should be carefully looked after. If any contain less than 20 lbs. of 
honey, the swarm will need to be fed either with honey alone or mixed with 
sugar diluted to the consistence of honey, poured on to pieces of empty 
comb, and placed in the hive in such a manner that bees from other hives 
will not find it. Perhaps the best method is to introduce the feed into the 
boxes directly over the bees ; but should it be a common box hive, it may 
be placed on the top of the hive, where there is a communication through 
the top, and placing a cap over the whole ; and then gently rapping on the 
top of the hive, the bees will press up through and find the feed. The feed- 
ing should be done during warm weather." 

221. New Food for BcfS.— The fact has been discovered in France, that 
bees will feed upon the oil-cake (soaked in water) that is made in the manu- 
facture of oil from the Sesamum Orientale, known here as the bene plant, so 
that they can be much easier wintered ; and it is said the increase of stocks 
is wonderful in comparison with those not thus fed. 

The Flore des Serves, from which we borrow this, assures us that the results 
have been astonishing, not only in a large increase of honey-comb, but in 
enabling the bees to multiply beyond all belief; nearly ten times the quantity 
being bred in consequence of the facility afi"orded of obtaining abundant 
and, as it would seem, excellent nourishment from this unexpected source. 



170 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



The experiment could be tried in this country by apiarians planting the 
bene seed, and bruising and soaking the seed of the crop, and feeding it to 
the Bwarms after the natural food fails. 

One of the greatest troubles in bee-keeping appears to be the want of suit- 
able food early in the spring to enable the swarm to prepare for a new col- 
ony that may go out early enough in the season to lay up, not only their 
own stores for winter, but a surplus for their owner. Many swarms that 
have an abundance of honey for their own use and to spare in the spring, 
are inactive for weeks after the spring has become warm enough for them to 
work, because they have nothing to work upon. The first business is not to 
gather honey, but pollen, to make bread for the young bees. So, although 
the weather is warm enough, and the bees lively enough, until the buds 
afi'ord pollen, they have nothing to work upon to enable them to be in season 
with the new brood, to produce early swarms. This is a serious drawback 
in late seasons, and in situations where pollen-producing plants are not 
plenty. 

Mr. E. T. Sturtevant, of Cleveland, Ohio, claims that he has discovered a 
remedy for this difficulty, and that he can bring forward his bees some two 
mouths earlier, and get good swarms the first of May. His plan is to feed 
his bees with unbolted rye-meal, strewn upon boards convenient to the hive, 
the bees pitching into it at once and working diligently, and in such an earn- 
est way as fairly to scramble over one another. It is a liint worthy the 
attention of all bee-keepers. 

A few years ago, a beekeeper in "Wurtemberg discovered that bees ex- 
tracted food from carrots which had been rasped and cooked for stock, and 
thereupon he boiled some to a jelly and placed it near the hives, at a time 
when the fields afi"orded no food, and he found that they worked upon it as 
though the saccharum it contained was particularly agreeable. 

We suggest an experiment with carrots cooked in this way, by bee-keepers 
in this country. We would also try parsneps ; and, where they are grown 
abundantly, sweet potatoes. And since we know that bees are so fond of 
sweet apples in summer, why not keep them to feed swarms when needing 
artificial feeding in winter. It may add as much to the health of bees to 
feed green food, as it does to health of other farm-stock. Let the experiment 
be tried. 

222. Ventilation of HiveSi — A great deal has been said about the necessity, 
on account of ventilation, of making hives open at the bottom. In rejily to 
this, let men think that bees in a wild state prosper well in the hollow of a 
tree where there is but one small hole for entrance of the bees or ventilation, 
and that open-end hives, standing on a bench, are often cemented fast to it, 
and sometimes holes left, for ventilation, are sealed up as closely as though 
air was poison to the inmates of the hive. 

If you wish to ventilate, bore a two-inch hole into the upper part of the 
large box, and cover it on the inside of the box and on the outside of the case 
with wire gauze, fine enough to keep out ants and other insects, for a venti- 



Sko. 10.] BEES, AXD THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 171 

lator. Bore incli holes tlirougli into both of the upper boxes, and cover in 
the same way. 

Mr. Quinby says that lie regards proper ventilation as very important, 
and yet proper ventilation is very imperfectly understood. lie also says : 
" Any way to get rid of the moisture." The presumption is, that he would 
not freeze the bees at the outset as one of the ways, for that would surely 
prevent moisture ; and if the modus operandi of some who give directions 
how to ventilate should be put in practice in very cold situations, the bees 
are just as surely frozen. 

Moisture accumulating on the inside walls of the hive has caused the de- 
struction of more strong colonies of bees than any one other casualty, except 
the fatal way of some bee-keepers to get rid of the moisture by opening wide 
the apertures in the top and also in the bottom of the hive, and thus causing 
a current of external, air to pass up through the interior — precisely the 
method to cool a hive in hot weather — and also thus rendering the bees more 
exposed and liable to be frozen than they would be situated on the exterior 
of the hive. Proper ventilation is simply to give free vent for the air at the 
top of tlie hive, and not admitting any or but very little air through the 
bottom. Under all circumstances it is requisite to regulate the openings in 
the bottom with those in the top, which amounts to about the same thing 
without the drawbacks of inverting the hive. 

There is a new form of bee-hives, used by J. L. Scribner, of Montpelier, 
Vt., a successful producer of honey, so much so that he carries off all prizes 
at the county fair. 

This hive, being made of straw, serves admirably for ventilation. It is 
made of a frame of square sticks, say one inch diameter, and in capacity 12 by 
13 inches, and 13 inches in hight, with a flat board roof projecting two inches 
each way. The frame is nailed together ; the lower girts are placed \ inch 
above the bottom of the posts. The frame is covered with straw sewed 
togetlier, just as it is in straw hives, with a hoop at the bottom, made of 
strips of boards one inch thick and two inches wide nailed together. In this 
hoop a notch 2i inches long, \ inch deep, is cut for the bees. Plane all the 
wood, and use none but clean rye straw. On the roof, over suitable holes, 
the boxes for storing honey are placed. It is thus described by Mr. Scribner: 

"The advantages of this hive over all others that I have used are very 
material in my view. It is generally conceded that straw hives are the best 
to winter bees in ; not altogether because they are so much warmer, but 
because they will ' l;eep dry^ and the frost does not accumulate as in board 
hives. Every experienced apiarian knows that in wooden hives there is a 
continual dampness, arising in part from the breath and effluvia of the bees. 
Not so in straw hives. Straw being of a dry and absorbing nature, the 
moisture is taken up. Now, I have learned that straw hives are as much 
better in summer as in winter, especially in the season of breeding, when we 
are subject to frequent and sudden changes of the weather, such as damp, 
chilly nights and hot days. The temperature of a straw hive is more even ; 



172 SMALL ANIMALS AKD INSECTS. [Chap. II 

it does not heat excessively in hot weather nor cool suddenly, as do board 
hives. The natural wanntli of tlie bees is ro'ained, wliich is particularly 
conducive to their health and prosperity. Hence there should be 710 unnec- 
essari/ ventilation by leaving an ' open space,' as has been reconmicnded by 
some, ' all around the bottom of the hive.' Especially in damp, chilly 
weather, bees will breed faster and gather more honey in straw hives than 
in board hives, according to my experience. One reason for their gathering 
more honey, probably, is because the young brood comes to maturity faster, 
consequently there are more ' laborers in tiie field' in the early hone}' sea- 
son. This hive combines all tlie 7'eal advantages of every patent hive that 
has come to my knowledge, while it obviates all the objections and I'etains all 
the good qualities of ' the old-fashioned straw hives.' 

" The less a farmer bothers himself with patent hives and bee-palaces, and 
the less he tries to counteract nature, the better he will be off. I am heartily 
sick of 'patent bee-hive?,' and it is time to abandon them." 

223. Taking Honey, and How to Keep the Bees from Stingingi — When bees 
are alarmed for the safety of their stores, the^' immediately rush to the cells 
and fill their sacks with honey, apparently to provide against any contingency 
that might arise. "When in this condition, they are perfectly harmless, never 
volunteer an attack ; consequently, to tame bees, or render them docile and 
easily driven or handled, simply take advantage of this peculiar instinct. To 
confine them closely to their hive, rap repeatedly on its sides for a few min- 
utes ; this alarms them, and they will gorge themselves with honey, when 
they can be handled and controlled at pleasure. But we have adopted the 
following plan, which we find best adapted to our use, and recommend it to 
others, with the assurance that it will give satisfaction : Take clean cotton or 
linen rags, such as are used in the manufacture of paper ; make a nice roll of 
these, about an inch in diameter, and from six to twelve inches long; wrap 
this pretty tight, either with narrow strips or shreds torn from cloth, or, Avhat 
is more convenient, use MTapping yarn of some kind ; prepare a number of 
such rolls, and keep on hand in some box, or any dry place, near the apiary, 
together with some matches. When you wish to open a hive or perform any 
operation, set fire to one end of a roll of rags ; it makes quite a smoke, with- 
out any blaze. Upon opening the hive, blow the smoke vigorously among 
the bees for a minute or two, which terrifies them, witliout doing any perma- 
nent injury; they immediately rush to the cells and fill their sacks M'ith 
hone}', when you can proceed to lift out one comb after another, and perform 
any operation with perfect impunity, without any fear of being stung, unless 
by those from other hives near at hand. Should there be some, however, 
that would show signs of battle, blow a little more smoke upon them, and 
repeat it from time to time until the close of the operation. Toward the 
close of the honey season, when they are rich and increased in stores, they 
are harder to control than at any other season of the year ; when this occurs, 
put a small portion of tobacco or a few grains of sulphur in your roll of 
rags; this renders the smoke more pungent, and will easily subdue the 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY 173 



bees. Dried puff-ball makes a smoke that subdues bees witliout injury to 
them. 

224. Bee iMoths,aiH! How to Protect Bees from Them. — Numerous patents have 
been taken out to sell bee-keepers, to keep tiie motiis out of the hives. All of 
these contrivances fail in their object, or else have objections to them whicli 
have prevented their general introduction. One now before us consists of a 
set of swinging doors, just such as we have often seen at cat-holes, hung at 
the top so as to fall into place as soon as pussy gets through. For the bees, 
a small tin, about the size of a dime, is hung in the entrance hole, which the 
bee can push open, but the moth can not — that is, so says the patentee. 

"Where open-end hives stand upon a bench, we have seen moths prevented 
from injuring the swarm by raising the hive, during the moth season, about 
half an inch from the bench. The theory of this plan is, that the moth in- 
serts her eggs between the bottom of the hive and bench, where they hatch, 
and the bees can not get at the worms ; but if it is raised up, there is no op- 
portunity for the moth to deposit her eggs where they will be safe. 

A cheap, good moth-trap is made in the following manner: Take a piece 
of thin pine board, or a shingle, a few inches square, and with your pocket- 
knife cut three-cornered grooves on one side, and lay it, grooved side down, 
on the bench under the hive. The moths will find a secure place from the 
bees, and deposit their eggs, which you ^\ill find, or the worms, and destroy, 
by looking at your traps every few days. 

Mr. Quinby recommends the following mixture as a moth-trap : Sugar or 
molasses and a little vinegar and water, making the "contrast" agreeable — 
the sweet and the sour. Put this in shallow dishes, saucers, or tin baking 
dishes, and set them among the bees at evening. Next morning, moths of 
all kinds will be found in the liipiid, and may then be strained out and de- 
stroyed, and the mixture used the following evening. 

225. Introduction of Bees into f alifornia.— The honey-bee is not a native of 
California. The credit of introducing them is due to a man by the name of 
Shelton, who, after doing much for the interest of agricultural improvements 
in that State, lost his life, while still a very young man, by the explosion of 
a steamboat boiler on the Sacramento Eiver. He imported, in March, 1853, 
the first bees into California. lie left New York with twelve stands, or 
hives, and arrived with but one ; from this one about one hundred and fifty 
swarms were credited in 1858, and, of course, have largely multiplied since 
that time. Tliere have also been very large exportations made by steamer 
from New York. The Messrs. Harbison, of Pennsylvania, have been very 
successful in shipping and selling swarms, and have also established an ox- 
tensive apiary at Sacramento. The common price of some of the first stocks 
sent to or produced in California has been fifty to one hundred dollars a hive. 
The Harbisons made their first shipment, we believe, in 1858-9. 

It has been thought singular that our people found no bees in California, 
when they were so abundant in Mexico and Central America. Since the 
introduction of bees from New York, a California paper states that several 



174: SMALL AXIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

atteiniDts to import bees from Mexico have failed. Captain Macondray had 
one or more Mexican swarms, but they soon dwindled away. lu 1859, Mrs. 
Sutter, daughter-in-law to General Sutter, had forty-four hives packed on the 
backs of Indians to Acapulco, and brought on tlie steamer to San Francisco; 
two or three weeks after their arrival, there remained but two liives contain- 
ing bees ; they were taken to San Jose, but in a short time tliey also died. 

It also says, and so does every one we have conversed with on the subject, 
that California is admirably adapted to the lioney-bee, as the experience of five 
years fully demonstrates. In San Jose Valley, Sacramento Valley, Shasta, 
Bidwell's, Stockton, Columbia, and Napa they multiply rapidly and store 
abundance of honey. The willow affords the first material for pollen. The 
bees commence gathering it by the 1st of January ; about the 15th of Janu- 
ary it is in bloom, and affords considerable honey, tliough slightly bitter. 
Tlie bees gather pollen and lioney from the willow till March. The wild 
mustard aflbrds an inexhaustible supply of lioney from the 1st of April to 
the middle of June. Later in the season, honey is obtained from buckwheat 
and honey-dew. 

Honey made from mustard blossom, from which most of the lioney is 
gathered in San Jose Valley, is excellent, and has sold in San Francisco at 
from $1 25 to $1 50 per pound. New swarms issue as carl}- as the 15th of 
April, and the swarming season continues to the 16tli of June. 

226. Stingless Bees. — There is a good deal said of late about going to Brazil 
after " stingless bees." What is the utility ? We have a better sort here, 
and their stings are in no manner objectionable. In fact, they are advan- 
tageous to the apiarian. They guard the store from thieves of all sorts, and 
they are much better honey-makers than the South American variety, which 
has no sting, all of which are of a much smaller size than our common 
honey-bee, and some of them make honey that is sour, and others give it a 
bitter flavor. This may be owing to the flowers it is extracted from, as we 
have known bees here to make uneatable honey. 

Wells, in his explorations of Honduras, gives the names of fourteen varie- 
ties of honey-bees. Honey is very abundant and low priced. He was 
cliarged but ten cents a quart for it. He says: "The bees are diminutive, 
and mostly stingless. Swarms of them may be seen every day, Avhen travel- 
ing in the open country, hovering around some decayed tree, and but little 
trouble is necessary to bear the Avhole establishment to the nearest hacienda. 
One of the proprietors said he had sold enough, since owning the estate, to 
buy all the drilling, mantos, and articles of that description, required at the 
hacienda." 

The most curious thing about most of these bees is that they do not store 
honey like our bees, in combs of hexagonal cells, but in little sacs, two inches 
long, arranged in rows along the sides of the hive. The cells for the young 
are placed in the center. 

227. Italian Bees. — During the year 1860, a good deal has been said about 
the advantage to be derived from the introduction of Italian bees into the 



Sec. 10.] BEES, A^"D THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 175 



United States, and importations have been made for that purpose. The plan 
is to breed queens, ■which, after being impregnated, are introduced into com- 
mon hives, after removing the old queen. 

A writer in the Couninj Gcnthnnmi newspaper gives the following as the 
history of the introduction of Italian bees into this country. He says: 

" Mr. P. J. Mahan, of Philadelphia, is mentioned ' as being the first to 
land this new variety on our shores.' As a matter of history, I would state 
that this is not so. For several years past the attempt has been made yearly 
by Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, Samuel Wagoner, of York, Pa., and 
Kev. L. L. Langstroth. These attempts were unsuccessful, owing to bad 
packing and mismanagement in transportation, nntil the autumn of 1S59, 
when Mr. Colvin received some Italian stocks, and hoped to have queens 
from them for sale the past season, but these stocks, unfortunately, did not 
survive the winter. Next in order of date is Mr. Mahan's itnportation from 
Germany, which was successful on account of his personal supervision. 
Shortly after Mr. Mahan's importation, Mr. S. B. Parsons, of Flushing, Long 
Island, succeeded in getting a few swarms alive from Italy. From them ho 
lias succeeded, aided bj' several skillful apiarians, in raising a large number 
of queens, which have been sent to nearly every State in tlie Union, includ- 
ing California, under the supervision of Mr. Bigelow, a successful apiarian. 

"The last successful importation was by Messrs. Colvin and Wagoner. 
All the above named are exerting themselves to multiply their stocks of 
Italian bees, and they will doubtless have a demand for all tlie queens and 
stocks they can sujiply next season, as the interest in this new bee is deserv- 
edly increasing. The question will naturally arise. Of whom shall I pur- 
chase ? Are these importations equally reliable, and if so, have all taken 
the same pains and been equally successful in keeping the breed pure ? I 
would hei'e remark that some situations are more favorable for maintaining 
purity than others. The Italian bees now in this country are from three 
different sources, and every one should decide for himself to which stock he 
should give the preference, and if the most reliable man and the most reli- 
able bee can be found working together. 

"Two of the importations are from Germany, and one from Italy. Of tlio 
importation from Italy there can be no reason to question its purity. The 
two importations from Germany are from different breeders. One of the 
imj^ortations from Germany I have the fullest confidence in from personal 
inspection ; and if the other be equally good, we are in a fair position to 
have the country well supplied with pure stock in a few years, provided 
sufiicient interest is taken to maintain purity." 

228. Reasons for Keeping Beesi — In this section we have only aimed to say 
just enough to encourage every reader to keep bees, who has anything like 
fair facilities for them to obtain a supply of honey from gardens and fields, 
which they will do if within a mile, and some bee-keepers say if within two 
miles. But it is not profitable to allow bees to go so far, when the bee-keeper 
■ lias land upon which he can grow bee-food just as well as he can grow food 



176 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. IL 



for any other faiin-stock. The fact that bees obtain a great deal of food 
from fruit-trees shoukl encourage farmers to cultivate both together. And 
if he plants along the roadside long rows of willows, maples, lindens, pop- 
lars, he will not only have the advantage of them for shade and ornament, 
but his bees, if he has them — and if not, let him be encouraged to get them — 
will find a great field np in the branches, that they can use as pasture. 

The strongest reason that can be given for keeping bees is this simple fact: 
They afford more clear profit than any other stock ever kept on the farm, 
and, generally speaking, the more labor is bestowed upon them in providing 
good hives and pasture, the better they pay. 



SECTION XL-BIRDS. 

eason and Religion in Preserving Birds. — "We don't 
know how much we have written, said, and sung 
to induce farmers not to destroy the birds, nor 
allow them to be destroyed, because we look upon 
them as part and jiarcel of the farm-stock, and of 
more importance to the farmer than some animals lie 
keeps, at mucli more expense than his stock of birds. 
We say his stock, because we consider the birds on the 
trees just as much the property of him who owns the 
trees as the trees themselves ; and he who would steal 
one would steal the other. A man who would come upon 
my farm and shoot my birds, without my permission, is 
not one of the noblest works of God. No man who takes 
reason for a guide, who owns a farm in any of the old 
States, can consent to have his birds destroyed. He certainly will not de- 
stroy them himself, after he has taken time to think npon tlie subject. It is 
our object to induce him to think, and the best place to do so is to go out 
among them in a bright spring morning, and hear their music. 

Go out among the trees in the orchard or through the grove, or look into 
the hedge-rows or peep nnder the old bridge down the lane, or go to the 
barn ; go anywhere, everywhere, where you will, and at this season — that is, 
lovely May season — you will find the birds — busy, merry, singing birds; 
hard at work they are, too, building their houses — cradles, rather — and all the 
time keeping up a concert of sweet music. Various too are their tastes in 
selecting their sites for their nesting-places, some liiding away from man, 
some coming np to his very door, or, like the martin and swallow, under his 
roof and protection. Rob in-red-breast almost invariably comes into the 
orchard, sometimes on the trees, sometimes on the fence, sometimes, where 
kindly treated, under the shed by the barn or house. 




Sko. 11.] BIRDS. 177 

The woodpecker— the same one that was tapping " the hollow beech-tree" 
— makes holes in the old apple-trees, into which for years afterward the 
pretty bluebird creeps and rears its annual brood. 

The blackbird, the most numerous of the family of small birds, mostly 
nests in the swamp ; except one variety, imitating the crow, that goes into 
the highest trees, such as the spruce, with a dark, thick top, where boys nor 
Email shot can not come. 

In the meadow Ave find the sly nest of the quail and lark and several 
small birds ; and in the thickest bushes, the home of the brown thrush. He 
is a natural musician, a sweet bird full of glee and cheerfulness ; but the 
merriest and most amusing of the whole family is the noisy little bobolink. 

We look upon birds as among the essentials of a landscape, and would as 
soon think of chopping down the orchard, shooting the turkeys, and wring- 
ing the necks ofl" of the barn-yard fowls, or making mutton of the sheep or 
giving the lambs to the dogs, as to think of destroying the birds or driving 
them trom the premises. 

" Going a gunning," with the murderous intent to kill such birds, ought to 
consign a man to the infamy that we are apt to attacb to a savage or a brute 
who wantonly kills the finest of God's creation. 

Without birds, a country is desolate ; M^ith them, it is always cheerful. 
Their songs would enliven the heart of a stone, or make a miser for the 
moment forget his money. 

The association of children with birds, when taught to love them and not 
destroy their nests, has as direct and certain a tendency to improve their 
natures as the church or family fireside. Teach a child that birds are among 
the good gifts of God to man, and it is hardly possible that the child will 
gi'ow up to manhood without being possessed of some of the attributes of the 
sweet songsters of the grove. 

And yet there are parents who allow their children to wage incessant war 
upon the birds, never thinking of the injury they are doing their young 
minds, or how many destructive enemies they are entailing upon the crops in 
the shape of countless caterpillars, grubs, and worms. 

"We do not know of a higher Christian duty for a minister to engage in 
than an effort to preserve the birds in his parish. 

We would impress upon the mind of every child that the command, " thou 
shalt not kill," meant these dear little birds as well as things of a higher 
degree. Thou shalt not wantonly kill a single thing of all creation that is 
not necessary for man's sustenance, or that is not detrimental to his interest. 

Children should be taught not only to love the music of birds, but to look 
upon them as models of Ijeauty and affection to their mates and to their 
yoimg. Instead of driving them away from the house, encourage them to 
come and perch upon the window-sill and build their nests under the eaves. 

Do not tell us they destroy the small fruit. Plant enough for birds and 
men. If they do eat fruit, they also eat worms, and you can well afford to 
give them a low cherries and currants for what they have done for you. 



178 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Around tlie city there is a difficulty in j^reserving tlie birds, because all 
the groves are infested with an abominable nuisance in the shape of big boys 
and prowling loafers " out for a day's shooting." 

They ought to be out for a day's shooting, and that should be at their own 
idle carcasses, with fine salt and pepper-corns, and every owner of land 
should be allowed by law thus to salt and pepper any of these idle vagabonds 
who come upon his grounds without leave to doom the birds to destruction. 

Farmers ! let your motto be — and impress it upon all your family — Never 
kill a bird ! 

In the early settlement of this country, there was such an abundance of 
birds that the people who were striving to raise grain enough for tlie support 
of their families, looked upon them as their enemies, because they were nat- 
urally disposed to come in for a share of tlie crop, and some of them, such 
as the crow and the large blackbird, sometimes depredated upon the seed, 
by which the crop was eflectually cut off. 

So a war of extermination was declared without discrimination against all 
birds, and it M'as carried to such a bitter end that the children of the first 
settlers grew up with a fixed opinion that they were doing a Christian duty 
whenever an opportunity oftercd, in destroying birds and birds' nests, and 
they entailed the same disposition upon their children and their children's 
children ; and so the poor birds have been almost exterminated from the face 
of the earth with scarcely a thought why or wherefore, except that they were 
birds, and birds must be destroyed — " father says so." Upon that ipso dixit 
some of the best friends of the farmer, instead of liis Avorst enemies, have 
been almost annihilated, while others have come to regard him as a being 
to be so avoided that they make their abodes in deep forests, and hide their 
nests and young from man as carefully as man would hide his young from 
a tiger. 

Experience teacheth wisdom ; and after two hundred years of teaching, 
the American farmer is just beginning to learn that birds are his best friends. 
He shot them upon his plum and cherry trees because they took a share of 
the fruit, and then came the insects that the birds used to prey upon, and the 
days of plum-growing were over. So of many other insects, real pests of the 
farmer, everywhere multiplying as the birds decrease. 

Not one of the species upon which man has made such unceasing war, but 
has its use. Even the owl, although it will eat chickens, is a great mouse- 
destroyer ; and the hated hawk is sometimes shot with a snake in its bill. 
Crows should be treated with as much care about a farm as domestic fowls. 
Do they pull up your sprouting corn seed ? Feed them and they will not. 
Sow corn broadcast through the field and they will not touch that which 
you have planted. Birds of all descriptions should be taught that man is a 
friend and not an enemy, and they will return the friendship. 

Some lover of birds — and he wlio is not such is "fit for treasons, strata- 
gems, and spoils" — may demur to our assertion, that they are less influenced 
by gratitude than their four-footed fellows. If our assertion is incorrect, we 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 179 

shall be happy to be set right, but we believe that facts are against the birds ; 
yet if this be so, the circumstance is not to their discredit. They are the 
humorists, the musicians, the conversationists of the animal world ; so fully 
occupied in talking, singing, joking, eating, and rearing their families, that 
they have little time to devote to those immense beings, pantalooned or 
hooped, whom they undoubtedly regard from their airy hights with a sort 
of contempt, as they behold them slowly plodding along, confined to the dull 
earth and unable to take a flight even equal to that of one of their newly- 
fledged oflspring ; and if they condescend to pick up a few crumbs scattered 
by some gentle hand, they feel as little of the emotion of gratitude to their 
benefactor, as the squirrel to the chestnut-tree which rains iipon him his 
winter's supply. A certain degree of brain development is necessary for the 
existence of this emotion, and birds, in this respect, are inferior to most of 
the quadrupeds with which we are familiar. 

Birds do not seem to be as susceptible as quadrupeds to kind treatment, 
and those species which have been domesticated appear to have lost what- 
ever " smartness" they may originally have possessed. The whole tribe of 
domestic fowls — cocks, hens, ducks, geese, guinea-fowls, turkeys, pea-fowls — 
are unmitigatedly stupid — acute in nothing but picking up corn and devas- 
tating gardens. 

The crow is one of the birds that unthinking men destroy, because they 
pull up a little corn in the spring. Will you think what else he does ? 

lie consumes in the year vast quantities of grubs, worms, and noxious 
vermin ; he is a valuable scavenger, and clears the land of offensive masses 
of deceased animal substances ; he hunts the grain fields, and pulls out and 
devours the underground caterpillars, whenever he perceives the signs of 
their operations, as evinced by the wilted stalks ; he destroys mice, young 
rats, lizards, and small snakes ; lastly, he is a volunteer sentinel about the 
farm, and drives tlie hawk from its inclosure, thus preventing greater mis- 
chief than that of which he himself is guilty. It is chiefly during seed-time 
and harvest that the depredations of the crow are committed ; during the 
remainder of the year we witness only his services, which are so appreciated 
by those who have written of birds, that I can not name an ornithologist 
who does not plead in his behalf. 

Frighten the crows, but do not kill them, except one to use to keep his 
fellows off your corn. Pick off part of his feathers and scatter them on some 
spot in the field easily seen, and near by lay the carcass of the dead crow 
and you will see his late companion sailing over the field and looking down 
ujwn what has been done, but very careful not to light where he too might 
fall a victim. If you can not kill a crow, you may make a very good show 
of a dead one with a black hen. Crows are too valuable as vermin-destroy- 
ers on a form to be wantonly destroyed because they pull up a little corn. 

A writer at Eaton, N. Y., sends us the following item in lavor of the per- 
secuted crow, which makes him out not quite so black as he looks — that is, 
when seen by the eyes of some of his enemies. He says : 



ISO SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



" For the interest of the farming portion of tliis country, I communicate 
the following: Mr. Alpha Brown, an enterprising farmer of this town, 
informed me that, having acted this year upon the somewhat late suggestion 
of yours, of sowing corn broadcast over the planted ground, he experienced 
a new result. Upon four acres, where heretofore his crop had been greatly 
injured by the devastations of the "white grub" and "gray corn-worm," he 
sowed broadcast, after planting, a half busliel of corn. This, of course, 
attracted the crows, which, coming to the ground in the cooler part of the 
afternoon and morning, found the worms on their usual visit to the surface, 
and, preferring the latter to the corn, devoured them instead. The result is, 
that out of the whole field he has not lost to exceed five hills." 

230. The Reverse of the Crow Question. — Having given our opinion in favor 
of the crow, in the preceding paragraph, we feel that it is due to a fair in- 
vestigation of the question not to make it an arbitrary opinion, and rest 
there, but to give the opinions of others also. It is facts, not theories, that 
■we wish to give farmers. 

One who signs himself a " Farmer's Boy," writes from Eidgefield, Conn., 
about crows, as follows : 

" Having lately read your article upon the subject of crows and others 
of the feathered tribe, I can not hold still my rusty old steel any longer. I 
agree with you very well until you advocate the protection of crows ; there I 
think yovi miss your mark. There is but one thing you name that is in their 
favor — the digging of grubs. Tliey are the enemies of all our small birds, 
which you advocate preserving. They commence with the eggs, and con- 
tinue their depredations until the young are nearly grown. They are never 
found destroying insects of any kind that could not be of more nse than the 
crow, and even the grub can be made a source of income to the farmer. An 
intelligent farmer told me, some years ago, he made 1,000 pounds of jjork by 
letting his hogs feed on them in his meadows, which damaged his grass but 
little the first year, and thought it better the second by having the surface 
stirred. You speak of their devouring carrion. Now, in my opinion, no 
farmer that is a good economist will allow any dead animal to lie and rot in 
the sun to make food for the crows. I consider the carcass of a horse, a cow, 
or an ox worth from three to five dollars to any farmer. If so, it is quite 
too dear food for crows. Some say crows catch grasshoppers and crickets. 
I prefer a nice brood of turkeys, that will not look bad on the table when 
they have performed their work on the farm. 

" You see I am a friend to almost everything but a crow. If there is any- 
thing made in vain, it is the crow. They destroy our little warblers ; they 
catch our chickens, ducks, turkeys, and goslings ; they dig our potatoes, pull 
our corn and beans, from the time they appear above ground until they grow 
out of their way. Tlien, as soon as the grain is formed on the ear ; they 
commence their work again. Now, if such a pest as this is to be protected, 
it must be by some one who has a heart softer than I have ; a creature that 
but one thing can be said in its favor, and the rest must go against it. I 



Sko. 11.] BIRDS. 181 



have not the least doubt but our town was taxed $500 Last year to feed 
crows." 

Upon this wc simply remark : If " Farmer's Boy" lias a l)reed of crows 
about him tliat really catch turkeys, goslings, etc., and dig potatoes, he is 
welcome to be their enemy. Our crows are of another sort. But is our 
" boy" sure that he " can tell a liawk from a hernshaw ?" Because the 
raven, though one of the rorvus family, is not a crow, as we understand the 
word ; and it is just possible that the bird that catches turkeys and other 
birds is a raven. 

"We have another opinion, coming from a citizen of Montgomery County, 
Penn. He says : 

" Leaving t/ouv crows under your protection, to enjoy their excellent repTi- 
tations, we desire to say a word on the character of ours. That we have 
real, veritable crows that catch young chickens, is a 'fixed fact,' well estab- 
lished. Tiie present season, notwithstanding our care, we lost by them, I 
suppose, from ten to fifteen, and avoided the loss of others only by the use 
of gunpowder. Our experience on this subject, I may add, is that of many 
others. This thing, then, our ' breed' of crows do, and also carry oti:' spoiled 
eggs that may be thrown awaj', birds' eggs, etc. In reference to ducks and 
goslings, I am unable to speak, but have no reason to believe that they are 
distasteful, or that they do not catch them. 

" They love, it appears, a variety. A near and reliable neighbor informs 
me that quite recentl}' he saw one of our tribe in hot pursuit of a rabbit, 
which, after sundry dodgings, secreted itself under the fence. So you see 
New York crows difler from ours, and, I incline to think, from most other 
crows." 

Here is another opinion. This comes from Theron "Wales, Windham, 
Portage County, Ohio. He says, in relation to our remarks upon the state- 
ment of ".Farmer's Boy :" 

" I conclude you received it as doubtful. I can add testimony in part to 
the same effect. I have seen the crow aligiit into the nest of the.robin and 
carry away the young birds to feed their own young. Tlicy are passionately 
fond of the eggs of other birds, and I have caught tliem in traps with egg- 
shells. Hunters of the wild turkey can testify to the hatred between the 
crow and tiie gobblers. From the frequent presence of the crow over the 
gobbling turkey, it appears they watch for their nests. At least every cry 
of the crow is answered defiantly by the turkey, and thus I have often been 
led to approach the turkey and shoot him. "Wiiile we were living upon the 
Berkshire Hills, in Massachusetts, it was not unfrequent that our neighbors' 
and our own young lambs had their eyes picked out by the early returning 
crows in the spring. But I do not say those things for the sake of engaging 
in an exterminating war upon them. All things were created for some wise 
purpose. Every creature has in nature its enemy and destroyer, and every 
attempt on the part of man to give preponderance to one part of the wild 
creation over another, will fail. Civilization will of necessity drive away 



182 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

the beaver, otter, deer, and a host of forest birds, and tlieir places will be 
rapidly supplied bj the wren, the robin, the blnebii-d, the honey djce, etc. 

"The raven is more carnivorous than tlie crow. I once saw one alight 
into a kingbird's nest and carry away the young, in spite of the cries and 
efforts of the old olies." 

The crowning charge against the crows coraes from Freeport, Me., in a 
letter written by E. Pratt, Jr., who says : 

" Xow what ^ your crows' are, or what they eat, or how they get their liv- 
ing, I know not ; but the crows iu Maine both dig and eat potatoes, incredu- 
lous as it may appear. 

"In some seasons I have known many acres, planted on light soils, in 
exposed situations, devastated by these miscreants, and that in my own 
neighborhood. 

"Their manner is, when the plant first breaks ground, to dig and pull it 
up with the tubers attached, though it appears by the partially eaten ones 
left here and tliere on the field, that they do not eat them with much 
avidity. 

" I know that popular writers think the crow a great blessing to farmers, 
but I am yet to be convinced of this, and can only wish that those who think 
their company so desirable should have the benefit of my share." 

There is but little doubt in our mind that most of these bad birds were 
ravens, and not crows, particularly as Mr. Wales acknowledges the i^reseuce 
of the raven, and says that he is a carnivorous bird. 

]S"ow, having said our say, and allowed others to say theirs, about crows, 
we will drop down to M'rens, by way of contrast. 

231. Wrens. — We waked one morning — one of those May mornings — 
when our domicile was a city one, with delightful sounds coming in at the 
window. They were the notes of sweet singing birds. What lovely music ! 
It was the first of the season that had come to our ears, and it struck a chord 
that called to mind scenes of youth, long, long ago. We hastened to the 
window and looked out. " Ha ! ha ! my old friends," we cried, " and so you 
have come back again." It was tlie wrens, the same ones undoubtedly that 
M'e built a nesting-place for last year. There was one pair then, now Iwo 
pair — the progeny, we suppose, of those that sung for us last year. " And 
so," we said, "you have both come for a nesting-place, have you? Well, 
there is the old one — but you must have another. An increasing family 
needs more room. You shall have it." Notwithstanding the morning was 
a rainy one, we feared our pets might feel neglected, and so down wo went 
to provide for their necessities. How amply were we repaid the little labor ! 
for all the time we were engaged, they were hopping about the peach limbs, 
picking ofl" the insects, and singing all the while most merrily. Who would 
not cultivate such society as this? Who would not like to have their trees 
protected from insects that destroy foliage and fruit? Every one, surely. 
Then protect the wrens. Build nesting-places for them, and they will come 
every spring and send their sweet notes into your open window, some pleas- 



Seo. 11.] 



BIRDS. 



183 



ant May morning, to waken you to see the beauty of sunrise, or lull you 
into dreams of tlie old farm-house, orchards, and singing birds. 

A paper from Prof. Xash sa3"s he has domesticated the common wren in 
this city, by building tliem a suitable house, very much to the amusement 
and pleasure of the family. One pair hatched and reared ten young ones in 
one season, and they acted as perfect scavengers of bugs and worms in the 
neighborhood. • Mr. Nash says two lumdred wren-houses were built last year 
about Union Square, which wore not only occupied by wrens, but several 
other kinds of birds, and these served to keep the park and neighborhood 
almost free of insects. 

A writer in Hovcys Magazine recommended the use of wrens to drive 
other birds away from the cherry-trees. lie says : 

" I have seen the experiment of placing a wren-box on a cherry-tree, tried 
in several instances with apparent success. The best thing for this purpose 
is an olive jar. A hole should previously be drilled into the side of the jar, 
which should be fixed upon the tree, by thrusting the stump of an amputated 
branch, the more upright the better, into the mouth of the inverted jar, of 
just sufficient size to admit a wren, but too small to allow a bluebird to en- 
ter ; since, if it were otherwise, the latter would be sure to get possession of 
it. The wren being a very jealous and pugnacious bird, is diligent in driv- 
ing all birds from the tree in which his nest is built, and does not hesitate 
to attack birds as large as the robin. It is doubtful, however, whether the 
wren would persevere in his attacks, when the robins had become very numer- 
ous, but the expedient might be used with some advantage in all cases." 

232. Protecting Trees from Birds. — Some persons advise throwing a net 
over the trees, during the few days while the fruit is becoming mature. This 
may bo done in some cases, if there are but few trees to be protected, and 
the owner can afi'ord to undertake a job that must be both troublesome and 
expensive. Such an expedient would be hardly advisable except in extra- 
ordinary cases. Some fix a little windmill in the tree ; but as the wheel is 
constantly turning, the birds soon become accustomed to it, and cease to 
regard it with suspicion. If anything of this kind is to be used, it should be 
kept motionless, until the birds fly into the tree, and then put suddenly into 
action by some person who is watching it. Something like a watchman's 
rattle elevated on a pole, and fastened firmly to each of the trees, with a cord 
to be pulled when the machine is to be set in motion, might answer a good 
purpose. A boy might be hired in this case to watch the trees, and to pull 
upon the cords as the birds arrived. Cherries require so short a time to 
ripen, that no tree would need to be watched more than one week. 

As birds always give the greatest offense, by their depredations upon fruit, 
to those who own but few trees, our argument is, that the best protection is 
to plant trees enough to serve you and the birds too, with all that all of you 
can eat. You would then not only have the satisfaction of having what 
cherries you wanted, but the pleasure of seeing the birds. From experience 
every season, we are satisfied that the robins save us more cherries than 



184 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 



tliey eat. Our trees were infested with the same kind of yellowish bugs that 
ate the roses, and are commonly called rose-bugs. We have seen half a 
dozen of them eating upon a single cherry, attacking them before they were 
ripe, and before the birds did. When at length the robins came in goodly 
numbers, the bugs decreased, and if the robins ate chemes, they also ate 
bugs, and we believe more than they did cherries. At any rate we had 
more cherries than the birds and all the family could dispose of, and some 
for our friends. So we did not begrudge the dear little birds their share. 

As there are some who can not aflbrd to share their cherries with the 
birds, and others who are unwilling, we give a way of keeping them off, 
which we find in the Garxkner^s Chronicle, London. 

" The following is a plan I once saw succeed very well for some time, but 
the birds at last got familiar with it ; still I think it might answer for two 
months or so. An old gardener being greatly troubled with birds, applied 
to his master for nets to cover his fruit with ; but no, they would be too 
expensive. He therefore got a hawk stuffed in what he called a hovering 
position, put it on the end of a long wire, attached the wire to the top of a 
tree, and thus had the hawk suspended in the air as if it had been alive. He 
had, however, another hawk which really was alive put into a cage, and had 
the cage put into the same tree where the dead hawk was. Tlie gentleman 
in the cage was by no means mute, and I may add that I scarcely ever after- 
ward saw birds in that garden, except perhaps a few sparrows." 

Another plan that has succeeded very well at times is to suspend small 
looking-glasses, or bits of a broken mirror, to the limbs of the tree. Where 
the sun shines, and the wind blows a little, this device answers a good pur- 
pose. It is of no use at other times, except that having previously frightened 
the birds, and prevented them from getting a haunt in the tree, they will not 
be BO likely to come when the mirror is still. 

233. The Food of Birds. — A few facts to show what the food of birds really 
is, will do something, we hope, to dispel the prejudice which has made man 
their bitter enemy. 

Wilson, the great ornithologist, computes that a red-winged blackbird 
destroys, on an average, 50 grubs a day through the summer. Many other 
birds are equally useful to the farmer. No gold would buy the services per- 
formed by the birds. One often may be seen following the plowman hour 
after hour. 

Then look at the eternal labor of the birds in fall, winter, and spring, pick- 
ing up the seeds of weeds, and upon these they live until grain ripens, before 
it is possible for them to harm the farmer. 

We therefore urge farmers to spare the birds. They pay more rent than 
the worth of all they eat. Robins have been thoroughly proved to be insect- 
eaters, and great destroyers of noxious pests to the farmers, by a committee 
of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 

This Society has done a deed worthy of commendation by all the lovers of 
birds. A resolution was moved to get the Society to ask the Legislature to 



Sko. 11.] BIRDS. 185 



repeal the law for protection of robins, upon the ground tliat these birds 
were noxious to the farmer ; it being contended that their food being veg- 
etable, they were great destroyers of valuable fruits. Upon this. Prof. 
Jenks (Prof, of Zoology) suggested that the Society should first learn the 
habits of the robin, and a committee, consisting of Prof. Jenks, C. M. Ilovey, 
and E. S. Rand, Jr., were appointed, and have reported tlie following facts : 
" Plan Adopted for the Investigation. — 1. To obtain birds at daybreak, mid- 
day, and sunset. 2. To obtain birds from both the village and the country. 
3. To preserve in alcohol the contents of each gizzard. 

Results-in Procuring Specimens. — Beginning with the first week in March, 
1858, specimens have been examined at least weekly, and most of the time 
daily, to December, and during the winter months, at least setai-monthly to 
the date of the report, in the s^^ring. 

Results of Investigation. — 1. Early in March, numbers of this bird made 
their appearance in this vicinity (Boston) ; but, until the second week in 
April, only the male birds. 

2. The gizzards of those killed in the morning were, as a rule, either 
entirely empty, or but partially distended with food, toell macerated ; while 
those killed in the latter part of the day were as nniforml}- tilled with food 
freshly taken. 

3. From the almost daily examination of their gizzards from the early part 
of March to the first of May, not a particle of vegetable matter was found in 
the gizzard of a single bird. On the contrary, insects in great variety, both 
as to number and kind, as well as in every variety of condition as to growth 
and development, were the sole food. 

But nine tenths of the aggregate mass of food thus collected during this 
period consisted of one kind of larvfe, which, through the aid of Baron Osten- 
sacken, secretary of the Russian legation at Washington, I was enabled to 
identify as the Bihio albijjennis (Say), and whose history and habits, by the 
aid of Dr. Asa Fitch, entomologist of the New York State Agricultural 
Society, I was enabled to make out quite satisfactorily. 

From one to two hundred of these larvna were frequently taken from a 
single gizzard, all in afresh, unmacerated condition; and usually, when these 
larvaj were found, they were the only food in the stomach. 

To quote from a communication received from Dr. Fitch, he says : ' My 
attention was first directed to this fly some twelve years ago, when I was 
occupied in investigating the wheat midge. I observed it to be so very 
common in fields of growing wheat that I suspected it of living at the expense 
of that grain crop ; but on looking around I found it was equally as common 
everywhere else — resting upon the grass, leaves, and flowers in my yard and 
garden, as well as in meadows, pastures, and forests. *****!(; 
comes abroad about the 20th of May, and continues about a fortnight. You 
will readily recognize it by its commonness, and its white transparent wings ; 
its body being black, clothed with soft, white hairs. It is very sluggish, 
moving around but little, and is easily picked up by the fingers. * * * 



186 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

On page TCi of the London Gardener's Chronicle of the year 1844-, is a val- 
uable article of Iluricola, (J. 0. Westwood), giving a full history of the 
Blh'iO Marci, the European analogue of the one in question. 'It appears 
these insects (unlike most others of the family Tipulidiu to which they per- 
tain) are most pernicious, the larvae feeding upon the roots of plants, some- 
times to such an extent as to cause them to wither and die. Iluricola states 
that the larvae of the Merci, and other allied species of Bibio, are frequently 
sent to liim by gardeners, who find them to be mischievous in their straw- 
berry beds, vine borders, flower pots, and other situations where the soil 
remains undisturbed during the autumn and spring.' And another writer, 
Bouche, says ' tliat his bed of ranunculuses was completely demolished, for 
several successive j^ears, by these worms eating the roots.' From these facts 
every one will perceive that the robin, consuming, as you found it to do, 
from one to two hundred of these Bibio larviB daily, during the months of 
March and xVpril, has probably been ridding our gardens of these vermin 
every year hitherto ; thus rendering us an important service, of which we 
have been wliolly unaware. * * * The larva3 are gregarious ; living 
together in swarms, and perforating the ground so that it resembles a honey- 
comb. . 

' This is probably caused by the parent fly depositing her whole stock of 
eggs in one spot, she being too lazy and slothful to wander about and dis- 
tribute them in different places. Hence the robin, on finding one of these 
worms, knows that there is a host of others at the same place, and thus re- 
pairs to that spot, day after day, and gluts himself witli them till the whole 
colony is exterminated.' 

To this extract I may be allowed to add, that my own observations, during 
the past year, confirm the conclusions of Dr. Fitch respecting this larva in 
every particular, having found its colonies in November, and observed the 
fly in early summer. I may also here introduce an extract from a commu- 
nication of a lady friend, under date of Oct. 7, 1858. She says : " On speak- 
ing of your remarks concerning the food of the robin, at the Teachers' Asso- 
ciation at Bridgewater, in Juno last, to my father, he told me of a little 
circumstance which I thought just proved your statement. It was formerly 
the custom to have a shooting match on election day in May. On such an 
occasion in North Bridgewater, about the year 1820, a great many birds 
were killed, so many that a man bought them by the cart-load for the pur- 
pose of enriching his land. In consequence, there was a great scarcity of 
birds in that vicinity, and a great amount of grass land seemed to be injured, 
but from what cause no one knew. The grass withered and turned dark- 
colored, as though it had been burnt, commencing in small tufts and spread- 
ing in large circles." It would seem that the insect imder consideration 
would, growing undisturbed, produce precisely this result. 

4. During the month of May, the Bibio larvte entirely disapj^eared from 
the gizzards, but up to the 21st of June, was replaced by a variety of insects 
or worms only, including spiders, caterpillars, and beetles of the family 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 187 

Elateridffi, the parents of tlie well-known wire-worms, so destructive to corn 
and various other seeds when committed to tlie ground. 

The earth-worm I found to bo a lavorite food for tlie young bird, hut 
sparingly' e;nployed hv the adult for its own use. 

5. From tiie date of June 21, I began to find strawberries, cherries, and 
pulpy fruit generally, but in a majority of the examinations intermingled 
with insects, which led me to conclude that they were not fond of an exclu- 
sively vegetable diet, but rather adopted it as a dessert, and from the ease 
of procuring it, particularly during tlie enervating season of inolting. At 
this season of the year, I discovered a marked diftcreuce in the food of the 
birds killed near or in the village, and those killed in the country at a dis- 
tance from gardens and fruit-trees, the latter having less stone fruit and more 
insects in their gizzards, which led me to conclude that the robin is not an 
extensive forager. 

6. The mixed diet of the robin seems to continue from the ripening of the 
strawberries and cherries to October, the vegetable portion consisting, during 
August and September, in great part of elderberries {Saiiibucus canadensis) 
and 2)okeberries {Phytolacca decandra). 

7. During the mouth of October the vegetable diet is wholly discarded, 
and its place supplied by grasshoppers and orthopterous insects generally. 

8. Early in November — the robin migrates southward — the few remaining 
eking out a miserable existence, during liie winter months, on bayberries 
{Ifyrica cerifera), privet berries {Ligustnim vulrjare), and juniper berries 
{Junijyerus communis). " 

Here is something further \ipon the food of robins : In the report of the 
proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in September, 1858, 
we find an instructive paper from Prof. Treadwell, of Cambridge, giving a 
detailed account of the feeding and growth of two American robins {Tardus 
migratorius, Linn.), during a period of 32 days, commencing from the 5th of 
June. 

" "W^hen caught, the two were quite young, their tail feathers being less 
than an inch long, and the weight of each about 25 pennyweights — less than 
half the wciglit of the full-grown bird. Both were plump and vigorous, and 
had evidently been very recently turned out of the nest. He began feeding 
them with earth-worms, giving three to each bird that night ; the second 
day, he gave them ten worms each, which they ate ravenously ; thinking 
this beyond what their parents could naturally supply them with, he limited 
them to this allowance. On the third day, he gave them eight worms each 
in the forenoon ; but in the afternoon, he found one becoming feeble, and it 
soon lost its strength, refused food, and died. On opening it, he found the 
crop, gizzard, and intestines entirely empty, and concluded, therefore, that it 
had died from want of sufficient food, the effect of hunger being perhaps 
increased by cold, as the thermometer was about CO^. The other bird, still 
vigorous, he put in a warmer place and increased its food, giving it the third 
day 15 worms, on the fourth day 21, ou the fifth 25, on the sixth 30, and on 



188 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



the seventh 31 worms. They seemed insufficient, and the bird appeared to 
be losing pUimpness and weight. He began then to weigh both the bird 
and its food, and the results were given in a tabular form. On the fifteenth 
day, he tried a small quantity of raw meat, and finding it readily eaten, in- 
creased it gradually, to the exclusion of worms ; with it the bird ate a large 
quantity of earth and gravel, and drank freely after eating. By the table, 
it appears that though the food was increased to 40 worms, weighing 20 dwt. 
o;i the eleventh day the weight rather fell ofi"; and it was not until the 
fourteenth day, when he ate 68 worms, or 34 dwt., that he began to increase. 
On this day the weight of the bird was 24 dwt. ; he therefore ate 41 per cent, 
more than his own weight in twelve hours, weighing after it 29 dwt., or 15 
per cent, less than the food he had eaten in that time. The length of these 
worms, if laid end to end, would be about fourteen feet, or ten times the 
length of the intestines. To meet the objection that the earth-worm contains 
but a small amount of nutritious matter, on the twenty-seventh day ho was 
fed exclusively on clear beef, in quantity 23 dwt. ; at night, the bird weighed 
52 dwt. — but little more than twice the amount of flesh consumed during the 
day, not taking into account the water and earth swallowed." 

A man eating in the same proportion would consume 70 lbs. of flesh and 
five gallons of water. Four young robins would require, according to the 
consumption of this bird, 250 worms, or their equivalent in insects or other 
food, daily. After the thirty-second day the bird was fed for eighteen days 
on an average of 15 dwt. of meat, two or three earth-worms, and a small 
quantity of bread each day ; the whole being equal to 18 dwt. of beef, or 
36 dwt. of earth-worms ; and it has continued to eat this amount to the 
present time. The food was never passed undigested ; the excretions were 
made up of gravel and dirt, and a small quantity of white semi-solid urine. 

Every admirer of trees may derive from these facts a lesson, showing the 
immense power of birds to destroy the insects by which our trees, especially 
our apples, elms, and lindens, are every few years stripped of their foliage, 
and often many of them killed. The food of the robin, while with tis, con- 
sists principally of earth-worms, various insects, their larvfe and eggs, and 
a few cherries ; of worms and cherries they can procure but few, and those 
during but a short period, and they are obliged therefore to subsist princi- 
pally upon the great destroyers of leaves, canker-worms, and some other 
kinds of caterpillars and bugs. If each robin, old and young, requires for 
its support an amount of these equal to the weight consumed by this bird, it 
is easy to see what a prodigious havoc a few hundreds of these must make 
upon the insects of an orchard or a park. Is it not, then, to our advantage, 
to purchase the service of the robins at the price of a few cherries ? 

Speaking upon this paper, the editor of the Newark (N. J.) Advertiser 
says : 

" There is so little knowledge of the habits of birds, and their ways and 
means of gaining a living in the world, that anything which promises to 
produce better acquaintance with them ought to be generally made known. 



Sec. 11.] BIRDS. 189 



" It will be seen by this account, that quite a young robin died from 
starvation, because it was allowed but eight or ten earth-worms a day. The 
survivor was afterward treated more generously, and his fare was increased 
from day to day, till he had for his dinner 68 worms, or 3i dwt., though the 
robin himself weighed only 2i dwt., thus consuming in twelve hours il jjcr 
cent, more than his own weight. 

" After the bird was fully grown, he continued to eat one third of his own 
weight in clear flesh daily ! A man with such voracity (inferior, however, 
we have seen to that of the young bird while growing) would have soijio 
difficulty in finding board in any of our cities. But nature is not obliged to 
go to market to sustain her children with comfortable food. This same 
robin, if permitted to be free to satiate his prodigious appetite, not chiefly 
on cherries or other fruits valued by man, but upon man's enemies, would 
range himself on the side of man, and slaughter the numberless insects of 
every variety which are destructive to his crops. Here we have reason to 
be grateful for the prodigious appetite of the robin, and thank him for his 
extraordinary gormandism. This guest at the table of nature is addressed 
in very diflerent language from guests generally. She says to him. Will you 
take something further ? pray don't spare, but help yourself to the spider, the 
canker-worm, the measurer, the caterpillar, grub, slug, and bug, and help 
yourself also to a score or two of curculio's eggs. Thus, ' more the merrier' 
is the sentiment of nature's feast. IIow the insect tribe, and all the wicked 
fry who infest our fruits and cereal crops, fall before the all-devouring robin ! 
Even the ugly bug that is said to infest and feed upon the tubers and tops 
of the potatoes, producing thereby the blight or rot, might be exterminated, 
if the robin and other birds were not destroyed or frightened away by boys, 
or men as stupid or mischievous as boys. 

" For what had been remarked of the voracity of the robin, is probably 
true with respect to other birds. Men have but recently come lo the knowl- 
edge that they are the most eflfectual protectors they can have of their fruits 
and crops ; but nobody till now has been aware of the full extent of the 
obligation they are under to even a few birds in consequence of their being 
such enormous eaters. If their board costs them anything, they never could 
be able to stand it. But it does not — only now and then a life or two among 
them, taken by some rascal or vagabond, who should be their true benefac- 
tors, for they are busy in the service of man." 

This bird, the robin, is probably known to nearly every one who will 
read this volume ; but we will add the following short description : 

The robin measures nine inches and a half in length. Ilis bill, which is 
about an inch long, is strong, yellow, and dusky near the tip ; the head, back 
of the neck, and tail are black ; the back and rump, ash color ; the throat 
and npper part of the breast are black, the former streaked with white ; the 
whole of the rest of the breast down as far as the thighs is of a dark orange ; 
belly and vent, white ; legs, dark brown ; claws, black and strong. 

It builds a large nest, often on an apple-tree, which it plasters on the 



190 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



inside with mud, and lines with hay or fine grass. The eggs are from four 
to six, bluish green, unspotted. They feed on worms, insects, fruit, and 
berries, especially those of the soar gum-tree {JVi/ssa sylvatica). When 
fat, the robin is in considerable esteem for the table. 

These birds are. among our earliest songsters. Even in March, while the 
enow yet mantles the fields and woodlands, he will mount a post or leafless 
tree, and make an attempt at a song. 

They are ornamental to every farm, and should be encouraged to build 
their nests in every garden. 

234:. Birds Destroyiug Grasshoppers and Worms.— Last year, in the neigh- 
borhood of Philadelphia, there was a swarming pest of grasshoppers. By- 
and-by, when every one was at his wits' end to know what to do to get rid 
of this scourge, there was a sudden appearance of immense flocks of plover, 
which spread themselves over the fields, and devoured with avidity the 
grasshoppers. Some of them have been shot to test the matter, and their 
crops have been found full of grasshoppers. The ravages of the latter soon 
cease wherever the flocks of plover appear, as the great number and voracity 
of the birds render them more than a match for the insects. Up to this 
visit of plover, the only relief from this calamity was the eagerness with which 
the fowls devoured the grasshoppers. Turkeys, the most eflicient adversaries 
of these insects — because the largest and most active— have thriven M'onder- 
fiilly upon them. So have the ducks, geese, and chickens. If farmers pre- 
fer to be annually eaten iip by insects, they will continue their insane war- 
fare upon birds. On the contrary, let them be protected, and encouraged to 
build their nests in the very windows of our dwellings, and sue what myriads 
of pests they will destroy ! 

In one of the years that I lived on the Western prairies, there was an 
irruption of greedy devourers of farm crops, known as the army worm, 
coming from no one knows where, nor when to look for its march. It is 
easy to trace it, however, after it has marched over a country, for it con- 
sumes every leaf of grass and grain, wherever the army spreads itself. 

Farmers sometimes plow a deep furrow around a field as the army 
approaches, and this furrow will soon fill up with worms, which -are crushed 
by a log drawn over them ; repeating the operation every day. This is 
troublesome, and not always eflective. In the year alluded to, the army 
approached just at the time it would be destructive to the wheat crop, and 
the owners of the most exposed farms were in sore trouble at the prospect 
before them. For two days they looked on in dread. " One more day," they 
said, " and we shall be swept." One more daj' came, and with it one of man's 
best friends, the worm-eatins: birds. Lookinir out southward where the 
worms were at work on the prairie grass, a black cloud was seen hovering 
close to the ground. It was a cloud of blackbirds, coming up from their 
great nesting-place in the Kankakee marshes, to feed on the worms. They 
saved the wheat crop. It is true that this variety of birds, when they come 
in great flocks into the grain-fields, are pests, but not half as bad as wonns 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 191 

and bugs would be if not destroyed. Besides, birds can be watched and 
driven away from fields, where no efforts of man M'ould serve to drive away 
an army of worms, marching to destroy, nor prevent his farm from being 
devastated by such a fligiit of grasshoppers as swept every green thing from 
a portion of Minnesota a few years ago. Birds, then, in countless numbers, 
will be found to be man's best friends. 

235. The Sap-Suckersi — The name of " sai>-sucker" has been given to a 
very useful class of birds, under the erroneous impression that they sucked 
the sap from the fruit-trees, where they are often seen, hour after hour, 
clinging to the bole of an apple-tree, patiently drilling, drilling, drilling 
their little bills through the bark, leaving it, sometimes, as full of holes as a 
honey-comb. It is a slander upon these beautiful, busy little birds to sup- 
pose their object is to suck out the sap, and tlius destroy the trees. To say 
that the " sap-sucker" girdles apple-trees and destroys them, or taps the 
Austrian and Scotcli pines so as to cause them to bleed to death, we must 
have stronger proof than slipshod statements. 

In argument against the birds, it has been stated that they have been shot 
wliile in the very act of 

"Tapping the hollow beech-tree," 

and tlieir craws examined witliout finding a worm, and nothing but pieces 
of bark, thus proving their object to be eating the bark, if not sucking the 
sap, and that they were therefore very injurious to trees. These microscopic 
examinations only prove what we have long believed, that the bird can not 
always tell where the worm is that he wants, and so has to bore until he 
finds him. It is not likely that he goes far amiss, and probably hits him 
oftener with the first hole than he fails. It is thought by many persons that 
that troublesome little destroyer of fruit, the curculio, deposits its eggs in 
the bark of trees, and that that is what the sap-sucker is after. It is certain 
that when sap-suckers abounded in our orchards, tliere was no complaint of 
curculio. In our opinion, a perfectly healthy tree, free from insects, is never 
attacked by any of the nut-hatch family — vulgarly called " sap-suckers." 
We believe that, on the contrary, they are of essential service to man ; and 
that it was one of the admirable provisions of nature, where everything 
works on an even balance, until one scale is overloaded by man, tliat the 
nut hatch should stand sentinel over the fruit-trees, and keep the pestiferous 
insects from getting the balance of power. 

236. Do Birds Eat Bees ? — It has long been a mooted question whether the 
birds known as " kingbirds" (the Miiscicajm tijrannus) destroy bees ? 
This bird has obtained his name from a spirit of boldness in attacking and 
driving away birds of much larger size and power, enough to kill him at a 
single stroke. He has obtained the name of a destroyer of hone^'-bees, and 
war to the death has been declared against him, on the evidence of his bad 
name, and, as we think, m ithout anything like a fair trial. 

A few years ago we elicited a great deal of testimony upon this question. 
One witness, Mr. Xathaniel M. Tobey, of Tompkins County, says he is an 



192 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

old farmer, has kept bees ten years, and always encouraged birds to make 
their homes upon his premises. One season, observing two kingbirds about 
his hives, he was curious to know what they were after, and ascertained to 
his satisfiiction that they caught bees on their return to the hive, not to eat 
them bodily, but to disembowel them and despoil them of the " honey-sack." 

He attributed the non-swarming of the bees to this jiair of kingbirds, but 
says his bees have never been moleBted since. 

That the kingbirds caught Mr. Tobey's bees wo have no doubt, since he 
says he saw the disemboweled carcasses under the trees where they alighted, 
but that one single one of them was a worker we do doubt, and that a single 
pair of kingbirds were the cause of the non-swarming of several hives of 
bees, we have no doubt upon the subject — we know it was not the case — it 
would be a preposterous absurdity to believe such a wild tale. We do not 
believe that all the kingbmls in the world ever destroyed a hive of working- 
bees, and a man who will kill the innocent birds without better proof of 
their guilt, than all that wc have heard, is at heart a — bird murderer. 

Other persons declared that they had often seen kingbirds catch bees, on 
the wing, near the hive. This we do not doubt, because others have seen 
the same thing, and have killed and dissected them and found bees in their 
craws. But in every case where they were examined by persons competent 
to decide, they have declared tliat none but drones were ever found. Upon 
tills point the instinct or observation of the bird is perfect ; and this may 
liave been one of nature's provisions, that these birds should bo assistants 
of the workers, and not tlieir destroyers. Certainly, until we have some 
better evidence against the birds, we shall advocate their protection. Surely, 
if they eat bees,, they also eat other flies, and if permitted to live and multi- 
ply around our dwellings, might keep us free of a great many pestiferous 
insects. If a bird can eat a stinging-bee with impunity, it can also eat a 
wasp or hornet, and so destroy that family. 

237. Swallows, Swifts, aud Martins.— In our boyhood, swallows were looked 
upon as pests of the farm, or rather the barn, and war was often waged upon 
them by the boys, with the countenance of those who should have been well 
enough informed to teach them better. We hope the day is past when any 
one would wantonly destroy these beautiful birds. 

Uirundo is the generic term applied to the class of birds comprised in the 
several species of barn swallows, bank swallows, chinmey swallows, and a 
large, strong sort known as swifts, and the common martin, for which many 
New England people are careful to provide boxes, which are often attached 
to the dwellings. Their first appearance in spring is hailed with delight, 
and the time of their coming often noted, so as to compare one year with 
another. Although " one swallow does not make it spring," people have 
learned to think that many never come until spring is fairly opened. 

The Uirundo family are all birds of passage. They go far south to win- 
ter, and return witli great regularity to their old haunts, to build (licir nests, 
rear their young, and catch flies, till autumn approaches, and then tliey are 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 193 

off. They cross the parallel of 40°, on their northern journey, about the 
first of May. 

The barn is often tcnaiitless at night, and alive witli the twitter of swal- 
lows the next morning. To talk about their liybernating in the mud, or in 
hollow trees, is simply ridiculous. You might just as well expect wild geese 
to go down into the mud to winter, as for the swallows to do so. 

The following descrijjtion of some of the rare varieties of the Hirundo we 
found in the Country Gentleman newspaper, and thought it interesting : 

"The Cliff, or Republican Swallow, III r undo Iwnlfrous, or IT.fulva, is a 
well-known swallow among farmers. Its crown and back are of steel blue, 
bell}' white, length five inches, plus, and the stretch of the wings twelve 
inches, plus. They formerly occupied the cliffs of the Rocky Mountains and 
the fur countries. One of the first records of their appearance in the States 
was at Henderson, and Newport, Ky., on the banks of the Ohio, in 1815. 
In 1817 they were observed at Whitehall, N. Y., near Lake Champlain. 
These birds are of social habits, building their nests in clusters, or near each 
other. Vieillot observed one at sea, off Nova Scotia, long before this. They 
have long been known in that province. In 1818, it is stated that they began 
to build at Crawford's, near the base of the White Mountains. General 
Dearborn saw their nest at Winthrop, Me., in 1830; also in Gardiner. 
The writer first saw them in Worcester County, Mass., about 1838. Their 
nests are arranged frequently along under the eaves of a barn, in the form 
of a projecting retort, constructed of pellets of earth, with an internal lining 
of dried grass, in which are laid four eggs. Their note is not a twitter, but, 
according to Audubon, resembles in sound the rubbing of a moistened cork 
in the neck of a glass bottle. Within a quarter of a century they have be- 
come the favorites of many New England farmers. 

" The Violet-green Swallow, Ilirimdo thalassina, tail acutely emarginate; 
back a soft, velvety green, shaded with purplish violet; length five inches, 
and the stretch of the wings twelve inches ; is common in the Rocky Mount- 
ain region. They are the associates of the cliff swallow, ^ist described, 
their note being more like that of the barn swallow. Their nests resemble 
those of the cliff swallow, wanting, however, the pendulous neck. They 
sometimes occupy the deserted nests of their associate species. They are not 
common east of the Mississippi River. 

"The White-bellied Swallow, Ilirundo hicolm', is of a glossy, metallic green 
above, and white below ; hence its common name. Its length is six inches, 
and the stretch of the wings is. twelve and a half inches. It is not as com- 
mon as the barn swallow, and is allied somewhat to the purple martin. 
Their note is a shrill, lively, warbling twitter. Tliey are usually the first 
swallows that appear in the spring. They breed in some deserted house or 
hollow tree. Tlicy use no mud in building their nests, which are lined with 
feathers. 

"The Rough-winged Swallow, Tlirundo serripcnnis of Audubon, and Cotijle 
serripennis of Bonaparte; color above a light, sooty brown, and beneath 






194 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



a whitish gray ; lengtli five and a half inches, and the stretch of the wings 
twelve inches. 

'• The Chimney Swift or Swallow, Hirundo pclasgia of LinnsEus, and Chce- 
tura pelasgia of Stephens ; color a sooty brown ; length five inches ; the stretch 
of wings twelve inches ; the tail is short and mucronate. They build their 
nests frequently in chimneys, sometimes in hollow trees. They are Sinall and 
shallow, and are attached to the side of the chimney or tree by an adhesive 
gum or mucilage secreted in the stomach of the architect. They feed their 
young through tiie greater part of the night, as the writer has frequently ob- 
served. The noise they make in passing down and up the chinmey resembles 
distant thunder. 

" Vaux's Chimney Swift, or the Oregon Swift, resembles the one described 
above; length three and a half to four and a half inches; stretch of the 
wings ten inches, plus. This species is not rare on the Western coast. 

"The swallow tribe are remarkable for their social habits, living generally 
in colonies, constructing their nests together ; and when the season for mi- 
gration arrives, they leave in large flocks. They usually rear two broods or 
more j)er pair during the summer. They frequent watery places or swampy 
lands, ponds, etc., in pursuit of winged insects, which they take on the wing. 
In fair weather they usually fly high in the air. As the air becomes less 
dense, the insects fly nearer the earth, and the swallows skim near the sur- 
face of the earth or water, which prognosticates rain at hand. The number 
of flies, gnats, etc., annually consumed by swallows exceeds all calculation. 
Hence the truth of the observation of a farmer, whose barn-eaves had be- 
neath them one connected line of cliff swallows' nests : ' I am very glad to 
have these birds here, for my cows and milkers are much less troubled with 
irnats and flies than before these swallows came in such numbers.' 

" Some farmers try, unwisely, to exclude swallows from their premises, 
because, say they, ' these birds make dirty work.' Granted, but it is far less 
troublesome and annoying than the insects of the kinds named, which greatly 
multiply in thg* absence of the swallows, swifts, and martins." 

Earn swallows and martins are too widely known to make a description 
of them interesting in this place. Children, however, should always have 
an opportunity of seeing their portraits and reading their history in Audu- 
bon or AYilson, as well as that of every other bird, and, by learning their 
habits, judge which is and which is not beneficial to the farmer. Swallows 
and martins would certainly not then be doomed to destruction. D. W. AVar- 
ner, of Sharon Springs, N. Y., says : 

" My father repeatedly attempted wheat-growing, but as often failed, the 
weevil taking the M-hole crop, until a large colony of martins established 
themselves under the eaves of the barn, since which time he has raised good 
crops of spring wheat. The wheat has been grown within one hundred rods 
of the barn. Query — Had the martins anything to do in preventing the 
appearance of the weevil?" 

238. Skylarks and Imported Birds. — Several attempts have been made to 



Sec. U.] birds. 195 

introduce skylarks into tliis country. In February, 1853, Jolin Gorgas, of 
Wilmington, Del., received a lot of twenty, which were kept confined until 
the 19th of March, when they were set at liberty. Another lot of twenty- 
two arrived April ISth, and were set at liberty the next day. This was 
only twenty-two days from the time they were trapped in England. These 
birds propagated in the neighborhood tliat season, and strong hopes were 
entertained that the English skylark had been introduced permanently 
into this country ; but these hopes have not been realized. A letter 
from Mr. Gorgas, in the summer of 1860, indicates that the birds have all 
disappeared. 

There was also another lot of skylarks imported, and liberated in Green- 
wood Cemetery, on Long Island, in the spring of 1853, and still another lot 
were set free in Washington city, at a later period ; but, so fiir as we can 
learn, all of these birds hav6 disappeared. This is greatly to be regretted ; 
for besides the interest of their curious flight and song, they are great insect 
destroyers. Their home is in the grass and grain fields, and their food in 
summer is entirely composed of insects and worms that are pests to the 
farmer. In Europe they inhabit a wide range of latitude, feeding in winter 
upon seeds of grass and weeds, and, if located too far north, making a short 
migration to a milder clime. It can not be owing to the cold that they do 
not succeed here ; but it is not improbable that the cold has prompted them 
to move southward, and they have not felt disposed to return. We still hope 
the skylark will have its home with us, as common as in England, where it 
is so noted as a song-bird. Its flight skyward is also very curious. It as- 
cends perpendicularly, as though it screwed itself through the air, until 
quite out of sight, and after a little descends in the same way. The skylark 
in Europe is a fine table luxury, notwithstanding they afi"ord but half an 
ounce each of meat to the epicure. Vast numbers of just as diminutive 
birds are sacrificed xipou the epicurean tables of all our large cities in the 
United States. 

To those who may take an interest in the importation of birds, the follow- 
ing account will be useful, as given by Mr. W. Brodie, of his successful 
transportation of English pheasants, gold pheasants, and partridges from 
England to Xew Zealand. lie says : 

" I left the St. Katherine's Dock with thirty-six pheasants and partridges 
on board, and after a long and most disagreeable voyage of 201 days, landed 
in Auckland, Xew Zealand, with the same number as I had left England 
with. It is a pastime to cabin passengers going a long voyage to have some 
occupation to break the monotony of shipboard imprisonment. I therefoie 
looked after my own birds, cleaned them out every morning, gave them 
fresh red gravel (coarse) every other day, supplied them bountifully with 
fresh water (not water caught on deck after a heavy rain, as tliere is a cer- 
tain quantity of tar in it), never allowed them a fresh-water bath, fed them 
•with buckwheat, wheat, canary-seed, and hemp-seed alternately, week and 
week about, kept them in wicker cages made on purpose, three feet long, 



196 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

two feet wide, and one foot liigli, and padded tbe top inside the lids of the 
cages, to protect their heads. 

" These birds were kept on deck the whole of the voyage, with a painted 
canvas cover to protect them from the salt water in bad weather. Hence 
my success. The increase of my birds has amounted to tens of thousands. 
In the northern part of New Zealand they breed twice a year, and they have 
stocked the province of Auckland, 200 miles distant from the point where 
they were first sent adrift, which was upon one of my estates, near the North 
Cape of New Zealand. In the early part of 1859 I sent out 400 house and 
hedge sparrows and yellow-liammers to Auckland ; and I hope in September 
to send out 400 singing birds to the same port gratuitously. Birds should 
not be sent out between March and September ; those sent in April or May 
are sure to pine away and die, it being their pairing season." 

By pursuing the course adopted by Mr. Brodie, we might have some of 
the most rare birds of California brought to the Atlantic States, with un- 
doubted profit to the importer. 

239. Laws for the Protection of Birds. — The State of New York has had 
what is called a " game law" for a good many years ; but it was a law for 
the protection of a class of men and boys who, without any claim to the 
title, called themselves "sportsmen" — such sportsmen as would shoot a 
robin-red-breast on her nest, or an imported skylark in the midst of his song. 
The law was only incidentally beneficial to farmers, so far as it protected 
game birds, the most of which are great insect-eaters. There is not a farmer 
in all the old States that can afford to have a quail killed upon his farm, if 
he was paid a dollar a head. This species of wild bird would be semi- 
domesticated, if man would allow it to be so. We have seen them so gentle 
that they often came around the barn for food in winter, and only walked 
slowly away at the approach of man. At such a time we would not kill one 
for ten times its value as food. All the past summer we had the delight of 
knowing that a pair of these beautiful birds were safely rearing their young 
only a few rods from our home. Often, as we walked about the little farm, 
they were seen dodging along some path, or between the corn-rows, or into 
the shelter of the grass or shrubbery. Then, with what sweet satisfaction 
we listened to " Bob "White," sitting upon the wall, telling us almost imer- 
ringly of the approach of " more wet !" 

An Illinois farmer declares that a flock of quails made him a crop of corn, 
having voluntarily taken upon themselves to rid the field of cut-worms. " I 
never," says he, " can again consent to the destruction of these valuable 
birds. I used to shoot and trap them, but I was ignorant of their value on 
the farm. 

A neighbor of ours, a true sportsman, said to us, the other day : "I have 
done shooting quails. I used to think it real sport to wing these beautiful 
birds ; and the temptation to do so was enhanced by the delicious food they 
afford. I really think that I never shall shoot another quail in my life." 

In answer to our " Why ?" he said : 



Snc. 11.] 



BIRDS. 



197 



"I had never studied their history, and the nature of their habits, and 
character of their food, until this season. I was incited to do this from 
meeting with a pair of the birds every time I walked over a certain portion 
of the farm. They were ahnost as gentle as the fowls in the door-yard, and 
frequently I noticed them so busily engaged picking up worms in the corn- 
field, that it led me into a train of thought and study that has tauglit me 
not to kill quails. A few days ago I saw my pets — for such I had come to 
regard them — with sixteen young ones, each nearly as hirge as its parent. 
If I could guard that flock from the depredation of idle bo\-s, no money 
would buy them. Why, wliat useful as well as interesting birds they are ! 
"VVe want stringent laws, well enforced, to protect quails." 

Yes, but, most of all, we want information for farmers of their value. 

The following are the penalties of the New York Game Law, passed April 
14, 1S60 : 

It is $25 fine to kill a deer in the first seven months of the year. 

It is $2 fine to kill a woodcock between January 1 and July 4 ; or a par- 
tridge (ruffled grouse) between January 15 and September 1 ; or a quail be- 
tween January 1 and October 15.; or any wild duck between February 1 
and August 1. 

It is $10 fine to kill a prairie fowl, or pinnated grouse, at any time within 
five years. 

It is $10 fine to trap or snare quail or grouse. 

It is 50 cents fine to kill, trap, or snare a nightingale, night-hawk, blue- 
bird, yellow-bird, oriole, finch, thrush, lark, sparrow, wren, martin, swallow, 
woodpecker, or any other harmless bird, at any time; and bobolinks and 
robins only between February 1 and October 1. 

It is $5 fine to catch brook or lake trout, or muscalonge, between Septem- 
ber 1 and March 1 ; and it is $2 fine to catch them in any way but by a hook 
and line. 

It is $5 fine for any person to enter the premises of another with fire-arms, 
or other hunting or fishing implements, with the intent of using them ; and 
if he enters upon a cultivated field, orchard, or garden, or where crops are 
growing, in pursuit of game, without the consent of the owner, he is finable 
$10 for each ofiense. 

Such is the law now in force in this State. Let all who are interested see 
that it is made efi'ectual. The difficulty in the waj' of its enforcement is a 
very lax state of morals among the people, many of whom consider birds 
free plunder ; and they have so long enjoyed the privilege of rambling over 
everybody's land, as freely as though they owned it, that it is hard to con- 
vince them that they do not. The contrary can never be taught in courts, 
nor by fines and prisons ; it must be taught in our common schools and 
around the farmer's fireside. 

New Jersey has a good law upon her statute book for the protection of 
small birds. It is difficult of enforcement, because the mass of people have 
been educated to look upon all birds as noxious, or else worthy of destruc- 



198 SM.\LL ANIMALS A>rD INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



tion for food, and of no other value. They do not even look upon poultry 
in any other light. Yet the truth is, poultry is worth ten times as much to 
the farmer for the work of destruction it does npon his pests, as it is for the 
food it atfords him. It is just so with game birds ; and if the owners of land 
well situated for game preserves were able to preserve the birds, the culti- 
vated portions might be benefited, and the owners could make the keeping 
of wild birds as profitable as tame ones. 

From time to time laws have been devised and statutes enacted for the 
preservation of game ; but until recently such legislation has been originated 
by the wealthy men of cities, the men of the educated and leisure classes of the 
community, the consumers and killer.-;, not the feeders and j^ossessors, of the 
game or the owners of the acres. This has generally given to these statutes 
the appearance, though in no degree the reality, of partaking of the odious 
character of class legislation ; of being enacted for the benefit of the rich 
against the poor, the proud against the humble, the men of leisure against 
the men of labor. The farmers, who knew little and cared less for the game 
which ran wild in their Avoods, fluttered in their tangled swamps, or screamed 
over their boggy morasses, did not conceive how it could have any real value 
in the eyes of any rational being; regarded all legislation forbidding its 
slaughter, except at stated periods, as a device cunningly framed for depriv- 
ing them of their oM-n natural and indefeasible rights, and for giving amuse- 
ment and gratification to finely-dressed, flashy strangers from the towns, 
who came periodically into country places to break down fences, trample 
under foot growing crops, and kill the game reared on the farmer's laud, 
which was, in its very nature, and from the mode of killing it; useless to the 
farmer himself. In a word, they looked upon the Game Laws as an olfensive, 
aristocratic, unrepublican, European invention ; a sort of scheme for making 
the rich richer, and the poor poorer — an idea sedulously encouraged by all 
the brawling foreigners and pot-house village loafers, who, too lazy to work, 
found their own profit in poaching a few starveling parent birds on the 
nests, or half-grown fledgeling young fry on other men's lauds, M-hich they 
mio-ht trafiic or truck away to railway conductors and stage-coach drivers, 
for transmission to the eating-houses of the cities. 

Gradually, however, they — the farmers, we mean — have come to open 
their eyes on this question. Tlic fearful increase of insect life, the prodigious 
deterioration of the crops of all kinds, the threatened utter extinction of 
some of the most valuable American staples in the very localities of which 
they were formerly the pride and boast — as, for instance, the wheat crop of 
the famous Genesee Valley, where it is already questionable, from the yearly 
aggravated ravages of the Hessian-fly and the weevil, whether it is any 
longer profitable, or perhaps prudent, to sow wheat — have forced them to 
perceive that this growth and superabundance, daily and hourly aggravated 
and exaggerated, of insect pests is to be attributed wholly to the unprece- 
dented destruction of small birds. At the same time, the vast and hourly- 
increasing demand for game in the large cities, the immense freights and 



SEf. ll.j BIRDS. 199 

cargoes of M'ikl animals sent down yearly, so soon as cold weather allows its 
safe transportation by express companies and railroad cars — immense, yet 
still inadequate to meet the call of the markets, although the illimitable 
West is fast suflering depletion, and is in some States legislating against ex- 
portation — have quickened the perception of agriculturists to the fact, that 
if game be worth as much money in the market as poultry, or more, and can 
be raised at no cost and less than no trouble, it is better to have the woods, 
which they necessarily keep np as timber lots, the hillsides, which are too 
craggy and sterile of soil to rear anything but brambles and ferns, and the 
morasses, which it would be too costly to drain, swarming with profitable 
wild animals, than waste and unprofitable; and to the other fact, that if 
money is to be made by killing game on their lands, it is as well at least, if 
not better, to make it themselves, and to go on making it, year after year, 
by maintaining a sufficient breeding stock, as to suffer it to be made out of 
their pockets by every landless, shiftless vagabond who chooses to stampede 
every head of game out of every farm, and who has no earthly reason or 
inducements why he should not kill as speedily as possible the goose which 
lays the golden eggs — seeing that the goose, if slain by himself, is clearly 
his, while the eggs, infuturo, may fall to the lot of any other Tom, Dick, or 
Harry of his own reputable or disreputable order. 

The farmers and land-owners being thus convinced of the loss directly 
attributable to the killing of small birds at all, at any season, and of the great 
gain certainly attainable by the protection of the game during the breeding 
seasons, have of late, in many States and counties of States, procured statutes 
to be passed for the preservation, absolutely and at all times, of certain 
innoxious and useful small birds. But all these statutes have defects, besides 
the one alluded to — the lack of proper instruction to the children. 

It is a defect in our State law that no penalty is pi'ovided sufficient to 
prevent himting all the public highways, or other public grounds, and the 
penalty for entering your premises is quite inadequate to their protection, 
because you can not afford to procure testimony, and hire attorneys to pros- 
ecute a fellow who will verify the adage of " sue a beggar and catch a louse." 

The statutes in question are not asked or enacted for the defense of private 
rights of private individuals, though they may defend them incidental!}^, 
but for that of the community at large, to which the safety of crops and the 
greatest possible suj^pjy of food of all kinds ia the market, at the lowest pos- 
sible rates, are incontestably benefits. Therefore the community has not 
only a right, but it is its especial duty to enforce the same protection and 
preservation of the same animals on its own possessions — that is to say, on 
the highways, wastes, commons, and all other unoccupied lands or waters of 
which the public are the guardians and occupants — as it commands ou the 
private hmds of individuals from trespassers. 

So convinced are the scientific agriculturists of France of the importance 
of raising all those species of wild animals which are natural, indigenous, 
or capable of being acclimated and naturalized to the waste lands, of which 



200 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

there are many hundreds of thousands of acres, utterly unsuited to any other 
sort of culture or stocking, that there is an important department in the 
National Agricultural Society of that great and enlightened nation, the sole 
duty of which is to superintend the reproduction on the waste lands and 
waters of France of the native species of game which have gradually become 
extinct ; to promote the introduction on the same lands of such foreign wild 
animals, valuable for food, as may appear to be suited, by their habits and 
the character of the climates to which they originally belonged, for naturaliza- 
tion in France ; and, lastly, to encourage and enforce, by means of premiums 
for success and stringent protective legislation, the maintenance of such 
stocks of game, both quadruped and winged, as shall realize to the propri- 
etors and to the state an abundant return of nutritious and cheap food from 
lands untillable, unfitted for pasturage, and in fact worthless for any purpose 
but that of raising game. 

At the same time we, in America, are suffering our infinitely larger 
number of unreclaimed — if not irreclaimable — acres, which formerly swarmed 
with animal life, and afforded supplies, a few years ago supposed to be 
inexhaustible, of the choicest varieties of game, to be stripped of the last fin, 
the last hoof or pad, the last feather of the wild tribes, unequaled elsewhere, 
both in quality and quantity, which at the time of its discovery rendered 
America the paradise of Nimrods ; so that the woods, the fens, the waters 
are indeed fast becoming utterly barren, useless, and unprofitable wastes. 

It is certain that the fact of any farm being well stocked with game is not, 
in any possible point of view, a disadvantage, even if their value, whether 
as an article of food or as an object of pleasurable and healthful pursuit be 
entirely set aside, since the actual profit consequent on their subsistence is 
greater than the loss from the grain which a few of the varieties consume. 
Besides the insects, many of the game birds are great consumers of weed 
seeds. The prairie-liens, where they exist in large numbers, do depredate 
upon corn-fields and stacks of grain ; but even there, it is not a very severe tax 
to feed them ; and we think that farmers could make the preservation of 
birds profitable. 

It may be assumed, as a reasonable average, that every farmer who owns 
and cultivates a hundred acres of arable land, with from fifty to a hundred 
of meadow land and pasture, and an equal quantity of woodland, if he 
choose to protect and preserve them, especially if he takes the trouble to 
erect a few little shelter huts of brushwood and fern in his woodskirts, and 
to bait them in hard weather with a few bushels of buckwheat, in a good 
game district where the winters are not too severe, may winter from ten to 
twenty brace of quail, which may be expected to raise from fifteen to thirty 
bevies of birds. Each bevy will probably average fifteen birds, which gives 
a yield of from seventy-five to one hundred brace of quail, to be killed and 
sent to market in the late autumn or early winter, with the butter, buck- 
wheat, fat turkeys, and other produce of the farm. These birds will average 
twenty-five cents a brace in ordinary seasons, and when game is scarce or 



Sec. 11.] BIRDS. 201 



for any reason there is an unusual demand, an increased price. To tliis may 
be added, it" it be a ruffed grouse country, two or three broods of tliese 
hardy, bold, and delicate birds, which rarely produce fewer than twelve and 
thence upward to sixteen poults, so that tlie landholder may reckon on his 
fifteen to twenty brace of ruffed grouse at seventy-five cents a brace, and on 
his thirty or forty rabbits, at a dime a head. Here is a profit of perhaps 
fifty dollars per annum, arising from no expenditure, from no investment of 
capital, and involving as a consequence, several days or hours of pleasant 
exercise and amusement in lieu of labor, for the purpose of rendering it 
marketable. On snipe grounds and countries adapted to woodcock, the 
profits are yet more enormous. 

Tiie number of woodcock to be killed annually on any given piece of 
ground is never so great as that of snipe, since the birds killed in the early 
part of the season consist of those bred on the ground itself on which they 
are shot, which is of course a limited number, although the autumnal flights, 
which come in successively, are those bred in the uncultivated wastes far to 
the northward. Yet even of these, there are numerous localities, especially 
in parts of the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Michigan, and other Western States, which might be counted on as sure to 
furnish ten woodcock to the acre in each season, at twenty-five cents the bird. 

It can hardly be doubted that by the system of game protecting, without 
expending a dollar, every owner farming from 100 to 200 acres of laud in a 
country well adapted for game — and there is but little country in any of the 
Northern, Western, or Middle States which is not adapted to it — can add 
from S50 to $200, and in some instances a much larger sum to his annual 
income. If he have trout-streams, and the facility of making a chain of 
small trout-ponds, as may be easily done in every deep glen watered by a 
rapid brook, instead of suffering them to be weired and netted by all the 
vagabonds of the country side, he might make thousands more easily than 
by his poultry-yard or shcop-fold, and at far less cost. 

With these facts before them, it is for the farmers themselves to consider 
whether game-laws are the obnoxious things that demagogues have taught 
them to believe. Is it not rather worth their while to insist upon the 
enactment, and strict observance of such laws as will protect their own 
interests, and afford them such additions to their income as we have briefly 
hinted at. 

240. Sending Wild Pigeons to Market. — ^The Eagle, newspaper, printed at 
Grand Eapids, Michigan, published an article in the spring of 1860, about 
the pigeon trade. Tliere had been at that time shipped from that village 
588 barrels of wild pigeons — equal to 108,555 lbs. The express freight on 
this quantity at three cents a pound, would be $3,256 65. If sold at twenty 
cents a pound, they would bring $21,711. It was estimated that the west 
part of Michigan had sent two millions of wild pigeons to market in one 
season. This great number can easily be understood by those who are 
acquainted with the manner in which these birds flock together. To one 



202 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

who has never seen a pigeon-roost or a nesting-place, the truth -will seem 
ahnost as fabulous as the tales of Sinhad the sailor. Yet it is far within the 
bounds of truth to say that we have seen many millions of wild pigeons at 
once, or at least as soon as we could direct our eyes upon them. We have 
seen them on their evening flight toward the roosting-place, in one unbroken 
flock, two miles wide, and two hours' continuance. We have ridden two 
hours in a straight line through a pigeon-roost at least seven miles wide. 
We have seen upon a single beech-tree many wagon-loads. At one time a 
little section of the main flock got belated in reaching the roosting-place, 
and settled in a heavy beech wood near our house in Indiana, and the noise 
tliey made resembled a terrific tornado ; and they piled on to the trees in 
such numbers that all the weak limbs were broken off, and hundreds of 
large trees, such as stood leaning, and were weak at the roots, were entirely 
broken down. We spent hours of the evening in that, temporary roost, 
witnessing tlitir operations, and trying to imagine the vastness of the mul- 
titude. There is great danger in visiting such a roost, from the falling 
timber. In one long occupied, all that is liable to break lias been prostrated, 
and there is less danger, so there is less commotion. Tliey often sit so low, 
and remain so quiet, that you may approach near enough to kill half a score 
at a blow. A charge of shot sent into a full tree brings down a great 
number. When they alight upon a tree that breaks under the mass, they 
fly and light upon the backs of others already loading a tree all it can bear, 
and so the additional weight perhaps produces a second crash, and sometimes 
crash after crash, almost without cessation. That was the case upon tlie 
evening mentioned. The breaking commenced at dusk, when they began 
alighting, and continued until we left at midnight. In the morning about 
two hundred acres were literally covered with broken timber. 

A pigeon nesting-place is a still greater curiosity than a pigeon-roost. It 
covers hundreds of acres of dense forest, and every tree is covered with nests 
almost as closely as the birds can build them, by laying a few loose twigs 
together among the branches. It is an easy matter to load a wagon with 
squabs. Often they fall out of the frail nests, and fall a prey to wild animals 
and wood hogs. Audubon gives a very truthful picture of the immense 
numbers of wild pigeons in the great West. To us it is the more interest- 
ing, because we know it to be true. 

Those wlio have read Audubon, or others who have written accounts of 
pigeon-roosts, and can believe the truth, will be able to realize the extent of 
the trade we have sjioken of. 

Having now, we hope, said enough about birds to create an interest in 
their behalf, and induce a study of their character, and their value to the 
farmer, we shall leave the subject for another,. which, though about small 
things, is of great importance to all our readers. 



Sec. 12.] 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



203 




SECTION XII.-ENTOMOLOGICAL 

, iial arc Insects ? — The term is applied to all, or nearly 
all, the family of bugs, worms, flies, wasps, mollis, 
millers, and small creeping things that infest a farm, 
and all are generally ranked as pests, though erro- 
neously, as we will show hy-and-by, some of them 
being highly beneficial. 

The word insect comes from two Latin words, 
signifying cut into, or notched ; and the body of a 
perfect insect, as a wasp, is cut into and divided into 
three distinct segments — the head, thorax, and abdo- 
men, with two or three pairs of legs, and one or two 
pairs of wings, and it breathes through holes in the 
sides of the body. Insects commence life in eggs, 
which hatch into worms or larvfe, such as maggots 
or caterpillars, and these, after doing immense mis- 
chief, as in that state they are voraciotis gormandizers, undergo transforma- 
tion to the pupa or chrysalis state, and from that to the bug or butterfly 
firm, during which the eggs are laid in such vast numbers, that the species 
are propagated so rapidly that the art of man seems insufficient to«tay their 
ravages, if of a ravaging breed, and hence he must look to natural aids. It 
is for this that we have advocated protection to birds, because they are great 
insect destroyers. Pestiferous insects also have several other natural ene- 
mies, which must be studied and protected by farmers. 

Besides what are considered and treated of in natural history as perfect 
insects, there are a great many sorts that come imder the general name of 
insect that do not answer the above definition, such as some of the aphis, or 
plant-lice family, the striped and other bugs, and various worms. Some of 
the latter — for instance, the earth-worm, or angler's worm — are thought to 
be beneficial to soil. We think, rather, it could be made more beneficial in 
its death than in its life. Anything, such as salt, lime, potash, ammonia, 
that would kill all the earth-worms, would add all the animal matter of their 
body to the soil's fertility. 

We can not go into a general examination of entomology, though we do 
earnestly advise a study of the science by all farmers, who are, above all 
other classes of the community, most in want of knowledge of insects, and 
how to distinguish between those that are pests and those that are harmless, 
or, perhaps, actual destroyers of those that are devastating our orchards, gar- 
dens, and grain-fields. Of a few of these we shall give correct pictures, 
with brief hints about their character, depredations, and such preventives as 
liave been tried and proved valuable or useless. 

The great difficulty with the management of the greatest pests is their 



204 SMALL ANLMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



diminutive size. The great destroyers of wheat, the midge, Hessian-fly, and 
joint-worm, are so minute that a microscope is needed for their examination. 
It is the same with the aphis tribe, and what is called the "scale insect," 
which cover the limbs of fruit-trees like a second bark, imtil millions of 
mouths, although very diminutive, suck away the life of the tree. Neither 
man nor bird notices these minute destroyers until it is too late to stop their 
ravages. / 

Now let ns look at what some of these insect pests do to the farmer's 
crops. As cotton is considered the great American staple, and as America 
is, above all competition, the land of insects, wc will first enumerate the cot- 
ton destroyers found upon that plant by that indefatigable student of ento- 
mology, Townend Glover, who was employed by the Patent Otiice to collect 
information upon the subject. 

242. Iiisecis InfestiUi^ (he Cotton-Piant. — A species of cantharides, similar 
to the striped potato fly, feeds upon the nectar or pollen, and sometimes eats 
the petals of the flowers. These are injurious, and several others found in 
the flowers did not appear to be so. 

A leaf beetle eats holes in the petals, and, some say, injures the bolls. A 
large, green, thorny, poisonous caterpillar damages the foliage in Augiist 
and September. It also attacks Indian corn. If handled incautiously, its 
spines inflict painful wounds. This large worm is in strong contrast with the 
diminutive cotton-louse, which destroys the young plant in wet seasons. 

The boll-worm, however, is the great destroyer. Their presence in a cot- 
ton-field is indicated by the great number of young bolls fallen to the ground, 
after the inside has been eaten out. Before it falls, the worm crawls out and 
attacks others, which in turn fall ; and if the worms are numerous, all the 
bolls may bo destroyed, just as all the plums of a tree are destroyed by 
curculio. 

A small green caterpillar feeds upon and rolls itself in the leaves of the 
cotton plant; and a solitary hairy caterpillar, of a yellowish color, eats the 
leaves; and a green, smooth-skinned one feeds upon the blossoms ; and also 
several very slender, brownish span-worms. A small beetle, of a greenish, 
metallic color, barred with dirty cream-color, often seen in the holes made 
by boll-worms, is not thought a destroyer. It only follows in the path of 
insects that do destroy. 

Various other small insects are found on the plant, but it is not certain 
that they are destructive, while several are well ascertained to be highly 
beneficial to the cotton-planter. Among these we enumerate the lady-bird 
{CoccineUa), which, both in the larva and perfect state, devours myriads of 
cotton-lice. 

The planter and overseer should learn to distinguish these from noxious 
insects, and instruct their hands to protect them. 

The larva of the bee-winged fly also destroys lice, and ichneumon flies de- 
posit eggs in their bodies. 

Tiger beetles {Oicindella) are also destroyers of the noxious insects. Ants 



Sec. 12.J ENTOMOLOGICAL. 205 

climb the cotton-stalks to feed upon aphis, and not upon the plant. Spiders, 
too, catcli moths in their nets, and also seize and devour other insects. Tlie 
great aim should bo to learn which of all the insects found in the cotton-field 
arc friends, and which foes. 

The boll-worm, and the one which is some seasons so destructive to Indian 
corn in the milk, are declared by some, upon pretty good authorit}', to be 
identical. The chrysalis is of a bright chestnut brown ; the moths, a tawny 
yellow color. The upper wings yellowish, shaded with green or red, in some, 
with a dark band, and crescent-shaped mark near the center of the wing. 
The under wings are lighter colored, bordered with black. 

To prevent dejiredations from the boll-worm, it is recommended to light 
fires arouud the field at night, to attract the moths M'hen they begin to make 
their appearance. Doubtless many will be attracted to the light and de- 
stroyed. They have also been destroyed by placing plates upon stakes sot 
among the cotton, in which about half a gill of vinegar and molasses is 
placed, mixed, four of vinegar to one of molasses. This attracts the moth, 
which perishes in the mixture. This kind of moth-trap requires a good deal 
of labor, for the plates must be visited every evening and replenished, while 
the moths last. The same plan will be found a good one to catch other 
moths than those which infest cotton. 

243. lusects Destructive to Indian Corn and Wheat.— The insect which cats 
into the grains of Indian corn is not only a destructive one, but when it in- 
fests the ears that are wanted for cooking in their green state, it is trouble- 
some and disgustingly offensive. It only feeds while the corn is in the 
" roasting ear" condition. At first it is so small as to be almost impercept- 
ible, and doubtless many a one gets between the teeth of the eater of early 
green corn, even in this city, for here we have seen a great many marks of 
their ravages. It is, however, much worse at the South. Sheltered under 
the husk, it eats voraciously, and increases in size rapidly, until about an 
inch long. Some are brown, some green, some striped. In fact, there is no 
uniformity in color. The body is sparingly clothed with short hairs, rising 
from black spots or warts. The worm leaves the ear and goes into the 
ground to undergo its transformation. 

If farmers, particularly Northern ones, would watch the first appearance 
of these insects, and try to destroy the moths, they might save themselves 
much loss in the future, for all insects of this kind are wonderfully prolific. 
There is an ichneumon fly which preys upon this insect, and the habits of 
that fly should be studied, and, if possible, the family increased. Birds, too, 
are fond of this species of worms ; probably because the food it fattens upon 
makes sweet morsels for their palates. 

The destruction of the grains of corn eaten by this worm is only a part of 
the damage that ensues. The grains eaten are upon the small end of the ear, 
and here grows a fungus, which often destroys the ear. It also oftentimes 
affords a secure harbor for other insects, which destroy what the worms have 
left. The corn-worm does more damage in dry seasons than wet ones, owing 



206 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



to tbe fact that the silk grows irregularly, or continues longer green, and the 
worms often eat off the silk before the kernel is fructified. 

Another insect infesting Indian corn at the South is called St/Ivaiius 
quadricoUis — a diminutive beetle, which hides between the grains, and 
loosens them from the cob, devouring the germ first, and then the white 
starchy part of the kernel. These insects sometimes e.xist in vast numbers, 
and are then very destructive. Sometimes they destroy the germ in such a 
way that its absence is imperceptible, and that causes disappointment when 
it is planted as seed. Kiln-drying is recommended when the corn is to be 
used for food, but not for seed. Quick-lime is recommended, strewed among 
the ears of com in the crib. K put up with husks on, salt has proved 
beneficial. 

There is another insect that troubles corn in the Southern States — the 
corn'-borer. Tliis is called a bill-bug, or corn-borer. It bores into the stalk 
just at the surface of the earth, and deposits its eggs. The grub eats the sub- 
stance of the stalk, and the transformation takes place in the cavity eaten 
out, where the pupa remains till spring, and then comes forth a beetle, in its 
turn to deposit eggs in the young corn. 

These insects have been very destructive in Alabama and several other 
Southern States, and, like many other pests, may gradually become acclimated 
farther and farther north, till all the corn-growing region is infested. Farmers 
should be on the look-out for these " borers," and also bear in mind that the 
best remedy yet found is to pull up all corn-stalks, after harvest, and pile 
and burn them. These insects are usually most troublesome in swamp lands. 

The larva of the angoumas moth is very destructive to corn, as well as 
wheat and other cereals, when stored ; and in the South, in the open field. 
The grub is one fourth inch long in corn, and less in wheat. It spins a 
cocoon in the cavity eaten out when it goes into the pupa state. From a 
small round hole previously made, it emerges a moth, with long, narrow 
wings, of a yellowish gray color, of satin-like luster, fringed with long hairs. 
The insects grown in maize are larger, though identical with the wheat in- 
sects. Tills insect is not confined to warm latitudes, but is more troiiblesome 
there than farther north. We have seen the moths swarming in myriads 
about corn-houses and around wheat-stacks. The female lays from sixty to 
ninety eggs, which hatch into minute white worms in four to six days, each 
one of which makes a lodgment in a grain of corn, where it eats, and ma- 
tures in three weeks ; so that two sets mature in one season, the pupa of the 
second growth remaining in the grain till spring. 

It is said that this insect was first observed in Xorth Carolina, about forty 
years ago. They will fly into a candle sometimes, in a granary-, in such 
numbers as to extinguish the light, and doubtless could be destroyed by fire 
to a great extent. Smear a cask with one head, on the inside, with tar or 
molasses, and place a light in it, and you will catch quantities of the moths. 

Where they abound, it is advisable to store corn unhusked ; and salt is 
also useful, sprinkled in as the corn is put in the crib, just as hay is salted. 



Sec. 12.1 ENTOMOLOGICAL. 207 



We know places wliere this insect is so troublesome to farmers, that it is only 
by great care that they can keep corn or wheat over from one crop to an- 
other. In west Tennessee and northwest Mississippi they are excessively 
annoyinoj. 

Several remedies have been tried, with success in some cases and failure 
in others, under apparently the same circumstances. "We will name some 
of them. After the grain is thoroughly cleaned, spread it upon white sheets, 
or boards, or a tin roof, or, if convenient, a flat rock is better than either, 
and some use a clay floor, and let it lie in the sun until it gets hot, and then 
put it up in tight casks. Kiln-drying at 176'^ kills the insect and the germi- 
nating power of the corn at the same time. If grain is placed in tight casks, 
and the gas arising from burning charcoal conveyed to it by a tube, which 
may be iron next the fire, and flexible tube next the cask, for convenience, so 
as to fumigate the grain, the insect is destroyed without injury to the germ. 
An infusion of the fumes of chloroform will kill these or any other insects 
in a close vessel. Even a few drops put in a bottle with insects, corked up, 
deprives them of life directly. It will not, however, destroy eggs, as the 
heating of the corn does. Heating it, by piling it up damp, has been prac- 
ticed ; but care must be taken, if this is practiced, that it does not overheat 
and get musty. If it does, it should be washed before grinding. 

Lime has been e0"ectively tried, entirely preventing the ravages of the 
insect, by storing the grain, ready prepared for the mill, in tight casks or 
bins, and covering by sifting over tlie top an inch or two deep of finely- 
powdered lime.. Whenever the grain is wanted for the mill, run it through 
the winnowing machine, and blow out the lime. A trifle will adhere to the 
furze of the kernels, but it does no harm — it is rather beneficial to tlie flour 
or meal. 

2-14. The Rice Weevil, — This is another pestiferous insect, which not only 
destroj's rice, but attacks other grain upon the upland portion of a rice 
plantation. This weevil {Calandra orysa) resembles the one whose ravages 
we have noticed in 243, which is the Calandra granaria. AH true weevils 
are beetles, with long snouts, and only depredate upon dry grain. 

Many of us consumers of rice have seen the rice weevil, which has 
hatched out of eggs deposited by the female parent, one in each grain, 
where it hatches, and the young larva eats out all the substance, making 
food of its habitation. By-and-by the weevil comes out, and the sexes meet, 
and the female deposits its eggs in sound grains, and so on until all are 
destroyed. 

When very plenty in rice, it makes anything but a savory dish. It is the 
same with wheat. We have eaten bread that tasted as though we had about 
an even mixture of bread and meat. " Weevilly flour," we have heard said, 
was not unwholesome. Perhaps not ; to us it is most decidedly unpalatable, 
and no art of cooking wheat or rice will hide the weevil flavor. It looks 
and tastes of weevil, even in the buttermilk and saleratus biscuit of the most 
liberal user of that salt. 



208 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. XL 

The rice weevil lias often been found in rice imported from China, and it 
may have been introduced into this country from thence. It differs, both in 
appearance and habits, a little from the grain weevil. It is said to attack 
rice in the field as well as after it is stored. It also attacks Indian corn in 
the field, if left out till late in the fall, or until it becomes quite dry, in those 
States at the South where this insect most abounds. 

The same remedies that will answer for one variety of weevil will answer 
for all. We give a few more remedies. 

245. To Destroy Weevili — Grain subject to dejiredations from the weevil, 
which develops and matures in the heart of the seeds, and which imparts 
considerable heat to the bulk of the pile, equal to or above blood-heat, is 
easily detected on thrusting the hand into the body of the grain, by means 
of the great heat of the mass. 

In France, large quantities of grain are stored up against time of scarcity ; 
and in order to protect it from the depredations of the insects that prey upon 
it, commissioners have been appointed to examine into the means of destroy- 
ing them, who have reported that a small quantity of chloroform or sulphuret 
of carbon put into the interior of tlie grain pit (which is usually in the 
ground), and then hermetically sealed up, will destroy all the pests. About 
seventy-five grains of sulphuret of carbon are sufficient for about four bushels. 
Grain put up in rail pens, as is the custom in tlie West, may be treated with 
equal success with this agent, by covering the heap with a tarpaulin or close 
woven cloth. 

A successful farmer in Broome Co., N. Y., recommends cutting wheat while 
in the milk, and the straw green, and salting it in the mow or stack. He says : 

" About fourteen years ago the weevil appeared upon this farm, and quite 
seriously afi'ected the wheat crop. We commenced also about that time 
cutting our wheat very green, as soon as it was out of the milk, no matter 
how green the straw or heads ; and in order to preserve it the better in the 
mow or stack, always applied salt liberally. For many years I have salted 
my grain mows and stacks, but put none upon my hay. I am now cutting 
my wheat as green as iisual. 

" From my own experience, I am satisfied that if the wheat is thus treated, 
and not thrashed until after it has been some time piled up, the insect will 
be destroyed in some of its transformations. At any rate, whoever tries the 
experiment Avill be well surprised in the value of his wheat and straw. 
Where straw is fed to stock — and all mine goes that way — it is sought fbr 
with keener relish, and makes better manure, while the wheat is much 
heavier and plumper than when not so treated. 

" I ought to say, perhaps, that the weevil has not troubled the farm since 
tliat year, although wheat has been grown every year. Almost any year a 
few may be found, but none to do any damage. My soil is a slaty, gravelly 
loam, and my seeding is usually all done from the 1st to the 10th of Septem- 
ber, and the best variety of wheat thus far has been the Uue-stem, a beauti- 
ful variety of white wheat." 



Sec. 12.1 ENTOMOLOGICAL. 209 



Another Broome County farmer, wlio thought the yellow-birds destroyed 
his wheat, wished a neighbor " would get a gun and kill some yellow-birds, 
which farmers generally sii[>pose destroy the wheat. Mr. R. declined, as he 
does not like to kill birds of any kind. Out of curiosity, however, he killed 
one of the birds and opened the crop, when he found that the bird, instead 
of eating the wheat, ate the weevil — the great destroyer of the wheat. He 
found as many as two hundred weevil in the bird's crop, and butyow/- grains 
of wheat, and these had the weevil in them. This is a very important dis- 
covery, and should be generally known. The bird resembles the canary, 
and sings beautifully." 

24:6. YVbeat Insect vs. Weevi!, — There is a confusion of tonsrues in relation 
to the weevil that we have described ('2-44, 245), and the one that attacks the 
wheat in the milk. 

The insect that has injured the wheat crop so extensively in New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, is not the one generally known as the weevil. This 
insect, called " red weevil," " Avheat-midge," " the insect," etc., differs very 
much from the Calandra granar-ia, as that only injures the rij^eued kernel 
of wheat or corn after it is stacked or housed, or even after it is in the bin 
of the granary or grist-mill. The weevil exhibits in swarms around the 
barn, the female laying her eggs on the grain, and the grubs as soon as 
hatched work into the kernel, consuming all but the bran, without breaking 
that, so as to show tliat all is rottenness within. The ravages of this insect, 
as wo have already stated, are so destructive at the South, that it is difEcult 
to keep wheat and corn. The latter is generally put up with the shucks on, 
which is damp or else heavily salted. Wheat is kept in close casks or tight 
bins by covering with flour of lime an inch deep over the surface. 
"The insect that has destroyed so much grain in past seasons is a 
yellow fly (with blue wings), about one tenth of an inch in length ; it 
deposits its eggs, while the wheat is in blossom, within the chaffy scales of 
tlie flower, during the evening twilight and dark stormy days, in numbers 
from two to forty, which hatch in ten days and completely destroy the germ 
of the berry. The maggot is reddish yellow, about one sixteenth of an inch 
long, or perhaps an eighth when full-grown." 

" It is supposed that it leaves tlie w-heat and winters in the ground. That is 
the time to kill them. Salt is undoubtedly the remedy. The fly is hardly 
ever seen ; they never fly in the sunsiiine. The weevil fill the air like mus- 
ketoes in a swamp. This insect hides on the stems and leaves, shaded from 
the heat of the sun. Tliis is a northern insect; the weevil is a southern one." 

" This insect was first seen in America about the year 1828, in the nortliei-n 
part of Vermont and borders of Lower Canada. It first made its appearance 
in northern Ohio in the year 1843, and its ravages have rapidly increased 
from year to year." 

Dr. Harris recommends brimstone fumigation of the plants. That would 
be impossible, almost, on whole counties. Flour of lime sown on wet wheat 
has appeared to prevent the work of destruction. Deep plowing the stubble, 



14 



210 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 

and not sowing any grain upon it next year, might eradicate the insect, if 
all who ai'e affected would unite in that course, as all must in any other that 
should be adopted. 

The remedy recommended by our correspondent in Broome Co., of salting 
the cut wheat in the mow or stack, would not answer, for the maggots already 
burrowed in the ground for winter, but the salt must be applied to the land 
in liberal quantities — say five to ten bushels per acre. We cut up the cut- 
worms effectually upon our corn ground this season with a handful of salt to 
a hill. The corn fired a little at first, but it is growing beautifully now. 
Every bug or worm can be killed in the soil, with salt, and we have no 
doubt that will be found the most sure way of ridding the country of this 
terrible pest of wheat-growers. The Cecidomyia tritici of Kirby is what we 
take to be the insect called the " red weevil." 

A " close observer" of the habits of the midge, says of one who had 
written of the insect's wintering in the ground : 

" The writer is mistaken in some of his facts as to the habits of the insect, 
as he can very easily satisfy himself by getting a few heads of wheat in the 
2:)roper season that are affected and putting them in a small glass jar. lie 
will see that the worm does not go into the earth, but comes outside of the 
head after destroying the grain of wheat it hatched in, and weaves itself up 
into a snug little cocoon on the under side of the outside chaff. If he exam- 
ine that cocoon after a time, he will find the worm has changed into a new 
shape, and will ultimately come out a winged iusect. I have never yet 
been able to find the worm seeking shelter in the earth. It is this knowl- 
edge of the habit of the insect that induces the belief that liberal salting of 
the grain in mow or stack is fatal to it." 

Towncnd Glover, who is pretty good authority, says of this pest : 

" The parent fly deposits her eggs in the beginning of July, and in the 
opening flowers of the grain, or when the wheat is still in the milky state. 
The eggs hatch in about eight days, when the little yellow maggots, or 
worms, may be found within the chaffy scales of the grain. The seed scales 
of grass also sometimes serve as a shelter for these depredators. The worms, 
which are of a bright yellow or orange color, do not exceed an eighth of an 
inch in length, and are often much smaller. I have seen as many as twelve 
within the chaff of one single grain, sent to the Patent Oflice from Ohio. 
These maggots prey upon the wheat when only in a milky state. When 
they begin their depredations, soon after the blossoming of the plant, tliey 
do the greatest injury, as the grains never fill out. Toward the last of July 
or beginning of August the full-grown maggots cease eating, and become 
sluggish and torpid, preparatory to shedding their skins, which takes place in 
the following manner : The body of the maggot gradually shrinks in length 
within its skin, and becomes more flattened and less pointed, as readily may 
be seen through its delicate transparency. This torpid state lasts only a few 
days, after which the insect casts its skin, leaving the latter entire, except a 
little rent at one end of it. These empty cases, or skins, may be found in 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 211 

great abundance in the wlicat-ears, after the molting process is completed. 
Mr. J. "W. Dawson, of Pictou, Nova Scotia, says that sometimes the maggot 
descends from the plants and molts ou the surface of the ground. After 
shedding the skin, it recovers its activity, and writhes about at first, but 
takes no food. It is shorter, somewhat flattened, and more obtuse than 
before, and is of a deeper yellow color, with an oblong greenish spot in the 
middle of the body. Within two or three days after molting, the maggots 
either descend of their own accord or are shaken out of the ears by the wind, 
and fall to the ground. They do not let themselves down by threads, as 
has been supposed by some, for they are not able to spin. Nearly all of 
them disappear before the middle of August, and they are rarely found in 
the grain at the time of harvest. Hon. William D. Lindsley, of Sandusky 
Cit}-, Ohio, however, sent me several specimens of wheat with this insect in 
it as late as the beginning of August. From observations and remarks made 
by intelligent farmers, it appears that the descent of these insects is facilitated 
by falling rain and heavy dews. Having reached the ground, the maggots 
soon burrow under the surface, sometimes to the depth of an inch, those 
which have not molted casting their skins before entering the earth. Here 
they remain without further change through the following winter. It is not 
usually before June that they are transformed to pupae, this change being 
efl'ected without another molting of the skin. This pupa state lasts but a 
short time, a week or two at most, and in many cases only a few days. 
Under the most favorable circumstances, the pupa woi'ks its way to the 
surface, before liberating the included fly, and when the insect has taken 
wing, the empty pupa shell, or skin, will be seen protruding from the ground. 
In other cases, the fly issues from its pupa skin in the earth, and comes to 
the surface with flabby wings, which soon expand and dry on exposure to 
the air. Tliis last change occurs mostly in the months of June and July, 
when great numbers of the flies have been seen apparently coming from the 
ground in fields where grain was raised the year before. 

" The wheat-midge, or fly, ' is a small orange-colored gnat, with long, 
slender, pale-yellow legs, and two transparent wings reflecting the tints of 
the rainbow, and fringed with delicate hairs. Its eyes are black and prom- 
inent ; its face and feelers, yellow ; its antennre, long and blackisli. Those 
of the male are twice as long as the body, and consist of only twelve joints, 
which, except at the base, an oblong-oval, somewhat narrowed in the middle, 
are surrounded by two whorls of hairs. These insects vary much in size. 
The largest females do not exceed one tenth of an inch in length, and many 
are found toward the end of the season less than half this length. The males 
are usually smaller than the females, and somewhat paler in color.' Mr. 
Lindsley sent several of these insects to the Patent Office in August, 1S55, 
and stated that they have been extremely destructive in several parts of his 
district last year (185-i), and that in some places the cattle were turned into 
the field in order to eat the straw and what little Avas left of the grain, the 
main crop not being worth harvesting. These flies are likewise said to be 



I 



i 



212 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



much more iinmeroiis and destructive on the edges of fields than in the 
center, and in some eases wiien the edges were completely worthless, the 
center bore comparatively a good crop. 

" Fumigation with sulphur, and burning weeds on the windward side of 
the field, when the grain is in blossom, have been recommeaded. Air-slacked 
lime or wood-ashes, strewn over the grain when in blossom, in the proportion 
of one bushel of lime or ashes per acre, to be scattered over the field when 
the plants are wet with dew or rain. Two or three applications have some- 
times been found necessary. Plowing up the ground, also, to destroy the 
maggots ; and the dust-chafF, or refuse straw, if found to contain any of these 
insects, should be immediately burned. In those parts of New England 
where these insects have done the greatest injury, according to Dr. Harris, 
the cultivation of fall-sown or winter grain has been given up, and tliis for 
some years to come M'ill be the safest course." 

247. The Joiut-Wornit — One of the greatest pests that Virginia farmers 
have had to contend with in wheat-growing is the joint-worm. It has been 
more destructive than the weevil, and in some cases as great a pest in that 
State as the midge has in New York. 

Tlie following is Glovei-'s description of this insect : 

"The joint-worm {Enrytoma hardei), which has committed such ravages 
in the wheat-fields of Virginia, comes from a small, black, four-winged fly, 
about an eighth of an inch in length. The female lays several eggs in the 
outer sheath of the stalk above the joints. After they hatch, the worms 
commence feeding within the slieath, and the constant irritation produced 
by them forms a woody gall, or rather succession of galls, in the cavity of 
each of which lies a small, footless maggot, about the seventh or eiglith of 
an inch in length, having a body with thirteen segments, and of a pale, 
glossy, yellowish color. The number of worms in each cluster of galls varies 
from four to ten, or even more. The substance of the stalk attached becomes 
brittle, and either partially or entirely fills its central cavity, and frequently 
distorts it into various irregular shapes. I have often observed young root- 
lets putting out immediately below a joint so affected. The worms on the 
stalks of wheat, when examined in Februar}', were yet in the larva, but 
early in March several had assumed the pupa state. They were about an 
eighth of an inch in length, of a pale yellow color, which as the pupae were 
near coming out, became afterwai'd nearly black. These pupaj had the 
rudiments of wings, legs, and antennae as in the perfect fly, but were motion- 
less. Late in April and tbe beginning of May the flies made their appear- 
ance through holes gnawed through the tougli, woody covering of the gall- 
like excrescence in which they had passed the winter. This transformation, 
however, took place in a warm room. These flies are about an eiglith of an 
inch in length, of a black color, the knees, joints, and feet being tinged 
with yellow. The males, according to Dr. Harris, vary from the females by 
being smaller, and in having no piercers. The joints of the antennae are 
likewise longer, and surrounded with whorls of little bail's. The hind body 



Seo. 12.J ENTOMOLOGICAL. 213 



is sliorter, less pointed at tlie extremity, and is connected with the thorax 
by a longer stem. He iilso says, that among iifreen females only one male 
was found. This corresponds with what I have observed, as out of sixty to 
eighty joint-worm flies, produced from diseased stalks of wheat, I only pro- 
eared one male answering to his description, and eight parasites, not quite 
a tenth of an inch in length, of a dark metallic shade, with yellow legs, and 
the antennse much thicker at the end. These flies were furnished with four 
transparent, dotted wings. It is somewhat incomprehensible how it happens 
that so many females appear at the same time without more males. 

" Another four-winged fly also made its appearance from the same stalks, 
of about an eighth of an inch in length, M'ith an abdomen and legs of a 
bright yellow. The head and thorax were of a dark color, and somewhat 
metallic luster. The wings were transparent, dotted, and fringed with short 
hairs, and tiie piercer reached to the middle of the under part of the abdo- 
men. Dr. Harris states that it has been found in Massachusetts, that plow- 
ing in the stubble has no eflect upon the insects, which remain alive and 
uninjured under the slight covering of earth, and easily make their way to 
the surface, when they have completed their transformation. A free use of 
manure and thorough tillage, by promoting a rapid and vigorous growth of 
the plant, may render it less liable to suffer from the attacks of the insect. 
It has been stated that this fly, like the wheat-midge, does more injury on 
the edges of flelds than in the middle. 

" At the Joint-Worm Convention, held at Warrentown, Virginia, in 185i, 
the following was recommended : Prepare well the land intended for wheat, 
and sow it in the beginning of autumn with the earliest and most thrifty 
und hardy varieties, and do nothing to retard the ripening of the crop by 
grazing or otherwise. Use guano or some other fertilizer liberally, partic- 
ularly when seeding corn-land or stubble. Burn the stubble on every field 
of corn, rye, or oats, and all thickets or other harbors of vegetable growth 
contiguous to the crop. Sow the wheat in as large bodies and in as compact 
forms as practicable ; and if possible, neighbors should arrange among them- 
selves to sow adjoining fields the same year. Feed all the wheat, or other 
straw, which may be infected, in racks or pens, or on confined spots ; and 
on or before the first of May carefully burn all the straw which has not been 
fed. The refuse of wheat, such as screenings, etc., should also be destroyed, 
as the pupa case is hard and not easily softened by dampness or wet." 

AVe can add nothing to this preventive, except a recommendation to com- 
post the refuse of the cattle, instead of burning it. Make a heap that will 
undergo a heating fertnentation, and the eggs will be destroyed, and the 
manure will be more valuable than the ashes. 

248. The llessian-Flyt — ^This is the common name of an insect that at one 
time threatened to put a stop to wheat-growing in all the Northern and 
Middle States. This insect {C<'cifiomyia destructor) obtained its name from 
the fact of its (supposed) importation with the Hessian soldiers of the Revo- 
lution, though this fact has been strongly disputed. It might have been in 



214 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



the country before, and it might also have been imported. It was first pub- 
licly noticed in 1776, at Flatbash (L. I.), and on Staten Island, in the vicinity 
of Sir William Howe's debarkation of those mercenaries of King George, 
and it was quite in keeping with the feelings of the people that they should 
readily credit the charge, that they had brought this among the other evils 
of war. At any rate, it multiplied and spread rapidly, and was for a time 
looked upon as a scourge almost as great as tire and sword. Of late years, 
however, it appears to be dying out. It is subject to the attack of parasites, 
wliich have done more than all the arts and strength of man to rid his land 
of this pest. 

The greatest destroyer of the Ilessian-fly is a shining black four-winged 
fly, about tiie tenth of an inch in length. Do not mistake this friend for 
your foe, and compass its destruction. Many sensible men have made this 
mistake, and very aptly, too ; for, as they will tell you, they have actually 
seen the fellow come out of the dried skin of the Hessian. So they did ; but 
not until the destroyer of wheat had been destroyed by an insect that fed 
upon his vitals. 

The parasite of the Cecidomyia destructor is the Ceraphron destructor of 
Say, and it is a question of vast consequence to wheat-growers what they 
can do to promote the growth of this insect, which has already been of such 
vast benefit to them. 

"We have no doubt that the parasite of the wheat-midge will do the same 
kind of service,' and perhaps exterminate that pest. 

The Hessian-fly is a very small two-winged gnat. The female deposits 
her eggs soon after the wheat begins to grow, say in October, for lat. 39=', 
40°, 41°, in the cavities between the little ridges of the blades. In from 
four to fifteen days the eggs hatch, and the diminutive maggots work down 
into the leaf-sheath and there spend the winter. The fly works from August 
to January, according to latitude and climate influences, so that Avhat would 
be a remedy in one place would not be in another. In fact, it is asserted that 
the fly sometimes works upon M'heat in the spring ; so the following recom- 
mendation would not be efiectual. TJiat is : 

About the middle of August sow a strip of wheat adjoining where yon 
intend to put your crop — say one or two acres. About the middle of Sep- 
tember sow your field. When that has come up and shows cleverly, plow 
under the first sown ; turn it under well. Your fly is headed and your crop 
is safe. 

In the particular locality of the man who says " that remedy wont fail," 
perhaps it will not. 

The maggots within the leaf-sheath lie dormant through the winter, and 
do not stop the growth of the wheat until just before it is ready to blossom, 
when if there are several on a stalk, it Avithers and dies. The worms do not 
eat the stalk, but suck up the sap and poison it. A full-sized maggot is 
three twentieths of an inch long, with a hard skin, of a bright chestnut color, 
and looks as much like a flax-seed as anything it can be compared to. This 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 215 



appearance remains, bnt the outside is a dried skin inclosing the pupa, which 
advances to perfection in April or May, and it is these early flies that lay 
eggs upon spring wheat. It is asserted that there are three broods in a year. 
The fly is about the tenth of an inch long ; the head, antenna, and thorax, 
black ; the hind body tawny, the wings tawny at the base, and black and 
hairy at the ends, expanding about a quarter of an inch. The legs are pale, 
red, or brown, and feet black. The antennae are jointed, and surrounded 
with whorls of short hairs. 

AVitli the above short description and microscoi^e iu hand, it will not be 
dlflicult for any observing person to determine the character of an insect 
found upon his wheat, so as to decide whether it is the Hessian-fly or the 
Hessian-fly destroyer. 

249. lusects lujurious to Fruits. — Probably of all the tribe of pests that 
infest fruit-trees, that known as curculio, or plum weevil {Rhynchamus 
nenuphar), does the most damage. It has nearly driven the plum-trees 
away from every farm, and has in some seasons destroyed the peaches, and 
done incalculable damage to the apple crop. In fact, for many years pre- 
vious to 1S60, there was not a good apple crop in all the Eastern States, 
owing, in a great measure, to the curculio. Small as this pest is, it is capable 
of doing great mischief to all the fruits, and its sting is death to plums, 
apricots, and nectarines, and very injurious to cherries and pears. The flner 
the fruit, the greater the injury. A very hardy plum or cherry may survive 
a sting from this insect, which leaves a peculiar, crescent-shaped wound, and 
makes an ugly scar and a hard gnarl in the fairest fruit. 

This insect is found in nearly all the States of the Union ; it is worst in 
the Middle ones, or between latitudes 39^ and 41°. 

By the following minute description by Glover, the little villain may be 
known by any one, though not previously acquainted with him : 

"The perfect curculio is about two tenths of an inch in length, of a dark 
brown color, with a spot of yellowish white on the hind part of each wing- 
case. The head is furnished with a long, curved snout, or bill, with which 
it is enabled to bore into the unripe fruit by means of jaws placed at the 
end of the bill. The wing-cases, which are rigid, uneven, and humped, 
cover two transparent wiugs, by which the perfect weevil is enabled to fly 
from tree to tree ; but when these wing-cases are closed, the back appears 
witiiout any suture, or division, which has led to the very eiToneous idea 
among formers that the insect can not fly. "When disturbed, or shaken f/om 
the tree, it is so similar in appearance to a dried bud, that it can scarcely be 
distinguished, especially when feigning death, which it always does when 
alarmed. As soon as the plums are of the size of peas, the weevil com- 
mences the work of destruction by making a semi-circular cut through the 
skin with her long, curved snout, in the apex of which she deposits a single 
egg. She then goes to another plum, which is treated in a similar manner, 
until she has exhausted her whole stock of eggs. The grubs, which are 
hatched by the heat of the sun, immediately eat their way to the stone in an 



216 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



oblique direction, where they remain, gnawing the interior, until the fruit is 
weakened and diseased, and by this treatment falls from the tree. The 
grub, which is a small, yellowish, footless, white maggot, then leaves the 
fallen fruit, enters the earth, changes into a pupa, and in the first brood 
comes to the surface again, in about three weeks, as a perfect ■weevil, to 
propagate its species and destroy more fruit. It has not yet been decided 
whether the latest generation of the weevil remains in the ground all winter 
in the grub or in the pupa state. Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, Mass., asserts, 
however, that the grubs, after having entered the earth, return to the surface 
in about six weeks as perfect weevils, which must remain hidden in crevices 
until spring. The most popular opinion is that they remain in the larva or 
pupa state in the earth during the winter, and only reappear in the spring 
in the perfect state. The worm, or grub, is often found in the knots or ex- 
crescences which disfigure and destroy plum-trees, and has been wrongfully 
accused of being the cause of these swellings ; but it is highly probable that 
the weevil, finding in the young knots an acid somewhat similar to tliat of 
the unripe fruit, merely deposits its eggs therein, as the nearest substitute 
for the real plum. 

" Some of the remedies recommended for preventing the ravages of these 
insects are actually absurd, such as tying cotton round the trees in order to 
prevent them from ascending, when it is known that they are furnished with 
wings, and fly from tree to tree with perfect ease. Among the remedies at 
present in use, one is to cover the fruit with a coating of whitewash mixed 
with a little glue, ajjplied by means of a syringe. Another is to spread a 
sheet upon the ground under the tree, and then jar the principal branches 
suddenly with a mallet covered with cloth, so as not to bruise the bark, 
when the perfect insects will full into the sheet and feign death, and may be 
gathered and destroyed. Hogs are sometimes turned into plum orchards, 
where, bj' eating the fallen and diseased fruit, they materially lessen the evil. 
Coops of cliickens, placed under the trees, have also been recommended. 
Then shake the trees often, and the chickens will catch and devour the 
insects. All fallen fruit should be gathered up several times in the course 
of the season, and burnt, or given to hogs, or destroyed in some other way." 

"We shall now give, besides the above remedies, a few more, " infallible," 
of course, tliat float annually through the newspapers. 

250.. Curculio Remedies. — To one pound of whale-oil soap add four ounces 
of flour of sulphur. Mix thoroughly, and dissolve in twelve gallons of 
water. To one half peck of quick-lime add four gallons of water, and stir well 
together. "When fully settled, pour off" the transparent lime-water, and add 
to the soap-and-sulphur mixture. Add to the same, also, say four gallons 
of tolerably strong tobacco-water. Apply this mixture, when thus incor- 
porated, with a garden-syringe, to your plum or other fruit trees, so that the 
foliage shall be well drenched. If no rains succeed for three weeks, one 
application will be sufficient. Should frequent rains occur, the mixture 
should be again applied until the stone of the fruit becomes hardened. 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 217 

The person who used and recommended this remedy says : " The trees that 
received the application ripened an abundant crop of as perfect and beautiful 
plums as ever grew, while not a single plum was ripened on those trees to 
which the wash was not applied." 

He also recommends a little salt to be added to the mixture. 

It has been stated as an important fact, that plum-trees planted in such a 
position that the fruit will hang over water, will never be stung by curculio; 
BO that nothing is more easy than growing this delicious fruit wherever the 
trees can be so planted. Dr. Underhill, of Croton Point "Vineyard notoriety, 
states that he is never troubled, not having seen an insect upon one of 150 
trees in six years. He formed an artificial pond, with banks constructed on 
purpose to set the trees slanting over the water. He gathers the fruit in a 
boat. He has many of the best varieties of plums so planted, and never 
saw finer fruit than he thus produces. It is an experiment that should be 
tried by every man who has the necessary conveniences. The ravages of 
the curculio have been so great for many j'cars tlfat we have had but few 
plums, and those inferior and high priced, in this market. 

We have the following account from James Taylor, of St. Catherine's, 
C. W., a few miles from Niagara Falls, of a pretty eftectual remedy for the 
great pest of the plum-grower — the curculio. He says : 

" Our locality being much infested with the curculio, and observing in one 
paper issue, last spring, what had been pronounced by a Mr. Jos. H. 
Mather, of Goshen, twenty miles southeast of the place where the writer 
resided, an effectual remedy against its ravages, allow me, for the benefit of 
your readers, to state my exjyerience of its efficacy. The proposed remedy 
was a mixture of sulphur, lard, and Scotch snufi', to be rubbed freely on the 
trunk and branches. This I applied according to the directions, and it is 
true that I had a splendid crop of plums, some of the choicest varieties, 
always most subject to the attacks of this insect, viz., the Bolmar, Huling's 
Superb, etc., being perfectly loadeJ ; hut marh the result. On examining 
my trees last fall, I found all that I had applied the mixture to in a dying 
state, and I have lost them all, with the exception of one or two young trees. 
The operation being rather a troublesome one, I did not apply it to as many 
as I should otherwise have done, or I should have lost more. So much for 
quack nostrums. The remedy proved worse than the disease. Perhaps my 
experience will be useful to others." 

R. G. Pardee gives the following remedy lor the ciu'culio, which has been 
successfully practiced by a person of his acquaintance. Take fresh cow- 
droppings, and a little wood-ashes, some lime, and a little sulphur, and make 
all into a thin decoction, and throw it over the trees with a hand-basin. 
This lasts until it rains ; it is then put on again. A half pound of sulphur 
to a half barrel is sufficient, and of the other substances it is not very im- 
portant as to the proportions. 

"We think the labor of this application would be too great. 

Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, says that he has tried all sorts of offensive 



218 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



odors to keep off ciirculio, -without effect. " I have found no remedy equal 
to that of manual labor in catching and destroying the insect. It is a fact 
that some plum-trees are not infested by the curculio." 

Tlie following is a conversation of some experienced fruit-growers upon 
curculio remedies, and the character of the insect : 

IIenky Steele, a New Jersey nurseryman, said that he had prevented 
curculio by the use of black soap from the tallow-chandlers, dissolved in 
water and much diluted, with which the trees are syringed directly after the 
blossoms fall, after a rain, and repeated, if necessary, in consequence of being 
washed off. 

R. G. Pardee — A person present assures me that a neighbor of his 
ya!*ded his hogs around his plum-trees, and that saved them from the curcu- 
lio. Mr. Pardee said that he thought that fresh cow or pig manure, dis- 
solved, and the water sprinkled over plum-trees, would prevent curculio. 
They dislike any strong-smelling substances. 

"Wm. Lawton — You may apply cow or pig manure raw to all fruits and 
berries, but not horse manure ; that never should be used fresh — make it first 
into compost. 

Dr. Trimble — The curculio has already commenced its ravages this spring. 
I am also satisfied that the curculio stings the bark of plum-trees and pro- 
duces the disease known as the black knot. I have made a great many 
experiments to prove the insect identical with that which destroys all of our 
smooth-skinned fruit. The jarring of trees to shake off the curculio is effect- 
ual, but it is an immense labor, as it must be attended to every day, and 
some sunny days several times a day. I think that, unless some remedy 
for this insect can be discovered, we shall be unable to raise any fine fruit. 
It is the curculio that causes the disease in apples known as gnarly. We 
get no good apples in Jersey, and it is out of the question to raise plums, 
apricots, or fine peaches. "We import prunes from Germany cheaper than 
v\-e can make boxes to pack them in — the plums grow to such perfection in 
that country. 

Wit. Lawton — I have removed bushels of black knots from my cherry-trees 
and burned them. I found in all these knots a living worm. I destroy the 
common caterpillar by collecting them in the nests and destroying them. 

Mr. 0. W. Brewster, of Freeport, 111., gave a statement of his success in 
repelling the attacks of the curculio on his plums. Early in spring he scat- 
tered lime, which had been mixed for whitewashing, under his plum-trees 
once a week, until the curculio quitted the field. lie also scattered soap-suds 
and chamber-lye under them in liberal quantity. He said, I have twice tried 
the same remedy, with complete success. I once applied it to a small tree, 
which matured its whole crop ; several other trees near it, which set full of 
fruit, did not ripen a specimen. If plum-trees succeeded with us well, I 
should have no fears of the curculio. 

P. II. Perky, of Collins Center, IST. Y., says : 

" A gentleman lately informed me that he had raised a good crop of plums 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 219 

simply by spreading a heavy coat of fresh horse manure on the ground under 
his trees. He said it entirely prevented the ravages of the curculio, when 
o;i their account he had not been able to gather a crop of plums for years 
before." 

SoLox EoBiNSON read the following letter from Dobbs' Ferry. The man 
certainly can read, at least he says so, but we wonder how he can own a ti'ee 
liable to the attacks of the curculio, and know so little about it. He says : 

'• I have been much interested in the doings and sayings of the Farmers' 
Club, but in the various debates before that body, I have seen no statement 
advanced concerning the habits of the curculio. I have also read several 
articles concerning its depredations, but I have yet to learn whether it is a 
flying insect, or simply crawls up the body of trees. I have several cherry- 
trees in my garden of choice varieties, and I can safely say that every cherry 
was punctured by the curculio this spring. 

" The trees are growing and have just commenced bearing. 

" The soil is sandy. 

" My neighbor, less than a hundred feet from me, has escaped its ravages. 

" Does it fly or crawl ? 

" Would a barrel or trough similar to those used on the elms of New 
Haven be of any service in staying its ravages ? 

" Are the worms in the common black cherry, which is universally 
inhabited, produced by the curculio ? 

" Is there any remedy for this pest ?" 

That question — " Is there any remedy for this pest ?" — has been answered 
in evei-y agricultural paper in the world, and so it has been stated that the 
insect has wings, and yet the writer of this letter has not read of it. 

Let me ask another question : " How is it possible to enlighten people 
who will not read ? or, reading, will not understand ?" 

Dr. Teimblf, — I am now trying several experiments to prove that the 
same insect that stings the fruit makes the knots on the limbs. No attach- 
ment to the bole of a tree can be any protection against a flying insect like 
the curculio. The excrescence on the limb is no more remarkable than the 
insect that produces the balls upon oak-trees. Dr. T. showed specimens 
of the curculio of plums, that he had hatched out in earth covered to pre- 
vent escape, to show that the insect becomes perfect from the first laying of 
eggs in young plums, and, as he thinks, these perfect insects lie dormant till 
spring. The question is, Where do they hide themselves until the young 
fruit is rcadj for them to deposit their eggs ? 

Prof. Mapes said that a preparation called Persian Powder is said to be 
very efi'ectual in destroying insects. 

Wm. S. Carpenter thought that no bug-powder would rid a farm of cater- 
pillars. Something else must be done. 

Wm. Lawton said that he had cleared his farm of tent caterpillars by 
pulling down the nests by hand, with all the worms in them, when they are 
easily destroyed. 



220 SMALL ANIMAXS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



Dr. Trimble gave a history of the cockchafer, which remains in the ground, 
like the locust, four years, and then conies forth in imiueuse numbers, but 
in the flying state. They do not feed, and consequently do no damage to 
plants. 

In our opinion, the best remedy for curculio is pigs, poultiy, and birds. 
We have seen fine crops of plums grown in a curculio neighborhood, in a 
season when these pests were active, in a small lot occupied as a poultry-yard, 
in which several pigs run at large. The hens scratched, and the pigs rooted 
the ground, and the dove-cot also had something to do with the matter. At 
any rate, the barn was inhabited by swallows, and they catch flies, and per- 
haps curculios. 

251. — Apple and Peach Worms. — Tlie codlin moth, or apple moth {Carpo- 
capsa jwmonella), is the name of an injurious insect which deposits its eggs, 
in June or July evenings, in the calyx of the young apples, whore they soon 
hatch, and the little, worms eat their way to the heart of the fruit, where 
they continue till ready to change into the chrysalis state. " Wormy apples" 
generally ripen prematurely and f;Ul. The worm is of a reddish color when 
fully grown, and ready to leave the fruit and creep into crevices of the bark 
to spin a semi-transparent cocoon, where it changes into a small chestnut- 
brown chrysalid, and that produces a moth in a few days, measuring 
seven tenths of an inch across the wings, which are of a brownish-gray color, 
crossed by many dark-colored lines, with a dark, oval spot on each wing. 
The under wings are lighter colored, shaded near the margin. As a remedy 
against this pest, it has been recommended to wrap cloths loosely around 
the forks of the trees, for a shelter for the worms to form cocoons, and then 
destroy them. We fancy that this remedy will cure but a very small part 
of the evil. Picking up and putting all windfalls w'here the worms can 
never see daylight will kill more of them. 

Perhaps the best remedy for this, and many other little pests, is the Scrip- 
tural one — " Dig about the tree and dung it." That is, give it greater vigor 
of growth ; make it more productive, so that a portion of the fruit will come 
to maturity in spite of all insects. It is a well-known fact that the most 
vigorous-growing, thrifYy trees exactly correspond with thrifty farmers — the 
more they have, the more they gain. Insects mostly attack the most 
neglected trees. 

252. Peach-Tree Borers. — The peach-tree borer {^geria exitiosa) is one 
of the greatest pests of the farm, because it has almost blotted out of exist- 
ence this most valuable fruit in large districts of the country. It is believed 
by most careful observers to be the cause of nearly all the diseases which 
affect the peach-trees, the most visible of which is " the yellows," where the 
leaves gradually take on a yellow, sickly appearance in midsummer, and 
frequently at the age of three or four years show scarcely a green leaf, when 
they should be clothed in the richest green, and finally wither and gradually 
perish. The epitaph of tens of thousands of peach-trees all over New En- 
gland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 221 



o 



would be, " Died young — attacked by borers — tbe disease exbibited in yel- 
low leaves — speedy death followed." 

This boring worm is produced from eggs deposited at the foot of the tree 
by a wasp-shaped moth, of a steel-blue color, with an orange ring about the 
abdomen. Sometimes the eggs are placed in wounds, or between forks, but 
generally in the bark, close to the ground, where the worms can easily pene- 
trate into and devour the inner bark and wood just below the surface. 

Sometimes a vigorous tree will retain life year after year, with these worms 
gnawing at its vitals. Sometimes the tree is girdled and destroyed in a single 
summer. There appears to be a succession of broods in a single season. In 
the latitude of New York city, the moths come out in June and July. Nec- 
tarines and apricots are also attacked by the same insect. The plum wood 
appears too hard, and peaches engrafted on plum stocks sometimes succeed 
where, if upon their natural roots, tliey would never bear fruit. These 
borers, when full-grown, are about an inch long, colored yellowish white, 
with an amber-brown head. The chrysalis is brown ; it is formed in a case 
made of the gnawings of the worm, which it glues together around its bod}'. 
The moth expands wings an inch across, transparent and veined, and bor- 
dered blue in the male, and dark blue upon the female's upper wings, and 
her body is belted with orange. 

The remedies, as preventives or cures of the peach-tree borer, are numer- 
ous. Dr. Harris, the great American entomologist, says : 

" Remove the earth around the base of the tree, crush and destro}' the 
cocoons and borers which may be found in it and under tlie bark, cover the 
wounded parts with the common clay comjjosition, and surround the trunk 
with a strip of sheathing-paper nine or ten inches wide, which should extend 
two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured by strings of matting 
above. Fresh mortar should then be placed around the root, so as to con- 
fine the paper, and prevent access beneath it; and the remaining cavity may 
be tilled with new or unexhausted loam. The operation should be performed 
in the spring, or during the month of June, In the M'inter the strings may 
be removed, and in the following spring the trees should again be examined 
for any borers that may have escaped search before, and the protecting ap- 
plications should be renewed. Tlie ashes of anthracite coal have also been 
recommended to be put into the cavities made when the eartli has been re- 
moved from around the trunks when searching for the worm ; and if the 
trunks are thoroughly searched three or four times a year, especially in the 
earth near the roots, and the grubs and chrysalids dug out and destroyed, 
these insects would soon cease to be as injurious as they are at present." 

The following conversation in the Farmers' Club conveys some useful in- 
formation upon this important subject : 

Solon Robinson read a letter from the Rev. J. S. "Weishampel, Sen., Bal- 
timore, Md., upon the use of hot water to kill insects upon trees. He alludes 
to a letter read here some weeks since, about scalding wheat, and then saj's: 

" This scalding process destroys the egg of the fly, and the same process 



222 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

has been known to destroy the eggs as well as the grubs themselves, that injure 
the peacli, pluin, and other trees so greatly. Scald the stem of the tree well, 
lettino- the hot water get well into the ground around the tree, where the 
grubs do the most harm, and a destruction of both eggs and grub follows ; 
and, in addition to this, the scalding appears to add to the vigor of the 
trees. 

" An old lady in Berks County, Pa., had a plum-tree that for many years 
bloomed and brought forth crops of fruit till half ripe, and then shed them. 
She often besought her husband to remove the tree, but he still pleaded, 
' Let it stand another j-ear.' At length, one spring, after she had boiled her 
soap, she heated the kettle full of the refuse lye to a boiling degree, and 
poured it all down the stem of the tree, intending to ' scald it to death,' as 
she said. It soon blossomed most abundantly, and bore a profuse crop of 
plums, which it brought to the greatest perfection, which greatly pleased the 
old lady. 

"Tills same principle could be applied to the destruction of every 
kind of destructive insect upon the various choice fruit-trees, either by pour- 
ing boiling water upon the limbs and stems, or by conducting a stream 
of steam through a hose or iJijJe, from a movable boiler, to kill both eggs 
and insects. 

"Chestnuts, too, are very liable to be worm-eaten. If they were subject- 
ed to a momentary heating (wet or dry heat), to a sufficient degree to scald, 
it would kill the gei-m of the worm that destroys that sweet nut. And the 
same principle would also prevent all wood used in building and machin- 
ery from becoming worm-eaten." 

Prof. Mapes — I have used it on peach-trees, until I have satisfied myself 
that a peach-tree can not be injured by hot water. 

Mr. Carpenter said that lime was the best thing he ever tried around 
peach-trees. 

Mr. Wheeler said that lime will not kill the grubs in the wood. 

Mr. Smith, of Connecticut — I have found no remedy except manual labor, 
though wood-ashes are valuable, and so is lime. I have an orchard in full 
bearing that is fourteen years old. 

Prof. Mapes — I have never found any remedy equal to hot water. It 
cooks the worms. 

A letter from East Wilson, Niagara County, li. Y., says : 

" A large and interested community, comprising at least five thoxisand 
peach-growers in this county, ask for U(jht. What can be done to stay the 
ravages of the red-headed peach-grub? To dig him out and kill him will 
only insure an armistice for about ten days. Fresh wood-ashes applied to the 
trees only seem to sharpen his appetite for destruction. Hundreds of orchards 
and thousands of trees are dying from his operations. There are half a 
million of peach-trees in this vicinity suifering from tiiis pest. Will tar pre- 
vent his operations? and will it injure the tree? Can you or any of your 
numerous readers or correspondents tell us of any specific which will kill 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. • 223 



the grub without injuring the tree? If you can do so, you will confer a 
substantial favor upon many hundreds of your readers." 

Andkew S. Fuller — The best remedy is to preserve the birds — the natu- 
ral insect destroyers. It is their decrease tliat has increased destructive 
insects. 

Wm. Lawton stated that he had taken great pains to preserve birds around 
his place, and was now reaping the benetit. As to any outward application 
to kill the peach-worm, he did not know of anything that M'ould destroy it 
witliout destroying the trees. If the worms are dug out, and a plaster of 
soft cow-manure is applied, the tree may recover. It is a very tedious 
operation. 

Wrens. — The Secretary advocated the cultivation, or rather protection, of 
wrens and insect destroyers. 

Mr. Fuller said that the wren was a mischievous bird, and destroyed the 
es28 of other birds. • 

A letter from P. M. Goodwin, Kingston, Luzerne County, Pa., says : 

"I observe in the transactions of the Club of July 2, it is thought that if 
a discussion of tlie topic of the peach-grub would elicit a remedy, it would 
be universally entertaining. My conclusion is, that trying to cure the peach- 
grub, unless where the soil is light and but few are found, is a humbug. I 
have a preventive, which I will give cheerfully : 

" When I purchased my little place on Rose Hill, overlooking a portion 
of ' Wyoming Valley,' there were one hundred neglected peach-trees thereon 
— budded, and of excellent varieties — which were full of grubs. Early in 
April I commenced operations by carefully clearing away the grubs by 
means of the knife and wire. I then made a funnel-shaped hole around the 
base of each tree, whicli would hold three or four quarts of water. I filled 
the holes with boiling water, which eflectually destroyed the progeny. I 
then filled the holes with a tenacious clay, and tamped it hard, leaving the 
surface around the tree cone-shaped and hard compacted. I have examined 
these trees at various times during the intervening five j'ears, and have found 
but one tree afi'ected, and that with but two grubs. This mode, witli me, 
has acted as a perfect preventive, and, I have no doubt, will witli all who 
adopt it and exercise the same care. 

"These trees were three or four years old, and, at the time the experiment 
was made, much inferior to some from the same lot growing elsewhere, 
M-hich were regularly examined and carefully cleared of grubs in the usual 
way. My trees are sound in wood, and look well, while the others have dis- 
appeared. 

" In planting peach-trees now, I would cut away the tap (not top) root 
close under where the horizontal roots put out. Having driven a stake firmly 
for each tree, I would plant it so shallow that after the lieavy rain the upper 
side of the roots will become exposed. In this way the trees are not so liable 
to become infested with the grub. I planted some trees so a year ago, and 
find the non-appearance of the grub satisfactory." 



224 SM.VLL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



R. G. Pardee — I have tried the hot water very often, and have always 
found it effectual ; and I thought that by this time everybody had heard of 
it, but if they have not, I hope this letter Avill be read and remembered. 
Instead of clay I used leached ashes, as they were more coavenient, and they 
answered a good purpose. 

The Chairman presented a new pest of the peach — a dark-colored worm, 
about an inch long, that iixes itself in the foot-stalks of the leaves and destroys 
them. 

Wm. S. Cakpenter — This insect discussion is one of great importance to 
farmers. These little, insignificant things are great destroyers of our crojJs. 
"What if we could discover a remedy for the bugs that eat up the potato vines, 
or a remedy for the efl'ect of cold upon fruit-trees ; for I have noticed, within 
a day or two, that the northerly sides of the pear-trees are blasted and turned 
dark by the cold wind. The cold of a day or two in spring often destroys' 
many tender veget-ables. 

It was observed that cold nights sometimes have a beneficial efl'ect upon 
fruits, by destroying some of the insects that usually prey upon them. It did 
in the spring of 1860. That season proved the most productive of fruit of 
any year in the memory of most young people. Of the hot-water remedy 
for the peach-grub, we speak from experience, that it is the best of all we 
ever knew. Lime, too, has been tried with good results. Hon. John M. 
Clayton, of Delaware, assured us once, at his house, that the peach-trees we 
were then looking at, which were so vigorous, had been treated with half a 
bushel of lime, placed in contact with the body and upper roots, and he be- 
lieved it would continue to be a preventive of the peach-grub. 

253. Insect RcmedieSi — We give the following various remedies for insects, 
all of which are vouched for by good men ; some believing one infallible, 
and some another. 

The following wash is recommended for all sorts of trees, as a preventive 
remedy against caterpillars, etc. : Potash, 20 lbs. ; air-slacked lime, half a 
bushel ; sifted wood-ashes, half a bushel ; fresh cow dung, half a bushel. 
Mix in water enough to be of the consistence of whitewash. Scrape ofi^ the 
rough bark, and rub the wash in well with a brush. 

Caustic soda wash is one of the best things we ever saw applied to a fruit- 
tree. It will make the bark as smooth as if wax-polished. It leaves no 
harbor for insects under pieces of dead bark. It is made by heating the 
common sal-soda red hot in any old iron vessel, and then making a lye of it 
— say about one pound of the salts to a gallon of water — and washing the 
trees with a brush. It is best to put it on in the spring. A piece of old 
stove-pipe, battered up at one end, and stuck into one of the stove-holes, 
answers very well to heat the soda in. The wash should be too caustic to 
put your hands in, and, while putting it on, it will not be worth while to 
wear a fine broadcloth coat. 

The Liquid Brimstone Remedy. — M. Letellier states in the Journal of the 
Paris Horticultural Society, that a liquid formed by boiling 63 grains of red 



Sao. 12.1 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



225 



American potash, and the same quantity each of flour of sulphur and soap, 
in 1| pints of water, is most excellent and efficacious in destroying insects. 
If it requires to be stronger, the quantity of potash and sulphur may be 
doubled, but the soap must remain the same. Upon immersion, the insects 
— ants, caterpillars, cockchafers, grubs, etc. — are instantly killed, while the 
solution occasions no injury to plants. The liquid will destroy ants and 
grubs when poured into their places of resort. 

Preventive of Canlcer- Worms from Ajyple-Trees. — A letter from Maiden, 
Mass., gives a most sensible plan for a cheap preventive of canker-worms, 
which climb the boles of apple-trees : 

" Take pine boards of suitable width for four to box a tree. Cut them in 
pieces two feet long on one edge, and four feet long on the other edge. Nail 
them together in a box around the tree, with four sharp points up. This box 
is to be adjusted about the tree before the grubs come from the ground, and 
a peck of powdered lime or ashes thrown between the trunk of the tree and 
the inside of the box. The caustic lime or ashes will destroy the grubs near 
the tree, and the boxes will invite all the grubs near them to ascend and de- 
posit their eggs. I found the pinnacles covered with grubs and eggs, and 
the insects apparently contented with this highest point as a safe place, and 
there the eggs were deposited. 1 then removed the boxes to a considerable 
distance from the trees, and heard no more from canker-worms; they all died 
for want of proper food." 

Another plan, lately patented, to prevent worms climbing trees, looks as 
though it would be effectual. A tin trough is made in two parts, large 
enough to encircle the tree and leave a space four or five inches between tho 
trough and bole of the tree. From the outside edge of the trough a strip 
of cloth extends all around, wide enough to have its upper edge tacked ta 
the tree, by which the trough filled with oil is sheltered from rain and sus- 
tained in its place, so that worms creeping upward come first in contact with 
the cloth, and if they crawl down that to get around the edge and so up the 
tree, they are caught in the oil, which, being sheltered, remains in good con- 
dition longer than when exposed. Now it is an experiment worth trying, 
and for which there is no patent, whether a strip of cloth nailed around tho 
tree at one edge, and having the other extended six inches from the bole by 
a wire or limber rod, would not answer the purpose without the oil-trough. 
The under side of the cloth could be coated with some kind of pitch that 
would not harden soon, being protected from sun and rain, which would 
efl'ectually prevent the ascension of insects — certainly much more so than 
the belt of tar as it is usually applied. 

Dr. Teimble, in answer to the question, what remedy to apply to this pest, 
said that the only remedy is the ichneumon parasites. These, in their proper 
time, will attack the worms and destroy them. In the mean time, while 
one section of the country is ravaged, another is extraordinarily fruitful. 

He introduced specimens of the caterpillar that preys ivpon the grapevine, 
to show that it has its parasite, one of which had just emerged from the 



226 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. XL 



body of the caterpilkr. Tliis, he hoped, would prove a sufficient check to 
the ravages of tliis particular pest. 

254. Another Conversation at the CInb about Insects. — Wm. S. Caepentee— 
All classes of insects have tiicir favorite plants, but if these favorite plants 
fail, the insects will take to others. Last year I saw ailanthus trees in this 
city completely covered with a worm known in the country as the canker- 
worm. The trees were wholly stripped of foliage. We are continually im- 
porting insects in various ways. I am told (hat every banana stem contains 
a worm, and some of the same sort of worms have been discovefed preying 
upon the quince. 

The rose-slug is easily killed by hand in the after part of the day, by an 
application of quassia decoction, sprinkled upon the leaves, as the slugs are 
then on the upper surface. 

Extra cultivation, by which the plants grow rapidly, is the best remedy 
for squash bugs. 

Mr. Paedee said that the best remedy is to expose the soil dug from 
a deep hole several days to the sun, and then put it back in the hole, 
patting it down solid, and then putting in the seed, and covering it lightly, 
and then spreading fine charcoal over the hill. 

Mr. FuLLEE— I tried this charcoal remedy, last year, most thoroughly, 
without deriving a particle of benefit. 

Mr. Pardee — I have used charcoal, and was not troubled with bugs. 
Now it is possible that, without it, the plants would not have been troubled. 
So, after all, it is uncertain whether the charcoal was the preventive, or 
whether there were no bugs to be eradicated. 

Mr. Gakvey — I have tried a great many remedies, and have never found 
anything so good as careful watering, and hand killing the bugs. 

R. G. Pardee — I wish every man would try the solution of aloes — two 
ounces to the gallon of water. It is such a bitter vegetable that it is 
offensive to all insects. It may be used just as strong as it can be made — 
from one fourth to a whole pound to the gallon. 

Mr. Caepentee — The canker-worm, in the northern part of Connec- 
ticut, is now ravaging the orchards to an extent that is destructive 
to all prospects of fruit. On some large orchards there are no apples — 
in fact, nearly all the foliage of the trees has been destroyed. Can this be 
prevented ? 

Washing Insects from Fruit-Trces. — Mr. Paedee read a letter from Charles 
Lincoln, of North Bridgewater, Mass., which stated that he succeeded in saving 
his plum-trees, last spring, from insects, by washing them frequently with 
clear cold water, using for the purpose a little hand instrument called the 
" hydropult." 

Dr. Teimble contended that all the rot in plums is caused by the sting of 
the curculio. 

Mr. Paedee thought that this statement was incorrect ; that plums fre- 
quently rot where there are no curculio. He said, thirty years ago, at Seneca 



Sko. 12.] 



EITTOMOLOGICAL. 



227 



Falls, there was no curculio to disturb the plum, and Tre grew great crops, 
and sometimes nearly all on a tree rotted, almost all at once. 

Gi-'!s/ia}'d''s Compound for Insects. — P. B. Mead (editor of the Horticul- 
turist) said that he has tried the above compound upon several kinds of in- 
sects, and found it sure death to all he had applied it upon. Tiie objection 
to it is its high price — too high for common use ; if it would rid us of the 
curculio, it would make the plums too costly. 

John G. Bekgen — It is a fact that we have a prospect this year of a larger 
crop of plums than we have had in many years, and therefore persons 
should be careful of their hasty conclu.sions about this or that nostrum 
driving them off. 

Mr. Mead — ^The preparation I mentioned, dissolved in water and used as 
a syringe upon plum-trees, had the effect to drive off the curculio, even upon 
one side of a tree, while the other was still infested. 

Remedy for Rose-Slugs. — Geo. H. Hite — I have found an effectual rem- 
edy against the depredations of these pests, in sifting dry dust upon the 
bushes. It is just as good as snuff, or any other bug-powder. Of course, it 
wants frequent renewal. 

Baric-Lice. — Andrew S. Fuller — If a tree is properly cultivated, it will 
grow so vigorously that it will outgrow all bad effects from attacks of plant- 
lice. 

Worms Destroying Gooseberry Rushes. — R. Dixie, of Painesville, Ohio, 
inquires for a remedy for a pest upon his gooseberry and currant bushes. 
He says " they have been stripped of their leaves entirely, in one summer, by 
hosts of green catei-pillars or worms about an inch in length — a number 
of broods during the season. "What shall we do to get rid of the pests? I 
have used lime in powder, and dry unleached ashes, without any apparent 
beneficial effect." 

Solon Robinson — I would try the new preparation of " attenuated coal- 
tar," which we have had exhibited here in the form of a dry powder. So 
far as I have been able to try it, I have found it particularly offensive to 
all insects. 

A. B. Dickinson — If soft soap is placed in the crotch of a tree, and left to 
work down by the rain, it will keep off all insects, even the curculio. Many 
insects are kept away by offensive smells, which do not kill them. Smoke, 
for instance, keeps off many insects. 

Pests of Grajjeviiies and other Plants. — Dr. Trimble — Here is a specimen 
of the insect that curls the grape-leaf. Spring is the time to look after them, 
and pick them off by hand and destroy them, or they will destroy the vines. 
Here is another curious insect that infests the currant bushes. It is what we 
call lice, and these lice furnish food for a colony of ants, by their exudation 
of a sort of sweet substance. Here is the worm that curls the currant-leaf; 
and here is another curious insect that binds itself up in a web and a leaf, 
and what is remarkable, this insect is itself full of other insects — parasites 
that live upon, and in a great measure destroy it. I wish that some para- 



228 SMALL ANLVALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



site could be found to destroy the curcnlio. -Perliaps it may be destroyed in 
time, as the Hessian-fly has been. 

The Measuring Worm. — Solon Eobinson — If any one desires to extirpate 
the worms that infest the trees in our parks, now is the time to do it by de- 
stroying the eggs. Scraping and washing with potash is the best protection 
of the boles of the trees. If we had plenty of birds we should get rid of the 
worms. It is only in cities, where there are so few birds, that these pests 
are so troublesome. Insects are the natural food of all birds. Even the 
domestic ones that we keep about our homestead destroy untold quantities 
of pestiferous insects that could not be got rid of in any other way. The 
greatest profit in keeping poultry is the good the animals do in their inces- 
sant pursuit of bugs and worms, which, if not destroyed, would in their turn 
destroy the food-plants that we cultivate. I know of no contrivance of man 
that will protect him from insects. 

Mr. Pardee — In New Haven, trees have been protected by zinc troughs, 
filled with oil, around the boles. 

Destroying Trees to Get Hid of TTorms. — Andrew S. Fuller stated that 
the worms in Brooklyn were so bad that the city councils were talking of 
cutting down all the trees in that city, to get rid of the worms. 

Solon Eoblnson — They had better cut down the boys who destroy the 
birds. 

More than forty years ago, the "canker-worms" were terribly destructive, 
for several years, of apple-trees in Connecticut, and attempts were made to 
prevent their ravages by making a band of tar, two or three inches wide, 
around the bole of the tree. It proved eflectual while the tar was soft ; but, 
unless renewed every day, and sometimes twice a day, the surface dried so 
that the worms crawled over; and I have seen them so thick that they 
crawled into the tar and stuck, and then others went over them, and so on 
until they formed a bridge, and thus defeated their strong opponent. 

Dr. Trimble — The lindens of New Jersey, in former years, have been very 
much aflected, but this year they have not been injured. I believe the in- 
sect has been destroyed by parasites, and I hope it will be in Brooklyn. I 
hope that no one will think of cutting down trees to get rid of the worms. 

Origin of " Bug-Pmcder.''^ — Tlie Secretary stated that Lyon, the great 
bug-powder man, has gone home to Europe, worth an immense sum, and it 
is now published that the powder is made of a common French field-plant 
of a species of the chamomile. 

All the eflfective insect powders now offered for sale owe their efficiency 
to red chamomile. It is sold by some of the druggists. Rub it to a fine dust, 
mix it. with some cheap divisor, and it is the best insect powder known. 
When dusted into the cracks and corners of ceilings, etc., out walk the 
cockroaches and all other intruders without fail. Dust the aflected plants, 
and you may keep them clear of insects. 

Mons. Radiguet states to the Society of Agriculture, Paris, that the plant 
known as " Whiteflower Margaret" {Chrysantheinum cuanthemum), used as 



Skc. 321 ENTOMOLOGICAL. 229 



a decoration, is very destructive to insect life. This plant is not a native of 
this country, but is cultivated here, and can be easily multiplied. 

Disease of the Coffce-Trcc. — Dr. Montague stated, at a meeting of the 
Society, that a disease has attacked the cottee-trees of Ceylon, similar to the 
cidium of the grapevines. The same disease has been observed in the West 
Indies. Olives and mulberries are attacked ; insects are observed upon 
them, something like the cochineal insect. There is also an exudation of a 
sweet gum that attracts insects. Milk of lime and purin — an extract of 
manure — are used as a preventive. 

Ailanthus, as a food for silk-worms, has been tised in France with success. 

Kerosene Oil for Insects. — Wm. G. Le Due, of Hastings, sends us a rem- 
edy for caterpillars and other insects, easily applied. It is kerosene oil. 
He says : 

" Finding some large nests of caterpillars on my plum-trees, I took a can 
of illuminating oil, as it is called, and applying a few drops (sufficient to 
saturate the web of the nest), found that it worked like a charm. It is in- 
stant death to the vermin. Care should be taken not to apply it to the 
leaves of the plant or tree, as they will be scalded at once. I have but little 
doubt that, in the hands of your careful experimentalists, it will prove of 
value. The coarser oils of coal will no doubt be equally efficacious in many 
instances. I may as well mention here, also, that I have found kerosene oil 
a most excellent diluent of printers' ink, which I use in my flouring-mill for 
stencil-plate marking. It would be a thorough cleanser of type, though, per- 
haps, not so cheap as potash." 

Coal-Tar for Insects. — Prof. Mapes — "We are very free of destructive tree 
insects, this year (1860), in New Jersey, but have a fair show of other pests of 
the farm and garden, and we are obliged to resort to some remedy. We can 
not grow early turnips without using something to keep the insects oil", and 
I am glad that the necessity stimulates invention to assist farmers in the de- 
struction of these pests. I have lately tried one called " attenuated coal- 
tar," and find it eti'ectual. It is likely to be a very valuable aid to fruit- 
growers and gardeners. It is in the form of powder, and wherever sprinkled 
upon insect-infested plants, the insects leave at once. It is coal-tar mixed 
with some substauce so as to reiaiu all its odor, and yet remain in the form 
of a dry powder. 

Mr. Lawton — The Black Tartarian is a good sort of cherry, but I prefer 
the Black Eagle ; it is a very hardy variety, and veiy productive. The En- 
glish Morello is an acid cherry, and the tree very free from insects. We 
have not had a rose-bug with us this year. 

Solon Kobinson stated that, only five miles from Mr. Lawton, the rose- 
bugs infested his cherry-trees by myriads, destroying more than half the 
fruit. Mr. B. inquired of Mr. Lawton what it was that ate his cherry-leaves, 
if it was not rose-bugs, as they were evidently eaten by some Jnsect, and if 
coal-tar or anything else will prevent their ravages, it should be extensively 
known. 



230 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

Whisky for Ants. — Wm. Davis, of Marengo, Morrow County, Ohio, offers 
the following plan for protecting fruit-trees from ants, which, he says, have 
killed many trees for him. It is the same plan pursued in this city to make 
loafers, and then get rid of tiiem — that is, feed them with whisky and make 
them drunk, and then wipe them out. He says : 

" Mix whisky, molasses, and water, in equal parts, and fill a tumbler about 
two thirds full, and set it partly in the ground at the foot of the tree infested 
by ants. When it gets full of the drunkards, scoop them out and kill them." 

We suffjrest feediniir them to fowls. 

Do Worms liaiii Down? — A person at Angola, Ind., who notices that the 
Club talks about all sorts of miscellaneous matters, Avants us, in the absence 
of more important questions, to talk about this: "Do fish, worms, and small 
toads, such as are often seen after a shower, in places where it appears they 
must have fallen with the rain, actually come from the clouds?" 

Dr. Wateebuky replied — They do not; it is one of the popular errors 
which are so hard to eradicate. 

The Locust Question. — A long discussion ensued upon the locust question 
between Professor Mapes, Professor Nash, Wm. Lawton, Wm. K. Prince, 
Dr. Tiimble, and Andrew S. Fuller, about the habits of the seventeen-year 
locust, which appeared in great numbers in the summer of 1860, in the vicin- 
ity of New York. Every schoolboy of any pretension should read all about 
these locusts, and study their natural history. Wherever they appear, try to 
learn their habits, and whether they do injury to plants, either above or be- 
low the surface of the earth. 

Prof. Mapes exhibited the effects upon branches punctured by the females 
to lay their eggs, he still thought Avithout permanent injury to the trees. 

Wm. It. Pkince declared the whole theory of the seventeen-year locusts a 
humbug. 

Prof. Nash thought they return in some localities in thirteen years, and 
inquired if the nature of the soil liad any effect upon their maturity. 

Varieties of the Locust. — Andkew S. Fuller — AVe have many varieties 
of what are called locusts, among which are the Cicada Septemdecim, Cicada 
Canicularis, Cicada Jiimosa, Cicada Jlarr/inata, Cicada Superba, Cicada 
Bohcrtsonia, and perhaps several others. The habits of these are well 
known, and have been for many years. The seventeen-year locust has ap- 
peared regularly every seventeen years for more than a hundred years, as is 
well attested by numerous writers upon natural history. 

Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, gave a lengthy lecture upon the locust, show- 
ing bow the insect deposits its eggs in the limbs of almost every variety of 
trees. A great number of these twigs were distributed among the company, 
to show the curious manner in Mhich these eggs are deposited. 

This peculiar insect appears once in seventeen years ; but the year of its 
appearance d^ers in every part of the country. In 1S55 it infested south- 
ern Illinois. In 1800, 1817, and 1834 the trees of Delaware and Maryland 
were literally covered by them ; and in 1843 many of the river counties on 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 231 



the Hudson were infested with the CicadiB. The male insect lias a pair of 
drums on each side of the head, and, when infesting au orchard or woods, 
the noise is frequently so great that no conversation can be heard in the 
vicinitj'. The insect appears about the 25tli of May, and remains six weeks. 
The female is armed with an ovipositor, with which she inserts her eggs in 
the smaller portions of limbs of fruit-trees, oaks, chestnuts, etc., always 
selecting new growth, of an eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
The incisions, about twelve in number, are made at an angle of forty to fifty 
degrees, with an egg in each, and sometimes the twig is girdled near the 
eggs, so that when the end of the twig dies it falls to the ground, and the 
eggs are carried in by dews and rains. Miss Morris, of Germantown, Pa., a 
well-known entomologist of close observation, claims that she found them 
attached to the roots of pear-trees. 

" "While plowing at our place. May 10, these insects were thrown out in 
large quantities. The holes through whicli they ascend in the soil may be 
traced to a depth of four feet or more. This locust is not to be dreaded, as 
they do but little harm ; are not known to feed, and the shortening-in of 
limbs by the depositing of their eggs may give a useful hint to those who 
do not understand the benefits of the shortening-in process." 

He also gave an account of a maple-tree in Newark, which appears to 
have a sort of bohun upas efTect upon flies ; they lay dead by thousands under 
this tree. 

Prof. Mapes stated that, in plowing upon his farm near Newark, in 
May, the seventeen-year locusts were turned up in vast quantities. 

Dr. Teimble stated that this insect does not consume vegetation. Tliey 
are within a few inches of the surface, M-aiting for the right condition of the 
temperature to issue forth. Seventeen years ago these insects came forth on 
the 25th of May, and immediately commenced their musical notes. They 
remain about si.x weeks above ground, eating nothing. The injury they do 
vegetation is by puncturing the limbs to deposit their eggs. This kills the 
ends of the branches. The apple-tree and elm-trees are favorite trees with 
these seventeen-year locusts. The time of their appearance varies in dilFer- 
ent localities. Tliis is the year for all this vicinity and up the Hudson River. 
My opinion is that the life of the insect is sustained <imder-ground by attach- 
ing to the roots of plants. Tlie limb selected for puncture is always small. 

The Secretary stated that the size of the limb punctured is not usually over 
an eighth of an inch. 

Mr. Dodge stated that the locusts were very plentiful on Long Island five 
years ago, and that he has seen them every year in this city. 

Prof. Mapes thought that these fellows would be a little too much for 
" insect powder." Still, he had received great benefit from one called the 
" Persian Powder." That will enable me to grow early turnips, and it will 
kill caterpillars. 

Mr. Gale — In 1809, in Orange County, the locusts were plentiful enough 
to allow me to gather bushels of them, and the apple-trees were covered. 



232 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

The only injury was to the small twigs. "Wheat-fields were covered, but not 
injured. 

Andrew S. Fuller — In 1855 the locusts were very abundant in Illinois, 
and came forth out of heavy clay land, from more than four feet in depth, 
in oak forests. They appeared to prefer the oak-trees. 

The Chairman stated that he had observed their preference for oak in some 
instances, but upon the whole, he thought they had very little care for any 
particular sort of trees. 

Dr. Trimble thought the chestnut was their favorite. I found, yesterday, 
the eggs of the locust are beginning to hatch, and the young insect is as 
perfect in shape as t!ic old ones, of a pure white color, and no larger than 
one of the eggs. 

Habits of Grasshojjjurs. — A Goliad correspondent of the Colorado (Texas) 
Citizen gives some curious facts in relation to the grasshoppers which have 
recently swarmed in that region. He says : 

"They have an especial fondness for wheat and cotton, but don't take so 
kindly to corn. The only vegetable they spare is the pumpkin. Tlie most 
deadly poisons have had no effect upon them ; fumes of sulphur they rather 
like than otherwise ; musketo-nets they devour greedily ; clothes hung out 
to dry they esteem a rarity ; blankets and gunny-bags they don't appear to 
fancy. They swim the broadest creeks in safety, sun themselves a while, 
and then go on. The whole mass appear to start and move at the same 
time, traveling for an hour or two, devouring everything in their way, and 
then suddenly cease, not moving perhaps for a week, during which time no 
feeding is noticed ; and finally, they carefully avoid the sea-coast." 

Grasshopper Parasites. — Solon Robinson — I have a letter from L. B. 
Rice, Middlebury, Vt., inclosing specimens of grasshoppers, showing a para- 
site that is preying upon them, which, it is to be hoped, will help to annihilate 
this pest. This parasite is a small red insect, which attaches itself to the 
grasshopper just under the wing. 

255. Canker-Horm Preventives. — The following letter to the author, from a 
New York city friend, is worthy of attention by all whose trees are eaten by 
worms : 

" Sir : Your recent discussions upon the canker-worm, which is so seriously 
devastating the foliage of the city, stir me up to lay before your readers the 
information which some years of careful observation have enabled me to 
gain respecting this pest of our neighborhood, I do this the more because I 
notice some suggestions in your conversations which look to the adoption 
of remedies ; and before any remedy is tried, it is essential that we have 
some assurance that it will be effectual. 

"I was a student in New Haven at the time when the ravages of the in- 
sect were so severe in that city, and witnessed the extreme desolation which 
the creature produced. The magnificent elms which are the glory of that 
beautiful city, stood bare and wintry at the end of June, with every vestige 
of their foliage utterly consumed. I noticed,, and have since repeatedly ob- 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 233 

served, how perfect a protection is afForded by the metallic girdle which you 
describe. Whether the plan of a Mr. Taylor, spoken of in the papers, is 
an improvement, I am not able to say. 

"The whole merit of the plan, however, consists in its adaptation to the 
habits of the insect. The female — which deposits its eggs upon the body 
and brandies of the tree before the opening of the spring — is wingless, 
apterous, as we say in Entomology ; and being incapable of flying, is 
efiectiially arrested by the barrier which is presented by such an open tube 
encircling the tree. The protection is complete, the application is easy, and 
the remedy is efiectual. 

" One fact, however, is to be taken into view, which effectually alters the 
case with us. After familiar study of our New York insect, for several 
years past, I am convinced that it is an entirely different species, of different 
habits in many respects ; and, above all, different in the one particular which 
gives all its value to the New Haven remedy ; our species full >/ possesses the 
power of filejht. Its progress, therefore, to the body and limbs of the tree 
for the purpose of depositing its eggs can never be in the least arrested by 
any such measure as j'our correspondent proposes to adopt. Protection against 
the worm in our city can be obtained only by the same method by which 
New Haven derived hers, viz., the thorough and careful study of the habits 
of our own species of insect. 

" The very positive assurance of your correspondent, Mr. "Webb, that ' it 
is a law of nature that all the millers which produce the measuring worm 
have no wings by which they can fly one inch,' is in the main true, though 
perhaps rather strongly stated ; but it applies only to the canker-worm of 
New England. Our species may be seen flying abundantly, both males and 
females, ascending abave the tops of our highest trees, and reaching the 
large branches with absolute ease. After having observed the whole process 
very carefully, I am in a position to speak confidently about it ; and I beg 
to assure your readers that any attempt blindly to imitate the New Haven 
method will only prove a mistaken and unprofitable, because ignorant, 
attempt. In order to ascertain with greater certainty tiie truth upon this 
point, I transmitted specimens of our New York miller, last summer, to Mr. 
E. C. Herrick, the accomplished librarian of Yale College, whose investiga- 
tions of the New Haven canker-worm were published at length, some years 
ago, in the American Journal of Science, and received from him the assur- 
ance that my impression that the two species were entirely distinct was no 
doubt correct. Mr. H. also concurred with me in thinking that the power 
of flight possessed by the New York moth would require entirely different 
methods for the prevention of its ravages. 

" The one method which my observation has suggested as effectual, con- 
sists in thoroughly scraping the tree after the eggs of the moth have been 
deposited upon it. The worm with us does not, as in New Haven, go into 
the ground and remain there till the winter, but goes through its changes in 
a very brief period. After coming down from the tree, it lays itself up in a 



234 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

cocoon, formed of a few thin fibers of silk, in the crevices of the bark of the 
trees which it frequents, or upon posts and fences near the tree. There the 
insect may then be found, undergoing its change. After about a fortnight, 
it comes forth in the shape of a white moth, somewhat less than an inch 
long. At that period our parks and public squares are alive with these 
millers ; the grass is studded, the paths covered, the air filled with them. 
Any one may easily satisfy himself of their power of flight by a careful ob- 
servation of them. The anteun£e, or feelers, projecting from the head, are in 
the males feathered, or, entomologically, pectinated ; a row of fine fibers, 
like the teetli of a comb, lines each antenna upon one side ; the females have 
the antenna plain and straight ; and they may also be distinguished by the 
larger size of the abdomen, which is distended by eggs. No difierence, 
however, in the power of flight will be observed between the two sexes. On 
coming out from the cocpon the sexes meet, and the impregnated eggs are at 
once laid upon the bark of the tree. They may be seen in patches, varying 
from a dozen to fifty, or even more — minute, green globules, which soon change 
to a dusky gray or brown, scarcely distinguishable in tint from the bark. 
They adhere by a glutinous secretion very firmly to the tree, and remain 
through the year until the warmth of another spring hatches them into life. 

" At any time after the eggs are laid in the beginning of July, and before 
they arc hatched in the beginning of the following May, a careful scraping 
of the tree will remove most of them, and so prevent their ravages for the 
next summer. 

" Having frequent occasion to pass through "Washington Parade Ground, 
I have pointed out the eggs upon the bark to the persons intrusted with the 
care of that spot, and the trees have been sometimes scraped in the spring, 
with very good results. This year it was omitted, and the deserted shells 
of the eggs of last year may now be seen on the trunks of the trees so seri- 
ously injured by them this summer. No other method than this affords the 
I6ast security ; but this, if faithfully carried out under any competent super- 
vision, can be made entirely eflectual. The eggs remain for nearly a year 
betbre they are hatched, quite obvious, and tolerably accessible. A couple 
of men would in two or three days clean any one of our parks of this de- 
stroying agent for the next summer ; and careful attention for a few years 
throughout the city would nearly exterminate the pest." 

256. Garden and Field Crop Pests. — Tlie amount of damage done to farmers 
every year by bugs and worms, if it could be exhibited in figures represent- 
ing dollars and cents, would exceed the whole value of the wheat crop, or 
corn crop, or cotton crop, and it would not surprise me if it exceeded the 
value of all of them. If we could give certain preventives of the ravages 
of any one of the pests, we could afford to devote much more space than we 
shall allot to this head. But we will urge farmers to give the subject more 
attention. Buy the best works upon entomology, and devote many a winter 
evening to the careful study of the appearance, character, and habits of all 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 235 

the insects that consume your crops. Give, we pray you, good attention to 
wliat we liave ah-eatly said and shall say in this section. You can not fail 
to find sometiiing tliat will repay you well. You certainly will find valuable 
information in the following paragraph, written by A. S. Hall, of Maiden, 
Mass., in May, 1800 : 

257. Salt for the Ouion ]>laggot. — Much has been said and written about 
the onion maggot, and I don't know that there is any cure ibr him ; but I 
will tell you how I treated mine last year, and with good success for once, 
and shall try it again this year, and will tell it to you and the farmers free 
of charge, for I don't think I could get " $00,000" for it if 1 should ask it. 

I sowed last year in my garden, on good soil, three rows, about tliirty feet 
long each, to onion seeds. I expected the maggots, and watched diligently 
their progress. When they were first up about one or two inches high, I 
put some strong salt and water on about three feet of one row, to see if it 
would kill the onions, and, in case it did not, perhaps it might kill the mag- 
gots, if they came. The young onions stood it well, and it did not hurt 
them. 

After the onions had got about as large as a pail-bail wire, there came 
a spell of warm, wet weather, and my onions began to be affected. I 
watched them several days, and they grew worse, and were fast dying out, 
for about one in every eight or ten were wilting and dying, and I found a 
maggot at the roots of every one that appeared wilting, and sometimes the 
maggot was nearly as large as the little stock itself, and had eaten the bot- 
tom all away, and was making its way iip the stem ; at the rate of havoc 
they were making, it appeared there would not be one onion left in the bed 
at the end of four weeks more. I took a pailful of strong pickle from my 
pork-barrel, and, with a watering-pot, put it all on to the three rows, as 
though I were watering them ; the onions never faltered or changed. The 
salt killed all the grass, young clover, and weeds, except pnrslane, which 
came up later, and the maggots were entirely killed, and I never saw any 
after, though the flies continued to lay tlieir eggs down the side of the little 
plant, and between it and the dirt, just as flies will blow a piece of fresh 
meat ; but llio salt prevented their maturing or hatching, and I raised a 
good crop of fair-sized onions. I think they did not ripen as well as usual, 
but I am not convinced that the salt prevented them, for I have often seen 
patches remain as green as mine were at harvest-time. 

I put on two or three slighter sprinklings of brine after the first, during 
the summer. 

258. Essay on the Cnt-Worra.—Bead before the Chicago Gardener's Soci- 
ety, August 6th, 1860, by Jno. Periam. — I acknowledge my inability to do 
justice to this subject, from not having given it my attention, except in a 
general way. It is, nevertheless, one which interests agriculturists, and par- 
ticularly horticulturists, as much, perhaps, as any other entomological sub- 
ject with which they have to do. The farmers, working on a more extended 
scale, using larger fields, and planting fewer varieties of hoed crops, do not 



236 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. 11. 



notice, nor perhaps suffer as much from the ravages of tliese families of the 
Lepidoptera as the horticulturist proper. And tlie great order of insects to 
which tliis class belongs are, periiaps, the greatest scourge with which the 
worker in the soil has to contend. According to Dr. Fitch, tlie most of this 
species belong to the genus Agrotis, of the family Noctuidse, or Owlet-moths. 
In England, the insects of this genus are named Dart-moths, from a peculiar 
spot or streak which many of them have near the base of their fore wings, 
resembling the point of a dart or spear, and he says that much the most 
common species of this genus in the State of New York can be nothing else 
than the Gothic dart, Agrotis suhgothica of the British entomologists. They 
are the same which flit about the lights in summer evenings, and are found 
hid by day within crevices and shutters. To show still further the import- 
ance of this class of insects, I will quote from Dr. Harris, showing some of 
tlie families. He has divided them into three sections, called Butterflies, 
Hawk-moths, and moths corresponding to the genera Papilio, Sphinx, and 
Phalsena of Linnajus. 

To the first of these orders belong the caterpillars of our common butter- 
flies, many of which are very destructive to vegetation. To the second be- 
longs that class of caterpillars which infect the potato, the grapevine, etc. ; 
the Algerians, or, as they are commonly called, Borers, which latter name, 
however, is equally applicable to the larvte of insects of many other orders. 
The third great section includes a vast number of insects, sometimes called 
Millers, from their dusty covering, or Night Butterflies, but more frequently 
Moths. Among these are the Cut-worm, the Bee-moth, and all other insects 
belonging to the order Lepidoptera which can not be arranged among the 
butterflies and hawk-moths. 

The most common of the Cut- worm tribe which liave come under my ob- 
servation the present season, are the Striped Cut-worm, the Red-headed 
Cut-worm, and the Black "Worm. 

The first is of a dirty whitish color, inclining to brown, with darker 
stripes. This worm works upon the surface of the ground, and may be found 
at any hour of the day, if damp and cloudy. The red-headed cut-worm 
has, as its name implies, a red head, and is of a uniform pale brown color, 
and has this season been particularly destructive; and as it works under 
ground, it is death to whatever it attacks. 

The Black, or (as it is sometimes called) Tiger worm may easily be known 
when seen by its dark, dull brown color and black head. It works under 
ground, just below the surface, drawing the stems and leaves after it into 
its hole. 

There are a number of others, among which are the faintly-lined cut- 
worm and the white cut-worm. Of the latter, I have not found a single 
specimen this season, though last year I found several. They are rare, and 
consequently do but little damage. In this day of patent discoveries, any 
one who has plenty of money and ample time to spend may furnish himself 
with a thousand-and-one nostrums which are said to be effectual extermi- 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 237 

natoi'K. Snuff, strong liquid manure, powder, cliarcoal dust, etc., will pro- 
tect, provided they can lind plenty to eat elsewhere; if not, they care about 
as much for them as I should about wetting my feet in wading a brook for 
my dinner, if 1 could not get it by any other means. I am satislied that 
they might be, in a great measure, exterminated by neighbors joining, dur- 
ing the prevalence of the moths, and setting torches or building fires for 
them to fly into. I saved my tomato crop, the present season, by having my 
men go over the ground in the morning, soon after daylight, and pick up the 
worms by hand. The first morning we secured over two thousand by count, 
and^the next morning we gathered over a half peck of them on about an acre 
and a half After that they began to diminish, and in a few days scarcely 
one could be found. I protect dahlias, and other choice plants, by wrapping 
paper about the stems; vines, by planting plenty of seed, and killing the 
worms ; vine shields, if set two or three inches below the surface, will gen- 
erally protect. I have never succeeded in trapping them in holes, because, 
if they fall into them, they can dig out, if they can not crawl out. The best 
way to protect against tlieir ravages is to plant plenty of seed, protect the 
birds, and tlien help them kill the worms. 

The London Gardener's Chronicle says there is a prospect of a total de- 
struction of the grass in the London parks, by the grub of an insect known 
as " Daddy Longlegs," which eats the roots of the turf and totally destroys 
it. " Various remedies have been tried without success." Have any of 
those remedies been a heavy dressing of salt 'i If not, it should be tried at 
once. And besides that, we should like to know what this "Daddy Long- 
legs" is. It can not be our cut-worm, that sometimes destroys the turf in 
old meadows ; and certainly it can not be the " Daddy Longlegs" of our ac- 
quaintance, for that, so far as our youthful entomological researches went, 
was a very harmless Daddy, which had very long, slim, crooked legs, attached 
to a round body, the size of a small pea. 

259. Wire Horms. — " A Young Farmer" wants to know what he shall do 
to get rid of wire worms. He says : 

'• An old gentleman not far from me says : ' Soak the seed over night in 
copperas water, and the wire worm will not trouble it.' Who knows whether 
this is so or not?" 

Ah! who knows? Does anybody ^■«o'« anything? 

Another says soaking seed in a solution of niter will prevent destruction. 
If so, how easily practiced ! Again, who knows ? 

Probably the best remedy against wire worms is not to grow them. Keep 
no old meadows. Break them up. Flow all your sod and stubble land in 
the fall. Either bury your worm seed too deep to get out in time in the 
spring, or else freeze it to death in the winter. There is probably no remedy 
equal to deep plowing in the fall of the year. 

Perhaps we might all learn useful lessons from nature if we would more 
carefully read her printed pages. For instance, one who does try to read 
8uch lessons says : 



238 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



" So far as my observation goes, the wire-worm is most troublesome in 
seasons after a mild winter, or M'hen there has been a heavy coat of snow on 
the ground during winter, thus preventing the frost penetrating the earth to 
any considerable depth. Consequently, the worms remain near the surface, 
and are not frozen to death or driven so far below the surface, that they must 
starve before thej'^cau return. Two successive crops of buckwheat will 
generally rid any soil of wire-worms." 

And we add, so will ten bushels of salt per acre, and every worm that is 
killed by it will fertilize a whole handful of grass. Salt, alone, is an excel- 
lent manure ; salt and lime still better, prepared according to the formula 
under the head of " salt and lime mixture." Thirty bushels of lime, in 
powder, sown broadcast, will destroy the worms in many a field that has been 
almost barren, and make it productive of fine crops of wheat, clover, corn. 

" How to get rid of the worms," is one of the most important questions 
that a farmer can ask, and the Avant of a knowledge how, is not confined to 
young farmers. Hence, all we say upon the subject is worth treasuring up 
in the great store-house of knowledge, the human mind. 

260. Woria-Killers. — A reliable South Carolina acquaintance. Col. A. G. 
Summer, of Pomaria, declares that China berries applied like manure to soil 
will expel all grubs and worms. " China trees" are as common all over the 
South as locust or ailanthus here, and they are very fruitful, the berries resem- 
bling small cherries in size, and pulp surrounding a hard seed. Only a few years 
aeo. the fact v>'as discovered, rather accidentally, that the wood of this tree 
would bear a high polish, and that furniture made of it was as strong and 
handsome as that of some of our most expensive imported woods, and that 
its natural pleasant odor, like that of cedar or camphor wood, remains, and 
is a great preventive of moths. The botanical name of the " China tree" is 
Mdia azedaraeh ; sometimes called the great Indian lilac. It is a hot- 
house shrub here ; at Charleston, it grows fifty feet high, and is a beautiful 
shade-tree, its greatest objection being its abundance of berries falling upon 
the ground, notwithstanding which it is a great favorite in all the most 
Southern States, and its berries, if of any value, could be had here at a small 
price. 

261. TobaCfO-Worms. — These destructive pests of the tobacco-planter, it 
is well known, can be subdued with a flock of turkeys better than in any 
other way. As both turkeys and worms are large, the operation can be seen 
and appreciated ; yet we have no doubt that a flock of wrens do just as 
much toward the destruction of some other family of worms, and really 
effect as much good to the farmer. And so of every other class of birds. 
Cultivators of other crops ought to take lessons from the tobacco-growers. 
The first glut of worms, in July, is easily subdued by the turkeys, while 
tobacco is small, and the worms are doing but little damage. The trouble 
comes in August, but the destruction of the worms a month sooner may save 
the crop. 

Mr. Wm. Sheppard, of Ann Arundel Co., Md., has been very successful 



Sec. 12.] EXTOMOLOGICAL. 239 



in poisoning the moth that produces the tobacco-worm, by the use of cobalt 
— a quarter of a pound to a half pint of water. This is made quite sweet 
witli refined sugar, and the mixture is put into a small bottle, with a quill in 
the cork, and two or three drops through the quill deposited in the blossom 
of the Jamestown weed, or in the blossom of the tobacco-plants. The horn- 
blower will suck the poison till he dies. 

The trumpet blossoms of the Jamestown weed are favorite resorts of the 
moth, and are gathered fresh, and fastened to the tobacco plants, or upon sticks 
set through the field. It may be worth while to grow the weed on purpose 
for traps. 

The cobalt is the same black powder often sold by druggists as "fly 
poison." It should be reduced in a mortar to a fine powder before using. 
It is worth while to try it for other insects, placing it upon plates in their 
haunts. 

Mr. Sheppard thinks any planter may protect himself against the tobacco- 
worm with this poison. 

John G. Bergen, of Long Island, stated to us, in the spring of ISfiO, that 
he had been obliged to send all his laborers into his tomato-field to kill 
worms that are destroying the plants and young fruit. He thinks it identical 
with the tobacco-worm, having grown tobacco a few years ago and been 
troubled with the same kind of worms. One of Mr. B.'s neighbors told us 
afterward that the worms were not only very troublesome on the tomato- 
vines, but were eating the potato-vines ravenously. 

The New Haven Courier said the potato-vines in that State were being 
eaten by worms, so as to destroy the prospect of a crop, and these worms, 
we judge, are the same kind as those on Long Island. 

In this city, worms have been for years destroying the trees ; none but 
the ailanthus escapes them. 

Is it not worth while to try to poison the insects while on the wing, in the 
way indicated above, or some other way ? 

Tlie Jamestown weed mentioned above, we take to be the same weed that 
grows along many New England waysides, called " Jimson weed," or " stink- 
weed." It is the Datura stramonium. 

262. Bug Remedies. — Here is a good one ! We haven't a doubt as to its 
efficac}' — not one ! try it. A correspondent says: "I have seen many plans 
recommended for removing and keeping bugs and other insects from vines, 
and among them, snuff, soap, mustard, etc., all or any of which articles 
must, in my opinion, more or less injure the plant. I have found this the 
case from experience; and I have also found, by the same means, that the 
best preparation for this purpose is a cold and very strong decoction made 
with water and manure from the hen- roost and cow-yard, and applied morn- 
ing and e%'ening. Tlie insects do not relish this preparation, while the plants 
to which it is applied do." 

Another one says : " I preserved my vines last year from the ravages of 
the striped bugs by placing little wads of cotton, saturated with spirits of 



240 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



turpentine among the vines near the roots, using care to have them not touch 
the vines. The turpentine sliould be renewed from to time." 

Another says: "These pests of the vines may be easily got rid of by 
building a fire of light wood that will blaze freely in the evening. All 
insects fly into a blaze, and are thus destroyed in myriads." 

It is recommended by J. M. Dimond, of Eaton Co., Mich., to plant in the 
same hill with summer squashes or melons, etc., some seeds of the winter 
squash, such as have the largest succulent leaves. He says the bugs will not 
molest the smaller vines under such circumstances. When danger from 
bugs has ceased, then tiie plants can be removed. 

Another one gives the following as a sure specific for bugs on vines : 
" Having seen by your paper that many truckers in your section are anxious 
to ascertain a simple and sure remedy to destroy bugs on squashes, cucum- 
bei's, and the like, I will give you one which is almost a specific, and within 
the reach of every one, especially those living on the sea-board. 

" Procure fresh fish — of any kind whatever, the commonest and cheapest 
just as good — a sufiicient quantity according to circumstances, say one peck 
to a barrel of water. Let them stand therein a day or two, in order to com- 
mence decomposition and emit their necessarily unpleasant odor; then 
dampen the leaves with the liquid. 

'• In addition to driving away the bugs, your plants will become green and 
healthy, and soon grow bej'ond the reach of &ny future swarm of depreda- 
tors. It may be necessary to use the water two or three times in the course 
of two weeks, but remember that every application is equivalent to a dress- 
ing of manure, which will amply repay for the labor, which is very trifling. 
Fresh fish oflTal is of equal value with the fish." 

263. Potato BugSi — It is quite as useful to report failure as success in 
farming. We are therefore obliged to Horatio J. Cox, of Zanesville, Ohio, 
for telling us that he tried powdered lime, and also ashes, sifted upon his 
potato vines to prevent them from being eaten by the potato bugs, but he 
found them at work as usual, with their backs white with lime. His con- 
clusion, therefore, is, that that is no remedy against the depredations of these 
pests. He remarks that " there are two kinds working in concert, but, from 
my observation, keeping up separate breeds — the black shell and the striped 
shell ; the latter is more active than the other, and not quite so plump." 

A French paper gives an opinion that nearly all the diseases of plants, 
including potato-rot, are occasioned by insects. The insects, in many cases, 
are microscopic. The little aucaris, for instance, although so very minute, 
is a great destroyer. It causes little scabby pustules upon fruits, particularly 
fine pears. 

Whether the potato bug always found on the diseased vines is the cause 
or effect of the disease, is a mooted question. 

Although Mr. Cox did not stop their depredations, we still recommend 
liberal dressings of ashes and plaster, and if these do not kill the bugs, they 
will give the vines a vigorous growth. So with lime and salt. 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 241 

2(U. Protection of TnrnipSt — The following, from an English newspaper, is 
equally worthy of attention in America: 

" In the list of patents for wliich provisional protection has been taken 
out is a macliine of a novel and somewliat curious character. The specifica- 
tion, as taken from the list, describes the machine as a 'blast drill,' the 
object of which is to protect the turnip crop from the ravages of the fly and 
the slug, and its otlier luimerous enemies, and secure, as far as human inge- 
nuity can acconiplisli it, this iriost valuable of all bulbous roots. The com- 
mon practice of protecting the turnip from the fly is hj dusting the row with 
lime during tlie night and while the dew is npon the plant. Tliis operation 
is difficult, and imperfectly performed. Besides the slow process of doing 
this by hand, tlie difficulty of dusting the under side of the plant as well as 
the top side off'ers an insuperable objection to this mode of applying lime, 
soot, or any other compost, to the young turnip-plant. This ditficulty is now 
overcome, and the lime (a mixture of one sixth of soot with it is recom- 
mended) is thrown, by means of a blast fan, upon every part of the plant, 
both on the upper and under side. The fan is put in motion by the travel- 
ing wheels of the drill, and receives its velocity in the usual manner by 
gearing wheels. Tlie blast thus created by the fan is brought to bear upon 
the plant, which, yielding to its action, bends from the current, and as it 
nets upon a falling stream of lime or other composition, the plant becomes 
eompletely covered with the powder. But this is not the only object the blast 
drill will accomplish. The fly, disturbed by a simple contrivance, hops 
away, but is at that moment caught by a current of air entering the blast 
fan and instantly destroyed, and thrown out again with violence from the 
vortex into which it had been drawn. This operation is simple, and the jtro- 
cess of annihilation is similar to that of a mouse or rat going down a thrash- 
ing-machine. The fly and the lime are so completely mixed and incorpo- 
rated that the mischievous yet delicate insects are destroyed by the atmo- 
spheric pressure thrown upon them, and the plant is also secured, by the 
dusting of compost, from all future attacks of the enemy. All farmers can 
not fail to know something about the insect which does so much annual mis- 
chief to the turnip crops. Sometimes a fallow, which in tillage and labor 
has cost £5 or £6 an acre in preparing it for a crop of Swedes, lias had all 
the labor and capital expended made vain by the fly. Can this evil be rem- 
ediod ? It seems possible ; and if this invention of a blast drill should be the 
means of securing a turnip crop, or even improving it, by the application of 
a top-dressing of soot or guano, or any other soluble manure, a great go©d 
has been accomplished, not to farmers only, but to the community at large."' 

2G5. Pea-Weevil — How Destroyed.— One of the greatest pests that growei-s 
of jieas have to contend with is the pea-weevil, Bnicliiia pisi, which some- 
times attacks every pod, and leaves an egg to hatch into a disgusting insect 
in every pea, so that, if intended for food, when dry, we shall find a modi- 
cum of meat ready mixed in our pea-soup. If intended for seed, when we 
are ready to plant in the spring, we find the life of our peas eaten out. 



242 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Although several birds, of which the crow and Baltimore oriole are the chief, 
feed upon the pea-weevil, they are very far from destroying it, and the evil 
is annually increasing. How can this insect be destroyed, is a question 
worth solving. "We think it can be, if farmers and gardeners would make a 
united efi'ort, totally annihilated from the country. The remedy is very 
simple. It is to steam all the seed peas. This can be done in a small way 
in families by taking the seed, so soon as gathered, shelled, and dried, and 
placing it in a cullender, covered with a cloth or plate, and placed over a 
kettle of boiling water until the steam is thoroughly passed through tlie peas, 
when they are to be dried in the sun and jiut away in paper bags. Upon a 
large scale, the peas may bo steamed in bags or barrels, by inserting a steam- 
pipe from a boiler at so low a pressure that it will not cook tlie peas, but it 
will the pupae-«f the pea-weevil. Let it be remembered that steam, prop- 
erly applied, will totally eradicate the pea-weevil from the land And if 
from peas, why not from wheat, corn, and rice, easier and better than by 
kiln-drying? It would be very easy to dry llie steamed grain. Passing it 
through a fauning-mill would probably be sufficient; or pouring it out of a 
basket, where it would fall fifteen or twenty feet tlirough the air. 

266. Preserving InscctSi — Insect collectors will find tlie following method 
of killing the insects they wish to preserve one of the most convenient of 
any they have ever tried. Dissolve cyanide of potassa in water to satura- 
tion, and keep it tightly corked in a small vial, and it will always remain 
in good order for use. When you catch a fly, moth, insect of any kind, 
or a beautiful butterfly that would be injured in fluttering, dip a needle- 
point in the solution, and prick your captive just under the wing, and 
see how quick and calmly they will lie down and die. Some large or 
liardto-kill insects may require more than one stab to make them die peace- 
ably. This solution is used by scientific entomologists in making their 
collections. 

267. Household InsectSi — JlalVs Medical Journal states that household 
vermin may be got rid of as follows : Half an ounce of soap boiled in a pint 
of water, and put on with a brush while boiling hot, infallibly destroys the 
bugs and their eggs. Flies are drivbn out of a room by hanging up a bunch 
of common plantain (fleawort) after it has been dipped in milk. Ilats and 
mice speedily disappear by mixing equal quantities of strong cheese and 
powdered squills. They devour this mixture with greediness, while it is in- 
nocent to man. When it is remembered how many persons have lost their 
lives by swallowing mixtures of strychnine, etc., it becomes a matter of hu- 
manity to publish these items. 

The *S't'/(7ii'/^c ^m<'r/('«;i says: " Common red wafers scattered about the 
haunts of cockroaches Mill often drive away if not destroy them." These 
wafers, like candies, are colored red by o.xyd of lead, a most deadly' poison ; 
and so is the acetate of lead, or sugar of lead, as it is sometimes called, on 
visiting cards, which, being a little sweetish, has been known to destroy 
young children, to whom they were handed to be amused with. Fashion 



Sec. 12.] 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



243 



for once acts sensibly- in discarding glazed cards, using instead Bristol board, 
more pliant, loss cumbersome, and reallj more delicate. 

Wo have found that bugs can not stand hot alum water. Take two pounds 
of alutu, bruise and reduce nearly to powder, and dissolve in three quarts 
of boiling water, letting it remain in a warm place till the alum is dissolved. 
The alum water is to be applied hot, by means of a brush, to every joint and 
crevice. Brush the crevices in the floor of the skirting-board, if they are 
suspected places. "Whitewash the ceiling, put in plenty of alum, and there 
will be an end to their dropping from thence. 

To kill moths in carpets, spread a wet cloth on the carpet, and iron with a 
hot flat-iron round tlie edges and places where you suspect them to be. Do 
this a few times in the course of the summer, and j^ou will save your carpet 
from the moths. 

iSilk-icorms have been induced to work in France by electricity. M. 
Sauvageon reports to the Academy his experience in the matter. Finding 
the little things torpid and unwilling to work, the idea struck him to stir 
them up by electricity. The results, as he gives them, are really marvelous. 
He took fifty-three worms at random from among thousands belonging to a 
neighbor, put them every day on a sheet-iron plate, through which a current 
of electricity was passed, kept them each time as long as they could stand it, 
and now has fifty- three beautiful cocoons, an amount which his neighbors 
will not obtain, to all appearances, from several thousand ungalvanized 
worms. If these results may be relied on, he has made a very valuable 
discovery. 

2G8. 3Ioth Protectors. — Camphor is one of the most useful motli protectors 
about the household. A trunk full of furs, with an ounce of camphor gum 
scattered through them, will be safe from moths. Furs or woolens packed 
in a chest made of camphor-wood or cedar will generally be safe. Some 
housewives pack in a linen sheet, or bag of close texture. Others use to- 
bacco. Others keep their furs or woolens in drawers or trunks where they 
will be often exposed to the light, and where they can frequently take them 
out to the air and sun, and beat them, which will effectually prevent the 
ravages of the moth. A very good preventive is to carefully kill the miller 
that makes the worm which is so destructive to woolens and furs. It is not 
a hard matter to do so in a house not already overrun with them. They 
may be attracted to a light blaze ; and they may be caught in plates with a 
little sweetened water and vinegar; or a piece of an old blanket may be 
used as a trap ; or they all jnay be caught and destroyed by hand, by de- 
voting half an hour to the work each evening, in the proper season. 

269. Ants in the House. — Tliese troublesome pests may be overcome by 
various remedies. Perhaps one of the best things for the red ants is to mix 
a few grains of corrosive sublimate in a spoonful of lard, with a little sugar, 
and then draw rough strings of cotton or woolen yarn through the mixture, 
and lay them in the cracks where the ants harbor, or in the corners of closet 
shelves. They may also be poisoned with cobalt, pulverized fine and mixed 



24:4: 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



Avitli proper care, than there is in keeping gun- 



with something sweet that tliey like to feed upon. These and other insects 
can be poisoned by arsenic. They may be kept from the sugar-bowl by 
setting it in a plate covered with powdered chalk. The whisky remedy 
recommended in No. 254, to protect trees from ants, may be adopted in tlie 
hoifse. The bug-powder mentioned in the same number, made of red chamo- 
mile, call also be used iu the house for ants and other pests. For tlie large 
black ant, the best vehicle for poison is old cheese. Dip a piece of it in a 
poisonous solution, or moisten it if dry, and dust it with corrosive sublimate 
or arsenic. 

Be very careful, in the use of poisons, noWo get tliem mixed with food 
There is no more danger 
powder in the house. 

270. Insects BeneGcial to FarincrSi — It is not to be inferred that because an 
animal is called an insect, it is pestiferous. The contrary should bo taught 
iu all schools, as well as in home lessons. Tlie false idea is prevalent that 
all sorts of insects, bees excepted, are mischievous, hurtful, and liateful ; so 
that every worm, bug, fly, moth, miller, or little crawling, creeping, flying 
thing is looked upon by almost every one with a feeling of desire to crush 
it. A contrary feeling must be cultivated. Children must be tauglit to dis- 
criminate between good and evil insects, as well as between good and evil 
deeds. A cloud of moths might be seen hovering around the wheat, and 
the farmer, under the supposition that tliey had come to destroy tlie grain, 
might destroy them, and afterward find that he had killed his best friends — 
the parasites of the wheat destructors. Before we declare a war of annihila- 
tion, as many have against the birds, upon any class of animals, let-us flrst 
inquire which are and which are not noxious. "We will here briefly i)oint 
out a few. 

The common angle-worm, instead of being detrimental to the farmer, is 
actually a co-laborer, and often a better one than the biped owner of the soil. 
A scientific writer on Zoology says : 

" The burrowing of earth-worms is a process exceedingly useful to the 
gardener and agriculturist ; and these animals are far more useful to man in 
this way, than they are injurious by destroying vegetables. They give a 
kind of under tillage to the land, performing the same below the ground 
that the spade does above for the garden, and the plow for arable land, 
loosening the earth so as to render it permeable to air and water. It has 
lately been shown that they will even add to the depth of soil ; covering 
barren tracts with a layer of productive mold. Thus, in fields that have been 
overspread with lime, burnt marl, or cinders, these substances are in time 
covered with finely divided soil, well adapted to the support of vegetation. 

" That this result — which is most commonly attributed by farmers to the 
' working down' of the material in cpiestion — is really due to the action of 
the earth-worm, appears from the fact that in the soil thus formed, largo 
numbers of 'worm-casts' may be distinguished. These are produced by the 
digestive process of the worms, which take into their intestinal canal a largo 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 245 

quantity of the soil throngli which they burrow, extract from it a great part of 
the decaying vegetable matter it may contain, and eject the rest in a finely 
divided state. In this manner a field manured with marl has become 
covered, in the course of SO years, with a bed of earth averaging 13 inches 
in thickness." 

White, in his " Natural History of Selborne," says : 

" Worms seem to be great promoters df vegetation, which would proceed 
but slowly without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil and 
rendering it pervious to rains and fibers of plants, by drawing straws and 
stalks of leaves and twigs into it, and most of all, by throwing up such 
infinite numbers of lumps of earth, called worm-casts, which, being their 
excremeiit, is a fine manure for grain and grass." 

It is a part of the system of comminution spoken of under another head; 
and if all the earth conld be eaten by worms, it would serve as a manure for 
crops, simply because it had been pulverized, and thereby fitted for their 
use. 

Some time since, in company with several gentlemen, we listened to a 
conversation with reference to the value of the earth-worm, one gentleman 
claiming that they were a nuisance in the garden, and others asserting that 
they were a great blessing, as mole drainers, and always an index of the 
fertility of the soil. Here is a paragraph from the Encyclopedia Britan- 
tiica, right to the point: 

"The common earth-worm, though apt to be despised and trodden on, is 
really a useful creature in its w-ay. Mr. Knapp describes it as the natural 
mannrer of the soil, consuming on the surface the softer part of decayed 
vegetable matter, and conveying downward the more woody fibers, which 
there molder and fertilize." 

271. Plant-Lice Deslroyersi — Tliere is an ichneumon fly, a very small 
blackish insect with yellowish legs and abdomen, not quite the twentieth of 
an inch long, which destroys myriads of aphides. Tiie female lays an egg in 
each louse, and the grub from that devours its nest, leaving only the skin 
attached to the leaf, serving for a shelter lor the larva in its pupa state. The 
flj' comes out of a hole in the louse's back, and repeats the operation. 
Careful examination will disclose a great many of these perforated empty 
aphis skins upon plants that would be entirely destroyed by a long-continued 
multiplication of their consumers, but for this little parasite. 

The Sijrphus is the name of another destroyer of the aphis that aboinids 
upon cotton-plants. This is not a parasite : the eggs being laid on the leaf 
among the aphis, the maggot, which is, when full grown, about one fifth of 
an inch long, makes its food of the lice. The pupa is formed on the leaf, in 
a case made by the worm of a glutinous secretion— the juices it has sucked 
out of the lice it fed upon. The fly is seven tenths of an inch across the 
wings, which are double ; the body appearing like a diminutive wasp, banded 
with brown, black, and yellow. It hovers much on the wing, without much 
motion, unless disturbed, when it shows its power of swift flight. This 



246 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chaf. IL 



.louse destroyer does not confine its operations to the aphis of cotton-plants, 
tliough it seems to prefer them. It is of immense service to Southern 
farmers. 

The Lady-iird (Coccinella) is another valuable assistant to the cotton- 
planter, in particular. "Where the lice most abound, there will be found the 
lady-bird doing its work. Yet there are numerous planters Avho, seeing this 
insect hovering over the cotton, suppose it the parent of the pest they stand 
so much in fear of, and direct the negroes to destroy all they can. It was a 
negro who first discovered that the worms hatched from their eggs, which 
are deposited on the leaf near the aphis, actually consume them, instead of 
the cotton-plant. The worms are a quarter of an inch long, bluish-black, 
and voracious as an alligator, to which they bear some slight resemblance. 
They seize and eat the lice alive, until all upon the leaf are consumed, when 
the grub fastens itself by the tail to the leaf to await its change. The insect 
while oti the wing is also a louse-eater. A disagreeable odor emitted by this 
insect will serve to identify it. 

The larva of the lace-wing fy is another cotton-aphis eater. These Avorms 
are hatched from filaments of eggs, which the fly attaches to the under 
side of the leaf near an aphis colony. This larva is not quite one fifth of an 
inch long. It may be known by the way it holds by the tail, while stretch- 
ing out full length looking for its favorite food. It spins a little cocoon, out 
of which, in due time, comes a bright green fly, with brilliant eyes, and 
four transparent greenish wings, delicately netted like fine lace — hence the 
name. This insect also belongs to the fetid-odor family. 

27:2. Othtr Insect Destroyers. — ^The Carolina tiger-heetlc is a beautiful insect, 
seven tenths of an inch long, of metallic blue, violet, and green color, and 
savage propensities toward all other insects. 

Tiie Harpalus is another insect-consuming beetle, with very strong 
hooked jaws adapted to a predatory life. If it can not find living food, it 
will consume dead, putrescent substances. 

The Mantis, an insect known in Maryland as the "rear horee," is a 
voracious consumer of insects. In fact, it is said that they will sometimes 
consume one another. The largest are over two inches in length, of a very 
awkward-looking form. The eggs attached to a limb look like an excres- 
cence, and are often attacked by an ichneumon fly, as a place of deposit for 
its eggs. The young mantis comes out in June, at first without wings, but 
with a strong appetite for aphides and other insects. It stands upon four hind 
legs, vv'lth body elevated and forward feet closed, and head constantly 
moving. It walks, or jumps, when alarmed, but is capable of domestication 
so as to come and take food out of the hand, and is perfectly harmless except 
to things obnoxious to man, and for that it should be preserved. Its color 
is brownish gray to light green, and its form will be remembered from a 
picture of it, or after being once seen or known. 

The R'eduvius noveyiarius measures an inch and a quarter in length, and 
destroys multitudes of insects in all their stages of transformation. The 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 247 

eggs deposited in autumn hatcli in May or June ; the young worms are 
marked with a black head and thorax, and bright red abdomen, and black 
spots on tJie back. They afterward appear of a grayish color, with rudi- 
ments of wings, which at length enable them to fly with strength. It 
approaches its prey cautiously, and makes a dart, and pierces it to death, and 
then sucks out the substance. It eats the common tree-caterpillar voraciously, 
and it sometimes wounds a person handling it incautiously with its sharp 
piercer. 

There are numerous other parasites of no.xious insects, and insects like 
those named, which prey upon others, which are really beneficial to the 
farmer, as are many quadrupeds and other animals that are natural insect- 
eaters, such as toads, moles, skunks, etc. The most important of all, periiaps, 
we mention in the next paragraph. 

273. The Wheat Midge Parasitei — The only hope of relief from the blasting 
effects of the wheat-midge (3:^3), with those who have thought upon the sub- 
ject, has been a parasite that would work its destruction. That- hope, we 
trust, is about to be realized. A correspondent of the Canadian Agricul- 
turist, writing to that paper in the autumn of 1860, says : 

"I am rejoiced that this week I can announce the arrival of a deadly 
enemy to tiie wheat midge or fly. In the neighborhood of Sparta, township 
of Yarmouth, the farmers have discovered some species of ichneumons which 
deposit their eggs on the larva. One of these is very small, black, and 
shining; the other is also black, with red feet and a blnnt tail. These are 
often mistaken for the wheat-fly ; but as it has only two wings, and they 
have four, the distinction is obvious. To observe the proceedings of the 
ichneumons, place a number of the maggots or larvae of the wheat-fly on a 
sheet of paper, and set a female ichneumon in the midst of them ; she sooti 
pounces upon lier victim, and, intensely vibrating her antennte, bending her- 
self obliquely, plunges her ovipositor into the body of the larva, depositing 
in it a single egg. She will then pass to the second, and so on, depositing a 
single egg in each. You will observe the maggot writhing in seeming 
agony, when sometimes the fly stings them three times. These ichneumons 
appear in myriads on the outside of the ear, but, as if impatient of bright 
light, sheltering themselves from the sun's rays among the husks." 

Tlie same thing has been noticed in other sections; and Dr. Fitch, the 
entomologist of the New York State Agricultural Society, is so much en- 
couraged that a remedy has come at last, that he writes confidently, in 
November of that year : " Tiie days of the wheat-midge pest are numbered, 
I fully believe that farmers may again sow wheat without fear of its destruc- 
tion by the Cecidomyia iritici." 



248 



SM.^XL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 




SECTION XIII.-MISCELLANE0US-W1LD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE 
FARM-DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING, ETC. 

oles. — Wc liave for four years (1859-1862) occu- 
pied our little farm iu Westchester County — 
cue of the many sadly-abused pieces of land, 
some of that in mowing, not planted for thirty 
years or more — and in this land we found the moles 
as thick as we ever saw them anywhere iu our life, 
and therefore have a right to speak of them from expe- 
rience. In some respects we have suffered severely by 
them. They have killed many choice things that we 
have planted, including several valuable grapevines ; but 
we are not yet willing to destroy the moles. We do not 
look upon them as pests, although they have pestered us. 
They undermine the plants, but do not eat them What 
for? It is not for sport, nor merely accidental in boring 
their subterranean galleries. It is in pursuit of food. And as that food consists 
of insects noxious to the farmer, this paragraph upon moles comes in course 
very well after the section devoted to insects. In fact, we believe that the 
mole is one of man's best friends, and that it never occupies land that is not 
already so preoccupied with destructive worms as to render it unfit for culti- 
vation. So impressed with this belief are some European people — all 
Prussia, we believe — that they have enacted laws to proliibit the killing of 
irioles. As with the crow, opinions vary in this country whether the mole is 
beneficial or injurious to farmers. For our own part, we must say that we 
never see an account of a " new mole-trap" without wishing the inventor 
might get his own fingers caught iu it. It is a great pity that farmers can 
not learn that moles are one of the good things that Providence has bestowed 
upon them — that they do not destroy seeds and plants, but the insects that 
are great pests to the farm and garden. In this opinion we shall continue 
nntil better informed upon this question. In the mean time we give some 
opinions of others. The following is the sketch of a report of a conversation 
at the New York Farmers' Club about moles : 

Solon Robinson read a letter upon the subject of moles, which elicited a 
lengthy discussion. The following portion of the letter we print : 

"This animal, as you probably know, has a very small apology for eyes, 
which can not be discovered till the skin is removed; and it can not be ascer- 
tained that they are of any practical use. His sense of hearing and of smell 
is very acute, and he is enabled to elude observation, and to avoid anything 
nn.usual that may be placed in his track. No device, however, with which 
I am acq[uainted will force him to abandon a well-cultivated track, abound- 
ing with earth-worms, which are his chief attraction. He will pass from hill 



Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 249 

to hill, severing tbe corn, melon, or other seeds from the tender plant, thus 
greatly impeding irs progress, and in many instances wholly destroying it. 
In a scarcity of earth-worms he will prey upon beets, potatoes, and other 
roots with voracity ; still the damage ho thus does is of little account com- 
jiared with that produced by his relentless plowing or rooting. Where 
the soil is fertile and not too wet, tliis intruder will be found undermining all 
vegetation, and is a source of discomfort to the agriculturist, which must be 
realized to be appreciated. 

" Failures in tield and garden, which are often attributed to drouth or in- 
sects, are many times produced in a great measure by moles. At morning, 
noon, and evening the mole goes forth on his depredations, making the most 
rapid movements (for an underground performance), and in less than twenty 
minutes tinishes his repast, and returns again to his hiding-place deep in the 
eartli, beyond tlie reach of all intruders. 

"The Yankee mole is too shrewd for the English trap, or, indeed, for any, 
with a single exception. I have examined several traps, beautiful in theory, 
but they are splendid practical failures.'' 

Wm. S. Carpenter — I am satisfied about the injury of moles to the farmer, 
being much more than all his benefit in eating worms. I had a bed of 
tulips destroyed by moles. I traced them by their paths from root to root. 

Prof. Mapes — I have tried careful experiments with moles in confinement, 
and have never succeeded in getting them to eat any kind of vegetable 
matter. 

Mr. Moody, of Xew Jersey — I have found that moles do cut off the stems 
of thorns in my hedge. I can not say that they eat thorns. I am satisfied, 
too, that they will eat potatoes. 

Prof Mapes — I find that potatoes are eaten in the vicinity of moles, but I 
am satisfied that they are eaten by grubs that the moles feed upon. 

Dr. Truible — The potato is eaten by the grub of the cockchafer, and not 
by the inolu. 

Mr. Fuller — I liave known moles to gnaw potatoes, but not for food. 

Tire Chairman, Eobert L. Pell, made the following remarks upon this 
subject : 

Mole-Hills. — In rich alluvial soils, mole-hills are thrown up in immense 
numbers, because such soils usually abound with the food that these subter- 
raneous creatures seek for. They destroy the roots of grass immediately 
contiguous to their mounds, besides often impeding the free action of the 
scythe, for these reasons. Some think it well to exterminate them ; still they 
no doubt do a vast deal of good by destroying obnoxious worms and grubs. 

In the spring of the year it is an easy matter to spread out these mounds 
over the surrounding ground, as they are dry and powdery, and act to a 
certain extent as an enriching top-dressing. 

The mole can not bear access to the atmosphere, being wholly subterra- 
neous by nature ; they never drink, but live entirely upon worms, insects, 
and the roots of grass, and are never found in gravelly or clay soils. 



250 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

Tliej breed in April and May, and generally produce four at a birth. 
Tiie tunnels that tliey make are invariably parallel to the surface of the 
ground, and about six inches deep, unless they become alarmed, when they 
immediately sink to the depth of fourteen inches, rarely deeper. They have 
cities under ground, which consist of houses, or nests, wiiere they feed and 
nurse their young ; communicating with these are wider and more frequented 
streets, made by the perpetual journeys of the female and male parents, as 
well as many other less frequented streets, with diverging branches, which 
the}- extend daily to collect food for themselves and families. 

Moles arc exceedingly active in April and May, during the pairing 
season, when tiic tunnels become very numerous, for the purpose of meeting 
each other. I do not believe that they are blind, from the fact that I have 
never observed that the mole-hills increase except in the day-time, showing 
that they do not work by night, M'hich they would probably do if deprived 
of sight. They connnunce very early in the morning, when you may often 
see the mold or grass moving over them ; you may then readily cut off 
their retreat by thrusting in the ground a spade directly behind tliein, when 
they may be dug out very easily and killed by the attendant terrier. By 
placing your ear on a newly-raised hill you may hear them scratching at a 
considerable distance, and thus be able to find them. You may always dis- 
cover the locality of their young by observing the hills, which are larger 
and the color different, a portion of the subsoil being thrown upon top. If 
you desire to set traps in their tunnels, it will be necessary to discover which 
are the frequented streets and which the by-roads. 

This may be accomplished by pressing the foot lightly on the hill, and if 
the mole passes that way he will nearly obliterate the mark. You may then 
set a subterranean trap, and he will be caught. These may be made from a 
piece of wood, in a hollow, semi-cylinder form, with grooved rings at each 
end, in which are placed the nooses of horse-hair, one at each end, fastened 
by a peg in the center, and stretched above-gi"ound by a bent stick ; when 
the mole has passed through one of the nooses, and removed the central peg, 
the bent stick, by its elasticity, rises and strangles the animal. The structure 
of this quadruped adapts it admirably to the underground life that it leads. 
Its head is very long, conical in shape, and tapers to the snout, which is 
much strengthened by a bone, gristle, and very powerful nmscles. The 
body is cylindrical, very thick on the back of the head, from which it dimin- 
ishes to the tail. It docs not appear to have any neck, but where it should 
be, there is a mass of muscles, all of which appear to act upon the fore legs 
and head. These are the instruments with which he excavates the ground ; 
they are harder, shorter, and stronger, in proportion to the size of the animal, 
than in any other of the mammiferous class. I have never destroyed one of 
these little animals, because I consider the damage they do to a few roots of 
grass is entirely counterbalanced by their immense destruction of wire- worms, 
slugs, etc., besides aerifying, disintegrating, and lightening the soil, and thus 
fitting it admirably for the purposes of top-dressing. 



Sko. 13.] "WILb Airo TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 251 

I never permit the eomnioii crow to be destroyed, because he preserves 
my corn-fiekls from iiutiicrous enemies, keeps off liawks, destro^'s slugs, 
snails, grubs, and (■ats earrion. Nor the black snake, whose constant 
employment seems to lie tlie destruction of field-mice, and other enemies to 
the orchard. Nor the clierry bird, because he is always on hand ready to 
eat the first cherries tiiat ri[)cn prematurely, which invariably contain the 
worm. Nor the king-bird, wren, or robin, all of which are employed from 
dawn to dusk in relieving me from my enemies. 

275. All English Opiuiou about Molcsi— The Koyal Agricultural Society's 
Transactions contains the following opinion about moles. The report affirms 
that " in one year, and every year, 60,000 bushels of seed-wheat, worth 
£30,000, are destroyed by wire-worms! This prevents 720,000 bushels from 
being grown, worth £300,000. If our farmers and others, instead of killing 
moles, partridges, and pheasants, w owld p?-o/ect them, 720,000 bushels more 
wlicat would go every year nito tlie English market. But the creature designed 
by a kind Providence to perform the chief part of this immense good is the 
7nole ! Some years since I had two fields, one of which was full of wire- 
worms, the other perhaps a third full. My crops failed on these fields for 
the first two or three years, but afterward improved rapidly, for I bought all 
the live moles I could find at three shillings a dozen, and then two shillings 
a dozen, and turned them into these fields. I had eight quarters of barley 
jicr acre and seven of wheat where the moles were at work all summer, 
making the ground like a honey-comb. Next year, the wire-worms, being all 
cleared out, my innocent little workmen, who had performed for me a service 
beyond the powers of all the men in my parish, emigrated to my neighbor's 
lands to perform the same service, but of course they met death wherever 
they moved, so tiiat my little colony was wholly destroyed. Now I will 
receive all the moles that the farmers will give me, and turn them into my 
glebe." 

276. An American Opinion about MoleSi — An American writer undertakes 
to criticise what is said above, and says: "This I know from every-day 
observation to be very erroneous. I do not know that moles eat insects ; be 
that as it ni; y, 1 have no doubt their living is principally seeds, and roots, and 
other vegetables. In the winter time, when snow is deep and the ground 
not frozen, I have known them to destroy whole nurseries of apple-trees, 
and even young orchards that have commenced bearing." 

Now this man don't know what he is talking about. He has confounded 
mice and moles together. It is the mice, and not the moles, that have been 
running about in this man's orchard eating his trees. But he believes it is 
moles, and has a fixed prejudice in his mind against them, which no argument 
perhaps can remove. "We beg of farmers to learn facts about things in 
which they are so much interested. 

277. Mice and their Mischief.— Mice, we willingly concede, are mischievous 
— in young orchards excessively so. Wet seasons are favorable to the rapid 
increase of field mice, and when followed by enowy winters and unfrozen 



252 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

turf, so they can have access to the clover roots, they become a scourge. 
The late dry summers nearly exterminated both rats and mice — probably more 
from thirst than hunger. 

The variety of mice that does most damage to trees is known as the 
"meadow mouse," which always works under cover, girdling the trees most 
when the snow lies deepest, particularly if it lies lightly or is held up by 
weeds and grass, so as to allow the vermin easily to make their paths from 
tree to tree, or from the tree to their resting-place. 

2TS. Remedies for Mice Eatiu^ Trees.— Tramping the snow down around 
the trees is a pretty sure remedy, and where the orchard or nursery is not 
extensive, will answer to be put in practice, l.)ut it would be troublesome on 
a large scale, as it may have to be repeated several times in the winter. 
Some persons have found it a good plan to tramp down the snow and wet it. 
It then forms ice, that often remains nearly all winter, keeping the ground 
warm, as well as keeping the mice off. 

Downing, in his "Fruits and Fruit-Trees," saj's: "The following mixture 
will be found to be an effectual prevention. Take one spadeful of hot- 
slacked lime ; one spadeful of clean cows'-dung ; half spadeful of soot ; one 
handful of flour of sulphur — mix the whole together with the addition of 
sufficient water to bring it to the consistency of thick paint. At the 
approach of winter, paint the trunks of the trees sufficiently high to be 
beyond the reach of these vermin. Experience has proved that it does no 
injury to the tree. A dry day should be chosen for the application." 

Coal-tar has been recommended, but we advise great caution in its use, 
since many persons have destroyed their trees by it. "We would sooner try 
a coating of strong alkaline soap; that, at least, would not injure the 
trees. 

279. Mice and Osage-orangc. — J. D. Cattell, of Salem, Columbiana Co., 
Ohio, says the field-mice are eating up all the roots of Osage-orange hedges 
in that region, so that they are utterly destroyed, and their cultivation miisf. 
be abandoned unless somebody can give a remedy. lie says : 

" It has been my understanding, heretofore, that one of the greatest ex(;el- 
lences of this plant for fencing was its freedom from all animal destroyers. 
If no remedy against the ravages of the mice can be found, it will be folly 
to set a plant of the kind in this part of the country. One of my neighbors 
has already given up half of his for lost, and grubbed out the balance. No 
doubt others are troubled in the same way. I have tried traps, terrier dogs, 
and poison, but all in vain. "What shall I do ?" 

Who can tell ? 

"We heard one nurseryman say that he should dig np an Osage-orange 
hedge, because it attracted mice, and also because it entirely exhausted the 
soil of a wide space, so that he lost the growth of one row of trees. 

280. Rats.— This species of the genus imts is an almost intolerable nuisance 
in some portions c£ the United States. In fact, we do not know of any 
portion now exempt. They follow man into the wilderness. When we 



Seo. 13.] "WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 253 



located on the prairie, in 1834, about 15 miles from neighboi's, and 40 miles 
out from what lias since grown to be the city of Chicago^ there was not a 
rat to seen or heard of. For several years we were exempt from this pest. 
There came abundance of shipping to Chicago, and with it abundance of 
rats, and they soon spread over the whole land, multiplying and devastating. 
Now they are great pests in the barns and stacks of prairie farmers. 

Our common breed is called " Norway rats," from the supposition that tliey 
originated in that country. British naturalists, however, assert that they 
were introduced into the British Islands from India. If they are tropical 
animals, all we have to say is, that they easify adapt themselves to a rigor- 
ous climate, where they multiply at a most jirolific rate. What we are yet 
to do with them is a problem not easily solved. All the receipts to cure the 
nuisance arc only preventive, not eradicative. 

2S1. Rat Antidotes. — A correspondent of the Gardener's Monthly says: 
" I tried the effect of introducing into the entrance of their numerous holes, 
runs, or hiding-places, small portions of chloride of lime, or bleaching pow- 
der, wrapped in calico, and stuffed into the entrance holes, and thrown loose 
by spoonfuls into the drain from the house. This drove the rats away for a 
twelvemonth, when they returned to it. They were again treated in the same 
manner, with like effect. The cure was most complete. I presume it was 
the chlorine gas, which did not agree with their olfactories." 

Another correspondent writes: "Some four or five years since, my cellar 
became musty, to overcome which my wife sprinkled a solution of copperas 
(pretty strong) over the bottom. Since that time we have seen no sign of 
lats about the house, notwithstanding there have been plenty of tliem about 
the barn and other buildings on the premises." 

Arstnio is considered, by some who have tried it, a failure, when nsed for 
the purpose of clearing premises of rats, because they are too cunning to 
partake of it after witnessing the death of two or three of the family. It is 
elfectual, if the vermin will take the bait. 

Strychnine we consider far preferable, and although so much more costly, 
it requires but a icw^ cents' worth to do the work of death upon a hundred 
rats. It is also the very best thing to use npon a troublesome dog or cat 
that comes prowling about your premises. One grain for a dose is sufficient. 
We have killed numerous wolves by insei'ting one grain of strychnine in the 
center of a piece of fresh meat, just large enough for a mouthful for a wolf. 
As rats do not bolt their food, it is a little more difficult to get them to take 
strychnine, it is so intensely bitter. If it is mixed with corn-meal, and a few 
drops of oil of anise are added, it will attract the rats. 

Tarrimj and feathering rats, and then letting them run, has been practiced, 
to give the tribe a hint that it would be well for them to leave. One rather 
smart individual, not having tar, used spirits of turpentine.,* He was going 
to drive the rats out of his house cellar. He was entirely successful ; for 
when he let the rat loose in his kitchen, with a " Shoo !" to it to go down the 
cellar stairs, it took the kitchen fire in its course, and then a pile of flax that 



254 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

lay in the cellar way. In two hours there was not a rat in the Louse, unless 
it might be a roasted one. 

Plaster of Paris has proved a successful poison for rats ; and it has the 
advantage of being quite harmless to have about the house. A tablespoon- 
ful of the flour of plaster, mixed in a cup of Indian meal, and slightly sweet- 
ened, will be eaten by rats, and kill them. A little grated cheese makes the 
food more attractive. Oil of anise would be still more so. In fact, by the 
use of it, rats may be coaxed out of a house to eat poison, and die where 
their dead bodies would not be a nuisance. 

P/iosphortts, powdered and mixed M'ith meal, a few grains to a teacupful, 
has been often used successfully as a rat poison. 

Powdered jjotas/i, strewn in the paths frequented by rats, has been known 
to drive them away from a house. The theory is, that it gives them very sore 
feet, and disgusts them with the place. 

2S2. Eiis^iisli Rat-fatclicrs. — In England, rat-catching is a profession, sons 
often following it as the business of their fathers. The rat-catcher visits a 
farmer, and contracts with him at so much a head for all the rats he destroys. 
Ills trap is a large bag, which is set with the mouth open, baited with a 
piece of bread scented with oil of anise and oil of rhodium, the scent of 
which attracts the rats, and thus he bags enough to fill the contract. He 
does not desire to rid the premises, as that M'ould "spoil business." A rat- 
destroyer M'onld not be tolerated by the honorable company of rat-catchers. 

283. Rat-Traps. — Among the many devices for trapping rats, we will 
mention a few of the best. A large wire cage-trap, where the second rat 
will go in because he sees the first in there, often proves successful. A large 
brass ketlle, half full of water, with a small stone island in the center, just 
big enough for one rat to rest upon, the top of the kettle being covered with 
parchment, similar to that of a drum-head, having a cross cut in the center, 
is a first-rate trap. Fasten a small bait upon the points of the cut, and the 
rat jnmps down from a board arranged for the purpose, and through he 
goes into the water. lie scrambles on the island and squeals for helji. An- 
other hears him, and comes looking around, sees the bait, jumps for it, takes 
the plunge, and goes down upon the other fellow's head. Then comes a 
scramble for place, the strongest pushing the weakest ofl" to take his chance 
in the water. This muss, as with men, attracts others, and in they go. "We 
have heard of twenty in a night thus inveigled to destruction. 

A barrel, one third full of water, with an island, the surface covered with 
chaft', and a bait suspended over it, we have been told, is an excellent trap. 

Ferrets and weasels have been highly recommended to be kept about the 
barn, to drive away rats. The objection to them is, that they drive away the 
poultry also. Ferrets have been trained so as to be obedient to the call of 
their master, and used not only to hunt rats, but to drive rabbits out of their 
burrows. 

28i. Domestic fats. — Perhaps the best thing for a farmer to do, who is 
troubled with rats, is to multii)ly his stock of cats. We knew one farmer 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 255 

who kept fourteen cats, keeping up that number for more than a year, by 
Avliich means lie got rid of all annoyance from rats, and they also hunted the 
rabbits out of an adjoining grove. 

The variety of the fd is tribe known as the domestic cat, once wild, easily 
gets wild again if neglected by man, and is then as great a pest as the rats, 
and is given to the very bad habit of eating eggs and chickens, and catch- 
ing pigeons and other birds. 

To prevent cats killing chiclims, Harriet Martineau gives the following as 
a sure preventive both against the killing of chickens and birds by the cats : 
"When a cat is seen to catch a chicken, tie it round her neck, and make her 
wear it for two or three days. Fasten it securely, for she will make incred- 
ible efforts to get rid of it. Be firm for that time, and the cat is cured — she 
will never again desire to touch a bird. This is what we do with our own 
cats, and what we recommend to our neighbors ; and when they try the ex- 
periment, they and their pets are secure from reproach and danger hence- 
forth. Wild, homeless, hungry, ragged, savage cats arc more difficult to 
catch ; but they are outlaws, and may be shot, with the certainty that all the 
neighbors will be tiiankful." 

The abundance of food and shelter obtained by the domestic cat makes 
them much more prolific than in a Avild state. Slie is generally, though very 
tame and gentle, much more attached to the house than to its inmates, which 
is quite the reverse with the dog. There are some remarkable singularities 
about cats. Gentle as they appear, they are very nervous, and easily 
startled, and act for a moment as wildly as though never tamed. They arc 
also accused of being very treacherous. Their affection for their own spe- 
cies or ours is certainly doubtful. Their conduct at times, when a member 
of the family dies, is singular. Their anxiety also to get at a corpse has 
led to curious superstitions. In the opinion of the superstitious, the black 
cat has ever been attendant upon witchcraft. It is our opinion that a portion 
of this black-cat superstition originated from the fact that the hairs of a 
black cat exhibit sparks of electricity to a remarlcablc degree, when the 
atmosphere is in the right condition. To see this, take such a cat into a dark 
room, upon a clear, cold November night, and stroke the fur the wrong way, 
and if you never have seen it before, you will be surprised at the effect. 

Cats, particularly females, are generally very cleanly animals to keep as 
house pets. They are fond of warna quarters and soft beds, and their song 
of satisfaction, called purring, is very pleasant to all who have a fondness for 
cats. We have known this fondness become a cat mania. 

We look upon cats as a necessary part of farm stock, and they should be 
properly treated as much as any other kind of animals. 

285. Do^i — If there is any more unmitigated nuisance in a farming com- 
munity than dogs, such dogs as farmers generally keep, we are unable to 
name it. In the country where we live, there are some hundreds of farms 
better fitted for sheep husbandry than any other purpose, but upon which 
no sheep are kept, because the country is so full of worthless dogs. Tlie 



256 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



country might be a hundred thousand dollars a year richer, if the people 
could stock their farms with sheep. A man who keeps a worthless cnr to 
prowl through a neighborhood, is neither a good Christian, moral man, nor 
good neighTjor. He does not do as he would be done by. A well-trained 
terrier is the only kind of a dog that is useful to farmers in general. Of 
these there are several varieties ; the best is the wire-haired terrier, an ugly- 
looking brute, but a ferocious enemy to rats. The black-and-tan terrier is a 
liandsome and more agreeable-looking dog to have about a place, and a 
good ratter, when trained, but does not have such an apparent natural pro- 
pensity to destroy rats as the wire-haired one. He is also, for his size, a very 
strong dog. and knows nothing about fear of anything, and is therefore a 
very good house watch-dog. Bat we do not believe a farmer ever should 
keep a dog for his services alone, as a watch or guard of his premises. A 
dog to be worthy of a home upon a farm should have several good qualities 
combined. 'No conscientious man can keep a dog when he knows that the 
keeping of such dogs, whether his particular one or not, has a tendency to 
prevent the keeping of sheep ; for sheep, of all animals, have greater adapt- 
ation to the purpose of furnishing the poor with cheap food than "any 
other domestic animal in use iii this country, and they are capable of con- 
verting the coarsest herbage of the farm into the most healthful meat of the 
shambles. 

286. Shepherd's !)o,2;s. — Whenever sheep are kept in sucli numbers as to 
constitute a conaiderabie ilock, the owner can M'cll afford to keep a good 
shcplierd's dog. One who has never seen a well-trained shepherd's dog can 
form no idea of their extraordinary sagacity and usefulness. We have 
ridden leisurely across a wide prairie in a wagon, accompanied by a Scotch 
colley, half-breed slut, driving five hundred sheep better than three men 
could have done without a dog. 

If there were none but such dogs in the country, there would be ten times 
as many sheep kept. One man would be entirely competent to manage a 
thousand. Ho should have two dogs, so that they would be company for 
eacli other, and so that, in case of accident to one, the other would remain 
serviceable. 

The Scotch colley very much resembles a prairie-wolf, having a broad 
forehead and pointed nose. The ears arc short and upright, the fleece 
shaggy and slightly curly, with a bushy tail. These dogs are very intelli- 
gent, docile, and faithful, and possess an instinctive sagacity in everything 
that relates to the care of sheep. In a pleasant little book called " Anecdotes 
of Dogs," some wondeiful evidences of the sagacity of Scottish sliephcrJ 
dogs are to be found, and they should be read by all farmers' boys. 

The English shepherd dogs vary considerably in appearance* from the 
Scotch. The hair is smoother, and they do not appear so distinct a breed as 
the other. Both are of medium size, perhaps about fifteen inches high. 
The Irish shepherd dog is Larger and more ferocious; some of them would 
teai- a man sadly, if he interfered with the flock at night while in charge of 



Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME AXIMALS OF THE FARM. 257 



tlic dog. The Scotch dog is always gentle, and generally very affectionate. 
In France, the shepherd dogs are somewhat like the Scotch, but smaller. 
Tlie Spanish shepherds have a lireed of dogs peculiar to that country. They 
are the size of a full-grown wolf, with large head, thick neck, niastiff-lookintr, 
fierce and strong, and are often armed with a spiked collar, to make them 
more ft)rinidable to dogs, wolves, and bears, if they should attack the flock. 
Their color is generally black and white — their daily rations two pounds of 
black bread, with milk and meat when it can be had. In Spain, the great 
flocks of the country, always in charge of shepherds and dogs, make long 
migrations every year from their lowland home to the mountain pastures, 
two or three hundred miles distant, feeding all the way in the roads and 
commons. 

Sheep are the wealth of Spain, and without the aid of shepherd dogs, that 
wealth, under the present system of management, could not be produced. 

287. Doa; Laws.— -In New Jersey there is a dog law which should be 
entitled, " An act to encourage the keeping of the most ordinary breeds of 
sheep, and no others, and to induce owners to have them killed by do^s." 
This act provides that all sheep killed by dogs shall be paid for out of the 
public funds, at five, dollars a head. To improve your flock, if you get a 
buck worth a hundred dollars, and the dogs kill him, you get five dollars. 
If your neighbor has one killed that you would not have on your farm, if 
paid five dollars for taking him, he gets five dollars. It is not a law to 
encourage improvement in sheep-breeding. 

The number of sheep annually killed by dogs in Ohio has been ascertained 
by the assessors. The number and value are astounding. 

Thereupon a correspondent of the Ohio Farmer says : " Shall we have a 
dog law, or must wo give up keeping sheep? That is the real question. 
Tliere would be kept fifty per cent, more sheep in this country, but for dogs; 
not that quite that amount are dogged, but most farmers lose some, and this, 
with other risks, discourages them, and compels them to abandon the business. 
Now let every farmer make this a test question in the elections this fall. 
Let it be sheep vs. dogs, and let all Republicans and Democrats see to it that 
every man put in nomination for the Legislature is sound on dogs. Let the 
candidate choose whom he will seiwe — sheep or dogs. I am in earnest, Mr. 
Editor. The sight of a few fine Leicesters, each worth more than all the do"8 
in Ohio, mangled and torn by worthless curs, who are only kept because 
their owners are too lazy to kill them, has made me in dead earnest; and 
wo to the Ohio legislator, if he depends on my vote, whose fear of doo- 
constituents shall induce him to oppose or dodge a severe dog law ! Now is 
the time, wool-growers of Ohio, to look to this matter, and see that anti-dog 
men are put in nomination by your respective parties." 

There is no use in talking about taxing dogs. Tlie dogs that really do the 
mischief are the dogs of gentlemen of elegant leisure, who are too lazy to 
hunt with them, and of the democratic loafer, who don't like to work, but 
glories in the luxury of a house full of children and a dozen dogs. Honest 



17 



258 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



working people, who earn their bread, don't keep worthless dogs about them ; 
if tliey keep a dog, they feed him, and train him up properly ; but your 
roaming worthless vagabond will keep a score, and expect them to take care 
of tlieraselves. But these fellows have votes, my dear sir; it will never do 
to tax their dogs. They would kick up such a dust about our ears that we 
could never find our wa}' into the State-house again. 

288. A Trap for (atckiug Sbeep-killing DogSi— Slake a pen of fence rails, 
beginning with four, so as to have it square, and as you build it, draw in 
each rail as you would the sticks of a partridge-trap, until your pen is of 
sufficient height, say five feet. In this way j'ou will construct a pen that, 
when finished, will permit a dog to enter at tiio top at pleasure, but out of 
which he will find it difficult to escape, should he liave the agility of an 
antelope. All that you have to do to catch the dog that has killed your 
sheep, is to construct the trap where the dead sheep is left, as directed, as 
soon as possible after an attack has been made on your flock ; put a part or 
the whole of a sheep that has been killed in it, and remove the balance to 
some other field. In a majority of cases the rogue and murderer will return 
the succeding night, or perhaps the next, and you will have the gratification 
next morning of finding him securely imprisoned. Some may object to the 
plan, perhaps, on the ground that you might catch an innocent dog. If he 
is so, he can content himself with not trying it. 

289. A Sermon on DogSi — The Texas Christian Advocate gets off the fol- 
lowing short sermon upon dogs, from a text to be found in Philippians iv. 2 — 
" Beware of dogs !" Upon this the preacher says : 

" The Apostle well knew the mischievous and meddlesome spirit of dogs. 
Hence his caution against them. 
I. Doo-s in general arc a nuisance. 
Because : 

1. They excite fears of hydrophobia. 

2. Tliey worry and destroy sheep. 

3. They disturb our slumber. — Howling in horrid concert under our win- 
dow, sinniltaneoiisly baying at the moon. 

4. They frighten us when out at night. — A snap or growl at a neighbor's 
gate, or when turning down a dark alley, has a wonderfully nervous tendency. 

5. They are too familiar. — Will sleej) on the front gallery, scatter fleas, 
come into the dining-room and parlor, and go to church on Sunday mornings. 

From these and other considerations I observe : 
II. All dogs should be watched. 

1. To prevent their depredations. — Killing neighbors' cats, tearing pants, 
scaring children, and going mad. 

2. To correct their bad manners. — Teach them they are only dogs, and not 
quite equal to " white folks." 

3. Keep them in their places. — "Wlierever else they belong, I question as 
to the propriety of their getting between the sheets with gentlemen, or using 
the church as a dog-kennel. 



Sec. 13.] 



WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF TUE FARM. 



259 



Ai'PLic.vTioN. — Have you a dog ? Then keep Iiiin in a clog's place, and 
watch him. If you admit him to undue familiarity, don't forget that other 
folks will still think him to be but a dog. If he has a shaggy coat and turn- 
up nose, these will not entitle him to the privilege of following you to 
church and disturbing tiie worship of tiie entire congregation. 

Though he may be as nice and sensible as his fond master or foolish mis- 
tress, it is not very probable the preaching will do him any good. The intel- 
ligent fellow miglit be allowed the pleasure of trotting across the floor, and 
barking his aijprobation at the occasional flights of the preacher's eloquence, 
were a dog's gratification more imjiortant than the people's edification. 

Hence, in conclusion, I would say. Beware of dogs ! and what I say to one 
I say to all. Beware of dogs ! 

Finally, to the sexton, or that good brother who raises the tunes, I would 
say witli emphasis. Beware of dogs ! and if those canine interlopers 2:)ersist 
in coming to the place of worship, just take them out and cut oft' their tails 
close to tlie ears." 

290. Rabbits — To Prevent Gnawing TrceSi — The American Hare, commonly 
called Babbit, is common to all the Atlantic States and Canada. It is used 
for food by most people, but abhorred by others. Although clothed in a 
thick coat of soft, whitish-gray fur, the skin is not valuable, because it is too 
tender to be serviceable, and the fur is not much, if any, better than cotton, 
for such purposes as fur, separated from tiie skin, is used for. These animals 
are prolific, and generally prefer to live in and about farms that have been 
sufi"cred to grow up badly to bushes. They do the most of their feeding at 
night, and farmers generally da not feel any dread of their mischief. 
Nurserj'men do ; and so do those who plant young orchards near where rab- 
bits abound. When hunger presses tliem in winter, they will gnaw apple- 
trees with tender bark so as to destroy them. Young nursery trees are often 
cut off" by rabbits so smoothly that one not knowing how it was done would 
suppose it was by a knife. 

To prevent tlie depredations of rabbits, Englisli nurserymen dip rags into 
melted brimstone, and fasten them about among the trees. The remedy 
mentioned in 278, to prevent mice, is recommended to keep the rabbits 
away. Some persons have daubed tlieir trees with grease scented with some 
oflfensive odor, and found that rabbits would not touch them. Some have 
plastered them with fresh cow-dung. A very good remedy is to ofl'er a 
bounty for every rabbit killed in the neighborhood. 

"Where trees have been injured, it is a good plan to bind up the wound 
with a plaster of clay and cow-dung, made plastic enough to adhere well ; 
this, when firmly bound on. Mill often save a valuable tree. 

Domesticated rabbits, if suffered to run at large, are very ornamental, ])ai'- 
ticularly if of the finest fancy sorts, but they are sometimes unpleasantly 
mischievous. Where they can be conveniently kept imder restraint, we 
have no doubt they can be made as profitable as poultry or other small farm 
stock. In England, rabbit-breeding is quite a business, and men of wealth 



260 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



and good standing engage in it, and form rabbit cliibs, and exhibit their 
stock for prizes. Some of the specimens imported from London, that we 
have seen, were very beautiful. Some years ago, Francis Rotch, of Butter- 
nuts, Otsego County, N. Y., imported some of the best we have ever seen, 
and bred them to a considerable extent, finding ready sale for all he chose 
to dispose of in that way. 

We do not know of any large establishment in this country where rabbits 
are bred for sale in market for food. Tlie common American wild rabbit is 
often seen in the New York market. 

Rabbits may be kept in very inexpensive hutches, and in tolerably close 
confinement. Their feed in summer is clover and various green things. In 
winter they will eat grain, sweet apples, parsneps, and other roots, cabbage, 
and a little sweet hay. A full-sized rabbit wants about a gill of oats night 
and morning, with a piece of rutabaga or parsnep, or its equivalent, say a 
quarter of a pound a day, and a little handful of hay. A doe, while suck- 
ling her young, which is most of the time, should be fed high, say three gills 
of oats a day, or wheat shorts, or pea meal, and roots and hay. Or in sum- 
mer, upon almost anything that grows green, if given fresh. 

A dozen or fifteen years ago, we remember having seen in " The Boy's 
Own Book" an elaborate treatise upon rabbit-breeding, and to that we refer 
the boy who reads this and desires to go into the business. They will also 
find frequent hints in agricultural papers, and in several books devoted to 
fancy poultry breeding. From what we have said of the food which rabbits 
consume, it will be easy to calculate whether keeping them will be profitable. 

Newspapers bound around trees, it is declared in an article before us, will 
wholly prevent depredations of rabbits, and also keep oft" the borers, and a 
wrapper well tied on will last for months. The writer says : 

"I find no other remedy necessary for either rabbit or borer. The wrap- 
pers, if properly put on, keep whole through all the changes of our variable 
winters. Tlie trees are thus secure from damage by the rabbit. In the latter 
part of spring and early part of summer, when the beetles of the Saperda 
and the Buprestis are about, a few eggs will be deposited in the axils of the 
lower branches of trees, and at the tops of the paper wrappers. Even these 
points of attack, however, can in general be successfully guarded, by simply 
depositing a small piece of brown soap in the main axils, after the season's 
growth is well started, to be dissolved and washed down the stem by subse- 
quent raius. 

" But I do not find it necessary to resort to this precaution ; for if eggs are 
deposited at those points, I am certain to find the fact out, and make all 
right the latter part of August and first part of September, when I go among 
my young trees with a bucket of strong soap-suds and a hard scrubbing- 
brush, for the purpose of giving them a good hard wash, such as would make 
some people open their eyes with astonishment, and cutting out suckers or 
small shoots that may have pushed through the papers, and renewing the 
wrappers." 



Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 261 

291. Squirrels and Gophers. — All of our Eastern and Nortliem readers will 
understand about squirrels, and liow much mischief the smallest of the 
family does in the cnni-field ; but the}' know nothing of gophers — they belong 
to the West. In California they are almost intolerable, and it is about as 
hard to devise a plan to get rid of them as it is here to get rid of the *' chip- 
mucks" {Tamias iysteri). In our opinion, the best M'ay to prevent them 
from digging up the seed-corn is to give them plenty to eat on the surface. 
What is half a bushel of corn sown broadcast for the squirrels to pick up? 
It would save the seed of a large field harmless. We would willingly give 
that every year to see the dear little things around a farm. It is worth that 
to see the old dog chase them, and " bark at the hole" where one ran through 
a stone wall. Wc have concluded never to kill a chipmuck. If others wish 
to do it, they may perform the work by poisoning corn, or they may prevent 
them from eating it by coating the seed with tar, which is done by mixing a 
pint of tar in a pail of warm water, and putting the corn in it; then, to make 
it pleasant to handle, roll it in dry plaster. If a little flour sulphur is sprinkled 
on the wet seed, it will adhere and give it an odor that all little posts dislike. 

At the West, in woody districts, gray, black, and fox squirrels, particularly 
the lirst named, are sometimes very destructive to the corn-fields in autumn. 
The gray and black squirrels increase so rapidly after one or two seasons of 
an abundant supply of beech-nuts, that the regular squirrel-hunts do not 
appear to diminish their numbers. They are to some extent migratory, as 
their supplies change, from beech to oak lands. At such times the strong 
and healthy will swim large rivers, and uniformly take one direction, leaving 
the young and feeble at home. 

In Ohio, about the year 1835, squirrels became so numerous over the 
whole country as to threaten the entire destruction of corn-fields while in the 
milk. The following year they were all starved. In the winter they ran 
desperately over the fields, indifferent of danger, sometimes feeding upon 
the bark of the beech. 

The red and striped or ground squirrel are not liable to suffer from these 
vicissitudes, as they lay np a store for winter. I think the flying squirrel 
does also, but this is a noctui-nal creature, and less is known about it. 
There are also several kinds of M-inter birds which deposit seeds in knots 
and loose bark of trees for winter use. 

The fox squirrel is the largest of the American species. It is of a reddish- 
gray color, and inhabits the prairie groves of northern Indiana, Michigan, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, and other States. It is very shy of man, is hard to get a 
sight of, and difficult to kill. 

292. Striped Gophers {SpcnnojjMlux tridecemlineatits). — Perhaps, when 
you sec the name given to this animal by natural-history writers, you may 
imagine it is as big as its name. But it is not half as formidable to look at. 
We give the scientific name for identification, because the word " Gopher," 
in Florida, means a small land-turtle. In Wisconsin it means a squirrel 
somewhat like a chipmuck. In California it represents a diflerent animal. 



262 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



The striped gopher abounds in the Northwestern prairie region. In the first 
settlement of the country a hundred miles around Chicago, it inhabited all 
the prairie groves and dry ravines. The following is its description: The 
ears are short and rounded ; the tail slender and hairy, about half the length 
of the body ; the body is of a dark brown above, longitudinally marked with 
alternate rows and spots of a light fawn-color, which correspond nearly with 
the belly and sides. The lighter lines on the npper part may be distinguished 
by the brown intervals between, which are occupied by the single rows of 
light spots, which are generally indistinct on the anterior half of the body. 

Although these animals are considered grain-eaters, and called mischiev- 
ous, we believe they are among the many real friends of the fanner. Like 
the weasel, which occasionally eats a chicken for lack of more favorite food, 
the gopher sometimes eats the farmer's seed-corn, but he should not be con- 
demned as an enemy for that act, without a fair hearing. 

There may be some of the gopher family that are destructive of farm 
crops. The evidence is very strong to that effect against the Californian 
gopher, which lives in holes all through the cultivated fields, and does not 
seem to be very particular what it cats, whether corn, wheat, potutcws, l)eets, 
melons, pumpkins, so tliat it is something wliich tiie farmer has grown for 
his own use. 

It is not so with the small striped gopher. This beautiful little animal 
should be carefully preserved upon all farms where it now exists, and we 
have no doubt it -would prove a valuable additinn to tiie stock of any farm 
where it is not found in a natural condition. It is a great destroyer of lield- 
mice, and in our opinion a whole troojj of gophers do less damage in one 
season than the mice which one of them would kill in a single day. For 
they are real epicures, eating nothing but the blood and brains, when the 
supply is abundant. These animals have such an appetite for flesh, that 
if deprived of it, a mother will eat her young. Such carnivorous animals 
must be better hunters than cats, and should be carefully preserved, and not 
" drowned out," as they often are, wlien their homes are discovered by the 
boys, just for the "sport" (cruelty) of killing them. These animals seem to 
have a natural instinct that man is their common enemy. "VVe liave seen them 
often in situations where they could never have had any acquaintance with 
man, at least civ'ilized ones, who are the only ones who ever kill such small 
game for " sport," and we found tliem wild in the extreme. They utter a 
cry when discovered, and dart away into some shelter with great rapidity. 
In this respect, quite unlike the chipmuck, which will play around a dog or 
man in the most tantalizing manner. 

The striped goplier never gnaws trees, roots, fruits, nor green vegetables, 
and in fact does the farmer no damage except to eat a little seed-corn. For 
all that they eat in the harvest field, they save twice as much in driving 
away mice and squirrels. Chipmucks, red squirrels, and mice can not 
inhabit the same locality with gopiiers ; and yet there are persons who have 
offered bounties to have them destroyed. Let such learn this fact from this 



Sec. 13.] 



WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 



2G3 



Tolume, if they learn no other, that the striped gopher is worth its weight 
in gold upon any farm where field-mice are so abundant that they destroy 
fruit-trees. 

293. ^kuukSf — "We don't know that wo can afford to stem the current of 
popular opinion so far as to recommend the protection instead of destruction 
of skunks {^fephiiis Americana). We are aware that these animals are 
troublesome visitors to the poultry-yard, and on tliat account they are hunted 
and killed without mercy, and without a thought about what they live upon 
all the time that they do not eat chickens. As they are tlesh-eaters, the}' must 
find sumcthiug of the flesh kind to eat, and that something is the very thing 
that the farmer is most anxious to get rid of — it is mice, and worms, and 
bugs. The quantity of these pests destroyed b}' a single skunk is enormous. 
It is vci-y rare that they come about a house, though we have known them 
to live for weeks in cellars, or store-rooms, or under a crib, without producing 
any nuisance. They never emit their fetid odor unless attacked by man or 
dog; and it has been contended that it was practicable to domesticate a 
skunk 60 that he would be quite a harmless pet. AVe can not recommend 
making pets of these animals, but we do recommend farmers to learn the 
important fact, that if they do him a little damage occasionally, they also do 
him an incalculable amount of good. Generally speaking, there is not a 
fai'mer in all the region inhabited by the Mephitis who could not well afford 
to exchange dogs for skunks, and pay ten dollars each for the bargain. 
There is one other thing that skunks are good for. As an article of food we 
don't think there is any wild animal that makes a more dainty dish, and we 
hold that wo are tolerably well qualified to judge. A fat skunk, nicely 
dressed and roasted, hung by a string before an old-fashioned wood fire 
till beautifully browned, and then served upon a platter flanked with boiled 
mealy potatoes, covered with the brown gravy made of the fat drip, is 
beyond dispute " a dish fit to set before the king." 

294. ToadSt — Although not among the quadrupeds, of which this chapter 
treats, toads are among the friends of the farmer, and as such should have a 
place in this connection. Every man who owns or cultivates a garden or 
field, who knows anything about the natural history of the toad, will never 
allow one to be destroyed. There is no animal more harmless, and few that 
do the farmer more good than toads. Their whole food is of insects injuri- 
ous to the farmer. The prejudice against "the ugly things" is a foolish one, 
and should be done away with. We once had a toad in the garden which, 
by some particular mark, was known to the children, who called it " father's 
pet toad," because it really appeared as though it knew that we were its 
friend and protector. This toad came year after year to lend us its valuable 
aid in exterminating the insect pests of the garden. We had another that 
made the milk-room its summer liome, where it was constantly engaged in 
catching flies and bugs. Toads and bats should both be protected from harm, 
and children taught to encourage them to come about the house. Bats arc 
great insect-eaters, and never visit the liouse of an evening for any other 



264 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



purpose tliau catching insects I'or food. It is charged against them, that they 
sustain bed-bugs as parasites. 

295. Camels— Their latroduction into the United States.— It is a great jump 
from the back of a toad to that of a camel, but not so great as politicians 
sometimes make. As we have to make the leap somewhere, it may as well 
be done here as anywhei-c, and after a very short ride we will jump down 
again upon the back of a goat. We have introduced camels, because we 
want all, particularly the farmers' boys who read this book, to learn the 
fact that camels have already been introduced into the United States, and 
put to service as beasts of burden. The first imjiorted were in 1857, we 
believe, under the auspices of the general government, since which time 
they have been in active government service, principally in Texas, and have 
made one or more trips to the Pacific with army officers. 

The Galveston ]\"ews gives the following account of the strength of one 
of the camels. It says : 

"There were near a dozen on the wharf, of all ages. The camel loaded 
was one of the largest. On the word of command being given, the camel 
lay down, ready to receive liis load, which consisted of five bales of hay, 
weighing in the aggregate over 1,400 pounds, which was firmly bound to the 
pannier placed upon the animal's hump. Upon the utterance of command 
by the native keeper, the huge animal arose, without an}' apparent e9brt,*to 
his feet, and walked oflT in a stately manner along the wharf and through 
the city. "We were informed that the same camel had 1,600 pounds placed 
iipon him, with which enormous weight ho arose. Tiie atilmals are all ex- 
ceedingly tractable, and seem to possess much affection for any one who 
treats them kindly, as an example of which Mrs. W. informs us that one of 
them, a pretty white one, which she had petted, would always kiss her when 
she was within kissing distance, which fact, we really thought, certainly 
proved the animal to possess an excellent taste as well as an aft'ectionate dis- 
position. In their native country the average load for a full-grown camel is 
some 800 j^ounds, with which they perform their long journeys over deserts, 
with but little food or water." 

It is to bo hoped that camels will become one of the ordinary beasts of 
burden in this country, where there are such vast arid plains, as in northern 
Texas, New Mexico, western Kansas, and Utah, that no other animals can 
traverse them. 

It is stated that the Emperor of Brazil is about to introduce dromedaries 
into that country. This animal can go long journeys without water, and 
therefore will be found valuable upon some of the deserts and plains of that 
country. A common load of an ordinary dromedary is 500 pounds. One 
of the camels in Texas has carried two bales of cotton, of 500 pounds each. 
One of the best kinds of dromedaries for riding can travel 400 miles with- 
out stopping to eat, drink, or rest. 

At the North, where horses, mules, and oxen are in such common use, we 
do not think that camels will ever supersede them. 



Seo. 13.] "WILD AXD TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 265 

296. Goats.— Introduction of the rashmcre Goats into the United States.— 

About the most unprotitablo of all vurieiies of I'ann-stock is the common 
goat. It is known in some parts of the country as the Irish goat, probably 
because the people from Ireland in t\m country, particularly in cities, keep 
more goats than all the rest of the inhabitants. These are of all colors, as 
much so as the common breed of honied cattle, and about tjie size of com- 
mon sheep. The she-goats give a small quantity of milk, and the kids 
afford some flesh food, at a small cost to the owners, as thev forage their 
living, and frequently do more mischief in a neighborhood or upon a farm 
than their necks are worth. Tlie hair of the common goat is worth nothing: 
for manufiicturing purposes. It is quite the reverse with the Cashmere 
goat. The ileece of this variety is eight times as valualilc as tine wool ; and, 
fortunately, it has been found that a cross upon the common goat, even in 
the first progeny, produces a fleece about half as valuable as the full blood, 
so that the breeding of goats in tliis country for the fleece is likely soon to 
become quite common, and a profitable branch of husbandry, particularly 
in some of the roughest districts of country. 

To Dr. James B. Davis, of South Carolina, the country is indebted for the 
introduction of the pure Cashmere goats, which are now to be found in 
various parts of the United States ; and to Hon. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, 
Ga., it is equally indebted for the interest he took at an earl}- day in the 
propagation of the original stock, which he purchased of Dr. Davis. Mr. 
Peters, being a wealthy, public-spirited gentleman, spared no pains, even 
when success was doubtful, in getting this breed established upon a firm 
basis, and proving that its crosses upon the common breed would be profit- 
able, as well as upon several other varieties of fine-wooled goats. 

We had the pleasure of an acquaintance with Dr. Davis and his stock at 
Charleston, in 1849, shortly after his return from several years' residence at 
Constantinople. He brought with him seven females and two males of the 
Cashmere goats, besides several other curious specimens of the livestock of 
the East. He stated his belief to be that the Cashmere, Persian, Angora, 
and Circassian goats are all of one breed, and that they have been slightly 
changed by locality, principally by altitude. These fine goats usually breed 
two kids in the spring, and, unfortunately, where rapid propagation is an 
object, the males preponderate. 

The progeny of these goats is now to be found in all the States from New 
York to Texas. In the latter State tliey have been established pretty exten- 
sively. We saw a letter written by John K. McCall, at Austin, in August, 
1860, which estimated that two hundred head, principally bucks, had been 
introduced into Texas. 

The demand for the fleece of Cashmere goats may be calculated from the 
fact that it is stated that 4,000 looms and 12,000 jieople are employed in the 
city of Lyons, France, in the manufacture of the fleeces of Cashmere goats, and 
that they are worth from four to eight dollars a pound. As soon as the supply 
is large enough, we shall have manufactories in ftperation in this country. 



266 SMxVLL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



Cashmere shawls were exhibited at the Crystal Palace, New York, valued 
at one thousand dollars each. These were all made by the needle. Fabrics 
made of Casliuiere goat's flt-cce, it is supposed, will outwear those made of any 
fibioiis material j'et discovered. 

The Thibet goat, one of which we saw at Dr. Davis's, diflfers from the 
Cashmei-e materially. The outward appearance is that of a very coarse- 
haired animal ; but there is an under-coat of long, white, silky wool, which 
weighs about a pound wlien combed out. Di-. Davis thought this like the 
wild goat of the Rocky Mountains. Who knows if thcj' are identical? 

Dr. Davis imported, also, the Scinde goat, which comes from Scinde, at 
the mouth of the Indus. This was a remarkably large goat, with monstrous 
pendulous ears. 

A goat used in Malta is tlie best milker of the family. A good ewe gives 
a gallon a day. Goats' milk, in all Eastern countries, particularly in mala- 
rious districts, is considered more healthy than the milk of cows ; and some 
learned ])liysicians in tliis country declare that cows' milk, in malarious dis- 
tricts, is the moving cause of many attacks of bilious fever. In this view of 
the subject, it may be well to inquire whether it would not be to the advant- 
age of the people, in a s-anitary as well as pecuniary point of view, to intro- 
duce the improved breeds of goats into all sections reputed subject to mala- 
rious diseases. 

297. Dreeding Fish for Food on the Farnii — "We do not feel willing to close 
the chapter upon animals on the farm, without calling attention to the sub- 
ject heading this paragrapli. 

Fish are tiie least costly food that man can obtain ; yet. owing to the 
scarcity, the labor of taking them out of the water — which is all the expense 
attending their production — has become so great, that fish are sold in our 
maiket at nearly as high a price per pound as meat. Salmon are really 
higlier than choice cuts of either beef or mutton. And yet salmon can be 
grown at very trifling expense. 

We have long been producing oysters by artificial means, without which 
our market could not be supplied ; and yet, witli that fact before onr eyes, 
very few attempt to produce fish by an equally easy process. One ftict of 
importance, in proof of the benefit of simply protecting fish from being 
taken in the spawning season, is the following : 

" In the river Foyle, in the north of Ireland, by a steady perseverance in 
a proper system of protection, the amount of salmon taken was raised from 
an average of 43 tuns annually, in 1823, to that of 300 tuns in 1842 ; while 
in the small river of Newport, in the county of Mayo, in which the salmon 
was formerly unprotected by law, and consequently taken at all periods of 
the year, within three years after the introduction of parliamentary regula- 
tions enforcing their protection during the breeding season, the annual take 
was increased from half a tun of fish to eight tuns of salmon and three tuns 
of white trout, with a certainty of a still higher increase. 

" In view of the great ai>gmentation in the price of all the articles of food 



Seo. 13.] DOMESTIC FISn-BREEDING. 267 

and necessaries of life in this country, the small probability of any consider- 
able reduction, and the actual sufferings of many of the laboring class from 
want of sutiic'ient fV)od, it ajipears to nie that this subject is worthy of tlie 
closest consideration, and that any one *vho can suggest and cft'ect the nuans 
of furnishing a new and ample supply of cheap, nutritious food, has some 
small claim to be thought of as not an entirely useless member of the com- 
munity." 

There is a little book, published by the Appletons, that gives in detail all 
the French plans for artificial fish-breeding, and any one who reads that 
volume can go to work and stock his own waters with any kind of fish ho 
desires. That our natural supply has failed, there is not a shadow of doubt, 
and that it never will be replenished, except by artificial breeding, is equally 
indisputable. That a re-stocking of our waters with fish, so as to make them 
as plentiful as formerly, would prove one of the cheapest modes of lessening 
the price of human food, is just as certain. ' 

In the West Indies, fish and turtle are constantly kept and stall-fed. At 
free running they never become fat, any more than our land stock. The 
ponds arc constructed of stones, of irregular figure in wall, so as to retain 
three or four feet of water at the lowest tides. The water of the rising tide 
flows freely in. These ponds have a deck of plank over them, laid about two 
inches a])art, for admission of air and light. A hatchway in the middle of 
the floor is opened to throw in their food, which usually consists of fry, or 
small fish, taken by cast-nets in any required quantity. When this is scat- 
tered among them, the excessive eagerness of the fish is an interesting sight 
— their bright eyes, fine teeth, and sparkling colors showing beautifully, as 
they leap out of water to catch the falling bait. 

The housekeepers send for a suitable fish for dinner shortly before the time 
to cook it. The person has a strong line and hook, with or without bait ; life 
lets it down, and the fish rush toward it, and he must be expert to let it drop 
to the mouth of the grouper, hamlet, snapper, white or blue band porgie, 
etc., which he wants. Such a fish never appears on the tables of the North- 
ern States, and yet every town on our sea-coast ought to have them. As it 
is now, wlicu LJio poor fisherman has caught more than he can sell, the over- 
plus is a dead loss. 

Tiiere is nothing more simple than the artificial breeding of fish. The 
entire mystery consists in taking the female during her time, and by running 
the thumb with a gentle steady pressure down her back, force out her ova 
in a jar of pure fresh water. The male is then taken in the same way, and 
made to j'ield a few drops of the spermatic fluid in the same vessel, the two 
are then stirred together for a few moments, and the contact of the fluid of 
the male has the eflPect to vitalize the eggs at once. The eggs are then laid 
down in shallow tanks with gravel bottoms, arranged in a series of steps so 
that running water can continually pass over them. Tlie whole trouble of 
the breeder is then to keep the eggs tree from any sediment or muddy deposit, 
and in due time each egg becomes a fish. Tlius almost every egg in an 



268 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 

innumerable ova can be turned to account for the benefit of man. There 
is, however, something to do after the eggs have become fish, and that is, to 
confine them within certain limits by a dam, until they are old enough to be 
able to take care of themselves, and make fight against tlie larger fish which 
would eat them up. There are now three or four establishments in the 
country for the artificial breeding of fish, and we see no reason why every 
lake and river may not be filled with life and food, and made to make an 
ample return for all investments. 

The cultivation of fish in France and some other countries of Europe has 
become as much of a trade as any other occupation, and tlie results in supply- 
ing food and aflbrding a handsome recompense to the owner have been equal 
to the most sanguine expectations. It is surprising that, more attention is 
not paid to it in this country where the facilities are unsurpassed. (Occasion- 
ally an individual makes a trial, but little however has yet been done in this 
line compared witli what might be accomplished. A writer in a South 
Carolina paper gives a description of a domestic fish-pond on the plantation 
of Mr. Freeman Hoyt, Sumterville. Mr. Hoyt had a small stream of water 
which ran through a low place in such a form as to enable him, by a dam of 
some 50 yards long, to construct a pond of some 700 feet in length by 150 in 
width, with a depth varj'ing from the shores to 12 or 15 feet in the center. 
This gave him a pond of over two and a half acres, where he could raise 
nothing. He deposited in the pond eight good-sized trout, and about 300,000 
eggs, with a larger amount of smaller fish for the trout to feed upon, and in 
one year the water was literally swarming with the tinny tribes. His trout 
one year old are some seven inches in length. The water running from the 
dam passes through a sieve, so that the fish can not escape from the pond. 
The necessary apparatus for cultivating, feeding, and taking care of the fish 
(?osts but a small smn, and the proceeds of the pond will be a source of much 
pleasure and profit. And this is but one instance in thousands which miglit 
with equal facility be turned into a source of revenue. 

In many sections of the country numerous springs and streams abound, 
confined within narrow valleys, that may be converted into permanent ponds 
and thus bo made to yield a profit in fish far beyond the capacity of the 
same area of the best of land devoted to the most profitable farm crops. 
These streams when supplied -witli living springs may be converted into 
nurseries of trout — the best of all fresh-water fish. The streams or ponds 
more sluggish in their nature may be made equally productive in a supply 
of still-water fish. This subject has been brought into extensive practice in 
France and other portions of Europe, and more recently a number of suc- 
cessful trials have been made in the United States to multiply domestic fishes, 
which may be as much at the command of the owner as the fowls in his 
barn-yard, affording an equal luxury and at a much less cost. 

Of artificial propagation of fish in Scotland and Ireland, a late number of 
the Manchester (England) Guardian said : " As several reports have been 
circulated in the newspapers to the eifect that the attempt to propagate 



Sec. 13.] DOMESTIO FISH-BREEDING. 269 



salmon by artificial means in Ireland and elsewhere had extensively failed, 
we think it right to state that we liave obtained some information from the 
very best sources, which convinces us that these reports are wholly iinfoundcd. 
On the contrary, we are glad to say the success attending the first attempt 
at propagation on an extensive scale in the country has surpassed our most 
sanguine expectations. It is reported from Perth, where about 350,000 ova 
are nearly hatched, that everything has progressed most satisfactorily ; the 
whole of the ova, with a trifling exception, seem in a lively state. The only 
difticulty appears to be that of providing sufficient ponds for such a multitude 
of fishes, when they are able to swim, as the feeding-ponds already provided 
will not contain one tenth of them ; and such is the number, that there 
appears no other way, after having hatched and protected them for twenty 
weeks, but that of committing them to the river to take their chance. At 
Galway about 260,000 ova are in a similar prosperous condition. Propagation 
on a smaller scale has also been carried into effect on the rivers Tweed, Lou- 
chard, the Foyle, Bush Mills, the Blackwater, the Moy, the Dee, near Chester, 
and other places. By the use of spring water the spawn has been entirely 
protected from injury by frost, during the past severe winter; and of 2,500 
eggs which were sent from Galway to Basle, a distance of nearly 1,000 
miles, M. Lex states that a considerable portion arc good, and in a state likely 
to live." 

Eobert L. Pell, of LTlster County, N. Y., has done a good deal to establish 
fish-ponds upon his farm; he says " that he is trying to grow the moss-bunker 
for manure, and hopes for success in growing them, but thinks the use of 
this fish the cause of disease in the districts where used. As many as 86,000 
moss-bunkers have been taken in a seine at one haul upon our coast. Mr. 
Pell also has in his ponds the black bass of the lakes — -a fish that grows as 
large as shad. Another fish from the lakes very much resembles the black 
bass, and flourishes in artificial water. Both do well, and are easily caught 
with a hook. The dace is a good fish for ponds, as he prefers still water. 
The rock bass is a common fish in Lake Champlain, and is much esteemed, 
and can be cultivated without difiiculty. Tlie muscalonge, frona the lakes, 
is an excellent fish, and appears well calculated for artificial water if pure. 
This fish grows large, and somewhat resembles the pickerel or pike of the 
lakes. Mr. Pell has the stickleback, that curious little fish that builds a nest 
something like a bird. Haddock he has tried, but failed of success, not- 
withstanding he salted the pond. The haddock is much inferior to the cod- 
fish, although frequently salted and sold as cod. lie also gave accounts of 
experiments with several other varieties, and how to transport fish alive 
safely. Mr. Pell thinks it is possible to stock all the streams in the country 
with fish, and thereby increase the food of the people to a very great extent, 
without any expense." 

A writer in The Homestead says : 

" Three years ago I constructed, in a ravine, a fish-pond covering a surface 
of about three fourths of an acre. It is fed by four small springs, and re- 



270 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



ceives a large amount of surface-water from the slopes around. It is fifteen 
feet deep at the greatest depth, and has shallow bays and inlets, where the 
small fish may breed and find protection from larger ones. It contains a 
small island, and the shores are embellished with flags {Irin), water-lilies 
{NymphoB odorata), and other water-plants. It was stocked with yellow- 
bass, Oswego bass, white perch, and every variety of sun-fish and minnows, 
also a dozen gold-fish {Cijprinus aiiratus). And now, at the end of three 
years, it is astonishing to note the vast increase in my scaly family. They 
have multiplied by hundreds, and grown in size beyond all my calculations. 
The gold-fish number several hundred, some of them over a foot in length, 
and a icw of them are beautifully marked with silvery sides and red fins, 
head, and tail ; others with golden sides and black fins and tail. I had no 
idea that they would thus sport in colors, but certainly they are very beauti- 
ful. The other fish have grown so much that I intend to commence using 
them for the table in autumn. I have not fed these fish, except for amuse- 
ment and to tame them, when a few crumbs of bread arc thrown in from a 
small bridge connecting the island with the shore, and the fish called up like 
chickens. The sun-fish, gold-fish, and smaller fry soon learned to come at 
my call, and to follow me in great numbers, from one end of the bridge to 
the other, for their morning or evening meal. 

"The young bass (the old ones hold back) and the sun-fish dart to the 
surface for their food, and have a lively scramble for it ; the gold-fish pick 
up Avliat sinks to the bottom. Their habits in this way arc very much like a 
flock of chickens, for some of the smaller fish take their position imme- 
diately under my feet, to pick up the small crumbs that fall, in breaking the 
larger ones to throw out. Some persons ring a small bell to bring their fish 
up, but I prefer calling mine. They do not appear to come from a greater 
distance than about forty feet to any one spot. I feed them in several places, 
to note the varieties and their growth. Now, as to the utility of this pond, 
it furnishes ice for my own use and three or four of my neighbors who have 
ice-houses; it also afiords excellent stock water, and will doubtless hereafter 
supply my table with fish. A small skitt' on its surface gives many a pleas- 
ant hour of recreation to the young who are fond of rowing. 

" The construction of this pond was very simple. The earth was excavated 
across the ravine four feet deep and five feet wide for a foundation ; then 
stifl" clay filled in and well jioundcd, to prevent leakage at tlie bottom. The 
earth from the bottom and sides of the ravine was thrown on the top of this 
foundation, to raise the embankment to the proper hight. A waste weir at 
one side, paved with flag-stones, and two feet lower than the top of the dam, 
sufficiently large to carry oflT the heaviest flow of water in very lieavy rains, 
guarded by a wire screen to prevent the escape of the fish, completed the 
construction. It is now sodded over, and planted with willows at the foot, 
and is considered safe. The expense of making such a pond is small, and it 
adds much to the value of a farm." 

298. Trout Streams— Reasons for the Disappearance of Trout. — One of the 



Sko. 130 DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING. 271 

very best authorities in the country — Geo. Dawson, a great lover of pisca- 
torial sports — gives, in the Albany Evening Journal^ the following reasons 
for the disappearance of trout from streams where they were abundant. 
He says : 

"Every one who has lived a score of years in the neighborhood of mountain 
or spring brooks remembers when, in such and such a stream, trout were 
abundant, where scarcely one is now ever taken. 'What has become of 
them ?' is a question which every one has been asked, or has asked himself, 
a thousand times. One says, ' They have been driven out by sawdust from 
mills erected upon the stream.' Another, who lives where tanneries have 
been erected, thinks 'the tan bark has killed or disgusted them.' Another 
says, ' Since tlie alders which used to border the creek have been cut down, 
and the forest cleared away, they have sought greater solitude.' Others 
say, 'They have gone because trout will not stay where there is a great deal 
of passing to and fro, as there necessarily is in a thickly populated locality ;' 
and others still insist that ' they have all been fished out.' Now, in my 
opinion, not one of these reasons is real. Neither sawdust, nor tan bark, nor 
clearings, nor dense population, nor excessive fishing, is the cause of depopu- 
lation. Some of the very best trout streams that I know of are full of saw- 
dust and tan bark. The bottom of Caledonia Creek is not only a bed of 
sawdust, but the creek lies in the midst of a dense population, and has been 
fished, night and day, for thirty years. Nevertheless, in its cold, crystal-like 
water, trout are more plenty to-day, and more are taken, than ten years 
since. I have been more than once surfeited with success in a stream in 
Canada where the sawdust was so thick tliat it formed a compact covering 
upon its surface ; and every year I take trout from a little brook in Connecti- 
cut which has been cleared and fished for almost a century. There are three 
great causes for the depopulation of trout streams : First, the erection of 
establishments upon them in which lime is largely used ; second, the intro- 
» duction into the streams of pike or pickerel, whose voracity is, sooner or 
later, fatal to all competitors; and thirdly, and principally, the gradual 
change of the temperature of the water. Trout will not live long in water 
which is not, at all seasons, of a temj)eratnre wliicli may not, in comparison 
with other water, be characterized as cold. Other causes besides those I 
have named sometimes operate; but, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
the changed temperature of the water is the cause of the absence of trout 
from streams where they were once abundant." 

He does not give the reason of this change of temperature, but we do : it 
is just the difference between a cool forest shade and a broad expanse of hot 
sunshine. Where these mountain streams once were sliaded from the first 
gushing spring to their mouths at some large river, they are now exposed to 
the full force of the noonday sun, until the water is heated to a degree as fatal 
to the brook trout as ice would be to a tropical plant. The streams that still 
retain trout are those which are so largely supplied with cold spring water 
that the temperature is kept at a healthy point, notwithstanding the denuded 



272 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 



state of the land. Sawdust has no more effect upon the fish than rotting 
leaves and wood in the forest streams. The Avashing of cultivated fields, by 
which the water is made impure, has more efiect upon fish of all sorts than 
sawdust, or, in our opinion, lime, in such quantities as result from any manu- 
facturing establishment. This fact must be kept always in view in establish- 
ing artificial ponds for fish-breeding. Make them where the water will not 
be roiled Ijy every shower. 

299. Eel Streams and Eel-Fisliing. — In all parts of the country where eels 
abound, they may be made an essential part of the food of the family in the 
autunm months, if the streams are such as easily admit the construction of 
weirs and placing traps or eel-pots. In some parts of the country the eel 
business affords no mean item of income to farmers who have riparian rights, 
the work not interfering materially with ordinary farm labor. 

We find the following interesting account of the eel fishery on the Susque- 
hanna in the Lancaster (Penn.) Herald: 

" About the middle of August the water of the stream becomes very low, 
and usually by September that in the channel is only a few feet deep, leav- 
ing the stony bottom, for a wide space on either side, in some places nearly 
bare, with occasional deeper furrows which pass along it. At this stage of 
water, tlie instinct which governs the fish to descend the rivers previous to 
the advent of cold weather becomes the means of their destruction. For 
many miles of the river's length, therefore, north and south of us, the people 
owning tlic shore adjoining erect their fish-dams and gins, by deepening the 
channel somewhat, and building an elongated V-shaped wall, at the lower 
point of which is fixed a bo.x, from which the fish, when once caught, can 
not extricate themselves. Obeying this instinct in their descent of the 
stream, tlicy find themselves borne pleasantly in this channel, and, wriggling 
themselves cheerily, they let the current, pent in by the walls, carry them 
along until they tumble plump into the box at the termination of the V. 
The fish taken in this manner are for tlie most part eels, of which almost 
incredible quantities are captured during the fall season. Their 'run' only 
takes place during the night. In daytime they remain quiet in the compar- 
atively deep pools of the river. The work of catching them, liowever, is no 
sinecure, not so much on account of the labor as of the wakefulness and ex- 
posure which it involves. In some of the dark and showery nights of the 
season the game will come into the box so fast that the watcher, who is often 
stationed there with a boat, can scarcely remove them into it with sufficient 
celerity. At other times there will be scarcely spoil enough in the boxes to 
repay the trouble in watching them. It is only the larger apparatus and 
dams, however, that are thus cared for, the smaller being rarely filled to 
overflowing. Fishermen secure and salt down some five or ten barrels of 
eels during the season, besides living entirely upon them during the catch. 
The larger operators make the business pay, as a single man alone can 
perform all the labor required in taking and salting the fish. We have 
seen various illustrations of digital dexterity, and also Ole Bull's manipu- 



Sec. 13.] DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING. 273 



lation of the violin, but could any rapid manipulator once behold the 
marvelous rapidity with M-hich some of the fishermen divest tlie eels of their 
slippery epidermis or integuments, they would stand abashed, and, like the 
sable individual in the song, ' Lay down the fiddle and the hoe' forever 
afterward. We are at a loss to see how it is possible for any fisli whatever 
to descend to the mouth of the river, excepting it be a few belated ones, 
who delay their return until a rise in the river gives them security from the 
low-water traps. From Marietta to a point perhaps 100 miles up, excepting 
in a few places, these eel-gins are so numerous that they must entirely empty 
the river of eels, the run continuing constantly until frost, and the fishing 
being terminated only, as we have already said, by the fall rains. When 
these occur, the boxes are taken up. Tiie walls wiiich remain under the 
water are very seldom disturbed, and the next year, with very little repairs, 
are just as good as ever. The eels are packed in full-sized barrels, and many 
are sent to Baltimore. Quantities are purchased by sea-going vessels, whose 
skippers are aware of the delicious flavor of this rather anomalous article 
of provision." 

The kind alluded to in this extract is the " silver eel," which is also taken 
all along the sea-coast by hooks and sj^ears, and sold in great abundance in 
all the city markets, at as high a price per pound as beef or mutton. 

Now will farmers please to think that eels can be artificially bi-ed as well 
as any other fish, and that there are a great many streams' and ponds, par- 
ticularly in the West, where there are no eels, which might be made to fiir- 
uish a vast amount of food, as well for home use as for sale. 

There is another kind of eels called lamprey, or lamper-eels, much esteemed 
in some places. This kind have no gills, but have sucker mouths, and 
breathing holes upon each side of the neck. These are found sometimes in 
great abundance in the streams of the Eastern States, in the spring of the 
year, and are easily caught by hand, by wading the shallows of the stream, 
where they are found clinging by their mdutha to the rocks or large pebble 
stones. 

The silver eels are also caught by wading streams at night, with torches 
and spears, during low water, after harvest. This used to be accounted 
great sport for the boys, when we were counted one. Many a good meal 
we furnished the family, also, by sitting an hour or two of a summer even- 
ing by the side of the mill-pond, with a hook baited with a small fish. This 
we mention to encourage farmers to take steps toward re-stocking their 
streams and ponds, as well as making artificial ones. 

300. Ancient Fish-Brceding. — Lest our readers should suppose artificial 
breeding of fish is a " new-fangled notion," we state that it has been prac- 
ticed in China many centuries ; and it is probably a century since the mat- 
ter attracted attention in Germany. 

lu that country fish-breeding has now become an extensive and profitable 
business. In France, also, there are many establishments, in some of which 
it has been demonstrated that salmon can be successfully bred in fresh- water 



274 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



ijonds, from eggs obtained from Balmon that come from the sea into fresh- 
water streams to deposit their eggs at the spawning season, without allow- 
ino- the fish ever to swim in sea-water. And these young fish, it is found, 
will reproduce their species. 

If what we have written should incite any one to undertake to make arti- 
ficial ponds, or stock the natural waters of his farm with that kind of living 
animals which will give him the cheapest animal food that can be produced, 
lie should first procure and carefully study the books already published upon 
tliis question, and, if possible, visit those who have had experience, such as 
Dr. Garlick, of Cleveland, Ohio, Eobert L. Pell, of Ulster Co., N. Y., Messrs. 
Treat & Son, Eastport, Maine, E. C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn., and many 
others. 

As an article of diet, there is no mistaking the fact, gained by reading 
and observation, that it is conducive to health, and particularly that those 
who use fish as their principal food are exempt from scrofulous and tubercu- 
lous diseases. This alone should prompt ai'tificial breeding of fish in this 
country. 



PLATE XIII. 

(Page 275.) 

This picture in its two parts is allegorical, though drawn from an 
original. It is intended to teach. It should be studied with that 
object. Then it will convey its own lesson. If the residence of 
farmer Snug is most attractive, let every farmer strive to make his 
so, and keep it -in that order. If the residence of farmer Slack is 
repulsive, let it be a lesson to every farmer's son. 

After looking at this picture, placed as a frontispiece to Chapter 
III. — The Farmery — let him carefully read that chapter. It is full 
of instruction. This picture is not designed as an index to the con- 
tents of that chapter, but to tell its own story — a story of good and 
bad management. As you read, you will see how such a residence 
as this dilapidated one produces a debasing influence upon the mind* , 
of children, and what inducements you have to beautify home. 



.>i'7-- , , Stsia^^-i jfj- 



3iir 







THE ^.Knv. :n.A.'K r:.»KK FAi^i^u ^..^.rKf. yuxAOK.i .;>•>■. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FAEMEEY, 

DESCRIBING THE BUILDINGS, YARDS, WELLS, CISTERNS, AQUEDUCTS AND STRUC- 
TURES NECESSARV FOR CARRYING ON THE BUSINESS OF THE FARM. 

SECTION XIV.-FARM-HOUSES. 

"N this section, the size, form and construction of 

farm-houses, and adaptation to tlie purpose for whicli 

thej are designed, will be treated, and reasons given why 

they should be convenient, light, well-ventilated, airy in 

: Summer, warm in Winter, and handsome, both in the inte- 

riiir and exterior. Here, too, all who need the information, 

will be able to learn how to build their dwellings so as to 

make them, without great cost, all that we have indicated. 

301. Influence of the Dwelling upon Character. — "I will 
tell you the character of the man, if you will show me the 
liouse he lives in." This quotation embodies a volume of 
truth, and the fact should be impressed upon the minds of all 
farmers' children, as well those who live in such a house as 
that of Farmer Thrifty, as those in the tumble-down mansion 
of Farmer Slack. If they were born in one like the former, it is to be hoped 
that they received influences at the breast, that will always keep them out 
of one like the latter. If they were so unfortunate as to belong to the nume- 
rous family of Slacks, let it be impressed upon their minds that the character 
of a man is known by the appearance of the house he lives in. None but a 
" Slack farmer " ever lived through a lifetime in such a miserable dwelling 
place as some of our American farm-houses. 

Tliere is a debasing influence about a mean house upon the minds of 
children ; while a good one, that has many points of beauty about it, makes 
them not only love to call it " home," but it always has an influence upon 
their minds to attract them away from places that might injuriously affect 
their morals, for it is a home that they love. Such a home also attracts 
proper associates for your children, to come and speud a pleasant winter 
evening, or a leisure day, under the parental influence, and will make 
them good men and women ; and all because you provided for your family 
such a home as all American farmers' families should enjoy. 

302. Inducements to Beautify Home. — One of the strongest and one of the 
most common inducements for the sons and daughters of farmers to leave the 
country for a city life, is the neglect of parents to beautify home, and teach 

275 




276 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

children to love it because everything around it is more cheerful, more beau- 
tiful, more pleasant, more enticing tlian any other spot known to them. 
Instead of this, it is certainly true that a very largo portion of our farm- 
houses are, in almost every respect, exactly such places as children of intelH- 
gence, who chance to see or read of the attractions of other places, are most 
anxious to leave. To prevent the exodus of your children, the moment they 
get old enough to have ideas of their own, let it be one of the life studies of 
every parent to make the children sensible that their home is equal, if not 
superior, in all that serves to make life worth living for, to that of any other 
family in the same station of life. If your house is small, it is all the more 
easily painted, and made to wear an attractive outward appearance, and it is 
no good reason, because it is small, that its interior should be most incon- 
venient, uncomfortable and unattractive. Study to make your house such 
in every respect that your visitors will say, " What a lovely place," and yon 
will make your children contented and yourself happy, and all will exclaim, 
" There is no place like home." 

" More than building showy mansion, 

More than dress or fine array, 
More tlian domes or lofty steeples, 

More than station, power and sway, 
Make your home both neat and tasteful, 

Bright and pleasant, always fair. 
Where each heart shall rest contented, 

Grateful for each beauty there." 

Is there any one thought likely to be called up in after years so pleasing as 
the reminiscences of a happy childhood's home, when, like the fresliness of a 
sunny May morning, we can call up the panorama of the wrens chirping on 
the peach trees under our windows, and the call of robin redbreast to his 
mate in the orchard, where the lambs are playing bopeep around the trees ? 
Then there is the garden with its Spring and early Summer beauties, the 
breakfast table covered with a snowy cloth, and garnished -with clean white 
ware, and provided ■with such bread and butter — ornamented, perhaps, 
with a fragrant bouquet, witli the dew still glistening among the leaves, 
just gathered by a lovely sister, with a thousand other nameless attractions 
that will float before the mind's eye, to remind it of the pleasures of home. 

We look upon a love of home as one of the virtues, tliat, as a people, the 
American farmers are entirely too much neglecting. In fact, a dislike of 
home is much more common than the contrary, and an old homestead is 
parted from with as little reluctance as an old shoe, and very often for the 
same reason — because it is down at the heel. 

" Seek to make your home most lovely, 
Home should be a smiling spot ; 
Such a home makes man the better 
In lofty mansion or a cot." 

As one of the easy means of beautifying your house, make it light ; 
" misery dwelleth in darkness." 



Seo. u.] farm-houses. 2Y7 



303. Reasons why a Dwelling should be Lighti — There is a mania for dark 
rooms. People do not appear to be aware of the fact, tliat dark rooms are 
deleterious to health. Hear what Florence Nightingale says upon this sub- 
ject : 

" A dark house is almost always an unhealthy house, always an ill-aiyed 
house, always a dirty house. Want of light stops growth, and promotes 
scrofula, rickets, etc., among the children. People lose their health in a 
dark house, and if they get ill, they cannot get well again in it. Three, out 
of many ' negligences and ignorances ' in managing the health of houses 
generally, I will here mention as specimens. First, that the female in 
charge of any building does not think it necessary to visit every hole and 
corner of it every day. How can she expect those who are under her to be 
more careful to maintain her house in a healthy condition than she who is 
in charge of it ? Second, that it is not considered essential to air, to sun, 
and to clean rooms while uninhabited ; which is simply ignoring the first 
elementary notion of sanitary things, and laying the ground ready for all 
kinds of disease. Tliird, that the window, and one window is considered 
enough to air a room. Don't imagine that if you are in charge, and don't 
look to all these things yourself, those under you will be more careful than 
you are. It appears as if the part of the mistress was to complain of her 
servants, and to accept their excuse — not to show them how there need be 
neither complaints nor excuses." 

"We beg of all who build houses, as well as those who keep them, to 
become aware of the fact, that there is a generous abundance of sunliglit in 
the country, yet the observer is often convinced that a majority of country 
houses are but scantily provided with this first requisite of health and 
comfjrt. 

In reference to admitting light freely into our houses, the words of a writer 
on the subject are pertinent. He says : " From several years' observations 
in rooms of various sizes, used as manufacturing rooms, and occupied by 
females for twelve hours each day, I found that the workers who occupied 
those rooms which had large windows, with large panes of glass, in the four 
sides of the room, so that the rays of the run penetrated through the M-hole 
room during the whole day, were much more healthy than those who occu- 
pied rooms lighted from one side only, or rooms lighted through very sinall 
panes of glass." Notwithstanding the cheapness and focility with which 
glass can be obtained, there is a deficiency of windows even in what is 
usually considered the better class of American dwellings. Sitting rooms, 
cheerless enough in having one or two small windows, almost extinguished 
beneath heavy drapery of paper and cloth, are exceedingly common. For 
ordinary rooms, white cotton cloth fastened on rollers, as paper is usually 
hung for window shades, is suflicient for the purpose of screen — admitting 
at the same time a dififused and softened light. 

Dark colors upon the walls, absorbing more or less of the prismatic rays, 
are also unfavorable in their eflfects. The writer just quoted found that in 



278 THE FARMERY. [CnAP. Ill 



rooms of equal ventilation, light and drainage, some of which had white 
walls, and others yellow or huff-colored, the occupiers were not equally 
cheerful and healthy. Tlie workers in rooms with colored walls were all 
inclined to melancholy, and complained of pains in the forehead and eyes, 
and were often ill and unable to work. By having the color removed and 
replaced by whitewash, uniform health and cheerfulness were ever after 
secured. In architecture, a course of progress is distinctly marked from the 
cave, the wigwam and hut of the savage, wlio rudely supplies his few wants ; 
from the tent and mosque of the Arab ; from the cots beneath the castle and 
beside the palace ; from the negro quarters to the mansion-house ; and we 
wish wc could say, progressing upward to comfortable, light, cheerful, ele- 
gant homes for every American farmer. 

Let them learn that they cannot live rightly in dark dwellings. The 
mother wlio, in the fulfillment of her olfice, preeminently receives and 
appropriates from all the life sustaining elements, snifers a twofold wrong, in 
the injury to herself and oftspring, by dwelling in darksome apartments; and 
childliood in such homes is pale and puny — often worse — is squalid and most 
pitiably diseased. Tlie predominance of the chemical rays in Spring-time 
is undoubtedly one of the adaptations of this season to the young of animals 
which then begin their existence, and it also exerts a decided influence upon 
our own physical health. The invalid desires the return of Spring, for he 
instinctively feels that nature without will then come to the aid of nature 
within ; and who, after the cold and lifeless Winter, does not love to seek the 
wind-slieltered nook, there to drink in the warm sunlight, and to receive upon 
the brow its life-giving blessing? Who has not felt the glorious influence of 
"bathing in tlie sunshine?" Then, we conjure you, let the sunshine into 
your house, and do not be afraid of letting in the air, day or night. 

An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What but night air 
can wc breathe at night I The choice is between pure night air from 
without and foul nigiit air from within. Most people prefer the latter. An 
unaccountable choice. What will they say, if it is proved to be true, that 
fully one-half of all the disease we suffer from, is occasioned by people 
sleeping with their windows shut? An open window, most nights in the 
3'ear, can never hurt any one. In sickness, air and light are both necessary 
for recovery. In great cities, night air is often the best and purest air to be 
had in the twenty-four hours. I could better understand shutting the 
windows in towns, during the day, than during the night, for the sake of the 
sick. The absence of smoke, the quiet, all tend to make night the best tim6 
for airing the patient. One of our highest medical authorities on consump- 
tion and climate, has declared that the air in London is never so good as after 
ten o'clock at night. Always air j'our room, then, from the outside air, if 
possible. Windows are made to open, doors are made to shut — a truth 
which seems extremely difficult of application. 

304. The Location of a Farm-house. — Adaptability is the word that farm- 
ers should study, above all others, when about to build a house. It is the 



Seo. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 279 

word tliat they study least, if we may judge from what may be seen in a 
majority of the farm-houses where we liave travelled — -that is, from Quebec 
to New Orleans, and from Florida to Mackinaw. Everywhere is seen the 
lack of adaptability to the purpose, citlicr in size, form or location. Not one 
farm house in ten is located upon the farm as well as it could have been. In 
all tlie eastern, western and northern States, the farmery is found, nine times 
out of ten, upon some public road, without reference to the convenience of 
farming operations ; and frequently, in all respects, is very inconvenient. 

The location of the farm-house, and the arrangement of all the buildings 
connected with the farmery, require the exercise of good judgment, fine 
taste, carefully exercised skill, all combined, more than any other single 
operation of a whole lifetime, because it is not only for the lifetime of the 
builder, but succeeding generations. 

In the first place, the top of the hill, or highest point of a hilly farm, never 
should be selected for the dwelling of the farmer ; such a site is only fit for 
the residence of the lord of the manor, who intends to carry on farming by 
a tenant, or hired farmer, M'ho will occupy the house of the farmery proper. 
His residence is not the farm-house; it is the mansion of the proprietor, 
and may be built to suit the owner's taste, if he has any. Our remarks are 
intended to apply to farm-houses — tlie dwellings of that numerous class in 
America who own the soil they till, partly with their own hands, and partly 
with those of hirelings. 

305. Size aud Form of a Farm-houset — It is not size that makes a dwell- 
ing-house attractive, beautiful, or convenient. It is adaptability to the 
purpose for which it was designed. Indeed, a house often has an unpleasant 
appearance on account of its size, because it gives the mind an impression 
that it is unnecessarily large for the purpose for which it is designed. 

It is necessary that some farm-houses should be large — that is, afford a 
great deal of room ; but they never should appear large, for if they do they 
almost inevitably appear uncouth. 

Make just as much of the room as possible, on the same level. A farm- 
house with twelve rooms, should have eight of them on the lower floor. 
Never have a basement kitchen. 

No woman, during the years of child-bearing, who does much of her own 
work, or oversees it when done by servaTits, should be compelled to go up 
and down stairs every hour of the day. Her sitting, or family-room, bed- 
room, dining-room, kitchen, wash-room, wood-room, well and cistern, should 
all be on the same level, or with a variation of not more than two or three 
steps. You cannot be a good man if you compel your wife to run up and 
down stairs to do her every-day housework. You are not a good man, nor a 
man of taste and good judgment, if you build your house imnecessarily large, 
because it will cause your wife many wearj', extra steps to keep it tidy and 
always swept and garnished as you should be proud to have it appear to 
strangers. You are unworthy the name of man if you keep your wife toil- 
ing in a liouse entirely too small for the necessities of your family, or in one 



280 THE FARMERY. [CnAP. III. 

wretchedly ill-adapted to their Avants, one single year after you are able to 
provide a better one. 

306. What constitutes a convenient Farm-house. — 'We can only speak in 
general terms of the plans of farm-houses, because every plan is modiiied by 
location and the wants of the proprietor ; but we can give an opinion that 
will be some guide to the new beginner in farm life, or one about to construct 
a farm-house. 

We will suppose a farm of one or two hundred^cres, and a family of four 
adults and four children, besides the necessary hirelings, which in most of 
the Northern States, are domiciled in the family dwelling. It should, there- 
fore, have a familj'-room located in the most pleasant part of the house, 
where the evenings, and all other leisure hours, are, or should be, spent ; 
where the young mother devotes many days and nights of toil to her 
children ; where all the family feel " at home," more than in any other 
room. 

Adjoining this room there should be a large family bed-room, with conve- 
niences for warming it, so that it can be used as a sick-room when necessary. 
Tliere should also be a parlor, or spare-room ; for it is not always desirable 
to introduce company into the family -room. There should be a dining-room, 
large enough not only to accommodate the family, biit, if necessary, a dozen 
giiests. This room should be so arranged that upon occasion, particularly in 
Winter, it can be used for a part of the cooking. This would often save the 
necessity of kindling a fire in the kitchen in a cold Winter morning, to get 
an early breakfast. The farm-house kitchen, where so much of M'oman's 
work must be done, should be a large, cheerful, light apartment, with all the 
conveniences that modern ingenuity has made to facilitate labor. It should 
also, above all other considerations, be so ventilated that there would be no 
necessity for opening a door or window to let out the smoke of a broiling 
steak, or that of the buckwheat cake griddle. The best cooking apparatus is 
a good range, permanently set in the chimney. One of suitable size for such 
a famil}' as we liave indicated, will cost about thirty dollars without cook- 
ing iitensils. The two ovens of a range obviate the necessity of a brick oven 
in the kitchen chimney. It will be convenient to have such an oven in the 
wash-room, which should be attached to every farm-house kitchen. This 
should have an open fire-place, a kettle set in an arch, a brick floor, a large 
sink, and a pump which draws soft water from the well or cistern. Divided 
off from this wash-room, there should be a large store-room, for •such coarse 
things as barrels of flour, fruit, fresh meat, and articles of kitchen furniture 
not in every-day use. Beyond the wash-room, there should be a room for 
fuel ; and the best of all, when it can be had at a moderate cost, is anthracite 
coal. Opening out of the kitchen there should be a pantry, large enough, 
and with conveniences to store all the groceries and food in every-day use. 
In this, or some other convenient place, be sure to have a refrigerator ; and 
adjoining the kitchen, there should be a milk and butter room, where nothing 
else is ever kept. If cheese is made, it must have a separate room. Butter 



Sec. U.] FARM-UOUSES. 281 

aud cheese must not be stored together. The way to the cellar should open 
out of the kitchen. We do not advocate large cellars under the house, 
because they are apt to become the storehouses of a vast amount of stuff tha 
would be more fittingly stored in some out-building, or an out-cellar. Cellars 
are generally kept in a way that seriously endangers the health of the family. 
If the house is set as it should be, well up from the ground, and ventilated 
under the floor, it is better calculated to promote health than a cellar. 
If the nature of the soil is very dry, the space under the wash-room may 
be used for a store-room, or even milk-room, properly ventilated. Every 
kitchen should have one or more closets, upon the shelves of which the many 
little things can be kept, each in its place, and all. in order. In the dining- 
room there should be two closets : one for dishes in every-day i;se, and one 
in which anything not always, but occasionally, wanted upon the table, and 
anything desirable to be locked up, can be safely stored. 

There should be a large closet for the use of the sitting-room ; and there 
must be such a one in the family bed-rooui. In fact, this should be a double 
room, a smaller one attached to the larger for the small children ; and tliis 
should have its closet, or clothes-press, that children might be early taught to 
put every article of clothing in its proper place. 

The larger children, and other adults, should have large, airy bed-rooms 
up stairs ; and no farm-house will be complete without two, at least, " spare 
bed-rooms." 

307. How to Build a Convenient Housei — A pleasant-looking, unostenta- 
tious farm-house, to contain the rooms indicated, may be of the following 
dimensions. A two-story portion, 34 by 24 feet, would give half of the 
parlor 16 by 16 feet, and a spare bed-room 10 by 10 feet, and a hall 6 by 16 
feet ; a stairway 3^ by 10 feet ; a space for pantry, or closets, 2~ by 10 feet ; 
a family, or sitting-room, 13 by 18 feet, and two bed-rooms, 10 by 11 and 
8 by 11 feet. This building may be roofed to pitch either way. The other 
half of the parlor, not comprised in this space, is to be gained by an attach- 
ment, 8 by 16 feet, one story high, attached to that side to balance the 
piazza, giving the house more of a cottage look, as well as being less expen- 
sive, and making better rooms on the second floor. 

Attached to the main building, a wing or L part, a story and a half high, 
will give a dining-room 12 by 18 feet, a kitchen 16 by 18 feet, a wash-room 
12 l;y 12 feet, a store-room 6 by 12 feet, a pantry 6 by 8 feet, a milk-room 
6 by 6 feet, and passage and stairway to the half story, which will make good 
lodging-rooms for hirelings. 

The fuel-room may be a separate building, and although used for such a 
purpose, may be made with a finish to correspond with the house, and set 
forward flush with the piazza, which is to extend along the front of this wing, 
and will form a good termination to the walk, besides being convenient and 
approachable from all parts of the house under cover. This piazza, which is 
6 by 46 feet, and one S by 16 feet adjoining, should, if possible, have a south- 
eastern exposure, which will make it pleasant to all the rooms most used. 



282 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

We do not give this as a superlatively excellent plan of a farm-house 
but one that would be convenient, comfortable, inexpensive, and capable of 
being erected in two or three parts, if necessarj', at diflferent periods, and 
upon the cheap plan described in No. 350. 

The advantage that we claim for this over some other plans is, that if 
built in parts, at different periods, according to the circumstances of the 
proprietor, each portion may be made to appear, and serve the purpose of, a 
complete house. Thus, the part 24 by Si feet, with the little wings, one 
forming half tlie parlor, and the other the piazza, will be a neat looking 
house, and a comfortable one for a small family ; using the sitting-room as a 
kitchen, and one bed-room as a pantry. Then the dining-room, kitchen, 
wash-room, etc., might be added, one at a time, as ability or necessity 
prompts. Or, the part containing the kitchen, could be built first, and 
would make a tolerable house by itself. 

Another advantage of the plan is, that the rooms are all light and airy ; 
every room, except one small bedroom, has windows upon two or more sides, 
and the whole house will appear to every passer-by, as though built for use, 
rather than show. It is a great convenience to have a house so constructed 
that strangers can find some other than the front door entrance. 

The space in front of the piazza should be a plat of shrubbery, which 
would form a partial screen, and in front of that the flower garden. There 
may be a door out of the dining-room into a garden upon that side. 

In arranging the plan of this house, the object has been to place the least 
used rooms in tiie house, the parlor and spare bed-rooms, upon the riglit and 
loft-hand side of the hall, as you enter the front door from the portico. At 
the other end of the liall is the family room, and large and small bed-room. 
The stairway is situated, not for show in the hall, but convenient to all parts 
of the house, running up at a right angle from the hall, between the sitting- 
room and spare bed-room. Tlie sitting-room is situated in the centre of the 
house, convenient to all the rooms, warm in winter, airy in summer, and 
easy of approach. If the ground suits, you may drop the L floor two feet 
below the main part, and set projecting beyond that part six feet, it allows a 
wiiidow there, and breaks the force of the wind upon that end of the sitting- 
room, and also gives room at the other end for a window and glass door out 
upon the large piazza. The common entrance to the house will be upon that 
piazza, and from that into the sitting-room, dining-room, or kitchen. 

There was a plan, published by G. C. House, of Lowville, N. Y., in the 
Coimtj'y Gentlemcai, so novel in its form, and apparently so convenient, 
that we consider it worthy a notice in this connection. The following is 
what he says of his plan. 

" In the plan submitted, we flatter ourselves that some improvements 
have been reached, when we take into consideration convenience, sjiace, 
accessibility, the ease with wliich the hot air passages from the furnace can 
be arranged for so many rooms, all within a few feet of the body of tlie fur- 
nace ; and each door within a few steps of the main stair-case. From the 



Sec. U.] FARM-nOUSES. 283 



peculiar form the centre of the house is at once reached on entering the front 
door. The second story is quite similar to the first, closets occupying the 
spaces over the library and pantry, and a fine balcony over the veranda, 
reached tli rough glass doors. 

" To meet the full requirements whicli were had in view, in this arrange- 
ment, a site should be selected having a southern or eastern exposure if in 
the country, and the building set with both full fronts to the street, so that 
the veranda or front door will have a direct front aspect. If, however, the 
location be in city or village, it would be desirable to procure a lot having 
two fronts, if possible looking easterly and southerly, and place the building 
with a front to each road, the front door looking toward the angle of the 
street." 

308. Ventilation of Dwellings^ — In whatever form, or upon whatever plan 
you build, do not forget the necessity of ventilation. Our dwellings are often 
charnel houses. Tlie very first necessity of every human being — pure air — 
is rarely regarded in their construction. The air actually inhaled steals in 
at crevices and crannies, felon-like, because it cannot be shut out. Only the 
defects of our architecture prevent our dying of a vitiated, poisoned, mephitic 
atmosphere, from which the vital element has been exhausted. Most men, 
including architects, seem ignorant of the fact that the atmosphere is a com- 
bination of difierent gases, only one of which is wholesome and life-giving, 
and that this is consumed in the lungs upon inhalation, leaving the residue 
to be expelled as a poison. The church, lecture-room or otiier structure, 
with doors and windows closed, with no provision for ventilation, soon 
becomes a slaughter-pen, and ought to be closed by the public authorities. 

Our manufactories and school-houses are nearly all disgraceful to their 
owners and architects in regard to ventilation. They are often divided into 
rooms less than ten feet high, each thickly stowed wiili human beings, who 
breathe and work and sweat in an atmosphere overheated and filled with 
grease, wool or cotton waste, leather or cloth, and the poisonous refuse 
expelled from human lungs, which together are enough to incite a plague, 
and are, in fact, the primary cause of nearly all the fevers, dysenteries, con- 
sumptions, etc., by which so many graves are peopled. Ko factory sliould 
be permitted to commence operations, nor school opened, until it shall 
have been inspected by some competent public officer, and certified to be 
thoroughly provided with ventilators — not windows, which may be opened, 
but in a cold or stormy day very certainly will not be — but apertures for 
the ingress of fresh air, and others for the egress of vitiated air, both out of 
the reach of ignorance and defying the efforts of confirmed depravity of the 
senses to close them. 

Our bed-rooms are generally fit only to die in. Tlie best are those of a few 
of the intelligent and affluent, which are carefully ventilated ; next to these 
come those of the cabins and rudest farm-houses, with an inch or two of 
vacancy between the chimney and the roof, and with cracks on every side, 
through which the stars may be seen. The ceiled and plastered bed-rooms, 



284 TUE FARMEPwY. [Chap. III. 

where too many of the middle class are lodged, with no apertures for the 
ingress or egress of air but the door and windows, are horrible. Nine-tenths 
of their occupants rarely open a window unless compelled by excessive heat, 
and very few are careful even to leave the door ajar. To sleep in a tight 
six-by-ten bed-room, witli no aperture admitting air, is to court the ravages 
of pestilence and speedy death. 

Our railroad cars and steamboat berths are atrociously devoid of ventila- 
tion. A journey is taken with far less fatigue, and more expeditiously now 
than it was thirty years ago, but with far greater risk and harm to health. 
There are probably ten thousand passenger cars now running in the United 
States, whereof not more than one hundred are decently supplied with fresh 
air. Most of tliese, wherein forty or fifty persons are expected to sit all day 
and dose all night, ought to be indicted as nuisances — they are fit only for 
coffins. The men who make them probably know no better ; but those who 
buy and run them have not even tliat poor excuse. They know that tliey are 
undermining constitutions and destroying lives ; they know that ample means 
of arresting these frightful woes are at command ; yet they will not adopt 
them because they cost something. 

If people only knew how many thousands of lives are annually sacrificing, 
how many hundreds of thousands are now suffering from fevers and other 
maladies which have their origin in the inhaling of noxious aii", the excite- 
ment and alarm on this subject would work a revolution in our style of 
building. 

When we lived in old-style houses, witli large open fire-places, like the one 
mentioned in the next paragraph, there was no need of being careful to build 
air-passages in the walls of the liouse for ventilation, for the " fire-place, big 
enough to roast an ox," gave the most complete kind of ventilation. 

It is of the utmost importance, particularly in malarious districts, that 
houses should be so constructed that a free circulation of air can be had 
tlirough all tlie rooms. In the plan desci-ibed in 305 this fact has been kept 
in view. "With slight modifications, the plan will answer for a house either 
at the north or the south. At the south the roo7ns would be made larger, and 
the fuel-room would probably be substituted for the kitchen. Frequently, 
the kitchen of a planter's hoiise is placed several rods distant, without any 
covered way between. 

309. An ©Id-Stjie Farm-liouse Kitchen in New England. — A picture of 
one of these scenes of comfort has lately fallen under my observation. 
What can be more cheerful and pleasant than the view of a farmer's kitchen, 
taken during the evening meal of a cold Autumn day ? It is a picture of the 
calm happiness of rural life. 

The kitchen of the old-style farm-house of New England is not the sculleiy, 
or mere cooking-place of some modern house — a dirty hole or comfortless 
out-room or sort of human bake-oven, where the cook is almost as much 
cooked as the food. No, it is a room perhaps 24 feet long and IG wide, well 
lighted, warm, neat, and every-way comfortable. Upon one side there is a 



seo. u.] farm-houses. 285 

fii'c-place large enough to roast a whole ox, in which a great fire of logs sends 
up a cheerful blaze, lighting up the whole room so its brightness might be 
seen tlirough its great uncurtained windows, like a beacon liglit to the 
traveller as he comes down tiie slope of yonder hill two miles away, and 
makes him involuntarily thank God, in anticipation, for the good things 
spread out iipon the great table standing between the window and the fire. 

Let us take note of the old-tas'iioned meal. At the head of the table sits 
a matron of some sixty summers — though in appearance there is nothing of 
tlie winter of old age about her. Her dress is a gown of home-spun worsted, 
well fortified with flannels from the same manufactory, that bid defiance to 
the Autumn winds of a rigorous climate. The small, neat cap of Avhite gauze, 
and the shoos and*stockiugs of this woman, were made in pursuance of the 
best medical recipe ever written : " Keep the head cool, and the feet dry and 
warm ;" for the stockings are the product of busy fingers at moments idle 
with many housewives, and tlie shoes of stout leather were made for service, 
and the cap is a mere ornament — a snow-wreath among raven locks — and 
her face is the indication of hcaltli and happiness. 

Upon her right hand sits the farmer, dressed in a butternut-colored coat, 
blue pants, buff vest, white linen shirt — every article home made — stout 
boots and black silk cravat— for he has been to town, and this is his holiday 
suit. Below him sit Jedediah, Ebenczer, Abram, and Solomon, all economi- 
cal names, for they can be shortened in common use to Jed, Eb, Ab, and Sol. 
Two of these wear the check woollen winter frocks of New England farmers 
— the others are in round jackets; they are schoolboy's. Upon the left sit 
Mary, Adeline, and Mehitable, pictures of real beauty and health. The 
eldest is " dressed up ;" she has been to town with her father ; she has a 
gown of " bough ten stuff;" around her neck is a bow of colored lamb's wool, 
knitted by her own hands, fastened in the tliroat by grandmother's silver 
brooch. The other two are in check woolen, which was spun, woven, and 
colored, and made up under the same roof. 

Further down the table are three athletic young men, day laborers on the 
farm — sons of neighboring farmers — one of whom is eyeing the charms of 
sweet Mary with an expression easily read by a good physiognomist. The 
group is completed by the schoolmaster, a young man with a glowing eye 
which speaks of intellect that will tell upon the world some day with as 
much force as though he had not been obliged to obtain his education by 
summer labor and winter teaching, lie is one of New England's rising 
sons. 

Tlie meal is for men who toil. At one end of the table stands a pot, of 
ample dimensions, smoking from the oven flaidving the fire-place, of the most 
excellent of New England cookeries, " a dish of baked beans," crowned with 
a great square piece of salt fat pork, crisped and rich. Lower down a broad 
pewter platter holds the remains of the " boiled victuals" that formed the 
dinner — beef, pork, potatoes, cabbage, beets and turnips — a pile that might 
rival a small hay-cock in size and siiape — a plate of rye and Indian bread, 



28U THE FARMERY. . [Chap. III. 

cold, and another made of rye flour are untouched, for a great loaf, just 
drawu from the oven, nicely browned and hot, is offered in great broken 
pieces to tempt the appetite to one of the richest repasts ever given to an 
epicure. By the side of tlie old lady stands a black earthem teapot, the 
contents of which are freely offered, but only accepted by two of the men, 
as the rich new milk, or the liearty old cider is preferred as a beverage, 
morning, noon and night, by those old-fashioned, hearty laborers. "VVe 
must not forget the never-failing accompaniment of the evening meal at 
this season of the year in New England, for it is New England's proudest 
dish, the golden pumpkin, sweetest pie. 

God being thanked for his great bounties after the close of the happy meal, 
all are drawn into a circle around the great fire-place. Father is finishing off 
an axehelve ; Jed is mending a pair of boots ; and one of the hired men, 
upon the other side of the same bench, is repairing a wagon harness — both 
using the same tools. The other two are employed, one shelling corn and 
the other helping Mary to peel pumpkins, which are cut in slices and hung 
upon poles overhead. This is Mary's accepted lover. Happy hearts and 
blessed industry ! Ab and Sol are engaged with the schoolmaster around the 
big table, lighted by a home-made candle ; they are studying geography, 
writing, spelling, and arithmetic — fitting themselves for future statesmen. 
Mother is making a new coat for one of the boys, Ada is ironing at a side- 
table, and Hetty is washing the supper dishes at another. There are two 
other members of this family group — the cat occupies the top of the blue 
dye-tub M'hich stands in one corner of the fire-place, and old Bose sleeps 
quietly under the table. 

Directly, and before any sound is audible to human ear, Bose gets up, 
walks out into the long entry, and gives a loud, sharp bark at the outside 
door, and stands waiting the approaching step. Soon satisfied that the new 
comer is a friend, he retires again to his repose, and three or four boys, who 
look as though they miglit be brothers to those already described, so much 
are they dressed alike, enter and draw around the table with the others and 
the schoolmaster. These are from a neighboring farm, sons of a widow, who 
have till now been so much engaged with the labors of the farm that they 
have been unable to attend the school in the daytime, but are determined to 
lose none of the evening opportunities to keep along with the class. They 
will make honest, intelligent, industrious farmers. 

The old folks welcome them heartily, and the young ones are all rejoiced 
at their arrival. The old lady inquires why in the world their mother did 
not come along ; and Mary, the kind-hearted Mary, is so sorry to hear that 
it is because Sarah is not so well, and mother is very busy getting their new 
clothes done so that they can go to school as soon as they finisli picking 
apples. " John," says she, " let us hurry and get through our stent and we 
will go over to the widow's; and I will help her with her sewing; you will 
read for the amusement of poor Sarah, for an hour or two." " If that is the 
case," says father, laying down his axe handle, '' my good children, you shall 



Sec. U.] FARM-HOUSES. 287 

iro now ; I will finish your work." " And Mary, my dear girl, don't go 
empty handed," says mother ; " you know from experience how sweet little 
delicacies, brought by friendly hands to the side of a sick-bed, are to a poor 
invalid." 

" Hetty, my dear, if you have done your dishes, you must get your cards 
and make a few rolls, for 1 am quite out of grey yarn, and we must have 
some more stockings in the work. Old man, don't cut that pumpkin too 
thick. — Ada, daughter, get a plate of doughnuts and some of those nice fall 
pippins and set on the table ; I guess these boys can eat a few while they arc 
cj'jjhering. I do wonder if you have got light enough. Sol, get auotl>«r 
candle, I am sure such industrious boys ought to have all the light they 
want." 

Thus, my readers, I have given you a slight outline of a farmer's house, 
such as it used to be, such as it might be, and such as it always should be, 
and such as, I am proud to say, many an American farmer can boast of even 
in these degenerate days of " boughten stuff' gowns " and lack-a-daisical 
lounging of farmer's girls, who are miserable and tired of nothing to do. 
How do you like the picture ? If well, imitate it It is a happiness easily 
acquired. 

It is easy to imagine the surroundings of such a home as the one described 
above. And as there is probably no better exponent of the farmer's life 
than the farmer's home, we propose to present the portrait of a lionie quite 
in contrast to the preceding one. We are sorry that such as this are altoge- 
ther too common. Here is the sketch : 

A square brown house ; a chimney coming out of the middle of a roof ; 
not a tree nearer than the orchard, and not a tiower at the door. At one end 
projects a kitchen ; from the kitchen projects a wood-shed and wagon-cover, 
occupied at night by hens ; beyond the wood-shed a hog-pen, fragrant and 
musical. Proceeding no further in this direction, we look directly across the 
road, to where the barn stands, like the hull of a great black ship of the line, 
with its portholes spread threateningly upon the fort opposite, out of one of 
which a horse has thrust his head for the purpose of examining the strength 
of the works. An old ox-sled is turned up against the wall close by, where 
it will have the privilege of rotting. This whole establishment was contrived 
with a single eye to utility. The barn was built in such a manner that its 
deposits might be convenient to the road which divides the farm, while the 
sty was made an attachment of the house for convenience in feeding its 
occupants. 

We enter the house at the back door, and find the family at dinner in the 
kitchen. A kettle of soap-grease is stewing upon the stove, and the fumes 
of this, mingled with those that were generated by boiling the cabbage 
which we see upon the table, and by perspiring men in shirt-sleeves, and by 
boots that have forgotten, or do not care where they have been, make the air 
anything but agreeable to those who are not accustomed to it. This is the 
place where the family live. They cook everything here for themselves and 



288 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



tlieir Logs. They eat every meal here. They sit liere every evening, and 
here they receive their friends. Tlie women in this kitchen toil incessantly, 
from the time they rise in the morning, until they go to bed at night. Here 
man and woman, sons and daughters, live in the belief that work is the 
great thing, that efficiency in work is the crowning excellence of manhood 
and womanhood, and willingly go so far into essential self-debasement some- 
times as to contemn beauty, and those who love it, and to glory above all 
thintrs in brute strength, and brute endurance. 

We do not expect to see every fann-house a domestic paradise ; but we do 
contend that one contrived upon the moderate plan described in No. 305 will 
be likely to produce a better race of men and women than such a home as 
the one last mentioned in this paragraph. 

Having occupied as much space as we can afford to give to the dwellings, 
let us now look at some of the surroundings necessary to make up a complete 
farmery. 



SECTION XV.-CELLARS, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 

"N a cold climate, two of the most important requi- 
sites of a farm-house are good cellars and good chim- 
neys. Li all the great farming region north of Lat. 40°, 
there are nights almost every "Winter in wliich the thermo- 
meter falls 10° below 0° of Farenheit; and in some of the 
elevated portions of New England it sometimes falls 40° 
below zero. Tliere warm cellars are a necessity. Every- 
where chimneys are so, for there is not a greater source of 
vexation about a farm-house than a smoky chimney. For- 
merly, ice was looked xipon as a luxury merely ; it is so no 
longer. Hence we devote space to give the best information 
we can obtain, how to build an ice-house and preserve its 
contents. 

310. Cellars— M^here and How to Build thenii — As we have 
already intimated, we do not approve of extensive cellars under dwellings. 
As a general thing, in all damp soils, like millions of acres of the western 
prairie lands, cellars, even when kept with the utmost care, are not healthy ; 
and when kept as we have often seen them, drijjping with moisture, and 
frequently with water standing several inches deep, they are positive conta- 
gion breeders. In all such situations we recommend cave cellars, built on 
the level of the surface. An excellent one which we built near the kitchen 
door, 8 by 20 feet, was made of eight-inch brick Avails, seven feet high, with 
an entry and double doors at one end, and double windows at the other. At 
first our design was to arch this over and make a grassy mound ; but upon 




Seo. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS AND ICE-HOUSES. 289 

second thought, M'e earthed it up as high as the top of the -n-all and then put 
on :v building for a smoke-house, the fire for which was built at the bottom and 
carried up in a flue. Where there is a hillside, a cave cellar may be made 
more easily, though we did not find it a serious job to heap up the earth from 
the level ground, taking care to slope it off so as not to leave any noticeable 
depression. Such a cellar is very convenient, dry, pleasant, and not 
unhealthy. If built where a building over it would be unsightly, or not 
needed, it may be arched and covered with eaith and made quite an orna- 
ment of the house suiToundings. 

Wherever a cellar is it should have as uniform a temperature as possible, 
the year through ; it should never sink much below 38° Fahrenheit, nor rise 
above 50°, and it should be always moist, yet never wet. It should be also 
well ventilated, and that should bo by a flue of the chimney, constructed 
sjjecially for that object, when the cellar is under the dwelling. 

311. — Chimneys— How to Build them. — A. new combination of chimney and 
ventilator has been patented by a Philadelphian (Mr. Leeds), and is very 
strongly recommended by many who have tried it in that city. The brick 
wall of this chimney is without flues, no matter how large the house, but the 
smoke is carried up, say half the height of the building, through a cast-metal 
box or square flue in the centre of the stack, while pure, cold air is intro- 
duced at the bottom of the building into the chimney outside of the flue. 
The heat of the flue causes this air to ascend with great rapidity and force, 
carrying the smoke with it from their juncture at the top of the box, and 
rendering it wholly impossible that the chimney should ever smoke. Venti- 
lation is efiected by valves opening from the external or air-chimney into the 
rooms, so as to throw out a column of air, warmed by its contact with the 
flue, into the room near its floor, while another valve near the ceiling sucks in 
and carries off" the impure air — tlie draught of the heated flue being aided by 
the influx of heated air through the lower valve into the room. This arrange- 
ment, it is claimed, saves the expense of brick flues, saves heat, which other- 
wise passes off uselessly through the chimney, insures a thorough ventihition 
without trouble or cost, and aflbrds a perfect security against fires from 
defective or overheated chimneys, through the gradual charring of the 
wooden beams or other timbers imbedded or ending against the chimney. 
A connection with the cellar, by an opening into such a flue, Avould draw off 
all the foul air that would be generated in any but a very badly kept cellar ; 
besides proving a valuable safeguard against the carelessness of carpenters, 
who do sometimes place wood in fearfully dangerous places. If all stove- 
heated houses had such means of ventilation, it would do something toward 
bringing back the same state of health that existed in connection with open 
fire-places. 

Tiie comfort of a dwelling depends in a great degree tipon its having good 
chimneys, always maintaining a current of air upward within, and secured 
externally against the entrance of water. Form, size, location and workman- 
ship, all unite in producing a good or bad article. 

19 



290 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

Tlie ridge or highest part of the roof is the best place for the exit of the 
cliiniiiey, for it is less liable to those sudden gusts of " blowiug down 
chimney " than ■when in proximity to higher objects. In this place too, the 
roof is more easily rendered tight and secure against wet. In small houses 
with but one chimney we need not seek any other place for it. In buildings 
larger, where several chimneys are needed, keep the same object in view, 
and approach as near to it as possible. In brick houses, if the chimney 
is built into an exterior wall, it will sometimes fail to draw well, because 
the air outside of the house cools the warm ascending current within the 
flue. If tlie flue is in a south wall, the heat of the sun sometimes aids the 
draught. 

The size of the chimney is also important. The modern fashion is quite 
too small for utility. Economy of space and a desire to conceal entirely an 
object merely of utility, have caused its dimensions to be contracted until a 
few months' deposit of soot entirely chokes the passage. While we no longer 
need the huge " good old-fashioned chimneys" of former days, the flues should 
not be contracted so as to hinder the current of smoke, which needs a channel 
as smooth as for the flow of water. "We often find the curves, where the 
most room is needed, half filled with mortar carelessly dropped and loosely 
adhering to the bricks. By making a proper table above the roof, it can be 
made water-proof; but this, if not well done at first, always proves a 
vexatious and difficult matter to accomplish. Mortar, putty, cement, and 
paint, in all their variations, havfc been tried with various success. An old 
grafter recommends for this purpose " grafting wax," as the cheapest, surest, 
and most durable application. But we say, build so that they will all be 
unnecessary. 

Always begin your chimneys from a good foundation on the earth. He 
who builds a small "stem" in the garret, builds a large nuisance for 
himself The soot tea, black and penetrating, will leak out to discolor the 
walls, the gathered soot and ashes cannot be removed, and the thing proves 
a chimney only in name and in its appearance on the roof. 

All unused stove-pipe holes and fire-places should be closed to secure the 
best draught. 

Where there are two chimneys in the same building one will sometimes 
overpower the other, with the most provoking results. This is a contingency 
to be regarded in forming the plan. 

The top of the chimney may be full size and open where there is no 
danger of down currents ; otherwise it should be arched or provided with 
some cap or ventilator of sheet iron. Those who have built will see the 
importance of these hints; those who are to build, will do well to regard 
them. 

312. Icc-HoHseSi — Xext to a good cellar, an ice-house is a necessity of a 
farm-house. Here we can do without an ice-house, and north of latitude 40° 
we cannot do without a cellar — at least, not comfortably ; and, in our 
opinion, any family who have once enjoyed the comforts of an ice-house, 



Sko. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS AND ICE-HOUSES. 291 



will ever after think that they cannot live 'quite comfortably without 
one. 

"We have often witnessed in good farm-houses the necessity of a supj^ly of 
ice, ill tlie character of the butter placed upon the table — even among those 
who know how to make good butter, we find a quality far inferior to the 
samples made where there are cool spring houses or an abundant supply of 
ice. "We give a few other reasons in favor of every farmer's having an 
ice-house, and we beg farmers to read and consider them well, and then we 
will tell them how to build one. 

313. Reasons why Farmers should have Ice-Honses. — It is August ; hot, 
faint and exhausted, the farmer comes from the field so thirsty that he 
cannot satisfy himself with water from a well so shallow that the burning 
rays of the sun have reached the surface and penetrated into the water, 
warming it almost hot enough for dish-water. Some draw their water 
from springs, and others from cisterns. It is only here and there that 
we find a spring that comes gushing to the surface, or that feeds a deep well 
with water, cool enough to satisfy the over-heated, thirsty harvester. How 
refreshing such water is, not only to drink, but to lave the face and hands 
and breast, before sitting down to a meal, or lying down to repose to recupe- 
rate tired nature. We have no doubt that the laving is far better than the 
drinking, and it should always be the first step taken to quench thirst 

Again, how refreshing is a cool drink with the lunch in the field, but how 
difiicult to have it there, at only half a mile from the coldest spring or well. 
How easy it would be if there was an ice-house on the farm. A piece 
that could be carried in one hand, wrapped in a blanket, would be large 
enough to cool the drink of a dozen men all the forenoon, and it would 
invigorate them more than a bottle of rum. Ice, taken in moderate quan- 
tity, is a tonic, and serves to keep the system in such healthy condition, tliat 
food gives it more strength. Simply, then, upon economic principles, every 
farmer should have an ice-house. A humane man should have an ice-house. 
It adds to the health and comfort of his summer laborers. Let him think of 
it now — think of it in August, think of it while sighing, Oh, for a cool 
drink ! Oh, for a cup of ice-water ! 

The stingy man, the veriest old ihmks, who is never quite satisfied with 
the amount of labor that he gets out of his workmen in the harvest-field, 
should have an ice-house ; it will enable him to get more work out of them. 
Now is the very time to think of this ; particularly in the heat of the har- 
vest-field. 

The man that knows that fresh meat is not only more palatable in the 
heat of Summer, but that there is a positive economy in feeding his family 
and extra laborers upon sweet grass-fed beef and mutton, and upon cold milk 
and sweet, hard butter ; and that a man who does feed his day -laborers so can 
always get better men and more work for his money tliaii his neighbor who 
lives upon salt junk and rum, will have an ice-house ; and if he has not got 
one he will make up* his mind, before the present Summer is over, that as 



292 THE FAEMERY. [Chap. III. 

soon as there is a lull in the work of haying and harvest he will set about 
building an ice-house, which he can do with his own hands and common 
farm-laborers ; and with less than the work of one hand and team during a 
week in winter, he can lay up such a store of ice that he need never drink 
warm water, nor eat soft butter, nor fear to kill a sheep lest the meat should 
spoil before it could be eaten. 

Let all remember this fact : Ice is not a luxury ; that is, one that can be 
dispensed with, and may be indulged in only by the wealthy ; but one of 
the most economical things that can be provided for family use. It is an 
article tliat no farmer can afford to do without. 

Now, having given arguments enough to convince any man that he 
should 'build an ice-house, we proceed to tell him how to do it. 

31i. How to Build au Ice-HousCi — An ice-house is not the complicated, 
costly strvicture that some people appear to think it is. Quite the contrary, 
it is one of the easiest and most simj)le things to build, needing very little 
mechanical skill, and being quite inexpensive. All of the work about an 
ice-house can be done by any farmer of ordinary Yankee capacity in the use 
of such a set of carpenters' tools as every farmer should keep. In the first 
place, it is not necessary to build an ice-house under ground, although in 
dry, gravelly soil it may be built so at less expense than on the surface, and 
it is easier filled. A hill-side is the most convenient location, with the gable 
of one end above the surface, in which have an opening to put in ice — the 
other end, to a level with the floor, being exposed — thi-ough which we would 
have the ordinary entrance by double doors. In such a situation we would 
use broken stone, making a hollow, grouted wall ; and the same kind of wall 
might be built on level ground ; and a very good, cheap, durable wall it is. 
Brick or stone may also be used for the walls, according to tlie fancy of the 
builder, always making them hollow, and the outer and inner part of the 
wall absolutely as air-tight as could be made with brick and mortar. 

The cheapest, easiest and quickest constructed ice-house, and one all-suffi- 
cient for the purpose, is built of wood ; and the money difi'erence in cost 
placed at interest will more than keep the wooden house in repair and good 
as brick or stone. So we will give directions for building a plain, cheap, 
common, rough-board, farm ice-house, l^ge enough for all ordinary private 
families. 

Select a spot of ground convenient to thp kitchen door, and remove the soil 
and put coarse gravel or sand in its place, with drains leading away from 
the eaves, so constructed that it will be absolutely impossible for water 
to stand under or around the building. Lay down two-inch plank six inches 
wide, bedded their thickness in the sand, for sills ; the end ones eight feet 
long and side ones thirteen feet. Cut your studs off square, eight feet long, 
of any size or width that you can get in the refuse heap at the nearest saw- 
mill or lumber-yard, so that you can get one straight side, and set them up 
face side in, and toe-nail them to the sill, with an inch-board on top for a 
plate, upon which rest the joist ; nail up through the plate to hold them 



Sko. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 293 



in place. Now board these studs on the inside, and batten the cracks with 
rough hoards, and serve the under side of the joists in the same way. This 
makes a tight hoarded room, eight feet wide, eight feet higli, and twelve 
feet long. Tlie fioor must be laid upon timber bedded in gravel or cliarcoal, 
to cut oflF any currents of air, but so that all water from melted ice will 
drahi ofi' immediately. Divide off four feet of the end in which you intend 
to have the door, for a cooling-room, and you will have room for a cube of 
ice eight feet, less the straw or sawdust all around between the ice and 
boards, and this will last any family through the hot weather, with most liberal 
use of it for all needed purposes. 

Now for the protection of the ice to prevent its melting. Set up another 
"balloon frame" outside of the first, from one to two feet off, the widest 
space being the best, boarded perpendicularly with rough boards battened. 
The top of the outer frame must be tied firmly to the inner one by strips of 
boards nailed from plate to plate, and the space between the walls com- 
pactly filled with charcoal, sawdust, or straw, provision being made for a 
narrow doorway in one end, to be closed with shutters inside and out, which 
must be made to shut tight, and will be greatly improved by lining them 
with a coat of straw two inches thick, fastened on by lath nailed across. 
About the roof.. This must be made in the same way as the sides, with two 
sets of rafters, boarded and filled between with straw, with good shingling 
outside, or some other tight roofing. It will be necessary to make a trap in 
the roof, or a door in the gable end, opposite the usual entrance, with a slide 
leading to the interior, for the convenience of filling, and there must be a 
suitable ventilating chimney, six inches square, from the ice up through 
the roof, which at times may be pai'tially closed by a wisp of straw. The 
space between the joists and the rafters, if filled with straw, will assist in 
the preservation of the ice, and need never be removed, except the jjortion 
around the door made for putting in ice. 

The expense of such an ice-house it will be easy to calculate upon the 
local cost of lumber. 

Such a building as we have described will take forty-eight studs S feet 
long, 2 by 4 inches in size, which is quite strong enough, and sixteen inside 
rafters of same size, 8 feet long ; twenty rafters of same size, 9 feet long, for 
outside; two sills 2 b}' 6 inches, 8 feet long each; two ditto 13 feet long 
each for inside frame ; two ditto 16 feet and two ditto 12 feet for outside 
sills, and some short pieces of stuflT for gable-end studs ; for plates two 
boards 6 inches wide, 13 feet long; two ditto 8 feet long; two ditto 12 feet 
and two ditto 16 feet each ; and this constitutes the timber of the frame, and 
will not- exceed 700 feet, board measure. In fact, this whole frame could be 
made of straight poles, or split stuff, wliich would cost but a trifle on some 
fai'ms. The boarding of sides, roofs, floors, partition, measures in all, we be- 
lieve, 1,620 feet of surface and batitens, so that 2,500 feet of lumber and 2,000 
sliingles appear to be ample for an ice-house to stow a cube 8 feet square, 
with a cooling-room -i by 8 ; and two men can build it in four days. Now 



294 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. HI. 



connt the lumber at $12 a thousand, shingles at $4 a thousand, work at $2 
a day, nails, hinges, etc., $2, team work $2, and we have a total of $50 for 
the cost of a building that is worth §50 to any farmer every year. Who 
would do without an ice-house? 

Having giveu the above as our own plan, we will add the plans of several 
others. One writer says : 

" Instead of one hollow wall for a non-conductor of heat, as in ordinary 
ice-houses, I have two, with a space between them for confined air. The site 
is on a gravel slope. The foundation, for convenience in storing ice, is dug 
two feet below the surface of the ground. The outside wall, for non-con- 
ducting material, is six inches in the clear. The inside wall is four inches. 
The doors for entrance correspond perfectly with the hollow walls in 
thickness, and are filled in the same manner — ^being shaped to shut with 
a bevel edge, like the door to safes used by merchants and bankers. 
At the lower side of the plates is a ceiling, upon which I put spent 
tan one foot thick, which tan is in direct connection with the side-walls, 
so that any settling in of the walls may be supplied from overhead. 
From the under side of the ceiling runs a ventilator, with a hole of one and 
a half inch bore, up through the roof, which is finished with an ornamental 
cap. 

" The room for ice is eight by ten feet in the clear, and eight feet high. 
About all the waste of ice that I observed during the summer was at the 
bottom, and this was so slow that we used the ice without regai-d to economy 
for a large family, and in a dairy of thirty-five cows, besides giving freely 
to our neighbors. 

" I put sticks four inches thick in the bottom to put ice on, and also some 
straw about the sides as well as underneath the ice." 

At a discussion about ice-houses, by the American Institute Farmers' Club, 
the following facts were elicited: 

Mr. Pardee i-ead an extract from a paper upon the ventilation and drain- 
age of ice-houses, 
melt ice much faster 
the ice. 

"WiLLiAJi S. Caepentek — ^It is a question of great moment to farmers how 
small a cube of ice can be kept well. I have not, in my experience, found 
that one less than ten feet will keep. I have a floor over my ice, which I 
keep covered with straw, and find it an excellent thing to prevent thawing. 
I find the bottom layer of my house, which is an underground one, keeps 
better than the layers above. Some of my neighbors think the ice keeps 
the best if the cakes are set on edge. 

John G. Beegen — The great ice-packers I have seen put in their cakes 
flat) and very compact. Some of my neighbors break up the blocks of ice, 
but I prefer the solid blocks. My opinion is that straw is better than salt 
hay to pack ice in. I should prefer to have a very heavy coat of straw on 
the ice, aud then I don't care about the ventilation above. I M'ill say, how- 



It states that an underground ice-house is calculated to 
than above, because the earth gets heated and melts 



Seo. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 295 



ever, tliat my neighbors' ice-Iiouses that have no upper floor, and are a good 
deal o])en at the top, do keep the ice well. 

Prof. Xasii — We are too much inclined to be innovators in all our build- 
ings, and in ice-houses particularly, "\Ve must look at the true philosophy 
of keeping ice, or we shall fail ; for the philosophy of it is to put it as much 
away from the air as possible, and that is why we pack it in straw or saw- 
dust, etc. As to giving some ventilation to the loft, or space over the ice, 
it may be of service. I think that an ice-house should not have any pro- 
vision for ventilation — the tighter the better. 

Solon Eobinson — There is a misunderstanding about this term ventila- 
tion. As one of the advocates of it for an ice-house, as well as all other 
houses, I do not mean open exposure, but simply to allow an escape of the 
heated air that will accumulate in the space between the straw and the roof. 
Make it as tight all round the body of the ice as possible, by using non- 
conducting substances from the exterior, and cover the top of the ice as 
closely as you please with sawdust or straw, but don't make the upper part 
too close ; at least, leave the cracks in the gable ends open. As for the 
sides, the best of all substances to fill with is tine charcoal ; the next best, 
sawdust ; next, tan-bark, straw, leaves from the forest, or salt hay, or any 
other fibrous substance. It is not necessary to have a double wall if your 
ice is sufficiently packed around with any of the above substances. The air, 
at any rate, must not come in contact with the ice, nor with a board that 
touches it. And a stone or the ground will melt ice much quicker than 
wood. What I have been most anxious for in bringing up this discussion 
upon ice-houses, is to divest the subject of all scientific nonsense about 
making buildings to keep ice of so expensive a character that no common 
farmer would undertake it. Yet there are thousands of men who might 
enjoy the comforts of a full supply of ice, and some of them would do it 
if they only knew that they could build a house at almost no cost. A log 
cabin, as described by Mr. Pell, or a cellar lined with fence-rails and a 
board roof, with plenty of sawdust, leaves, or straw, will keep it longer than 
a stone or brick building, j^ut ujd at a cost of $500. I want to encourage 
people to build cheap ice-houses. 

A correspondent says: "I live on Staten Island, where neither charcoal, 
sawdust, nor tan-bark can be had, except at great expense, but dry forest- 
leaves and salt hay cost but a trifle. Will either of the latter answer a good 
purpose for an ice-house out of the ground, and, if so, which is the best? (1.) 
I propose to make two boxes of rough hemlock boards — the outer one 
twelve feet square by ten feet high, the inner one ten feet square by the same 
hight — so as to leave a continuous space of twelve inches all round between 
the boxes, this space to be tilled with leaves or hay pressed down tight. (2.) 
Tlie roof to be covered with torigued and grooved boards, and set at an 
angle of 35 degrees, with a projection of two feet. The double doors 
will be in the peak of the roof, the outside frame to be supported by chest- 
nut posts, lined on one side, and set into the ground four feet apart ; the 



296 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

inside box, or frame, to be supported by joists, 2x-i-incli, set edgewise, three 
feet apart, secured against the inner side. Chestnut sleepers will be laid on 
the ground, covered with loose boards, from which there will be good drain- 
age. "Will it be necessary to make the roof double, and have an opening on 
the top for ventilation? (3.) Can you suggest any improvement on this 
plan, without increasing the cost? (i.) One of my neighbors, for the want 
of tan-bark or sawdust, built an expensive ice-house on the ground, walled 
up with stone, but it fails to keep the ice. (5.)" 
I will briefly answer these inquiries : 

1. Either salt hay or leaves will answer a good purpose, and I should use 
whichever is the cheapest. 

2. This plan will make an ice-bouse that will keep the contents safe in 
any place. 

3. There is the same necessity for a double roof that there is for double 
sides, and more, for that is not necessary if there is a good thick lining of 
straw between the ice and boards. I double my i"oof by a thatch of straw, 
first laid and then boarded over. 

4. The improvement I should suggest would be a cheaper frame. Make 
the outside just like the inside. It is cheaper, and will answer just as well 
as the chestnut-posts. 

5. This is probably owing to deficient ventilation ; that is, openings in the 
gable ends far above the ice, to allow the hot air and foul gases that accu- 
mulate there to pass ofi". If- the stone walls of an ice-house once get heated 
from the sun, they retain the heat both day and night, and communicate it 
to the atmosphere within. Stone is the worst material for an ice-house that 
can be used. 

Robert L. Pell said that he built an ice-house just like a log-cabin, in 
the ground, with a board roof, that keeps ice first-rate. He built one of 
stone and one of brick, laid in cement, neither of which would keep ice. 
He fills on a cold day, and leaves the house open to allow the ice to freeze. 
He packs broken ice into all the spaces between the cakes, and puts straw 
at the bottom eight inches thick, and packs the ice up to the wood on the 
sides, and leaves it until June or July, when there is a space melted away 
all round, and that is then packed tight with straw. His ice-house is most 
thoroughly ventilated in the upper portion of it. A full set of ice-tools costs 
about §50, but he did not think it necessary for a farmer to go to that ex- 
pense ; a saw is nearly as good as an ice-plow to cut ice on a small scale, 
when great haste is not very necessary, as is the case with the great ice- 
gatherers for market. 

John G. Bergen — My ice-house is a cellar, about twelve feet square at the 
top and ten feet at the bottom, and this is fitted with a double-boarded frame, 
the hollow filled with sawdust. The earth is so porous that it gives a 
natural drainage. There is a building, used for other purposes, over the ice- 
house, which is ventilated, but the ice part has no ventilation ; and I cover 
the ice with sawdust, and also around the sides, and it keeps well. I pack 



Sec. 15.] CELLARS, CUIAINEYS, AND ICEHOUSES. 297 



the cakes close, and they come out as square as they ■went in. Tliore is a 
free circulation of air in the upper part of my ice-house, and nothing but 
straw to exclude the air from the ice. The great Hudson River ice-hoiises 
ai-e very large, and always built above ground, with double walls, filled with 
sawdust. The ice is packed close, and broken ice filled in to all the cracks. 
Some single ice-houses hold 3,000 tuns; and most of the ice used in the city 
is cut upon the river, and not upon lakes. 

Mr. QciNN — I noticed that some of these icehouses use salt hay. The 
roofs and sides are double, and tiie best of them are filled with fine charcoal, 
making the walls eighteen inches thick. I know one person who had an 
underground ice-house, and now has one above, which he prefers ; the ice 
keeps in this the best. 

J. P. Vreedek — I made my ice-house by digging a hole ten or twelve feet 
square, and lined it with boards as a double wall, filled in with tan-bark. 
My roof is a straw thatch. My ice keeps perfectly well. I have good 
drainage, and I put about six inches of straw around the ice on bottom, 
sides, and toji. The house is only four feet below the surface, and the rest 
above. I pack about twelve or fourteen tuns of ice, being careful to fill all 
the crevices with broken ice. 

John G. Bkegen said that he did not think a double roof necessary. 
None of the ice-houses in his neighborhood had them. 

Prof. Mapes — The point settled in building ice-houses is, that the whole 
ice-house should be above ground. This is the practice in Massachusetts. 
There is no substance equal to a confined space of air for the walls of ice- 
houses. Build of whatever substance you please, so that you have a double 
wall, and tight enough to hold air, and you will have a perfect protector of 
ice. As to ventilation, Jenner, who first constructed ventilated ice-boxes, 
found that ice melted faster in ventilated than in unventilated boxes. Ventila- 
tion is necessary when you desire to keep food sweet. If there is no ventila- 
tion, the confined air soon becomes very foul from animal substances on ice. 
He then gave some interesting particulars of the large refrigerators in some 
of the city packing-houses. Some are so large that they use up a number 
of tuns of ice a day. The temperature is kept at 42 degrees, and in large 
rooms thus cooled hundreds of animals can be killed and cooled every day. 
If your object is to keep ice without use, shut up close — it needs no venti- 
lation. 

315. llow to Make and Store Ice. — II. Lyman, of Johnstown, "Wis., tells 
how to make ice for putting up in ice-houses, where there is no convenient 
pond or stream, and how to store it without an expensive house built on 
purpose. Mr. Lyman says : 

" I live on the prairie. On the coldest day of January I draw water from 
the well and pour it into square tin pans, two feet long, nine inches wide at 
the bottom, and nine and an eighth at the top, and about nine inches deep. 
While I have been drawing water, Dick has been gathering clean snow 
and putting it into the water. The compound is frozen immediately. I now 



298 THE FARMERY. [Cuap. IH. 

apply hot water w.'th cloths to tlie sides of the tin containers, which enables 
nie to empty out the blocks of ice. 

" A cube of ice of four feet is all I need. No separate building need be 
erected to keep it in. Tlie barn, the wood-house, or the tool-house can 
furnish an ample corner. The conditions of its safe keeping are — the walls 
of a building around, and two feet of compact straw on every side of the 
gelid mass. In packing, I lay loose boards on a bed of straw, and on this 
platform I lay the ice. I take care to expose the ice to the lowest tempera- 
ture of the year, and lay it up in the coldest state. If every alternate block 
of ice is inverted, the mass is thereby made compact ; if not, there will be 
a little space open at the bottom between the respective blocks. "When the 
cube is complete, cover the whole M-ith straw. This work can be effected 
with milk pans or other vessels, and if straw or ice be carefully filled into 
the intervals in packing it will answer a good purpose, though square pans 
are preferable. I use snow for the sake of hastening the process of freezing. 
The pans are flared a little toward the top to facilitate turning out." 

This excellent plan should be carefully heeded by all the dwellers upon 
prairies, and by a great many other people. 

31C. How to Carry Ice lo the Field.— Lucius Beach, of Port Huron, Mich., 
says : " Many farmers do not put up ice from the supposed difficulty of using 
it on the farm away from the house. I have used ice-water for constant 
drink two summers on my form. I happened to carry water with ice in it 
into the field in a six-quart tin pail with a cover to it. AVe used the water, 
and the ice was left in the pail about six hours in a hot day, and some of it 
still remained. I then procured a twelve-quart tin pail with cover, put 
in a large piece of ice, took a jug of water info the field, and turned it on 
to the ice as we wanted to use it. In this way it will last from six to ten 
hours for the use of six men, and is a luxury indeed." 

317. l!ow to Keep Ice in Summer. — If you have no ice-house, and buy ice, 
or even if you have an ice-house, and do not want to open it except at even- 
ing or morning, or if it is inconvenient to the house, and you wish to have 
ice always handy, this is how you can do it. Have a bushel of clean, dry 
sawdust, put a peck of it in the bottom of a tight barrel, having one hole 
for drainage, then put in a layer of lumps of ice and another peck of saw- 
dust, and so on, covering the top tightly with sawdust, and over all a folded 
blanket. Do not let the ice touch the staves, and do not set the barrel in a 
warm place, and you will have ice all day, with scarcely any perceptible 
waste. Provide sawdust enough, so that you can shift the wet for dry every 
day. This is a much better plan than wrapping ice in a blanket or keeping 
it in a refrigerator, because the best of these useful articles of household fur- 
niture do not preserve ice, but rather waste it, and in so doing preserve the 
food placed in them. 

318. Refrigerators. — No family can afford to keep house without a re- 
frigerator — a food-preserver. "We do not mean an ice-box, which, like the 
one above described, will keep ice, but nothing else — that is, not to any ad- 



Sko. 16.] 



THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 



299 



vantage. A piece of meat, placed upon ice, will keep a longer time than 
ill the open warm air, but it does not keep as good as in dry air of ice 
temperature, and it i-poils very quickly after it is taken off the ice. A cus- 
tard pie kept three days on the ice will be slimy and not toothsome; but 
when kept in a good refiigerator, the pie will be as sweet and diy as it is in 
a pantry in cool weaiher; a piece of meat will keep in July as well as in 
January. Such a refrigerator has the ice at the top, and the air cooled by 
it falls upon the food below, or on a shelf alongside of the ice, and is as dry 
as any otiier cold air. A box of tine charcoal, kept in the refrigerator, and 
changed every month, will absorb all the unpleasant odors and keep the air 
sweet. Such refrigerators are common now in New York in families, and 
some of the butchers have them large enough to store the quarters of a bul- 
lock and several sheep and calves. And some of the packing-houses have 
them large enough to store and cut and pack, in a winter atmosphere, several 
hundred hogs a day. AVithout such " cooling-rooms," the summer slaughter- 
ing of butchers' animals could never be carried on to the great extent it is in 
all the large sea-board cities. This is one of the great inventions of the 
present age. These improved refrigerators, of suitable size for families, cost 
from §15 to $50 each. Ours, wliich cost §25, is worth $10 a year — has been 
in use five years, and is just as good as ever, and we see no reason why it 
will not be so ten years hence. It is better than none, even without ice, as 
it preserves an even condition of temperature. Every farmer should liavc 
ice, and no one should be without a refrigerator iu some very convenient 
locality near the kitchen cr store-room. 



SECTION XVI.-THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 

/^^ F all that might be profitably said under the title of this 
r section were given, we should require a whole volume 
instead of a few pages, which is all the space we can allot 
to the important subject. 

A farm without a barn is only to be tolerated in a new 
settlement, as in some cases on the great prairies, where the 
land can be got under cultivation before the owner can erect 
the necessary buildings. Even there, we have always no- 
ticed that the most thrifty fanners were those who erected 
the best barns, at the earliest moment practicable. 

Tlie baru and its appurtenances, treated of in this section, 
contains information that will be found valuable to everyone 
who owns, or ever expects to own, a farm. 
319. The Tse aud Value of Barns, and their Location.— Of 
course, a good barn is one of the great essentials of a farmery — one that can 




300 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



not be dispensed with. Grain and hay may bo preserved in stacks or bar- 
racks, but the one can not be threshed and cleaned out-door Avitliout waste, 
and the other can not be fed to the stock to good advantage anywhere' but 
in the barn. A good house and convenient out-buildings are comfortable; a 
good barn is one of the grand necessities of good farming. 

K"o farmer can afford to do without one of sufficient size to accommodate 
all the purposes for which a barn is appropriate. We have rarely, if ever, 
seen upon a well-cultivated farm a barn that was too large. In nine out of 
ten cases the barn is too small. After it is too late, the farmer regrets that 
he had not built it larger. But lack of size is not so great a fault as wrong 
location, for you can build to the original, by a Ican-to upon one side, and 
open shed or stable on the other, or an entire new building adjoining, so as 
to make the whole quite as convenient as though all built together in one 
building. But' if the location is wrong, it never can be righted. So, in 
building anew, make this a question for careful consideration : '' Where shall 
I place my barn ?" And do not place it until you know that you are right. 

We will point out a few essential things about location, which we think 
may be of service to those about to build barns. 

First, a barn never should be set up-hill from the house, where by any 
possibility the drainage either on the surface, or under it, should come down 
about the door, or into the cellar or well. Wherever the situation will 
admit of it, place the barn on a lower level than the house, and northerly 
or westerly from it, and do not be afraid to give a good distance between. 
You had better walk an extra hundred feet all your life t^an have a hundred 
foul smells creeping into every room in your dwelling. 

Secondly, never build your barn upon the roadside. Upon the road, 
only a mile long, which we daily travel between our own home and the 
railroad station, there are four barns, located upon just such situations as are 
very common in all hilly regions, the face of a hill, which gives most excel- 
lent natural drainage — but unfortunately for good economy, the drainage is 
directly into the public road. 

Another thing in the location of a barn should be had in view, and that 
is convenience of access. For a large farm, a hillside barn, that can have a 
drive-way into the second or third stor}', affords a great convenience about 
imloading hay, and hauling away manure from the lower side. 

A location should be chosen for a barn, so far as it can be, with reference 
to other important considerations, where it will not occupy half an acre, or 
more, perhaps, of the very best soil, about the center adopted for the farmery 
establishment. If you are about to make a new location for the whole of 
the buildings to constitute a farmery, it will be easy to have them arranged 
relatively right, if you first make a complete map of the whole farm, and 
then make your locations to suit peculiar circumstances. On a rough, rocky 
farm you may often save an acre of good land by placing your buildings 
upon ground or rock fit only to build upon, and much better for that than a 
rich soil. 



Seo. 16.] THE BARN AND ITS APPUKTENANCES. 301 

Above all things, in selecting a site for the farmery, of which the barn, 
with its appurtenances, forms such a conspicuous portion, avoid locating 
directly upon both sides of the road, and all locations upon brook or river 
banks, which allow so much fertility to be washed away. And do not go 
to the bottom of the hill because there is a natural spring there, or because 
you can dig a well so easily. You can have a cistern anywhere near a roof, 
if you can not get a well. Do not locate on the very pinnacle of the hill — 
it is too bleak, even in quite M-arm latitudes. If you place the house on the 
hill, you need not put the barn, like one I see almost daily, on the top of 
the highest pile of rocks in the vicinity — a spot bleak enough to blow the 
hair otf a cow's back. 

Having said this much of the most important question, we will now 
introduce some descriptions of a few of the best barns in this country. 

320. Barn built by <he Shakers, Canterbury, X. U.— The location of this 
Shaker society is about fifteen miles north of Concord, N. H., and nine miles 
east of Merrimae Eiver. The society is composed of three families, and 
owns about 2,500 acres, lying in nearly a square form, in the center of 
which are their substantially built and commodious dwelling-houses and 
numerous other buildings, all of which are painted of lightish colors, and 
kept in the most complete repair and neatness. 

The main body of the barn is 200 feet in length by 45 in width, with 3-i 
feet posts (three stories high). The roof is nearly flat, double boarded, then 
covered with three layers of stout sheathing paper, saturated with coal tar, 
upon which is spread a thick coat of coal tar and screened gravel. There 
is a projection at each end of the barn, 25 feet in length and about 16 in 
width, so that the whole length is 250 feet. The whole structure is well 
boarded. The sides and ends are covered with 16-inch pine shingles, laid 
four inches to the weather. There are three floors, extending the whole 
length of the main body of the barn. The ground upon which the barn 
was erected was nearly level, but at great expense a drive-way has been 
graded, of easy ascent, so that the loads of hay are driven on to the upper 
floor, over the high beams, so that, in unloading, the hay is pitched down, 
instead of up. This makes a material diflerence in forking over 200 tons 
of hay each hay season. The floors, ceilings, partitions, etc., are all planed 
and finished off as handsomely as farm-houses formerly were. There are 
two hovels on the lower floor, extending the whole length of the main barn, 
the eastern portions of which are arranged for tying up 23 cows in each, 
with sliding stanchions. The cows have been so trained, as they pass in 
the hovel each one takes its own place with the regularity of well-trained 
soldiers, and by a simple contrivance — the turn of a short lever — the heads 
of all the cows are fastened or loosened, quicker than any one could be tied 
by a rope. Each cow is named, and, like the " world's people," they select 
fancy names for their cows, such as Eosa, Lady Grace, Julia, Bustle, and 
Crinoline, each of which is printed in large type on slips of pasteboard, and 
tacked upon the joists over each one. Upon the roof are three large, hand- 



302 THE FAPwMERY. [Chap. IIL 

Bomely finished ventilators, with Venetian blinds. The cellar, 200 by 45 
feet, is of good depth ; the walls are of split granite, pointed with cement. 
Large wooden tubes pass from tiie cellar through the roof, which effectually 
carry off the heated foul air of the manure. From the south side of the cen- 
ter of the barn described, a two-story building extends, south, 100 feet by 
27. The upper part is used for storing hay, grain, straw, etc. ; the lower, 
for calf-pens, store-rooms, and hospital for sick animals, with a nicely fitted 
up room for tlie herdsman. The roof of this, like that of the large barn, is 
nearly flat, tarred and graveled, and shingled upon the sides and ends, as is, 
also, a new sheep-barn, built adjoining. This runs from the southeast cor- 
ner of the large barn, 108 feet long by 43 wide. The drive-way floor of 
this is 17 feet wide, so tliat two teams can stand abreast, and at the south 
end the floor is wide enough to allow the turning about of the team, so that 
the oxen passing out go before the cart, instead of the cart going out first — 
for the south end is not graded up so as to admit of driving through, as in 
the large barn. 

Another addition was planned, that is, a long shed, extending from the 
southwest corner of the barn 100 feet. This will give two barn-yards of 
about 100 feet square each, well sheltered, all but the south, with both yards 
well supplied with water. 

As the Shakers are famous for good barns, we shall give the description 
of another one of theirs. We have great confidence in the economy of the 
form of the one next described, as well as its great convenience. 

321. A Circular Barn.— The Shakers of Berkshire County, Mass., have a 
barn that is worthy the attention of farmers who are contemplating the 
erection of barns upon a large scale. We should think that on some 
accounts it would be a good form to erect upon large prairie farms. We 
recommend its form for adobe buildings and concrete walls, as one best 
adapted to withstand the force of hard storms, as well as the form most 
economical for the room inclosed. The barn owned by the Shakers is 100 
feet in diameter, built of stone — a material that is very abundant in that 
part of Massachusetts. It is two stories high, the first one being only seven 
and a half feet between floors, and containing stalls for seventy head of 
cattle, and two calf stables. These stalls are situated in a circle next the 
outer wall, with the heads of the animals pointing inward, looking into an 
alley in which the feeder passes around in front of and looking into the face 
of every animal. The circle forming the stable and allej'-way is fourteen 
feet wide, inside of which is the great bay. Over the stable and alley is 
the threshing-floor, which is fourteen feet wide and about three hundred 
feet long on the outer side, into which a dozen loads of hay may be hauled, 
and all be unloaded at the same time into the bay in the center. There 
should be a large chimney formed of timbers open in the center of such a 
mass of hay, connecting with air tubes under the stable floor, extending out 
to the outside of the building, and with a large ventilator in the peak of the 
roof. We should also recommend an extension of the eaves beyond the 



Sec. 16.] THE BAK:^ AND ITS APPURTEXAXCES. 303 



outer ■wall, by means of brackets, so as to form a shed over the doors, and 
tlie manure thrown out of the stable and piled against the wall. 

In the barn mentioned there is a granary projecting into the circle of tlie 
bay, which we do not e.xactly approve, preferring the granary in a separate 
building, to which grain may be conveyed through spouts, if the barn is 
located upon the hillside, which is preferable on account of entering the 
threshing-floor on a level, though that is not indispensable, as a wagon-way 
can be graded up from a level plat. 

322. Darn Foundations. — The stone foundation of a bam should never be 
laid in mortar. This is an error that should be avoided, as unnecessary and 
unprofitable. It would be even better to place the sills upon pillars, leaving 
a free circulation, and space high enougli to furnish shelter for all the 
poultry in winter, and thus keep them out of the inside of the barn, where 
they are a nuisance. The main object, liowever, is to give free circulation 
of the air, to drive out all foul gases, and promote the health of animals. 
The surface must be so graded that no water will stand under the barn. 

323. Opinions of Practical Farmers about Barns.— At a Farmers' Club in 
"West Springfield, Mass., after consultation and debate, it was decided that a 
large barn was better than two or more small ones ; that a tight barn was 
better, even for badly-cured haj, than an open one ; that a brick barn and a 
slate roof were the best and cheapest for a man who has all his materials to 
buy ; that a good coimection between a house and barn is a covered walk, 
overhung with grapevines ; that economy of roof and convenience for work 
were of the first importance in any building ; that warm water and warm 
stables were essential to the comfort of animals ; that the housing of manures 
was judicious; that liquid manures are largely lost, even by those who 
have cellars and sheds for storing them ; and that the best absorbents of 
liquid manure are buckwheat hulls, leaf mold, sawdust, fine sand, dried 
peat, turf, and straw. 

The meeting was held at the house of one of the members — an old-fash- 
ioned two-story building — M'ith modern furniture and fixtures, where the 
well-spread tables were bountifully loaded with fat chickens, mealy potatoes, 
light bread, yellow butter, melting cheese, with pies and cake to match, 
all lavishly bestowed, and such conversation ensued as would, if it could 
be imitated ia every neighborhood, prove of great benefit to the people. 
Let the plan be imitated. K not the plan of the barn, certainly the plan of 
meeting with your neighbors, and talking over the subject, as to whether 
you shall build a large or small barn, and of what materials. It is also 
very important to every one about to build, to go about, far and near, and 
look at all the barns of various sizes, forms, and fashions, and talk about 
their conveniences and the reverse. 

324. Barns Boarded Tight or Open.— "Whether barns should be tight is one 
of the most important questions that a farmer can consider ; for it may 
involve the health and lives of all his farm stock. It is contended by some 
writers, with a good deal of reason, that open barns are more healthy for 



304 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



stock, particularly the bovine portion, than closely boarded ones. A com- 
munication from a farmer in Maine says : 

" Several years ago, I learned by experience that tight barns were not 
healthy for cattle, and a little reasoning upon the subject will explain -nhy 
this is so. It is a well-known fact, that tlio droppings of cattle, both solid 
and liquid, exhale a vast amount of gases of different kinds, and these gases 
arc unfit for respiration ; if cattle are deprived of air, and breathe these 
gases, they die instantly, and if they breathe air impregnated with a large 
proportion of these gases, tliey sicken immediately ; tlie disease most likely 
to be produced is pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, as the poison is 
applied directly to them. 

" Now what provision is made in modern tight barns to get rid of these 
gases ? ^"hy, there is a ventilator on the top of the barn, but how are 
these gases to get to the top of the barn, since a large proportion of them 
are heavier than atmosphei'ic air ? The carbonic and sulphurous gases, 
which are more abundant than all others, are heavier than air, and con- 
sequently will not ascend ; ammonia is light and would fly away, but the 
carbonic and sulphurous gases, having a strong affinity for ammonia, seize 
the fugitive, and by a chemical action a new compound is formed heavier 
than air, which, of course, must remain, unless there is some underground 
passage by which it can escape. If there is no place for its escape, these 
gases accuniulate until the barn becomes filled with tlicm, the hay is im- 
pregnated, and the stock has to eat as well as breathe this noxious matter, 
and the trouble is worse if the stock is high fed. First, because high-fed 
animals have a greater amount of blood, tlie blood-vessels are fuller, and 
consequently a greater tendency to congestion. Secondly, because the 
excrements of high-fed animals evolve a much greater amount of gaseS than 
those of others, and the difficulty of ventilation is increased by the fact that 
these gases are so nearly of the weight of air. If they were all light, like 
carbureted hydrogen, they would soon escape at the top ; or if they were 
heavy like water, or even pure carbonic acid gas, they would, in most barns, 
find cracks sufficiently large to run out near the bottom ; but as the facts 
prove that the gases are nearly of the same weight of air, I am led to the 
following conclusions : 

" First, that the walls of barns should never be clapboarded ; then there 
will be a gentle current constantly passing through the barn, and the gases 
passing out of the cracks on the leeward side ; second, that the stable for 
horses and cattle should extend from one end of the barn to the other, with 
a door at each end, both of which should generally be open excepting in 
severe cold weather, and in storms. I have found by experience that a 
horse kept in a small, tight stable, will commence coughing in a very few 
days. Cattle do not suffer with the cold (unless the cold is extreme) if they 
are in good health, are well fed, and have a dry, clean stall, and plenty of 
good air to breathe. The lungs of an ox will manufacture a vast amount 
of animal heat. I have known a cow to be wintered with no other shelter 



Seo. IC] THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 305 

than an open slicd, more than two liundrcd miles fartlier nortli than Massa- 
chusetts, and she gave milk all winter, and came out well in the spring." 

There is something worth a thought in this matter about airy barns. We 
know them to be the best for hay and grain ; and we know that in olden 
time in New England, all of the barns, covered with upright boards, put on 
green, had wide cracks from top to bottom, and in such stables, although 
very cold, the cattle wintered well and kept healthy. It is shelter from 
storms, and not shelter from cold, that all of our stock needs. 

825. Vf ntilatin;; Hay-mowsi — One of the worst practices of farmers, in New 
England particularly, is storing hay in large bays, without a sign of any 
ventilation under the bulk, which usually rests upon a few loose poles or 
boards on the damp ground. A bay should have ventilation, not only under 
it, but up through it, by means of a chimney made of four poles fostened 
together by rounds like a ladder. A loose stone foundation could be laid 
for the hay bottom, with an air-chamber from the outside leading to the 
chimney, directly over which there should be a ventilator in the roof. This 
simple contrivance would not only save many a tun of hay from mustiness, 
but it would enable the owner to put in his hay in a much greener state, 
and that which is next the chimney would always come out very sweet. 

326. Stables— how to Construct them.— A stable should be built with a view 
to several points, among which we may mention economy of space consistent 
with comfort, convenience of feeding and milking the animals, convenience 
of tethering them so that they may have the largest measure of liberty of 
motion, but be unable to injure one another; convenience of getting hay 
from the loft and grain from the bin to the stalls ; and convenience of re- 
moving the liquid and solid excretions, so as to preserve their quality, and 
remove them so speedily that the effluvium may not be breathed by the cows. 

The floor of a cow-stall of a well-constructed stable is four feet to four feet 
six inches long, raised two or three inches for a dry platform. Behind the 
platform the floor is made of white-oak slats set apart so that the urine may 
drop through to the cellar beneath. The floor-beams are laid four feet 
apart. On the sides stout elects are nailed, and on these the 2x3^ white- 
oak slats are dovetailed and firmly nailed. The slats are beveled to a sharp 
edge beneath, so that the manure will not clog the open spaces, but drop 
clear as soon as it sinks below the upper edges of the slats. The slatted 
space is a foot and a half in width. Behind tiiat the first plank of the floor 
is made to lift like a trap-door, turning on hinges, to secure an open space 
through which to hoe the droppings, litter, etc., that would not readily pass 
between the slats. ' By this simple contrivance the droppings of thirty cows 
can be removed in a few minutes. 

327. Stables should always be built high— that is, high between floors. Most 
stables are built low, " because they are warmer." But the builders forget 
that warmth is obtained at a sacrifice of pure air and the health of the an- 
imal. Shut a man up in a tight, small box ; the air may be warmer, but it 
will soon lay him out dead and cold if he continues to breathe it. If stables 



306 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

are tight, they slionld have high ceilings ; if they are not tight, but open to 
the admission of cold currents of air from all directions, they Avill be too 
much ventilated, or, rather, ventilated in the wrong place. One of the 
cheapest modes of ventilation is to build the stable high, so as to give room 
for the light air to rise above the heads of animals. The grand rule that 
must be observed is not to coniine a beast in a room so small that its 
breathing will soon poison all the air unless the foul portion can escape and 
fresh air enter. 

328. Cattle Sheds that Cost Nothing.— It is an act of wanton cruelty to 
expose stock to the blasts of winter without shelter. In a country of saw- 
mills, liow cheaply a shed can be built of slabs nailed to rough posts, set in 
the ground, and roofed by laying one course of slabs round side down, and 
the upper course round side up ! The cracks of the sides can be battened 
witli thin sti'ips of slabs or refuse boards. 

. In a wooded country, where sawed stuff can not be liad, how cheaply a 
side of round logs can be built and cracks daubed with mud. Then an 
excellent roof can be made of split stuif, called shakes in some places and 
clap-boards in others, being split 2i to 5 feet long, and 4 to 6 inches wide, 
according to the quality of the timber for riving. These laid upon round 
ribs, and lield in place by weight-poles, make a roof, though rough in appear- 
ance, as tight as a shingled one. If bark is peeled at the proper time and 
laid at once, or piled and dried flat, it makes a pretty good roof, still cheaper 
than one of shakes, though not so durable. We have seen a very good 
cattle-shed roof made of hemlock boughs, laid on in courses, butts up. 

Cheap sheds on the prairie, where cattle are exposed to winter blasts more 
than in any other locality, can be made so easily that it seems worse than 
cruel — it is wicked — to leave the poor brutes exposed. 

Where rails are to be had, lay up a double wall of rails a foot apart, by 
using cross-pieces at the end, and fill up the space with sods, or with earth 
and leaves, or brush, or with coarse manure, or moldy hay and straw, such 
as cattle will not eat out, and you have a good wind-breaker. Extend from 
this wall, to the south, rails or poles to rest upon a gii-der on posts, and stack 
hay or straw on top, and there is a shed. It costs but little more to stack 
hay in this way than it does to make a suitable stack-bottom, and then fence 
the stack. As the hay is fed off in winter, fill up the space with refuse hay 
and straw, so as to break the wind, if it does not stop all the rain. Such 
sheds for sheeii are very valuable. 

Where rails are scarce, a good wall can be made of prairie sods laid up iu 
courses, with hazel brush or small limbs to bind the sods together, to give 
strength and prevent cattle from hooking the wall down. On this wall lay 
a plate to support the floor of the stack or roof Such cattle shelter pays its 
cost every winter. There is straw enough burned or wasted every fall, upon 
the Western prairies, to shelter all the stock every winter, if it were put up 
in some such cheap form as we have indicated. 

329. A Valuable, Cheap Feed-Trough.— One of the puzzles in building horse 



Seo. IC] THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 307 

Stables has been Iiow to make the feed-troiiglis. "We can solve that difficulty. 
"We have learned how to make a horse feed-trough. Or, rather, wo have 
learned how to purchase a very good and very cheap one. We learned it 
of a progressive young farmer. The farm of Josiah Macy, a Westchester 
County farmer of the old school, is conducted by his grandson, who has 
gained knowledge from books, and goes ahead with improvements, one of 
which is a new feed-trough. It is simply an iron pot — just such a one as our 
dinner used to be boiled in before the age of cooking-stoves. One of about 
four gallons is a good size, and it is set in the corner of the manger, in a 
casing of boards that inclose the rim, just up even with the top. It is supe- 
rior to any wooden, iron, or stone feed-bo.x we ever saw ; is not expensive, 
and, barring accidents, it will last forever, and be a good pot afterward. 

330. Earthen Stable Floors. — One of the best substances that can be found 
for flooring for horses is clean sand. It is superior to wood, as it does not 
heat and injure hoofs. Some English veterinary surgeons use nothing else 
for bedding but sand. We have always found stables with dirt floors prefer- 
able to plank ones. 

331. The Stable Yard* — The stable, or barn-yard, is one of the most im- 
portant appurtenances of the farmery. Two grand objects must be kept in 
view in its construction — the comfort of the aiiimals and the preservation of 
the manure. If it is on soft soil, and tolerably level, as such yards are upon 
nine out of every ten of the Western prairie farms, they are most uncom- 
fortable places for stock, although good for preservation of manure, but that 
is little or no object where it is of so little value. The only help that we can 
see for a barn-yard upon such soil, where the tramping of cattle makes it 
into a quagmire, is thorough underdrainage, and scraping the earth from 
around into a low mound, and covering the most of that with sheds. It may 
be so constructed that all the drainage of the manure will concentrate in one 
spot, to be absorbed by straw or other manure-making substance. We have 
found paving a yard with common fence-rails, M-here stones could not be 
procured, paid the cost every year, and such a pavement will last half a 
dozen years. 

In a rocky country, like eastern New York, Pennsylvania, and the l^ew 
England States, if care and sound judgment are used in the location of a 
farmery, the yard can be fixed on the southerly side of the barn and sheds, 
where it will always be dry, and very comfortable for stock, and yet not 
wasteful of manure. Our own is located upon a rock, sloping southeast. 
Just outside the fence, at the lowest corner, an excavation is made, to be 
kept full of muck, sods, or other absorbents, so that while the yard is con- 
stantly drained, the drainage is not lost. Some very good yards we liave 
seen constructed with a deep basin in the center. The great objection to 
this form in a small yard is that the basin sometimes gets so full that there 
is not dry space enough around the edges for the cattle. Sometimes, too, it 
freezes over quite full, and strong cattle push the weaker ones upon the ice 
to their injury. We prefer the absorbing basin outside of the yard. 



308 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



332. The Deu-Roost. — Every farmery must have a Jien-roost, if it does 
not have a poultry-yard ; and this should not be an open shed, nor a cold 
open I'oom, but one so arranged that it will be well sheltered from cold winds 
and storms, and lighted by a glass window upon tlie sunny side or in the 
roof. It will also be found a most excellent provision to give hens access in 
winter to a cellar, where they can scratch gravel and wallow in dust. Xhe 
hen-roost, too, should be arranged with special reference to saving all the 
droppings of the fowls, because it is the most valuable manure that is made 
about a farmery. 



SECTION XVII.-WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 

iBOTJT half of the farms in the United States are 
deficient in water^ — that is, the water is not con- 
venient for stock ; and in many situations cattle 
can only be watered by pumj^ing, or by the still 
more tedious process of drawing water in a bucket 
rom a well. This is a serious piece of labor, and a 
iselcss one, because the wind can be made to do the 
k-ork a great deal better, cheaper, and more certain ; 
and the whole expense of a wind-mill, pump, and 
])utting into operation, in a well twenty feet deep, 
would not probably exceed $50. 

You may use any one of a dozen iron pumps, to be 
found in almost every hardware store. Our own 
choice would be West's Anti-Freezing Pump, which 
is made of iron, and is very durable. The wind-mill 
for the motive power is simplicity simplified. The wind-wheel is four feet 
in diameter, divided into eight parts, curved from the center, just as we used 
to whittle out wind-mills from a pine shingle forty years ago. The wheel 
may be made of wood or iron. If of wood, fix the points of the sails in a 
wooden hub and secure the outer ends by a rim, just like that of a large 
spinning-wheel. Fix this wheel firmly upon an inch iron-bar, say two feet 
long, with two bearings to run in iron or hard wood, and a crank in the 
center suited to the stroke of your pump. K the valve works four inches, 
make your crank short two inches. Now make a frame of three pieces, 
three quarters of a square, with bearings for the wind-wheel shaft upon 
two, and an inch and a quarter hole in the center of the other piece. 
Upon this frame attach a vane of strong, thin wood, about three feet long 
and one foot wide at the outer end. Now erect a gallows-frame seven feet 
wide and fifteen feet high over the pump, fixed with a pipe in the well. No 
matter whether that pipe is straight or not. Now put a bolt, with a big 
head and washer, through the hole in the frame that holds the shaft, and 




SEa 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 309 



through the center of the cross-piece of the gallows, so that tlie small frame 
will be held firmly by the head of that bolt, j'ct will turn freely in the wind. 
From the piston-rod of the pump, extetid a rod with a swivel-joint in the 
center to the crank, and, let the wind blow high or low, you will have the 
satisfaction of knowing that your cattle are supplied with water. It is a 
good plan to make a cistern to hold a suj)ply in case the pump stops at any 
time for i-epairs or want of wind ; the latter will not be apt to occur, as it 
will run with a very slight breeze. From your watering-tub or trough, con- 
duct a pipe back to the well, and j'ou need not fear frost unless the pump 
stops. By making use of a force-pump you may get a supply from a well 
in the valley up to your house and barn on the hill, or to irrigate your 
garden. See N"o8. 369, 370. 

How to get water most convenient to all parts of the farmery should be 
the leading consideration ; because water is indispensable — neither man nor 
beast can do without it a single day. All else may be inconvenient — water 
should nevel" be. It should be brought in pipes from a higher level, when- 
ever it is practicable at any reasonable expense, because that is the most 
convenient of all forms in which water can be had at the farmery; and no 
farmer can afford to neglect to supply his place with water, if he owns a 
spring or stream that would aflbrd such a supply, because it is the greatest 
labor-saving fixture that he can make. 

If aqueduct water can not be had, then convenient wells and pumps 
should be; and if w-ater can not be had by easy, shallow digging, in wells, 
it can and should be in cisterns : and upon this question we will give some 
useful information. 

333. Economy of AQueductSi — Some farmers neglect to make provision for 
watering domestic animals until drought actually arrives, and then they can 
not. We well knew one who, during a drought, drove his cattle a mile to 
water, at the same time that he had roof enough on his large barn to give 
them all the drink they needed, if a cistern of proper capacity had been pre- 
pared to retain it. The barn cost $1,000 — the cistern might be built for 
§50 — yet every animal of his large herd must travel miles every week for 
necessary driuk. He might construct a cistern now, but it will be another 
year before he can derive benefit from it, and so he puts off the labor. 

There are many others who do the same. We know another fjirmer, who 
has lived till past eighty years of age upon a farm where there is a gushing 
spring of excellent water within sixty rods of his house and barn, high 
enough to run through pipes over the top of every building, yet this man 
draws water with a bucket from a well, which sometimes fails, M'hen he has 
to go to a more distant and inconvenient, well, or haul water in barrels from 
the river; and his stock, all the long winter, go down the road to the river- 
side for drink, wasting time (and that is money) and manure, to replace 
which he buys fertilizers. Saving the first cost of an aqueduct, in such 
cases, is not saving money. Neither is the neglect to construct cisterns a 
good piece of economy. 



310 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

334. Value of Cisterns— their Size and fontentSi — No man, whose only sup- 
ply of water is in a deep well, or where the well or spring water, however 
convenient, is hard — that is, like all the wafer of limestone countries, unlit 
for washing, or making butter — can afford to do without a cistern. If the 
earth where the cistern is to the built is compact clay, it can be dug out in 
the form of a jug, with only a man-hole at the top; and in all ground but 
caving sand it can be dug and plastered without any brick walls, and the 
top covered with durable timber, which should be placed at least four feet 
from the surface to its under side, as it will, when thus covered, last enough 
longer to pay for the extra work. AVherever flat stones abound, a moderate- 
sized cistern should be covered with them, laid shelving over each way, if 
not large enough to reach clear across. The earth-bottom and walls are 
easily made tight by cement (water-lime mortar), made with three Y)arts of 
clean, coarse, sharp sand to one of lime, which has to be wet up only as it 
is wanted for use, or it will set wherever it has a chance to dry upon the 
bed where mixed. It should be very thoroughly worked in, mixing while 
pretty wet, and plastered on the bottom first and then up the sides, one coat 
after another as fast as one is dry — two or three coats — taking care that no 
defect is made in the joining of the sides and bottom together. The bottom 
should be dug hollowing, and corners full ; and to save cement, any little in^ 
equalities in the walls may be filled with clay or lime-mortar before putting on 
the cement plaster. In situations where cement can not be obtained, a good 
cistern can be made as follows, whicli will last a dozen years certain. We 
know one good at twenty years old. Take one and a half-inch plank, six or 
eight feet long, six inches wide at one end and six and a quarter at the other ; 
joint and dowel the edges, and fit the ends with a croze iipon heads six or 
eight feet across, and hoop just enough to keep together to roll into the hole, 
biggest end down, upon a soft mortar bed of clay, four inches deep ; then 
fill the space between the tub and walls, M-hich should be four or six inches 
wide, with clay just moist enough to tamp in the most compact manner, 
and the cistern will never leak, and will give great satisfaction for its small 
cost. The top should be covered over with timber and earth, deep enough to 
keep warm in winter and cool in summer. 

Upon the roof of a barn 35 by TO feet — if three feet of rain fall annually 
— three cubic feet of water will be afforded by every square foot of surface — 
more than 7,000 cubic feet from the whole roof — which would be about 
1,700 barrels. This would be enough to water daily, the year through, thir- 
teen head of cattle, each animal drinking four twelve-quart pails full per day. 
But if the water were reserved for the dry season only, or when small streams 
are dry, thirty or forty head might be watered from one roof. 

People are apt to make their cisterns too small, so that often they do not 
hold a tenth part of the water from the eaves. In the above-mentioned 
instance it would not be necessary to construct one large enough to hold the 
entire 1,700 barrels. If the cattle were watered from it the year round, and 
its contents thus constantly drawn as it fills, one large enoiigh to hold 400 



Seo. 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 311 



barrels would do ; but if needed for the dry season only, it sliould be more 
than double. A cistern fourteen feet in diameter and twelve feet deep -would 
bold about -150 barrels — twenty feet in diameter, and tlie same depth, would 
be sufficient for 900 barrels. If built under ground, and contracted toward 
the top, it woidd require to be a little larger in dimensions, to allow for the 
contracted space. Such a contraction would be absolutely necessary to 
admit of convenient and safe covering at the top, and could bo effected 
without any difficult}- if built of masonry. The pressure of the water out- 
ward would be counterbalanced by the pressure of tlie earth against the 
exterior, especially if well rammed in as the wall is built. 

There are some portions of the country where the subsoil is underlaid by 
slate or other rock which may be excavated. In such cases, it sometimes 
happens that with a little care in cutting, the water-lime mortar may be ap- 
plied immediately to the rocky walls, a shoulder above being made on which 
to build the contracted part of the wall. 

"We have such a cistern, dug in tolerably compact earth, and plastered 
with cement, put on in two or three coats, using about two and a half barrels 
for a cistern eight feet wide and six feet deep. It was designed to be 
deeper, which would have made a better proportion, but the excavators 
, came upon a ledge that could not be blasted, and was very difficult to pick 
up, and the bottom being very rough, required more plaster. The top is 
covered with chestnut plank, over which is earth, and the water is let in 
through a }iipe beneath the surface, and taken out by another that leads to 
the pump in the kitchen. There is also an outlet pipe under the covering 
for surplus wafer, so that when full, there is a body of water five feet deep 
by eight wide, ajd this gives about sixty barrels; and being supplied by 
1,600 superficial feet of roof, is not likely to fail for family use. The water 
is perfectly filtered by the most convenient filtering arrangement for a cis- 
tern that we ever saw. 

This is by Peirce's patent porous cement pipes, which are laid in a sort 
of net-work in the bottom of the cistern, and the pump-pipe attached to 
them, so that no water can reach the pump that has not passed through the 
substance of the pii>es, which are in appearance much like solid stone, and 
more than an inch thick, which certaiidy forms a very perfect strainer to free 
the rain water of all impurities. A writer in his recommendation to every- 
body to build cisterns, says : 

' I have one in my house cellar, entirely below the bottom of the cellar, 
six and half feet deep and five arid a half in diameter, holding about 1,000 
gallons. It was dug six feet eight inches deep and seven feet in diameter. 
The bottom being made smooth, was laid over w-ith brick. The mason then 
began the side with brick laid in cement, leaving a space all round between 
the brick and earth about five inches. After raising the work about eighteen 
inches, he carefully filled the space between the brick and side of the hole 
with earth, well and carefully pressed down. If you wet the earth or clay 
as you fill it in, it will be more compact. 



S12 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



"When yon get within about two feet of tlie top, commence gradually to 
draw in the work toward the center, leaving, when finished, a space open 
about two feet across. The next tiling is to piaster the inside with cement ; 
also the top on the outside, commencing where you began to draw in. About 
two courses of brick are laid round the mouth of the cistern, forming a neck, 
which adds to tbe strength of the top. Now cover the whole with earth, 
except the neck. The water is conducted to ray cistern through a small 
brick drain laid in cement. I also have a drain near the top to let oS the 
surplus water. If a cistern is made out of doors, it must be below the reach 
of frost. Lead pipe would probably be cheaper than brick to conduct water 
to and from the cistern. 

" I have no doubt but that a cistern made this way of hard brick would 
last a century. Mine, holding 1,000 gallons, cost $18. The larger tlie size, 
the less the cost in proportion to the capacity. If the earth is firm and hard, 
you may lay the brick close against it, thus saving the trouble of filling in 
and digging so large. I have known tliem made by cementing directly on 
the earth, using no brick, and covering the top with timbers or plank. One 
made with brick will cost more, but I think it best and cheapest, taking into 
consideration safety and durability." 

Tables of Contents or Cieculae Cisterns. — Tlie following tables of the 
size and contents of circular cisterns may be convenient to those about to 
build them. For each foot of depth, the number of barrels answering to 
the difl'erent diameters is as follows : 

For 5 feet in diameter 4.66 barrels. 

6 " " 6.71 " 

7 " " 9.13 

8 " " 11.93 " 

9 " " 15.10 " 

10 " " 18.65 

A cistern 3i feet diameter will hold for every 10 inches in depth 59 gallons. 

4 " " 78 " 

4i " " 99 "; 

It g a 11 122 " 

5J " " [[[]][[[ ['[[ [[]... .]]]..]..... ..148 

6' " " 176 

" 8 " " 310 

Tou will find by this table that a cistern six feet deep and six in diameter 
will hold 1,260 gallons, and each foot you add in depth will hold 210 
gallons. Therefore, one ten feet deep and six in diameter will contain 
2,100 gallons. 

To find the contents of any cistern in wine gallons, the diameter and 
depth being known : 

1. Multiply one half the diameter (in feet) by itself. 

2. Multiply the above product by Sj, which will give the area of the bot- 
tom of the cistern nearly. 

3. Multiply this by the number of feet in depth ; this will give the cubic 
contents in feet. 

4. Multiply the last product by 1,728 (the number of cubic inches in a 
foot), which gives the number of cubic inches. 



seo. it.] water for the farmery. . 313 



5. Divide the whole result by 231 (the number of cubic inches in tlie wine 
gallon), and the result will be the number of g:allons in the cistern. 

Divide the gallons by 30, and you will have the number of barrels, and 
thus you can calculate ]>ow largo to make a cistern for the use of house or 
barn ; and be sure not to neglect so important and so inexpensive an im- 
provement as making a cistern. 

335. Digging Wells. — There is no better improvement put upon a farm 
than wells, either in their every-day convenience or value in estimating 
the price of a farm. In some localities it will pay to dig a well at the 
house, at the barn, in the stable-yard, and in almost every field. In com- 
pact earth, a well can be dug without curbing to support the earth sides 
during the excavation. 

"Where curbing is necessary, the best way to do it is to build the wall 
upon a wooden or iron ring, and let that down as the excavation proceeds, 
adding brick or stone at the toj:) as fast as may be necessary to keep the wall 
even with the surface. 

336. Uorizoiital Wells. — Here is a new idea for dwellers in mountainous, 
or even moderately hilly districts to think of. Mining after coal in Penn- 
sylvania, and gold in California, has clearly illustrated the fact, that wells 
may be dug into hillsides, or banks, or bluffs, as well level or horizontally, 
as down perpendicularly, which would save dangerous and severe labor. 
Water, so troublesome in digging common wells, has not to be bailed in the 
liorizontal, as it takes care of itself. The certainty of discovering or cutting 
off veins of water is greater with the horizontal well than the perpendicular, 
if it starts in near the base of a hill, or anywhere as much below the surface 
as a common shaft would be likely to be sunk. By laying down wooden rails, 
all the dirt can be brought out in a little railway car, and the stone or brick 
carried in to build the well as fast as the digging progresses. It will not 
be necessary to make a horizontal shaft any larger than a perpendicular 
one, though it should be of a different shape. "We would make it in the 
form of the figure we call a naught or cipher in numerals. Two feet wide 
and four feet high will be large enough, with a gentle descent for the water 
to run to the outlet ; and in many situations it can be made to run through 
a short pipe into the house ; or if it will not run, it can be drawn by a pump 
through a horizontal pipe any distance. 

There is another advantage in such a well. It would not be constantly 
liable to have things falling, or being thrown into it, and the water would 
remain purer. 

There are a great many pastures where water for stock has to be drawn 
from wells, which might liave a natural flow from hillsides, with an expend- 
iture of no more time and money than is required for a perpendicular well. 

There are some dairy farms that could have valuable spring-houses sup- 
plied by such a horizontal well, and such a supply of cold running water 
would add to the value of the farm almost as much, in some cases, as its 
whole value is now. 



Sli THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

Such wells have been constructed in Califoi'uia, and we earnestly com- 
mend them to the attention of all the farmers in the hilly portions of the 
Atlantic States. In rocky hills a horizontal shaft can bo drifted in much 
easier than it can bo bored perpendicularly ; and the work either in rock 
or earth digging can be much better done in winter in a horizontal than in 
a perpendicular well. We hope to see them extensively adopted. 

337. Wells oa IlillSi — AVe have seen a great many wells on the tops of hills 
affording a large sup}>ly of water, while the bottom M'as above the plain or 
valley in which the farmstead was situated. IIow easy to obtain this water 
by a siphon, or ^ pipe inserted on a level, which can be done M'ithout dig- 
ging a ditch the whole depth and distance. Ascertain where the level of 
the bottom of the well will strike on the face of the hill, and dig in there, 
and set up a frame to support an earth-boring auger, and drive a bore 
straight through to the well, which can bo easily done one or two hundred 
feet, if artesian wells can be bored one or two thousand feet perpendicular. 
AY^here the distance is too great, or the hill is rocky, put in a siphon pipe, 
with a little hand-pump to start it, and you can always have running water 
in your yard or garden at the foot of the hill. 

338. Causes of Impure Water iu Wells. — It sometimes occurs that the water 
of a well, noted for its purity and delicious drinking quality, becomes 
offensive to the taste and smell without any apparent cause. Sometimes it 
is occasioned by surface water from an impure source finding its way to the 
well, after many years of exemption ; and sometimes it comes from I'oots of 
trees growing into the water and decaying ; and sometimes worms work 
their waj' in and decay ; and occasionally rats, mice, or other pests burrow 
in the wall and injure the water. And not unfrequently a new vein of 
Mater finds its way into an old well and materially changes the character 
of the water. Generally a well is improved by cleaning, but we have 
known the contrary. In a well of our own, in the trap-rock district north 
of New York city, the quality of the water was materially injured by sub- 
stituting a pump in place of a bucket. The reason was obvious. The 
M'ater was seven or eight feet deep, and the bucket drew it from the surface 
and the pump from the bottom, and in the water drawn from the bottom 
we found a strong sulphur taste and smell. Cleaning it out did no good ; 
the water at the bottom was decidedly different from the top. Tlie only 
remedy, if we continued to use the pump, which was iron, and costly, and 
extremely convenient (it is one of Gay & "West's force-pumps — very valu- 
able for farm use), was to attach a gutta-percha pipe to the bottom of the 
iron pipe, and to a float, so that it would always draw the water from the 
surface, at whatever hight it might be in the well by the fluctuations of 
the seasons. 

Where wells are injured by surface water, resort should be had at once 
to the most thorough draining. Lay tile or stone drains five or six feet 
deep, so as to cut off all leaking into the well. If injured by trees — which, 
by-the-by, should never be set near a well — dig a deep trench so as to cut 



Sko. 17.J WATER FOB THE FARMERY. 315 

ofl" all the roots, and fill that trench with coarse gravel, or a stiff mass of 
claj, that will not be attractive to the roots. Hemove all that you can from 
the wall and earth near the well, and time will cure the water. Sometimes, 
to get rid of roots, insects, or other pests, it will pay cost to unwall the well 
and build it anew. Fill in charcoal, cinders, or other sweet Substances ; 
and sometimes it will be well to lay a portion of the tojj wall in cement 
mortar. 

It is recommended in all cases, wliere well-water becomes unpalatable, to 
agitate it freely, and very often. If drawn with a bucket, set a man at 
work pushing the bucket down deep and drawing it up full, and pouring it 
back again, so as to fall in the water till it is all thoroughly mixed and all 
the stones washed, and then when it settles clear again it will probably be 
found as good as ever. 

This plan of agitating the water may also be applied to cisterns to good 
advantage. 

Looking into a uvU, so as to see anything at the bottom, can be easily 
done any sunny day (the morning is the best time), by using a looking-glass 
so as to reflect the rays of light and throw them quite to the bottom of a 
deep well. "We have used this means to discover the position of a bucket 
that had broken loose and fallen to the bottom, and then with the steel- 
yards hung to a rope have been able to iiook on to the bucket and draw it 
up at once. "We once recovered a tin pail of butter in the same way. 

339. Self-Emptying Well-Bucket. — If the water is drawn from a Avell by a 
bucket and windlass, two ropes are better than one. Fasten by a staple to 
the center of the windlass and wind each wiiy toward the ends, so that the 
ropes will be widest aj^art when the bucket is up. Instead of a bail, attach 
a short chain or piece of iron rod to each ear of the bucket, and set the ears 
loAV down, so that the bucket will tip easily. Cut a hole in the bottom, four 
inches across, and cover it with a block coated with soft sole leather, like 
the valve of a pump-bucket, which will open to let in the water as the 
bucket descends, and close as soon as it starts upward. To empty the 
water easily, there are two ways — first, and best, by a flat iron hook about 
eight inches long, fastened to the well-spout in such a M-ay that it may 
catch the edge of the bucket as it is drawn up, and tip and empty. Tlie 
other way is to have a pin in the spout that Mnll strike the valve and open 
it when the bucket is placed upon the spout. Two buckets with two ropes 
will work much steadier and easier, and in the long run cost less than with 
one, and the valve to fill, and hook to empty the bucket, are great labor- 
saving fixtures. 

It is almost as important to keep water pure for stock as for family use; 
Pure water is a great luxury to the palate of a thirsty horse, and every man 
who is fortunate enough to be the owner of so noble an animal, should see 
tliat the wants of the same are properly provided for. 

Unfortunateh', very few persons realize the importance of supplying 
domestic animals with pure water ; yet they stand in need of it whenever 



316 THE FARilERY. [Chap. III. 

thirsty, and as a matter of profit to ourselves and liiunaiiity to them, we 
should see tliat their wants are well supplied. 

Pure water is very nutritious, and as a nutritious agent its value is im- 
paired when of inferior quality, or when mixed with indigestible foreign 
substances, such as are often found in watering-troughs located by the wav- 
t-ide. 

Some very interesting experiments have lately been made on horses 
belonijing to the French army, in view of testing their endurance as regards 
the deprivation of water, and it was found that some of them lived twenty- 
five days on water alone ; it is a singular fact that seventy-five per cent, of 
the weight of a horse's body is composed of fluid. 

Strange loatcr, as it is called, often has a bad effect on t!ie digestive organs 
when first used, and in order to guard against its consccpicnccs, English 
o-rooms always provide for the wants of their horses, when away from 
home at the race-course, by furnishing them with an abundant supply of 
pure water to which they have been accustomed, which is transported from 
place to place in hogsheads. 

340. The Hydraulic Ram. — To those who have no spring above the level 
of the house, but have one below, we press the subject of a water-ram — a 
simple, little, inexpensive machine that can be made to throw about one 
eighth or a tenth of the water that flows through it up a steep liill and along 
a pipe half a mile or more, discharging it in a cistern in the garret of a house 
or loft of the barn, whence it is drawn as it is wanted in any apartment, 
while the overflow or surplus of water will give you a constant little stream 
in the cattle water-trough. Hundreds of these rams are in use all over the 
country ; but there are thousands of places where they are not in use, where 
equal natural facilities exist. Our object here is only to call attention to the 
fact, that every farmer who has a spring in a valley where he can get three 
or four feet fall from it to work the ram, can get a portion of that water on 
top of a hill ; and in many places where no running springs naturally exist, 
sufficient Avater can be obtained by digging. We have seen a stream dis- 
charged at tlie outlet of an underdrain sufficient to drive a ram — water ob- 
tained without any expectation of obtaining it; because the object was to 
drain the land of its surplus water, and prevent it from oozing oat of the 
surface of the hillside. 

The house of the late John C. Stevens, at South Amboy, is 120 feet above 
the level of a spring, near the bay shore. At this spring he set a water-ram, 
with a two-incli drive-pipe, about sixty feet long, laid upon an inclination 
of five feet. About one eightli of the water which runs througli this pipe 
is sent, by the action of the ram— a little affair, about as big as a teakettle — 
up through a small lead pipe into the house, nearly half a mile distant. 
Perhaps the whole may have cost $100. "We know a good many places where 
$50 has secured a full and constant supply of water from the bottom of a 
hill almost impossible to climb, yet which had been climbed from the first 
settlement of the country till the little water-ram was set to work. "We know 



Seo. 17.] WATER FOR TUE FARMERY. 317 



a great many other places wliere it is worth a dollar a day to tot<! the water 
ujj tlie slippery rocks in buckets, where all that labor could be saved by an 
expenditure ot $50, and an annual expense for repairs of a sliilling a year. 
Yet those who own such places do not improve them, because they do not 
know they can. 

3il. Durability of Woodeu Pipes for Aqueducts.— Charles Stearns, of Spring- 
field, Mass., has proved by a somewhat lengthy experience that wooden 
pipes arc nearly indestructible, if laid deep — deejj enough to prevent atmos- 
pheric action upon the wood. His rule is six feet deep in sandy or porous 
earth ; four feet deep in compact, clayey earth, and three feet deep in 
swampy earth, where the peaty condition of the soil, which is antiseptic, pre- 
serves wood from decay. Thus laid, Mr. Stearns thinks wood will outlast iron 
or lead ; and the wooden pipes are cheaper than any material that can be 
used, where a bore of two to six inches is required. In one instance, an 
aqueduct laid by Mr. Stearns of threefourths-inch caliber lead pipe, cor- 
roded and failed in fifteen years, and had to be replaced. Another one, 
made witli very heavy lead pipe of two-inch caliber, laid through a wet 
meadow, in the very kind of soil that preserves wood the most perfectly, 
failed so as to need repairs within three or four years, and at the end of ten 
years had to be replaced with new pipe, which he then made of wood, and 
which, after twenty years of use, is still in good order. The aqueduct pipes 
supplying Springfield with spring water, that comes to the surface on the 
sandy plains above the town, have been in use fourteen years, and bid fair 
to last many years longer. The bore of the logs is fj'om one and a half to 
seven inches, charred on the inner surface by forcing flame through 
the bore, or by the insertion of a heated rod, to prevent the timber from 
giving any unpleasant taste to the water. Mr. Stearns thinks, from experi- 
ments made, that lead pipe will last enough longer to i^ay for the expense 
of burying it deep, or packing it closely in clay. lie also thinks that the 
interest upon the difference in cost between well-made and properly laid 
woodeu pipes and those of a more costly material, called indestructible, will 
keep the wooden pipes in repair forever. For the branch pipes leading into 
the houses, Mr. Stearns used lead jjipes in all the houses supplied from the 
Springfield Water-Works, and has never known any injury to occur to any 
one using the water ; and his own family have used water passed through 
lead pipe a long distance for many years, without BufTering any of the 
eflects frequently ascribed to such water ; nor has he ever heard of a case 
based upon any better testimony than '" they say so." The water that sup- 
plies Springfield comes from several springs, improved by digging, and we 
have no doubt that there are hundreds of other villages that micht be 
■watered in the same way, greatly to the comfort and health of the inhabit- 
ants. There is another advantage besides cheapness in wooden pipes. It is 
the ease with which they are tapped, wherever and whenever a branch is to 
be taken ofi", and they are also easily repaired. AYe hope that not only vil- 
lages, but farmers, wherever a spring exists above the level of the farmstead. 



318 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



will avail themselves of its benefits. Many farmers have chestnut or cedar, 
the best of timber, which they could have prepared at very small expense by 
their own hands, and get an aqueduct that would, in case of sale of the farm, 
pay ten times its cost ; and it would be worth still more to the owner, for it 
would aflTord him a constant enjoyment. 

There is a very curious manufactory of wooden aqueduct pipes at Elmira, 
N. Y. A large pine log is cut up into a series of pipes, from an iucli bore 
to ten or twelve inches, taking one out of the other, leaving the sides from 
one to two inches thick. These pipes are then banded with hoop-iron, drawn 
by a powerful machine through hot coal-tar, and being buried below the 
action of the atmosphere, are expected to last for au indefinite period. 



SECTIOX XVIII.-STACKIXG AND STORING GRAIN ; CORN-CRIBS, PIG- 
■ GERIES, AND PIG-FEEDING ; SMOKE-HOUSES, AND CURING BACON. 

jLTHOUGH, like most of our subjects, these are 
treated briefly, each is worthy of notice, and must 
have enough, if nothing more, to attract attention, 
so as to incite the reader to look further into the 
matter. 
One of the indispensable buildings of a farmery is a 
good storehouse for grain. Upon a small farm, a room 
in the barn can be set apart for the storage of small 
grain, but it is more liable to the depredations of rats 
and mice tlian in a building made purposely for a gran- 
ary. Every farmer who annually raises a hundred 
bushels of ears of Indian corn can not afford to do 
without a corn-cril), because corn can not be stored 
safely except in a room with very open sides. 

342. Corn-Cribs. — ^The best kind of a corn-crib is a 
building twenty feet wide, and of c-uch length as will give sufficient capacity 
—say thirty feet long— for a farm ^yhere ten to twenty acres of corn are 
usually grown. The sides should not be less than ten feet high, and boarded 
up and down with strips two inches wide, one inch apart. Six feet from the 
sides, partitions are made in the same way. This leaves a drive-way eight 
feet wide, so that you can drive in a M'agon-load of corn and throw it right 
and left over the beam into the crib. This drive-way should be made to close 
at both ends wi,th slat-gates, or lattice-work gates, so as to allow a free cir- 
culation of air. 

343. Rail-Pen Corn-Cribs.- Cribbing corn, after the Western fashion, in 
open rail-pens, is considered down East a very slovenly method. Yet it is 
one of the best ways in which it can be stored. It is true it wastes a little 




Sko. 18.] STACKING AND STORING GRAIN. 319 

liy shelling if it remains till spring, but not much if the pens are so located 
that the pigs and poultry can be let in to pick up the scattered grains. The 
way to make a rail-pen corn-crib is to take straight fence-rails, as near of a 
size as possible, and saw part of them into halves of equal length, so that 
you can lay up a pen half as wide as it is long, notching the corners so that 
the rails will come close enough together to prevent the ears falling out. 
If this can not be done with all of the cracks, they must be stopped by 
" chinking" from the inside, or by boards nailed over. It is usual to build 
the pen upon a floor of rails, which are sometimes laid on the ground, and 
sometimes raised upon logs, stones, or blocks. The pen should not be over 
eight feet high, and when full is covered with boards held on by a heavy 
rail or pole. In woodland regions the covering is usually made of " shakes" 
— split clap-boards, such as log-cabin roofs are generallj' made of. On the 
prairies, we have frequently seen straw used for a covering; and we have 
also seen many thousands of bushels of wheat, both in the chaff and after it is 
winnowed, stored in the same rude way, by simply calking the cracks with 
straw. 

Nor is it a very wasteful way of storing wheat, if the pen is built upon a 
hard-beaten spot, where all the grain can be swept up when the pen is 
emptied. 

We have also seen corn put up in rail-pens without any covering, and 
kept through the winter without damage, the ears being simply rounded up 
on top. "\Ve have often been told by those who have had a good deal of 
experience in storing corn in this way, that rain does not hurt it — all that 
does not run through dries out the first M-indy da3^ "Wheat in the chaff will 
not injure in a long rain-storm, when simply piled in a conical heap, if it 
does not wet at the bottom. 

Great boat-loads of Black Sea wheat are brought down long rivers, being 
many weeks on the passage, without any covering. The wheat is rounded 
up in the center, somewhat in the form of a roof, and the outside gets wet 
and grows into a mat, sometimes two inches thick, and that shelters the mass 
below. It does not strike us as an. economical method, but that depends 
upon circumstances, as it does in cribbing Indian-corn. It certainly never 
would pay to build expensive cribs to store some of the great crops of the 
West ; and it has been found good economy, for want of better storage, to 
let the corn remain where it grew until wanted for use. Even with smaller 
crops, it may not always be evidence of bad fiirming where M-e see the corn 
stand in shocks until wanted. It certainly keeps better there than it would 
in a badly ventilated store-room. 

Si^. Stathels for Stack Bottoms. — In England, it is not considered good 
economy to build barns enough to store all the grain, and it is therefore 
stacked out. In this country, if economy warranted the practice of storing 
. all under roofs, necessity would often forbid, and require our great crops of 
wheat to be put up in stacks. In England, upon well-conducted farms, 
where the practice of stacking prevails, the stathels for the stacks to rest 



320 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

upon are permanent structures. Some of tlieni are made with stone pillars 
and caps ; and some with a wooden frame on stone pillars ; and in some in- 
stances iron has been substituted for wood. The stack being elevated a foot 
or two, allows a circulation of air, and very much assists the curing of the 
grain. We recommend farmers, wherever they are in the regular practice 
of stacking hay and grain, to liavc a permanent stack yard, provided with 
stack bottoms, after the English fashion. Even for temporary stacking, 
building the stack upon the ground is a very wasteful practice. We have 
seen stacks upon the Western prairie built in a spot, dry at the time, become 
saturated with water, and half rotted two feet above the ground, before they 
were used up in winter. For a temporary stack bottom, there is nothing 
more convenient than fence-rails. We have built long wheat-ricks on the 
prairie in this way. We took fence-rails and laid them up as though build- 
ing a worm fence, pretty straight, in two lines aljout two feet apart at the 
bottom, and about four rails high, leaning inward so that the two lines of 
fence touch. Against this upon each side the sheaves were set with butts 
on the ground, leaning toward the center until a sufficient bottom for the 
rick was formed. This leaves an air-pipe through the bottom, and keeps all 
the heads from the ground, and although the water stood some inches deep 
in a wet time over the spongy soil, all the wheat came out bright and sound. 
The butts of the lower sheaves only were rotted. The fence sustained the 
greatest weight of the rick, besides giving it air. 

3i5. The Piggerj'i — No farmery is complete without a well-arranged pig- 
gery, which consists of a grain-room, a root cellar, a cooking-room, a feeding- 
room, a sleeping-room — all nnder cover. All this is requisite upon a farm 
where only two or three pigs are fatted annually. It is still more requisite 
where a dozen or more pigs are kept — where the leading object of the farmer 
is to convert coarse farm products into pork ; except where pigs are wholly 
fatted in cornfields, as at the West. Upon all other farms a well-arranged 
piggery is indispensable, and, as we have shown in Section 11, that cooking 
food for pigs is advantageous, the greater the conveniences for cooking, the 
more profitable will be the feeding. 

The best arranged piggery we ever saw for convenience and saving of la- 
bor was built upon the side of a Vermont hill, where potatoes were a lead- 
ing article in the manufacture of pork. The potatoes were stored in a cave 
cellar, from which they were shoveled upon a screen, over which they rolled 
to the large potash-kettle set in an arch some twenty or thirty feet distant. 
Generally the potatoes thus screened needed no washing ; if they did, jjro- 
vision was made for doing it by a 'copious stream of water let on as they 
traversed the screen. The water was let into the kettle from the source sup- 
plying the Avashing water. The floor where the kettle stood contained bins 
for meal, which were filled from the bags emptied into a spout on tht out- 
side. The cooked food was shoveled from the kettle into a hopper that 
conducted it into a cooling-trough on the floor below, which stood high 
enough to allow the swill to run through a long conductor to the feed- 



Sko. 18.] 



PIGS AND PIGGERIES. 



321 



troughs 



The objection to this last arrangement was, that the swill had to 
be made thin enough to flow freely. The arrangement, however, was a very 
perfect one, and worthy of imitation upon all similarly situated farms. 

346. Railway Cookiiig Arraiigduriit for Pigs. — We suggested the following 
arrangement, more than twenty years ago, for cooking food for pigs or any 
other stock, and we afterward iiad a model made and exhibited at the fair 
of the American Institute, which awarded it a silver medal. 

This is the plan : arrange a steam chamber of any given dimensions — say 
three feet by six feet, and three feet high — over a furnace kettle, or any- 
where that steam could be conveyed into it from a boiler. This chamber 
has a door at one end, made steam-tight, and rails in the bottom upon which 
a ear travels, and these rails should extend outside to the root-bin, or meal- 
tubs, or reservoirs of food to be cooked. The car being loaded, is rolled into 
tlie chamber, and door closed. "When the food is cooked, shut off steam and 
open an escape-valve, and then the door, and roll out the car over cooling 
vats, and open a trap in the bottom of the car, and let the contents drop. 
These cooling vats may be placed near enough to dip the swill into the feed- 
troughs, or it may be carried in another car along an alley, and thence dipped 
into the feed-troughs, or made to run into them through conductors. Such 
an arrangement would, Mithout doubt, save a great deal of hard labor, and 
it would not be very expensive. Whatever the arrangement of the piggerj', 
keep this fact constantly in view, that in some sections of the countrj^ the 
manure which you can make while fatting your pork, if your piggery is 
Avell arranged, will prove to be the most profitable part of the pork-making 
pi ocess. 

There is another necessary farm-building which we may as well speak of 
here, particularly as it is one that may, whenever tlie situation will admit, 
very properly be located in tlie immediate vicinity of the piggery, and it is 
equally valuable to the farmer as a mine of manurial wealth. It is — 

347. The Temple of Cloacina. — Every farm-house must have a temple set 
apart for this heathenish deity, but no farm-house should have such a neces- 
sary appendage a disgrace to civilization, as too many of them are. Such 
a building should be placed convenient to the house, but never in sight. 
It should be located in a clump of shrubbery, mostly evergreens, out of sight 
from the house, or else it should be made part and parcel of some of the out- 
buildings, so as never to be a prominent object. We have often seen these 
buildings so placed that they were the most conspicuous things about the 
place. A very little refinement in a farmer's family will make it revolt at ex- 
posing the part of a farmery that should be hidden from public gaze. A 
very little knowledge of the deoderizing efiect of fine, dry, swamp muck, or 
charcoal, or jjlaster, or copperas will serve to keep a place that must be 
visited every day, by every member of the family, so sweet that it never 
will be ofi"ensive ; and the valuable contents of the vault, which should be 
always shallow and easy to clean, will then become a source of profit, instead 
of a nuisance both disagreeable and disgraceful. 

21 



322 TEE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



348. Smoke-Houses— How to Build and how (o Use Thenii — "We lay it down 

as an axiom, that the best Biiioke-house ever built is a log cabin, with the 
cracks all open. In such a building yon can not confine the smoke so as 
to smother tlio meat and spoil it, as it easily can be and often is in a very 
tight room. It is not generally imderstood how much the excellence of 
bacon depends on the manner in whicli it may be smoked. Indeed, we look 
upon this part of the process as more important than a good receipt for 
pickling. A ham that is well pickled may be spoiled in smoking it, and 
then no skill in cookery will take away its dark color and strong, rancid 
taste. To make good hams, there must be a free circvilation of atmosphere, 
so that the smoke never shall become heated. A smoke never should be 
made in a damp, foggy, or rainy day. 

In building a smoke-house the farmer is more apt to regard external 
appearances than the object for whicli it is intended. It may be very strong 
and neat, but if it be built on wrong principles, it will never give satisfac- 
tion, and the good wife will be always wondering how it is that her bacoa 
is not equal to that which she eats away from home. N^ow, there is no 
bacon in this country superior to that produced in Maryland, where the 
smoke-houses are certainly *rather primitive in their construction. They 
are usually made of logs, i-udely plastered with clay on the outside, and 
thatched with straw. The hams are hung upon hooks driven into the 
rafters. The fire of chips — covered with saw-dust in order to prevent a 
blaze — is in the middle of the floor — ground floor, generally ; and the smoke, 
after having done its duty, escapes tlirougli the innumerable cracks and 
openings in the wall and thatch. Such a building is not very ornamental, 
but it is much more cflicicnt than those we frequently see constructed of 
brick or stone, with tight roof, a close-fitting door, and but one small aper- 
ture for the escape of the smoke. The great secret in the art of smoking 
hams is to dry them in smoke, but not by heat. "When they are kept close 
to the fire, they invariably acquire a disagreeable flavor, and often become 
soft and greasy. The smoke should not be allowed to reach them nntil 
nearly or quite cool, and to effect this some farmers have the fire oxitslde of 
the building, perhaps twenty or thirty feet distant, and conduct the smoke 
to the interior through a narrow covered trench. By its passage through 
the trench, it is cooled and purified, and there is no danger of its giving an 
unpleasant taste to the meat. A still better plan is practiced by the people 
of "Westphalia, which, as all the world knows, is celebrated for its bacon. 
The smoking is performed in extensive chambers, in tlie uppermost stories 
of high buildings. Some are four or five stories above the ground, and tlie 
smoke is conveyed to them by tubes from pipes in the cellars. The vapor 
is condensed, and the heat absorbed by the tubes, so that the smoke is both 
dry and cool when it comes in contact with the meat. Many of the farm- 
houses in Pennsylvania have a somewhat similar arrangement. A room is 
partitioned oflF in the garret, next to the kitclien chimney, and the hams are 
hung from the rafters overhead. Near the floor is a small opening in the 



Sec. 18.] SMOKE-HOUSE AND FRUIT-DRYING HOUSE. 323 



cliimney, by which the smoke enters the apartment ; and instead of return- 
ing to the flue, it finds its way into tlie open air tlirough tlie innunicrablo 
crevices in the roof. The meat is tlius kept perfectly dry, and it will bo 
found to have a color and flavor unknown in that treated in the common 
method. 

A smoke-house can hardly be too open ; where the walls and roof are 
tight, or nearly so, the smoke condenses on the bacon, rendering it flabby 
and ill-colored. To be sure, when there is good ventilation it takes much 
longer to complete the process, but this delay we believe to be rather bene- 
ficial than otherwise. Some people have the fault of always being in a 
hurry, and their bacon is never well smoked. It should be cured gradually 
and slowly, and this is another reason why the Germans are so successful in 
the business. In Virginia, two months is not considered a long time for the 
operation. 

Green sugar-maple chips are the best for the fire, and after maple are 
ranked hickory, sweet birch, and white ash or beech. Some think well- 
dried corn-cobs superior to everything else; and they certainly furnish a 
sweet, penetrating smoke. Saw-dust from hard wood is also excellent for 
the purpose, but rotten wood should never be used ; and it is said that locust 
bark will actually spoil the flavor of hams ; and we doubt not that there are 
many other substances which will produce the same result. 

Some persons are always very particular about hanging their hams with 
the leg end down. They should never be allowed to touch each other, nor 
touch any flat substance. In hanging large numbers of hams in a crowded 
room, we have often kept them apart by a small piece of a corn-cob. 

No farmery is complete without a smoke-house, and where the amount of 
meat to be annually smoked is insufBcient to make it an object to erect a 
building specially for that purpose, it will be found very easy to set apart a 
small room in some of the outbuildings, and convey the smoke to it through 
a long flue. As the building mentioned in No. 349 never will be wanted for 
the purpose for which it was constructed, when bacon should be smoked, it 
could, perhaps, be made so as to answer both purposes. 

349. A Fruit-Drj lag Douse. — In some sections remote from cities, and upon 
some farms, fruit-drying is quite an object, and is relied upon by the female 
portion of the family as a means of replenishing their wardrobe, independent 
of the general products of the farm. Upon fruit farms it is also made a 
considerable item of the regular business. All such farms should have a 
fruit-drying house, built upon scientific principles, to accomplish the object 
in the most expeditious manner, at the lea^t expense. The true principle of 
drying fruit would be to place it on open-work hurdles, in the flue of a 
heated air furnace, so that there would be a continual draft of hot air pass- 
ing through the fruit, carrying off the moisture into the upper air. The best 
one we ever saw,heated the air in the basement of a three-story building. In 
the third story, one side of the large brick flue was arranged like the drawers 
of a bureau, the bottom of the drawers being basket-work. In these, each of 



324 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



•which held about a bushel of apples or peaches' cut in quarters, the fruit 
dried with wonderful rapidity. It needed no other attention than changing 
the drawers once from top to bottom, to equalize the drying, so as to finisli 
all at once. Other things besides fruit were dried in this flue, such as sweet 
corn, okra, pease, tomatoes, etc. 

The following, taken from the Yalley Farmer, is the description of a dry- 
ing-house in use in "Wisconsin : 

" It consists of a building of logs, brick, or stone, of any convenient size, 
say ten feet wide \ij twelve or fourteen long, and one story high, having an 
ordinary roof, with a ventilator to admit of the escape of the heat and vapor 
arising from the fruit. 

"The furnace should open on the outside of the building, at the end. It 
should be about two feet square. The sides should be of brick, and as thin 
as may be to sustain the top. The flue should be extended to near the entire 
length of the building, and then return, forming a p)arallel flue, wliich may 
be reduced to two thirds the size of the furnace or main flue, terminating in 
a chimney near the door of the furnace. The top of the furnace and flue 
should be covered with plates of thin boiler iron ; thicker iron, or a covering 
of brick or stone, will not admit of a sufiicient escape of heat to facilitate 
the drying process. The fruit is dried on trays or hurdles, arranged in three 
tiers, one above another, with a space of twelve or fifteen inches between 
them. The hurdles may be two and a half feet wide, si.x or seven feet long, 
and three inches deep. These are made of common boards, with a lath bot- 
tom, made thin ; the laths should l)e made of hickory, as the fruit is found 
to dry much more readily on hard wood lath than it docs on poplar or other 
soft wood. Through the length of the building frames are put iip to support 
the hui-dles of fruit. These frames or rails extend through openings made 
in the end of the building opposite the furnace, and corresponding with each 
pair of rails are wooden shutters. The rails extend on the outside about six 
feet ; upon these the hurdles are placed crosswise ; upon each of the hurdles 
are rollers corresponding with the rails ; being filled with the fruit to be dried, 
the hurdles are run in like cars upon a railroad. Thus arranged, with the 
three tiers of rails filled with trays of fruit, about one and a half barrels can 
be dried at once, requiring about twenty-four hours to complete the opera- 
tion. The trays nearest the fire will, of course, dry the fastest, and, with the 
convenience of the railroad and the shutters in the end of the building, they 
may be drawn out and changed to the upper rails, when the whole may be 
finished within the twenty-four hours in the most perfect and uniform man- 
ner, and without the least burnii\g. The fire should be made without grates, 
on the bottom of the furnace, which consumes less fuel, and keeps up a more 
uniform heat than if placed above the draft. 

" In some instances we have seen pieces of old steam-boilers substituted 
in the place of brick walls for a furnace ; to the boiler is connected and re- 
turned a pipe of somewhat smaller dimensions, a sheet-iron pipe, which ad- 
mits of the free escape of heat and speedy drying of the fruit. 



Sec. 19.] 



ECONOMY IN BUILDING.— BALLOON FRAMES. 



325 



"The ordinary method of drying peaches and apples in Kentucky and 
Tennessee is to construct a kiln of stone, with a broad fiat top, u]ioii wliich the 
fruit is hiid, and a fire kept up in the flue beneath till the fruit is sufiicicntly 
dried. This is more expeditious than drj-ing in the sun, and the fruit is not 
so liable to bo soiled by flies, yet it is objectionable on account of liability 
io bum the fruit in contact with the over-heated stone." 




SECTION xix.-ecoxo:mical farm buildings, balloon frames, 

CONCRETE WALLS, AND OTHER CHEAP STYLES OF BUILDING. 

?E are satisfied that wo can do those who desire to 
build no greater favor than making them acquainted 
with the modern style of building, known ai "bal- 
loon frames" — a name that was at first confeired 
upon them in ridicule on account of their lightness 
and unsubstantiabilify. This name is only true as 
it applied Io their lightness. Balloon frames are not 
ridiculous from any lack of sufliciont strength. There 
is need of no stronger building than one made upon 
this plan, except where it is necessary to have strength 
of timber to sustain weighty storage or ponderous 
machineiy. For all ordinary farm buildings, we 
earnestly recommend balloon frames. And we are 
Sjl not alone in our recommendations, though, so far as 

we know, we were the first in i-ec'ommending them to farmers in the Eastern 
States. Of late, Geo. E. "Woodward, an architect and builder of New York 
city, lias written some exceedingly valuable articles upon this subject, and 
published them in the Country Gentle mrjn, with ilhistrations, and to him or 
them we respectfully refer readers, who may be incited from what we say 
here, to make further inquiries. 

Among the sensible things said by Mr. Woodward, are the following : 
"Economy in the construction of all buildings adapted to the habitation 
or convenience of man has lieen a study of much interest to those who con- 
template the erection of liuildings for their own use or for the purposes of a 
profitable investment; though we are inclined to think experimental or in. 
ventive talent has applied itself more to produce some new and cheap build- 
ing material than to develop the full resources of such materials as are found 
best adapted to our wants. 

" Necessity has done much for the building public by introducing 
to their f^ivorable notice the balloon style of framing wooden buildings — 
a style which is not well understood in the old settled and well-timbered 
portions of our country, but is, with few exceptions, the only plan adopted 



826 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



throughout the magnificent agricultural districts west of our great inland 
seas. 

"The increasing value of lumber and labor must turn tlio attention of men 
of moderate means to those successful plans which have demonstrated econ- 
omy in both, and at the same time preserved the full qualities of strength 
and security so general!}^ accorded to the old fogy principles of framing, but 
which, we presume to say, is inferior in all the true requisites of cheap and 
substantial building. 

" Any intelligent man wlio can lay out a right, angle and adjust a plumb 
line may do his own building, for it is witliout a mortice, a tenon, or brace, 
and a man and boy can do all the work. This principle is the one applied to 
the construction of what are technically as well as sarcastically termed bal- 
loon frames, which, instead of proving a failure, stands with more than 
30,000 examples of every conceivable si&e and form, a perfect success." 

350. Uow to build Balloon Frames. — The following remarks upon the sub- 
ject we printed some years ago, not only to show that much labor and much 
timter may be saved, but that sawed timber may be dispensed with where 
it is very expensive. We know that this article enabled many persons to 
build cheap frames, and as it once did good, we reprint it that it may do 
much more good in future. Tlae remarks were an answer to the inquiry how 
to build balloon houses. 

"I would saw all my timber for a frame house, or ordinary frame out- 
building, of the following dimensions : two inches by eight,. two by four, two 
by one. I have sometimes built them, wlien I lived on the grand prairie 
of Indiana, many miles from saw-millsj nearly all of split and hewed stuff, 
making use of rails or round poles, reduced to straight lines and even thick- 
ness on two sides, for studs and rafters. But sawed stuff is easiest wrought,* 
though in a timber country the other is far the cheapest. First, level your 
foundation, and lay down two of the two-l)y-cight pieces, flatwise, for side- 
sills. Upon these set the floor-sleepers on edge, 32 inches apart. Fasten 
one at each end, and, peiliaps, one or two in the middle, if the building is 
large, with a wooden pin. These end-sleepers are the end sills. Now lay 
the floor, unless you design to have one that wouUl be likely to be injured 
by the weather before you get the roof on. It is a great saving, though, of 
labor to begin at the bottom of a house and build up. In layiitg the floor 
first, you have no studs to cut and fit around, and can let your boards run 
out over the end?, just as it happens, and afterward saw them off smooth by 
the sill. Now set up a corner post, which is nothing but one of the two-by- 
four studs, fastening the bottom by four nails ; make it plumi), and stay it 
each way. Set another at the other corner, and then mark off your door 
and window places, and set up the side-studs and put in the frames. Fill 
up with studs between,\l6 inches apart, supporting the top by a line or 
strip of board from corner to corner, or staid studs between. Now cover 
that side with rough sheeting-boards, unless you intend to side up with clap- 
boards on the studs, which I never would do, except for a small, common 



Sko. 19.] now TO BUILD BALLOON FRAMES. 327 



building. Make no calculiitioii about the top of ^-our studs ; wait till you 
get to that liight. You may use them of any length, with broken or stub- 
shot ends, no matter. When you have tliis side boarded as high as you can 
rciich, proceed to set up another. In the mean time, other workmen can 
lie lathing the first side. When you have got the sides all up, fix upon thehight 
of your upper floor, and strike a line upon the studs for the under side of the 
joist, and cut a gain four inches wide, hal^-inch deep, and nail on firmly 
one of the inch strips. Upon these strips rest the chamber-floor joist. Cut 
a notch in the joist one ineli deep in the lower edge, and lock it on the strip, 
and nail each joist to each stud. Now lay this floor and go on to build the 
upper story as you did the lower one, splicing on and lengthening out studs 
wherever needed, until jon get high enough for the plate. Splice studs or 
joist by simply butting the ends together, and nailing strips on each side. 
Strike a line and saw ofl* the top of the studs even upon each side of the 
building — not the ends— and nail on one of the inch strips. That is the 
plate. Cut the ends of the upper joist the bevel of the pitch of the roof, and 
nail them fast to the plate, placing the end ones inside the studs, which you 
will let run up promiscuously, to be cut off alongside of the rafter. Now 
lay the garret floor by all means before you put on the roof, and you will 
find that you have saved 50 per cent, of hard labor. The rafters, if sup- 
ported so as not to be over ten feet long, will Imj strong enough of the two- 
by-four stufi:'. Bevel the ends and nail fast to the joist. Then there is no 
strain npon the sides by the weight of the roof, which may be covered with 
shingles or other materials, the cheapest being composition or cement roofs. 
To make one of this kind, take soft, spongy, thick paper, and tack it upon 
the boards in courses like shingles. Commence at the top with hot tar and 
saturate the paper, upon which sift fine gravel evenly, pressing it in while 
hot — that is, while tar and gravel are both hot. One coat will make a tight 
roof; two coats will make it more durable. Put up your partitions of stuff 
one by four, unless where you want to support the upper joist ; then use 
stufi' two by four, with strips nailed on top for the joist to rest upon, fasten- 
ing altogether by nails wherever timbers touch. Thus you will have a frame 
w-ithout a tgnon, or mortice, or brace, and yet it is far cheaper and incalcu- 
lably stronger when finished than though it was composed of timbei'S ten 
inches square, with a thousand auger-holes and a hundred days' work with 
the chisel and adze, making holes and pins to fill them. To lay out and 
frame a building so that all its parts will come together, requires the skill 
of a master mechanic, and a host of men, and a deal of hard work to lift 
the great sticks of timber into position. To erect a balloon building requires 
about as much mechanical skill as it does to build a board fence. Any 
farmer who is handy with the saw, iron square, and hammer, with one of his 
boys or a common laborer to assist him, can go to work and put up a frame 
for an outbuilding, and finish it off with his own labor just as well as to 
hire a carpenter to score and -hew great oak sticks and fill them full of 
mortices, all by the science of the ' square rule.' It is a waste of labor that 



328 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

we should all lend our aid to put a stop to. Besides, it will enable many a 
farmer to improve bis place witb new buildings, who, though he has long 
needed them, has shuddered at the thought of cutting down half of the l)est 
trees in his wood-lot, and then giving half a year's work to hauling it home 
and paying for what I do know is the wholly useless labor of framing. If 
it had not been for the knowledge of balloon frames, Chicago and San 
Francisco could never have arisftn, as they did, from little villages to great 
cities in a single year. It is not alone city buildings, which are supported 
by one another, that may be thus erected, but those upon the open prairie, 
where the wind has a sweep from Mackinaw to the Mississippi — for there 
they are built — and stand as firm as any of the old frames of New England, 
with posts and beams sixteen inches square." 

To this we add something more from Mr. W^oodward. He says : 

" We hear and read very much about the policy of cutting mortices, 
tenons, gains, etc., in the various pieces which go to make up the balloon 
frame. Now it is our opinion, based upon a long and thoroughly practical 
experience, that he wlio does much of this will have some misspent time 
to account for hereafter, besides weakening his building and hastening the 
decay of the frame. A gain must be cut in the studding for the side girt, 
unless the dwelling be lined. Gains are sometimes cut in floor joists for 
i the purpose of locking them over partitions that run through the bight 
of the building. Rafters projecting over the sides should be notched, to 
give them a foothold on the plate. These causes would, as a general thing, 
constitute all the cutting necessary. 

"In building houses one-and-a-half-story high, never cut a gain for the side 
girt on which to rest the upper-story floor joists, unless the thrust of the roof 
be well guarded against by secure collar beams. We prefer, when we cut 
this gain, to use studding one inch wider for the sides. Where the building 
is lined, the side girt rests on top of the lining, and no cutting is necessary. 

" Unplastered buildings, of a moderate size, are sufficiently strong if the 
girt be nailed directly to the studding without cutting the gain or recess. 

" We have recommended, in the construction of a barn 2i by 40, alternate 
studs on the sides, 2 by 4 and 2 by 5, the side girt to be nailed tcMie narrow 
stud and let one inch into the wide stud. This would not answer for a 
plastered building, as the surface is not flush for lathing. 

"Two full story buildings are abundantly strong with 2 by 4 studding and 
gains cut into them for side girt; tlie third floor ties the tojj of the studding, 
so there is no yield. The joists of the third floor should be placed iipon the 
plate, the ends beveled to the same pitch of the rafters, and each joist nailed 
at both ends to each rafter. 

" We prefer to build the second story full for a dwelling-house, as we get 
more strength, more convenient room, and the real difl'erence in expense is 
practically nothing. Where the studding is more than five feet high above 
the second floor of a barn, two or three tie-strips across the foot of the 
rafters will make all snug. There should be tie or collar beams on all rafters. 



Sec. 19.] COST OF A BALLOON-FRAME HOUSE. 329 



"In story-and-a-half buildings, it is very desirable tliat collars be put on 
securely, so as to prevent any thrust of tiio rafters; where the side girt is 
not gained in, as in small unplastered buildings, the collars may be nailed 
or spiked to the rafter. If the side girt is set into the studding, as it should 
be iu a plastered building not lined inside, it makes a weak point in the 
studding, reducing them from 2 by 4 to 2 by 3, and the collars should be 
put on in such a manner as to guard against any thrust whatever. The size 
of the building and the judgment of its constructor will indicate the best 
course to pursue. Buildings of one, two, or more full stories have no collars ; 
the joists of the upper floor tie the top of the building, and take the thrust 
of the rafters. In the usual mode of inside lining, one side laps the stud. 
The ends of the lining of the adjoining side are nailed to a strip fastened to 
the stud to receive them. 

" We have built balloon frames with green oak studding, basswood siding, 
and butternut trimmings, that have never yielded. There is a system of 
compensation among the light sticks of a balloon frame by which the sea- 
soning process goes on without injury to it. We have seen warped surfaces 
produced by using green oak siding and by careless building, but there is 
no good reason why a balloon-frame building should not be always square 
and plumb, and the outside boarding remain secure. 

" The subject of tapering rafters has been pretty thoroughly discussed here- 
tofore. The same amount of strength can be had with a less amount of 
lumber. There is an additional labor in sawing such rafters, as well as a 
different calculation to be made in using up a log ^o the best advantage. It 
is necessary always to order this special bill of rafters direct from the mill, 
and the result will be that the extra cost will, nine times out of ten, over- 
balance the amount saved." 

351. The Cost of the Author's Dalloon House and Barn. — Tliere is not only 
a saving in first cost of lumber, but a very lai-go item will be saved in the 
bill of carriage, particularly where it has to be hauled a long distance on a 
wagon.* The saving in the carpenter's bill is very large, because so much 
of the work may be done by persons less skillful than a well-bred caiijenter. 
And then there is a total saving of all that troublesome, dangerous, hard 
work attendant upoa^an old-fashioned "raising." 

We have lately built (that is, we were our own architect) a house and barn, 
a few miles out of the city of New York, upon the plan we are advocating, 
and therefore can speak from actual experience of the benefits of the plan 
in an old as well as in a new country. The house, or rather the addition to 
an old one, is 18 by 24: feet, with an attachment eight feet square upon one 
side, and a piazza six feet wide on the other. It is one story of lOi feet, and 
has nine windows and seven do(^-s. Both floors are deadened by a course 
of boards and heavy coat of clay morter. The siding is nailed upon studs 
2 by -i inches, and there are two courses of lath and plastering — one half 
way between the siding and inside lath. Tlie roof projects, and is orna- 
mented, and the garret is lathed and plastered, and the lower part divided 



330 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

into four rooms, and all is of good materials and workmanship, at a total 
cost, except painting and papering, of $450. Tiie sills and sleepers are pine, 
3 by 7, and the joist 3 by ti, spruce, and all would have been just as good, 
if 2>i"ocurable, 2 by 6 inches ; and there is not an ujiright stick larger than 
2 by 4 of hemlock. This house, notwithstanding its cheapness, is strong, 
durable, warm, and good-looking. What more could we have of a ponder- 
ous, expensive frame ? 

Our horse barn is 22 by 24 feet, and 13 feet high, and has but one upright 
stick in it larger than 2 by 4 inches. As the hay-loft is a high half story, it 
was thought best to have a center-post, which is 3 by 7, to support the ridge 
pole in the middle. The studs are covered with smooth pine siding, and the 
• lower story is lined with rough boards, and the building is as strong as we 
desire, and cost, completely finished, with good floors, stalls, mangers, doors, 
and windows, $300. The carpenter's work was only $50. 

"We have dwelt more fully upon this subject of balloon frames than uj^on 
many others, because we look upon it as one of very great imjiortance. It 
is one that, if fully understood, would induce and enable farmers to have 
better dwellings and other farm buildings. 

352. Concrete WallSi — The best advice that we can give one who asks for 
information about making concrete walls, or how to build houses of gravel, 
or broken stones and lime and sand, is that he buy a little book called a 
" Home for All," published by Fowler & Wells, whicli gives all the details 
of this mode of building. Mr. Fowler directs mixing a large mortar-bed 
of lime and sand together, with twice as much sand as slacked lime, made 
quite thin, and well worked. Into this mixture of lime and sand and water 
the gi-avel or broken stone is put and evenly mixed, and then shoveled out 
into a barrow or hoisting tub, and from that dumped into a smaller mortar- 
bed on the scaffold, where it gets another good mixing, and wetting if 
needed, and is then shoveled into the box that forms the mold to give shape 
to the l^falls. In thli mold it hardens in one day so that the mold can be 
removed, but it takes a longer time to dry hard enough to put on tlte next 
course. Such walls, if well made, are almost as solid as hewn stone, and 
much cheaper where lime is not costly, and where sand and gravel or broken 
stone can be had for haulinir. 

The proportion of materials given in the book referred to for a concrete 
wall are eight wheelbarrows full of lime, mixed with sixteen barrows of sand 
into a thin mortar, to which add sixty or eighty barrows of pebbles or rubble- 
stone. The lime may be of the coarsest kind, and not over one bushel of 
stone lime to thirty bushels of sand and stones. A wall three stories high 
is recommended — twelve inches thick for the first, ten inches for the second, 
and eight inches for the third. To protect the outside plastering, the roof 
should be a projecting one. 

We do not know how far this plan of building can be recommended upon 
the score of economy. We think that will depend very much upon circum- 
stances. If broken stone or pebbles are very convenient to the building site, 



Seo. 19.] CONCRETE WALLS. 331 

and lime to be had for tlie burning on the phice, or at a small cost, the 
building will bo a cheap one, and not otherwise. Horace Greeley built a 
large barn of concrete npo:i his farm in Westchester County, of such stones 
as are spread over tiie surlUce of these granitic hills. Although it is a very 
substantial building, our opinion is that we could build a good frame, and 
put tlic surplus money into other improvements, to a better profit. 

353. Building wi(h Billets of Wood.— A new style of building has been 
adopted in several places at the West, where brick and stones are inconve- 
nient, and sawed lumber and carpenter's work are expensive. Tlie plan is to 
saw billets of wood of an even length, say one foot long, from limbs of trees ; 
or split stuff; slabs, we suppose, would answer a good purpose, if split up into 
fire-wood size. These billets must be straight enough to pile up well. The 
wall is made by laying them in lime mortar, and, we believe, in some cases, 
in good clay mortar, where lime and sand are scarce, and then plastering 
tliQ. wall outside and in. The great objection seems to be that the outside 
plastering cleaves off, as it does from all plastered buildings exposed to rain, 
frost, and heat. A friend writes us inquiring whether there is any composi- 
tion for outside plaster that will stand the weather. We answer, none that 
can be wliolly depended upon. A mortar made of hydraulic cement 
(water lime), of good quality, mixed with clean, coarse, sharp sand — two 
parts of sand to one of cenient — would stand until some crack occurred, and 
water and frost get in behind. Perliaps the mortar described in No. 359 
will answer the purpose. But as it is cheaper, and perhaps equally good, 
we would recommend an ordinary coat of plaster, and then take cement and 
any cheap oil, and mix a pretty thick paint, and put on thoroughly two or 
three coats. Another good paint may be made as follows : Take four pounds 
of rosin and one pint of linseed oil, and boil together, adding about an 
ounce of red lead, and put it on hot, and afterward paint any color you like. 
If a crack ever occurs, stop it at once with the rosin and oil mixture. We 
have no doubt that these billets-of-wood houses can be built in many places 
cheaper than any other, and that they can be made neat, comfortable, and 
durable. 



332 



THE FARMEP.Y. 



[Chap. III. 




SECTION XX.-ROOFS AND ROOFING-PAINTS AND WHITEWASH FOR 
FARM BUILDINGS-NAILS AND 3I0RTAR-FARM GATES. 

'[HATEVER tlie style of building adopted for anv 
of the farmei-y structures, a good roof never should 
be lost sight of, for upon that, much of the farm 
economy depends. A leaky roof on a dwelling de- 
stroys comfort and property, and is the source of 
many unpleasant days and nights to the family, and 
sometimes productive of sickness, as well as injury 
to furniture. A leaky roof upon a barn will destroy 
every year a greater value of hay and grain than it 
■would cost to make it tight. It is for this that we give 
special attention to this part of the farm buildings. 
A7e also give some valuable hints upon painting and 
whitewashing, because both beauty and economy 
may be thus promoted. 
35-1. SaWfd SliingleSi — Of all the inventions ever contrived, that of sawed 
shingles has proved to be one of the least value to the country. The only 
profit is to the patentee and manufacturer. To every one who has used 
them, sawed shingles have proved a loss, no matter what the saving has 
been in first cost, unless the shingles, previous to laying on the roof, were 
prepared so as to prevent their saturation with water every time the rain fell 
upon them. It is this repeated saturation of sawed shingles that rots them, 
and gives us leaky roofs in one fourth the time that split shingles remain 
sound. It is true that good shingle timber is becoming scarce, and more 
and more so every year, and that farmers must have something as a sub- 
stitute. What that something is we know not, but are quite sure, where 
economy is studied, that it will not be sawed shingles. If they must bo 
used, let the roof have a very steep pitch. On a flat roof we have'«known 
them rot entirely through in five years. Another roof, ten years old, both 
shingles and roof-boards, when taken off, crumbled into a mass of rotten 
wood, that scarcely bore any resemblance to boards and shingles. 

"A retired mechanic" writes us that he followed building eighteen years, 
and prefers sawed shingles if they are planed on the upper side, and says 
that a smart hand can plane from two to three thousand a day. We think 
a machine might be constructed to plane one side of sawed shingles without 
adding much to the cost. Without planing or dipping in boiling oil or tar, 
we do not believe sawed shingles should ever be used by any one who wants 
a good roof, or who cares for economy. The writer of a letter now before 
us speaks in very severe terms of the manufacturers of sawed shingles. He 
Bays they are often made of small cross-grained, sapling spruce, and that 



Seo. 20.] ROOFS AND EOOFING. 333 

the bark of the tree will last about as long as such shingles on a roof. The 
carelessness of persons employed to lay shingles is notorious, and a cross- 
grained shingle is just as apt to be laid wrong side up as right. Tlien the 
surface wears rough, and water soaks into the wood and ro'ts it througli so 
as to leak in a few months. This writer thinks the fiiult of sawed shingles 
is much more in tlie timber than in the manufacture ; that is, that sawed 
shingles from good, sound, straight-grained timber will last as long as 
split ones. 

Another letter writer suggests that sawed shingles should never be laid 
upon a boarded roof, but upon narrow laths, one to each course. He says : 

" I know of a building where the shingles were j)ut on boards and the 
boards put close together, which have been on but a few years and are very 
leaky ; the shingles and boards have rotted through in places, while other 
parts are sound and good. I think the reason is, the shingles lie so close to 
the boards that when they get wet they never dry through ; while if laid "upon 
laths, sawed shingles will last as long as split ones from the same timber." 

Another writer, speaking of the absolute necessity of using something as 
a substitute for split shingles on account of the scarcity of timber, wants to 
know why we can not have tile manufactured that will be a better substi- 
tute for shingles than anything else that we have, both for economy and 
certainty of having a good roof. 

A correspondent speaks of shingles cut by a machine pate:ited by J. L. 
Brown, of Indianapolis, Ind., at the rate of 50,000 a day, that are altogether 
superior to sawed shingles, even should the latter be planed. This may be 
so, but we have no faith in the economy of using shingles made by any kind 
of machinery that cuts wood across the grain. ]^o shingles thus made will 
•be as durable as split ones, unless saturated with oils or resins, or kyanized, 
and then they would be as expensive as those made by riving and shaving, 
or perhaps as much so in the long run as slate or tin. Depend upon it, using 
poor shingles upon farm buildings is very poor economy. 

355. Preserving Shingles on RoofSi — " Some paint roof shingles after they 
are laid. This makes them rot sooner than they otherwise would. Some 
paint the courses as they are laid ; this is a great preservative if each shingle 
is painted its full length, and not by courses." 

Mr. Ed. Emerson, of HoUis, Mass., thus gives, in the New England 
Farmer, some hints that are worthy of preservation upon shingling roofs. 
He says : 

" Twenty-three years ago I had quite a lot of refuse shingles on hand, both 
t sappy and shaky, and I laid them on the back kitchen and wood-shed. I 
have just examined them, and think they will last at least seven years longer. 
The building has not leaked, to my knowledge. I soaked these shingles in 
a very thin whitewash, made with brine instead of clear water. There has 
been nothing done to them since, although I have no doubt that to have 
whitewashed or served a coat of dry-slaked lime or fine salt once in two or 
three years on them, would have been of great advantage to them. 



334 THE FARMEPwY. [Chap. III. 

" As I shingle differently from almost every one else, I will give you my 
method, and my reasons for it. However wide the shingles may be, I do 
not allow the nails to be put more than two inches apart. Ecason — If your 
shingles are wet or green, and the wide ones are nailed at the edges, the 
shingles must split or one of the nails must draw when the shjngle shrinks. 
If the shingle is dry, it must huff or crowd the nail out when it swells. 
Thus your nails arc kept in constant motion by every shrink or swell of the 
shingle till they arc broken, pulled out, or the shingle is split. I do not 
want the nails driven quite in, or so as to sink the head. Hcason — The 
heads of the nails hold up the butts of the next row of shingles, and give 
the air a fi'ce circulatitju. 

" I lay all my shingles in whitewash. I prefer brine for making it. I 
line with red chalk. I then whitewash the last course laid down to the 
line, and after the building is shingled I whitewash the whole of the roof. 
Reason — To make the shingles last twice as long as they would without the 
whitewash, and I consider it much better than just whitewashing the roof 
after shingling." 

" Whitewashed shingles are never mossy. If slaked lime is sprinkled upon 
wet roofs, it will prevent moss from growing, and if tiie shingles are cov- 
ered ever so thick with moss, putting the lime on twice will take all the 
moss ofi' and leave the roof white and clean, and it will look almost as well 
as if it had been painted. It ought to be done once a year, and, in my opin- 
ion, the shingles M'ill last almost twice as long as they will to let the roof all 
grow over to moss." One who has tried this plan says : 

" I tried it on the back i:»art of my house ten years ago, when the shingles 
were all covered over with moss, and appeared to be nearly rotten. I then 
gave the roof a heavy coat of lime, and have followed it nearly every year 
since, and the roof is better now than at first." 

35G. Roofs— Iheir Form— Shingled and f omposition.— It is a serious defect in 
our roof architecture that the roofs of most buildings are so flat that the rain 
. finds its way under the shingles. Sliarp roofs keep out rain and last longer, 
and although the first cost is a trifle greater, they are cheaper in the end. 
We know of no composition w'c can recommend to cure leaky shingled 
roofs, though several are advertised as sure cures. We are afraid they are 
like the Indian's gun — "cost more than he worth." There is a patent 
asphalt roofing felt that can be easily put on by any person. It weighs only 
about forty-two pounds to the square one hundred feet. It must be stretched 
tight and smooth, overlapj^ing full one inch at the joinings, and closely 
nailed through the overlap. It should then receive a coating of coal-tar and^ 
lime — two gallons of the former to six pounds of the latter — well boiled to- 
gether and kept constantly stirred while boiling, and put on with a swab, 
and while it is soft some coarse sand may be sifted over it. This coating 
needs renewing once in five or six years. 

There is also roofing-paper — a soft, spongy substance, saturated with tar, 
which comes in rolls, and is sold for about four cents a pound. It is un- 



Sko. 20.] ROOFS AND ROOFING. 335 

rolled upon a flat boarded roof, and tacked sufficiently to hold it in place, 
and then saturated with tar, which glues it to the boards, and it is covered 
with sand ; then more tar and another coat of sand. 

Another receipt for composition roofs is given as follows: Take coal-tar, 
300 pounds; hydraulic lime, 150 pounds; ocher, 75 pounds; and whiting, 
40 pounds. Mix these substances together thoroughly, and they will make 
a sufficient quantity of cement to cover 1,000 square feet of roofing. It 
should be laid down upon strong cotton sheeting nailed to the roof-boards, 
and on the top of all a coat of dry sand or gravel is to be laid and pressed 
firmly down. The cost of such roofing is about $2 30 per ten feet square. 
It answers very well tor sheds and other outhouses. 

357. Protecting Roofs from Fire. — In a country where wood is used as fuel, 
and where roofs are made of pine shingles, and where droughts are among 
the things occurring every siimmcr, there is constant danger of conflagration 
of the dwelling from sparks on the roof. This may be guarded against in 
a very great measure in a very inexpensive manner. A roof carefully 
washed with three coats of either composition mentioned in Nos. 360 or 361, 
once in three years, would .be a hundred times less liable to take fire from 
sparks than an unwashed roof. 

Such a wash would be a very cheap preventive of danger from fire. So is 
the paint mentioned in the following extract: 

" A wash composed of lime, salt, and tine sand or wood ashes, put on in the 
ordinary way of whitewashing, renders the roof fifty-fold more safe against 
taking fire from falling cinders or otherwise, in cases of fire in the vicinity. 
It pays the expense a hundred-fold in its preserving influence against the efiect 
of the weather. The older and more weather-beaten the shingles, the more 
benefit derived. Such shingles generally become more or less warped, rough, 
and cracked ; the application of the wash, by wetting the upper surface, re- 
stores them at once to their original form, thereby closing the space between 
the shingles, and the lime and sand, by filling up the cracks and pores in 
the shingle itself, prevent its M'arping for years." 

358. I'licap Xails. — The cheapest nails are not the lowest priced ones. 
Cut nails, made of iron of good quality, will outlast such as can be bought 
at the lowest rates about two to one. Never use nails for siding or shingles 
that break very easily ; and be sure not to allow your carpenter to use 
nails of very light weight. First-rate cut nails of suitable size may cost 
twenty-five per cent, more than the poorest and lightest, but in the end they 
are a hundred per cent, the best. Nails made of poor iron will rust out a 
great deal quicker than nails made of good tough malleable iron, like that 
known as old sable. It is about on a par with sawed shingles to use the 
cheapest or lowest priced nails, particularly for shingling. In building 
balloon frames none but the very best quality of nails should be used. 
Those known as "fence nails" are far the best, being made of thicker iron 
than the ordinary nails of the same number. 

Weather-Proof Nails — are described in the Ohio Cultivator. It says : 



336 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

"Everybody knows what a difficult thing it is to nail roof-boards and 
■weather-boards so that they will hold for a good length of time. There are 
many other places in which it is nearly impossible to make nails do the 
office for which they are intended. A remedy — and the only one I ever 
saw — I discovered a few years ago ; it is very simple and never fails. Take 
tenpenny, malleable nails, and place the head in a vice, and with a pair of 
pincers grip the nail near the point, and twist it half-way ronnd, minding to 
make the twist somewhat elongated. In driving, the nail becomes a screw, 
and neither sun nor hammer can withdraw it." 

359. To make Mortar Impervious lo H'ef. — " Provide a square wooden 
trough, say 8 by 4 feet, and 2 feet deep ; put in a quantity of fresh lump 
lime, and add water quickly. When the lime is well boiled, having assisted 
that operation by frequent stirring, add tar (the heat of boiling lime melts 
the tar), stir it well, taking care that every part of the lime is intimately 
mixed w^ith the tar ; then add sharp sand or crushed clinker, and stir it well 
as before ; after which, in about twenty hours, it will be fit for use." 

860. Cheap Paiuls for Farm Buildings.— Tiu- and lime may be used, in 
order to make either wood or mason-work wpiterproof. The best way to 
prepare gas or coal tar fur coating wood-work with, is to get some of the 
best stone lime, avoiding chalk lime, and slake it to a fine powder; boil the 
tar for about half an hour, and then add about one pint of hot lime-powder 
to a gallon of tar, and boil it about half an hour longer, stirring it continu- 
ally, and using it liot. 

We give the above as we find it, but prefer the following: Take the com- 
mon " Eosendale cement" (water lime), sift it, and mix the fine powder with 
coal-tar, or any kind of oil, and it will make an excellent paint, of a drab or 
brown-stone color. 

361. Permanent Whitewash Paint. — Another excellent paint is made of 
the following ingredients : that is, one bushel of well-burnt white lime 
unslaked, 20 lbs. Spanish whiting, 17 lbs. rock-salt, 12 lbs. brown sugar. 
Slake the lime, and sift out any lumps or stones, and mix it into a good 
whitewash, say with 40 gallons of water, and then add the other ingredients, 
and stir all well together, and put on two or three thin coats with a common 
whitewash brush. Five dollars' worth of this cheap white paint will give 
the farmery such an improved appearance that it would sell readily for $100 
more than it would in its old wood-colored coat and neglected-looking con- 
dition. This mixture makes a paint that is very cheap, and makes a coat 
that does not wash oflf or rub ofl", and looks well — that is, makes the rough 
boards of a barn, shed, outbuilding, or fence look much better than in their 
natural wood-colored condition ; and it will, by its antiseptic qualities, tend 
beneficially toward the preservation of the wood. It can be tinted by any 
of the articles mentioned in 362. This is intended for the outside of build- 
ings, or where it is exposed to the weather. In order to give a good color, 
three coats are necessary on brick and two on wood. 

Another cheap and good paint may be made of any pure clay ; such as 



Seo. 20.] PAINTS AKD WniTEWASH. 337 

potters use is the right sort ; or that known as " blue clay" will answer a 
good purpose in its natural condition. Even such as brick-makers use can 
be washed of all its impurities, by thoroughly mixing it with a large bulk 
of water, and letting it settle and then draw off the water, and also reject 
tlie bottom of the mass, Avhich will contain all the sand. 

To prepare clay for paint, first dry it, either in the sun or by lire, and 
then pulverize it fine, which may be done with a cannon-ball in a swinging 
iron pot. Then sift it, and mix with boiled linseed oil, pretty thick, and you 
will have just as good a fire-proof paint, or a weather-protecting paint, as 
any that arc sold as such in the shops. 

In some localities soft slate, or slate-dust from a manufactory, can be had, 
and that will make a good " mineral paint." 

362. Zinc and Lime Wliitcwash Paint. — Take a clean barrel that will hold 
water. Put into it half a barrel of quicklime, and slake it by pouring over 
it boiling water sufficient to cover it four or five inches deep, and stirring it 
until slaked. When quite slaked, dissolve it in water, and add two pounds 
of sulphate of zinc and one of common salt, which in a few days will cause 
tlie whitewash to harden on the wood-work. Add sufficient water to bring 
it to the consistency of thick whitewash. 

To make the above wash of a pleasant cream color, add three pounds of 
yellow ocher. 

For fawn color, add four pounds of umber, one pound of Indian r^d, and 
one pound of lampblack. 

For gray or stone color, add four pounds of raw umber and two pounds 
of lampblack. 

The color may be put on with a common whitewash brush, and will be 
found mucli more durable tlian common whitewash. 

363. Stucco Whitewash. — To make a brilliant stucco whitewash for all 
buildings, inside and out, take a bushel of clean lumps of well-burnt lime, 
slaked ; add one fourth pound of whiting or burnt alum pulverized, one 
pound of loaf sugar, three quarts of rye flour, made into a thin and well- 
boiled paste, and one pound of the cleanest glue, dissolved. This may be 
put on cold within doors, but should be applied hot outside. 

Tlie following is another receipt for stucco wliitewash : Take half a bushel 
of nice unslaked lime, slake it with boiling water, covering it during the 
process, to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or 
strainer, and add to it a peck of salt, previously well dissolved in water ; 
three pounds ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, and stirred in boiling hot ; 
half a pound Spanish whiting, and a pound of clean glue, which has been 
previously dissolved by soaking it first, and then hanging over a slow fire, 
in a small kettle inside a large one filled with water. Add five gallons of 
hot water to the mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days covered 
from the dirt. It should be put on quite hot ; for this purpose it can be 
kept in a kettle on a furnace. It is said that about a pint of this mixture 
will cover a yard square of the outside of a house, if properly applied. 



338 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

The size of the brushes used should be adapted to the work required. This 
composition answers as well as oil paint on wood or stone, and is cheaper. 
It retains its brilliancy for many years. 

Coloring may be put in, and made of any shade you like. Spanish brown 
stirred in will make red pink, nlore or less deep to the quantity. A delicate 
tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Fipely pulverized common 
clay, well mixed with Spanish brown, makes a reddish stone color. Yellow 
ocher stirred in makes yellow wash, but chrome goes further, and makes a 
color generally esteemed prettier. In all these cases the darkness of the 
shades is determined of course by the quantity of coloring used. It is diifi- 
cult to make rules, because tastes are diflerent; it would be best to try 
experiments on a shingle, and let it dry. We have been told that green 
must not be mixed with lime. Tiie lime destroys the color, and the color 
has an effect on the whitewash, which makes it crack and peel. When 
walls have been badly smoked, and you wish to have them a clean white, it 
is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use, 
before it is stirred into the mixture. If a larger quantity than five gallons 
be wanted, the same proportion should be observed. 

The above is the receipt that has been so long in circulation as that which 
gave the original whiteness to the " White House" at Washington. 

In oil painting, never suffer a painter to use unboiled oil upon any of 
your buildings or farm implements, and certainly never suffer yourself to 
leave any of them unpainted. Take care that the painter is not too liberal 
in the use of his " driers" in your paint. Tint is to please the eye. Oil 
preserves the wood, and one coat of boiled oil is worth three of unboiled. 

All farm buildings should be oil-painted or whitewashed. Whitewash 
tends to preserve wooden buildings more than any ordinary coat of paint, 
particularly such a one as would be given to unplaned boards, wliich is a 
better condition for whitewasliing than when smooth. The ice-house should 
be whitewashed on tlie outside as often as it is necessary to keep it perfectly 
white, as that is an important aid toward keeping it cool. 

ZGi. Farmery Gates. — No farmery can be considered at all complete that 
is not amply furnished with gates, constructed with particular adaptation to 
their several situations, and arranged in the most jjcrfect manner with 
hinges, latches, and fastenings. Tliere is to us no greater evidence of a 
slovenly farmer than is furnished by half-dilapidated, or at best incon- 
venient, bars. These bar-ways may answer in field fences, M'here they are 
seldom to be opened, but they are a nuisance about the farmery. Most of 
the farmery gates should be self-closing, and made to swing so that an 
animal could not push against and open the gate. In some phices a gate 
can not be made to swing either way ; then it must be made to open upon 
some one of the several plans that have been made for convenient opening 
in a straight line. One of the sort patented by some one in Oneida County, 
IST. Y., is a very easy working gate. It is made of very light stuff, and for 
a wagon-way a pair, each five feet long, are set between posts nine feet 



Sec. 20." 



nrPROVED FARM GATES. 



339 



apart, and held against the posts by guides, which allow of their easy work- 
ing. Attached by bolts to the upper outward corner are two light strips of 
boards, one on each side, and two others in the center. These strips are 
hinged to posts at the bottom in the same way they are at the top to the 
gate, and when the gate is shut they stand at an angle with the gate like 
braces, and when the gate is to be opened it lifts uj^on these centers, and 
passes over and stands alongside of the fence in a straight line. Such 
gates are very convenient in case of snow, as they lift up right out of the 
drift, so as to allow a passage without shoveling. When closed, the two 
gates are fastened together by hooks or bolts, or any convenient fastening. 
As they are not hinged to the posts, these may be made quite light. 

Another plan of a gate, to open without swinging, is to suspend it upon 
rollers running upon a rail overhead. Some one has improved upon this 
plan to make the gate openable by a person driving up in a wagon. This 
is done by lifting the gate at the front end by a lever, which changes the 
level of the railway-bar upon which the gate hangs, so that it rolls back by 
its own gravity. The principle will be understood by looking at any gate 
made to run off on rollers upon a bar above the top, by supposing one end 
of the bar raised, when the gate rolls down. A touch of another lever, as 
the wagon passes, reverses the j^ositiou of the bar, and the gate rolls back 
again to its closed position. 

The great objection to this, and almost all the plans for opening gates from 
the wagon, without alighting, is the unsightly appearance of the gallows- 
frame necessary to support the levers, ropes, and pulleys. 

"We have seen gates which opened by the weight of the wagon passing 
over a bai', and shutting it by another touch of a bar on the other side. 
There is a good deal of machinery to this plan, as well as to nearly all of 
the contrivances to open and shut gates without labor, and the most of them 
are very liable to fail of working easily. 

The most simple one of the kind, and, so far as we could judge from a 
single examination, the least liable to get out of working order, was one ex- 
hibited at the Xew York State Fair of 1S60 by Jasper Johnson, of Genesee 
County. One of the greatest advantages of this invention is, that it can be 
applied to gates already in use, so that one can be opened by a person in a 
wagon and shut as he passes tl^.rougli without stopping. 

Any erection that will sustain a single cord upon each side, and a bar of 
iron about four feet long, of the size of an ordinary crowbar, and one or 
two small rods, comprises all that need be added to any gate to fix it for 
this convenient way of opening. This bar of iron is made in a peculiar 
form, and attached to the gate-post by a loose joint at one end, while the 
other works in a long staple attached to the gate. Its position is moved by 
pulling the cord, and its specific gravity being thus changed, throws the 
gate open, and shuts it by another pull at the same cord, or the other one, 
as the person drives through. The attachment certainly is a very cheap 
one, and its operation was entirely satisfactory. 



340 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

Kobinson's Farm Gate is tlie name given to one invented, and not 
patented, by Dr. D. A. Robinson, Union Springs, N. Y., of which we thinlv 
pretty liighly. One of its good points is the elieapness of tlie hinges. These 
are figured and fully described in that excellent pocket manual, the " Kural 
Register," published by Luther Tucker, from which we copy the following 
description : 

"This gate may be made of any light, tough, and durable wood, but an- 
swers a good purpose when made of pine, with the upright or cross-bars of 
white oak. The upper horizontal bar is 11 feet long, 3 inches wide horizon- 
tally, and 5 inches deep at the hinge, and 2i at the latch. The mortises are 
only two thirds through, to shut out i-ain, and f by 3 inches — except in 
the heel-piece they are an inch and quarter. The heel-piece is 3 by 5 inches, 
and the four lower bars are boards 1 by 5 inches. The cross-bars, the 
brace, and the two pieces forming the head-piece are 1 by 3 inches. They 
are secured at each crossing by wrought or annealed nails. The head-piece 
consists merely of two boards, nailed on each side of the horizontal boards. 
The hinge is made by driving an iron rod, at least three fourths of an inch 
in diameter, into the top of the post, which turns in a hole seven eighths of 
an inch, bored two thirds of the distance through the large end of the upper 
bar. A short iron plug driven into this hole makes a hard resting point 
that will not wear, for the gate to turn upon. Tlie lower hinge is a wooden 
block, attached to the lower part of the gate, and hollowed out so as to fit 
upon the round post. Tlie latch is not attached to the gate, but to the post, 
so that it catches over the top rail, which is made to project beyond the end 
of the gate for that purpose. If it is preferred to have the latch fastened on 
the gate lower down, a pin can bo fixed in or one of the slats projected for- 
ward. This gate is not liable to sag much, because there is no weight what- 
ever straining the hinges, exeept xohile the gate is open. A pin or spike is 
driven into the post on which the hinges turn, just above the lower hinge, 
to prevent hogs or other animals from lifting the gate, but which does not 
prevent it from being placed on its hiuges while open. The post holding 
the latch may be rough, except the face, and the other need be rounded only 
where the hinge turns. 

" The whole cost of the hinges need not exceed ten cents, and the gate 
itself may be made at no greater expense than a common set of bars." 

An excellent gate-fastening is one in common use in Mississippi and some 
other Southern States, which we have never seen in any of the Northera 
ones. A gain is cut in the corner of the post, say three by four inches, and 
in that is hung a piece of flat bar iron, say one inch wide and one fourth 
of an inch thick, bent in somewhat the form and of the length of half a 
horse-shoe, the upper end hammered thin and bent over a staple which is 
driven in the upper part of the gain, so that the lower end of the bar rests 
on the bottom, near the outer edge. An iron pin in the upright of the gate 
strikes against this little bar and lifts it up and passes beyond the end of it, 
when it falls back, and no power but a man's hand can open the gate — but 



Sko. 20.] IMPROVED FARM GATES. 341 



for that it is. very easy. It is one of the best latclies we ever saw to prevent 
unruly aTiinials from jrettiiig tlic gate open, and it is very chea])ly made, and 
would ho a very safe one for all the gates about the farmery liable to be 
opened by the hogs and cattle. 

The following is a good plan of a new gate-hinge or plan of fastening the 
upper hook or eye of a gate-hinge into the i)OSt, which we have seen de- 
scribed lately, and like it so much that we wish all farmers to know it. In- 
stead of driving the hook into the post, a hole is bored quite through it just 
at the top of tlic upper rail of the fence, and the shanlc is made long enough 
to reach some inches beyond the post, and has several notches on its upper 
side. Bore a hole through the rail and put a small bolt with a loophole at 
one end, to bite into a notch of the hinge, and nut at the other. Of course, 
when screwed np, the sag of the gate can not draw the hook; but if neces- 
sary it can be made shorter by shifting a notcli or two. 

The following dimensions of a good strong farm gate, and the timber 
for it, may be taken'as pretty near correct: 

Space between posts, 12 feet; bight of posts above ground, 5i feet; slats, 
12 feet long, 5 inches wide, 1^ inches thick for the Ijottom one, and 3 inches 
wide for the other si.x ; bight of gate, 4^ feet. The ends into which the 
slats are tenoned are 2i by 3 inches, 5 feet long. Some prefer to have the 
top rail double the strength of the middle slats. There are two braces and 
a center upright fastened with small screw bolts or rivets. If a strap hinge is 
used, they should be riveted to the slats. If straps are not used, the iron 
should be made to clasp the npright, and not go through it. 

In soft land, like that of the Western prairies, it is dilBcult to make gate- 
posts stand firm, and they are often formed with a gallows-looking cross-bar 
overhead. 

A better way is to pnt this cross-bar and braces at the bottom. Frame 
the posts and braces into a sill, and bury that three feet. deep, and it will 
effectuallj' prevent the posts from sagging, and then you may use them of 
much smaller timber. 

A good light gate is made as follows: Take strips of boards three inches 
wide, half an inch thick, of ai^y strong wood ; piTie, free of knots and weak 
spots, will answer, and cut them suitable lengths for the length, and otiiers 
for the width of the gate. Lay down upon a smooth surface several of the 
short strips not over three feet apart, and then lay the long strips on for a 
close gate three inches apart at the bottom, gradually widening to the top ; 
then lay down short strips directly over the others, and nail through these 
with clinch nails. We have sometimes reversed the order, and used two long 
strips opposite, instead of two short ones, which makes a stronger but heavier 
gate. Small gates made either way are quite strong enough. The hinges 
should be of a peculiar form, with long straps to clasp the gate so as to rivet 
through and hold the wood between the iron. , 

In Section LIL, in an article upon farm fences, something will be found 
about how to make gate and fence posts durable. 



342 



TUE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 




SECTIOX XXI.-LIGHTXIXG COXDUCTORS-PROTECTION OF FARM 
BUILDINGS FROM FIRE. 

T is a great question for the owner of farm buildings 
^7 whether he can protect them from destruction by light- 
ning-rods. Being almost faithless ourselves, yet not quite 
sure that lightning-rods are all useless, we will give the 
oj^iiiious of several who have investigated the question. 
365. Opinions of {lie Vahic of Lightnin:^ Coudnctors. — Mr. 
Quinb}-, a practical electrician, gave the following view 
^ of the subject in an article in the Working Farmer: 

" There can be few subjects of equal importance less gen- 
erally understood, or perhaps more imiversally misunder- 
stood, than the science of electricity iti its application to 
lightning-rods. Tlie errors of the past are very slow of erad- 
ication, although it must be admitted that progress has been 
made since the famous discussion in George III.'s time as to 
whether lightning-rods should be pointed or blunt at the top. So little is 
known of electricity itself, and so largely is it a purely speculative science, 
that it is no wonder that doctors disagree. 

" It is clear that the most valuable opinion on this subject is to bo looked 
for from those who have made the study of electricity and thunder-storms a 
specialty, with the practical result in view of ascertaining the most effectual 
means of protection, and it is to be remarked that those who have done this 
have arrived at similar conclusions. 

" It is a common error to suppose that lightning-rods should be insulated, 
and a very natural one, arising from a superficial view of the subject. It 
should be remembered that currents of electricity in a rarefied state are con- 
tinually circulating through masses of matter silently and without producing 
any manifest effects ; the effect of insulation is to interrupt the flow of these 
currents, whereas the lightning-rod ought rather to be so contrived as to fa- 
cilitate their free passage from the building to the rod, and thence to the at- 
mosphere, and vice versa. 

^During that disturbed, electrified condition of the atmosphere, which 
we call a thunder-storm, these currents circulate in greater volume and 
rapidity, and a sutiicient interruption of them brings about a discharge of 
lightning. 

" At such times the insulation of the rod from the building is a most ex- 
cellent device for causing an explosion of accumulated electricity either 
from or into the building, as the case may be. The rod, on the contrary, 
ought to act sompwhat as a safety-valve, as regards any electrical disturb- 
ance within the house, neutralizing it gradually, and thus preventing an 
explosion. 



Sec. 21.] LIGHTNING-CONDUCTORS. 343 

"Should tlic rod be struck by lightning, its efficacy in carrying off the 
sliock will depend on whether it presents a continuous chain of conducting 
matter, in tiie line or direction of the discharge, which is superior to any- 
thing within the building. If it docs not, all the glass in the world will not 
prevent fluid from leaving the rod and passing through the building on such 
conductors as it may find there. 

'"The true theory or purposes of the lightning-rod is to facilitate electric- 
ity in following out its natural laws and tendencies, and nothing can be 
more truly unscientific or practically absurd than the idea of presenting a 
barrier or obstruction to lightning.'' 

This theory fully accords with all our infonnation upon this subject. 

The following are the views of another practical electrician, S. D. Cusli- 
man, of South Bend, Ind. He says : 

" A conductor for the protection of life and property from the effects of 
lightning should be so constructed and applied that it will add to the con- 
ducting power of the building so as to admit of the most intense discharge 
being securely transmitted, without explosion or damage to the building or 
structure. 

" Attraction. — The utility of a lightning-rod does not consist in its 
attracting power. 

"Insulation. — The conducting power of a lightning-rod is frequently 
diminished by insulation, and never is increased; it should never be insu- 
lated. It may be fastened to the building with brackets of wood or staples. 

" Points. — ^The attaching to the upper end of a lightning-rod a copper, 
silver, gold, or any kind of a point, does not add to the utility of the rod, 
but when attached always diminishes, more or less, the conducting powei 
of the rod, by breaking up the perfect continuity that a rod should possess, 
and interrupting its polarity. 

" Size. — An iron lightning-rod should never have less than three inches 
conducting surface, nossessing solidity suflicient to have strength and dura- 
bility. 

" Consteuction. — A lightning-rod should not possess in its construction 
sharp edges, neither should it be in sections nor pieces (the sections or pieces 
being booked or screwed together), but it should be all in one piece, possess- 
ing an equal, even unbroken surface in its whole length. 

" Application. — In the application of the rod to the building the conduct- 
ing power of the building should be brought into the general line of con- 
duction ; that is, the rod should come in good metallic contact with all the 
important metallic substances upon the outside of the building, such as 
gutters, spouts, etc. That part of the rod that comes in contact with the 
earth should be increased in its surface and conducting power, so that there 
will not be less conducting surface in contact with the earth than is exposed 
to the building and atmosphere, and care should be taken that the earth 
around and in contact with the rod is always moist. 

" Shade-Teees. — Shade-trees should not be relied upon as a protection 



344 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



from lightning, because their conducting power varies so much, and very 
often, when in their best conducting condition, they are damaged by the 
lightning passing over them. The conducting power of shade-trees, then, 
sliould be increased aud made permanent by the application of an iron or 
copper wire. 

" Ekeoes. — One of the errors committed in protecting from lightning is 
an improper estimate placed upon tlie conducting power of the building, 
compared with tlic material used for protection. Wheu a liglitning-con- 
d actor terminates or ends in a substance of imperfect or less conducting 
power, it is reduced to the conducting power of the body in which it ends. 

"Dry earth is a no:i or imperfect conductor. Earth owes its conducting 
power to water. According to Cavendish, the conducting power of iron, as 
compared to the conducting power of water, is as four hundred millions to 
one. The electrical size of the mass of lightning-rods is not as large as a 
common knitting-needle, being reduced by so small a portion of the rod's 
surface coming in contact with damp earth. 

"Another error is in constructing the rod in sections. Rods properly 
applied, of perfect continuity, being all in one piece, without coupling or 
hooking, have never failed to carry the quantity of electricity that may 
have passed upon them safely and successfully to the ground, while the sec- 
tioned, or the rods hooked or screwed together by burs or nuts, have fre- 
quently failed to do their duty. Scarcely a day or a week passes during 
the summer months but we hear of the failure of the coupled lightning-rods. 

" However well the fact of electrical conduction may be known— however 
well scientific men may be agreed that by the judicious employment of 
metallic bodies we may increase protection against lightning, certain it is 
that they have taken too much upon trust, and neglected the investigation 
of the facts. 

" Men ignorant of every electrical principle have professed to furnish 
security against lightning, until the scientific electrician who attempts to 
sell lightning-rods is received with jeers and contempt as a designing 
swindler ; his story is listened to with impatience, and his presence consid- 
ered an intrusion." 

The rod recommended by Mr. Cushman is made of four copper and four 
iron wires laid together, with a pointed cap on the top, and some metal plates 
at the bottom. There must never be a splice in the wire, but several wires 
carried up from the ground, in the main body, may be taken off and con- 
nected with the metal roof of a building, or with other points. 

The following language we used upon a discussion of this subject before 
the American Institute Farmers' Club : 

"As lightning-rods are most commonly constructed, they are not what 
they are generally conceived to be — that is, attractors of an approaching 
thunderbolt, picking it up on the sharp points, and conducting it down a 
carefully insulated rod to a safe dejiosit in the earth. If a lightning-rod 
ever performed such a service, I should like to be assured of the fact. At 



Sec. 21.] LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. 345 

present I have no faith. I believe that, when the atmosphere is surcharged 
with electricity, any metallic substance will absorb it just in proportion to 
its natural affinity, and if there is an excess of fluid in the air around the 
top of a rod, it will run down it to the earth, just as it inins along telegrapli 
wires ; and experience has proved that a bright, sharp Doint is more attract 
ive than a blunt one. 

"Still, a blunt rod will become charged, and so will a metal roof, and, 
more than all, an iron building, and the water-conductor, or whatever oflier 
metallic substances reach from tiie top to the earth, will tend to dissipate the 
excess of electricity in the air above and around tlie building, atid prevent 
an accunmlation of it sufficient to produce an explosion. But I have not 
one particle of faith that any building that happened to be situated in the 
path of what we call a thunderbolt, ever was saved by the best liglitning- 
rod ever erected. And if in its course the discharge from the cloud, coming 
like a rifle-ball from the muzzle of the gun, happens to strike the sharp 
point of the rod, it is, to my mind, a preposterous idea to suppose tliat perfect 
insulation of tliat rod from the building can be of any possible advantage." 

This opinion we still abide by. The world is full of theories upon the 
subiect. We wish we could elucidate them. We want all tlieso li^htnin"- 
tlieorics reduced to two or three facts. It is claimed by some tliat iron is 
the best, and by others that copper is best. One contends that blunt iron is 
just as good as sharp gold or platina. One says that insulation is necessary, 
and the other that it is not. Now it is facts that we want. Farmers want 
to know whether they can protect their b^iildings from danger of being 
struck by lightning. 

A. B. Dickenson, a practical and close observing farmer of Steuben 
County, N. Y., is of opinion that no liglitning-rod will protect a barn while 
giving oif steam arising from newly stored hay and grain. Then, of what 
advantage to erect one ? for that is the very time it is most needed to save 
the farmers' barns from destruction, which are much more likely to be de- 
stroyed than any other buildings, and the loss is much greater. 

Adrian Bergen, of Long Island, relates one case of a barn apparently 
saved by the conductor. The force of the shock was so great that a man in 
the barn was knocked down. The rod was a small, round one, fastened to 
the barn by wooden supjwrts. After the explosion a hole was found at the 
foot of the rod. 

So we have read of many cases where there was an apparent good effect 
from having conductors upon buildings. A very heavy crash fell upon or 
over a house and barn in New Hampshire, which melted tlie points of new 
conductors and apparently dissipated the fluid so as to prevent damao-e, 
though the barn appeared to be filled with electricity. 

The Temple at Jerusalem stood ten centuries without oeing injured ; but 
this building had a great deal of metal about it, and perhaps conductors for 
water that carried the electricity from the roof to the ground. Yet we have 
many instances in this country where buildings have been struck tliat were 



346 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



fully provided witli liglitning-rods. This may be owing to bad constraction 
of the rods. In the case of a great explosion, like the one in Kew Ilamp- 
sliire, it is not likely that a single rod could convey all the charge to the 
ground. If a rod was full of points along its length, it would serve to dissi- 
pate the charge, and a square rod is better than a round one. 

Wm. S. Carpenter, of the eastern part of Westchester County, N. Y., says : 

"The farmers in my section have no faith in lightning-rods, because the 
proportion of barns that have been struck with rods upon them is greater 
than those without conductors. A scientific Avork states that a copper rod 
one inch in diameter is bettor than an iron rod four inches in diameter, and 
nothing less tlian that seems to be sufficient. This rod, too, must be contin- 
uous, and well connected at the bottom with damp earth." 

Cases have occurred where a tin roof appeared to act as a great absorbent 
of the electricity, which it conducted down the tin water-spouts, and in one 
case into a water-cask, whicli it burst, a"nd passed on into the wet earth. 

Single rods are apparently not always reliable. It is not doubted that an 
extensive spread of metal ditfuses lightning. Then, are buildings safe with 
metal roofs ? Flagstaffs have been torn to pieces on their tops, and no mark 
of injury left about the dwelling. Would it not answer the purpose and be 
also economical to place a stout rod on the center of a wooden roof, and at- 
tach to the bottom, where it touches the roof, a number of telegraph wires, 
carried in many directions to the ground ? Would the stroke on the center 
rod be carried safely off by such radii ? If so, the i^lan is vastly cheaper 
than an entire metal roof. Faraday experimented on iron cages suspended 
in air — in one of them a man ; in another small cylindrical one, a mouse. 
The cages powerfully charged with electricity, produced no effect on the 
man or mouse. Tlic plan of one central rod, with many wires covering the 
building, may produce like results. 

It is worth a trial. It is also worthy of observation how many more barns 
than houses are struck by lightning. A calculation of an average of seven 
persons to a dwelling in the United States, basing the population at 
30,000,000, would give 4,200,000 dwellings. And assuming that there are 
5,000,000 of farmers, wo may say there are 700,000 barns. N'ow, greatly 
as the number of dwellings exceeds that of barns, our opinion is that there 
are two barns to one dwelling destroyed by lightning. 

The impression is common, that barns when first filled with the harvest 
are attractive of the fluid by the medium of the ascending gas of their con- 
tents. This is probably true, and it is our opinion that a rod to serve as 
a conductor, so as to be a sure protection, must reach higher than this col- 
umn of vapor. Some barns need several rods ; others may need but one. 
It depends upon the location very much, whether on a damp or dry soil, etc. 

Prof. Renwick, of New York, says : 

" I doubt whether a barn was ever struck by lightning which was prop- 
erly protected by a conductor." 

Ah ! but what is that proper protection ? That is what we would gladly 



Sko. 21.] LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. 347 

tell the farmers. We know of a fact that two barns were burned the last 
season in Westcliester County, which were provided with conductors, which 
the ownere tliougiit as perfect as it is possible to make them. Several cases 
have come within our knowledge M'hcro green trees were torn to shivers 
near buildings, whicli saved the buildings from destruction, while lightning- 
rods on the buildings touched by the trees did not attract or conduct the 
fluid. 

Then, as trees certainly arc protectors, let every farmer plant trees around 
all the farmery. That they are the very best conductors we believe, but 
thej^ jire never tall enough to protect the barn when giving off its towering 
column of steam. 

366. Material of Conductors and Insniators. — If a farmer has determined 
to erect a lightning-rod, the first and most important thing for him to be as- 
sured of is, what constitutes the best conducting material. As there are but 
two materials, copper and iron, and as both are good conductors, and only 
vary in power according to size, the choice may be regulated by the cost 
M. Poulet, a French scientific writer, gives the conducting power of copper 
as five and a half to six and a half times (varying with the specimens tried) 
greater than iron. Then, if iron is six cents a poupd and copper thirty-six 
cents, the cost would be equal for a given length of rod. This is probably a 
fair average of the difference in the conducting power, as Dr. Priestly makes 
copper five times greater than iron, and Prof. Faraday six and two-fifth times 
greater. As scientific men have calculated that a copper rod, to possess suf- 
ficient conducting power, should be, for short rods, half an inch diameter, 
and for very long ones, three fourths of an inch, it follows that none of the 
iron rods in use are large enough, for they are generally under one inch di- 
ameter. We believe that that is large enough, and we do not believe that 
insulators are necessary, but that the rod should be in one continuous piece, 
and if it can not be welded together on the ground where it is to be erected, 
it should be firmly screwed togetlier, so as to be as nearly solid as possible. 

If the rod is continuous, it may be safely fastened to the building with 
ordinary iron staples. If it is inserted deep in the earth, so as always to be 
moist, there is no danger about the lightning leaving it while passing from 
the cloud to the earth, should it be attracted by the ever bright point which 
the rod should, and must, possess, to be of any practical value as an at- 
tractor of electricity. 

Instead of insulating a rod from the house, it would add to its efficiency, 
if the house has a tin roof, to connect it with the conductor. It would also 
be beneficial, we believe, to connect the conductor with the tin "water-spouts 
of a wooden building. 

867. The Area of Attraction of Lightning Conductors.— It is of much import- 
ance to a farmer, if he intends to protect his buildings by lightning-rods, to 
know how far a single rod will afford protection ; that is, the area of attraction 
over which the single bright point of the rod is supposed to exercise an in- 
fluence — so as to attract or bend a stream of electricity from its course — so 



348 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



as to carry it down the conductor to the earth without harm to the building. 
My own opinion is, that the area is much smaller than is generally- sut)- 
posed. If a rod is erected at one gable of a barn forty feet long, projecting 
ten feet above the peak, we do not believe it would afford the least protection 
to the other end. 

If a conductor is erected upon a dwelling, it should have a point ton feet 
above each gable and each chimney, and then it is doubtfid whether the 
Bteani and smoke arising from a wood fire would not prove a better con- 
ductor than a rod. 

We should not feel any protection from the very best liglitning conductor 
projecting ten feet above the roof, at over ten feet from it. Probably this 
fact, that the area is very small over which protection extends, may account 
for buildings being struck and destroyed which were furnished with well- 
arranged lightning conductors. The area exposed was too great for the at- 
tractive power of the rod. 

36S. Protection from FirOt — There is no mistake about the matter of pro- 
tecting buildings from danger of fire, whatever there may be about protect- 
ing them from lightning. 

In the first place, have a careful supervisory care in building that no wood 
is allowed to be placed where it can be heated to a point of ignition. Here 
is a case in point. In building a chimney upon the soft, dami^ soil of tlie 
Western prairie, where brick was too expensive to encourage excavating 
down to a solid foundation, the mason suggested placing hewed timber on 
the ground, to which I readily assented, as it would save brick, and being 
two feet below the hearth tliere was no thought of danger from the fire. 
So upon this foundation the chimney wjis built, and as it was built right 
end up, it afforded the opportunity of having large fires, thougli the fire- 
place was but a small one. 

After keeping a hot fire through several extremely cold days and nights in 
midwinter, we began to be annoyed by the smell of wood burning in a con- 
fined situation. This continued several days, and began to be alarming, yet 
no one would believe it could be possible that those solid oak timbers under 
tlie chimney were being consumed by subterranean fire. Yet it was so, and 
it was found impossible to extinguish the fire without digging up the hearth, 
and with great labor working out the most exposed timber ; and as the other 
could not be taken out without danger of throwing down the whole chimney, 
we saturated it with salt, alum, and lime, to prevent it from taking fire 
again. 

This case we have introduced solely to prove how dangerous it is to allow 
any M'ood to come near enough to the fire to be heated very hot, for wood 
will ignite from heat, without any possible contact with the fire. Another 
case: 

A gentleman in this city set a stove in a lower i-oom, and conducted the 
pipe through the room above, used as a nursery. For convenience of warm- 
ing food he had a hole made in a slab of stone, just large enough for the 



Sko. 21.] "WINDMILLS AND THEIR USE. 349 



pipe to fit closely. This stone was neatly set in the iloor, forming, as the 
owner and the mason thought, a very safe-way to conduct tlie stove-pipe, 
which did not stand within a foot of any of the wood-work. It was for a 
long time a great convenience, and very safe; but one day the stove below 
was heated pretty hot, and communicated its heat to the stone, and the 
wooden beams it rested upon, which had been long seasoning, ignited, and 
the house was within a very narrow chance of destruction. Five minutes 
more of absence from that room, and it would have been too late. 

We could name many instances like these which have come within our 
own observation, but we hope these are sufficient to put all who read them 
on their guard against similar dangerous practices in building. 

Stove-pipes may be safely passed through floors and wooden walls by in- 
serting an earthen pipe, at least one inch in diameter larger than the stove- 
pipe, which should not be allowed to touch the earthen pipe, but should be 
wedged oif from it by little pieces of stone, brick, or broken earthenware. 
This allows a current of air continually to circulate, and renders it impossible 
to become heated so much as to convey fire through the earthen pipe to the 
wood-work. If the stove-pipe fits tightly in the earthen one it will be liable 
to become hot, like the stone mentioned, and set fire to the house. 

369. Windmills and Ihcir Use in a Farmery. — There is one more building, 
or an adjunct of some of the buildings of the farmery, that should be men- 
tioned, before closing this chapter, more fully than it is in the commence- 
ment of Sec. XYII. We allude to the windmill. Besides pumping water, 
which, by-tlie-by, would be a great help in the way of protection against 
fire, a windmill attached to a barn could be made serviceable for a great 
many purposes, such as threshing, corn-shelling, cutting straw, gi'inding 
feed, sawing wood, and turning the grindstone. 

Wind is undoubtedly the cheapest power that a farmer can use, and, not- 
withstanding its inconstancy, the improvement mentioned below operates 
well, and has been often applied to many valuable uses. By windmills, 
swamps may be drained and upland irrigated. AVhat an advantage in a 
drought in many parts of the country, besides the economy of using a great 
amount of fertilizing matter in water at all times ! 

We have often suggested the idea of using wind-power to pump up water 
into a reservoir, or wind up a weight, to be held as a reserved power, that 
could be used when the wind did not blow. 

There is no doubt in our mind that such a cheap power could be econom- 
ically established to do a great deal of work that requires a motor upon 
almost every large farm. If the seat of the power is at the barn, it can be 
carried to the house by a couple of wires, to do the churning. We have seen 
power carried thus from a water-wheel, nearly half a mile from the dairy, 
and it was used not only to drive the churn, but the washing-machine, the 
sausage-cutter, a small grindstone, and the coffee-mill. To obtain the power 
from the wind-wheel, all that would be necessary for the dairywoman to do 
would be to pull a cord or wire at the house, which would throw into gear- 



350 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



ing a driving-wheel, and that would, by means of the wires, convey a crank 
motion from the windmill to the churn, no matter how distant ; and the 
motion can be stopped and started as easily as though churning by hand. 

The objection to wind-power is want of constancy. This can only be 
obviated by accumulating power. If the situation is such that a water 
reservoir can be filled upon high ground, to be used in a calm, the accumu- 
lation of power would not be expensive. 

The method of conveying power by wires a long distance, from the water- 
wheel to the churn, may be seen in several places along the Chenango Canal. 

370. Self-regulating Windmills.— One of the best contrivances for a Belf- 
regulating windmill was invented by Daniel Halliday, of Ellington, Tolland 
Co., Ct. The size mostly built by him has five-feet wings, that is, the diam- 
eter of the wind-wheel is ten feet, and the first one was in operation for six 
mouths without a hand being touched to it to regulate the sails. It run 
fifteen days at one time M'ithout stopping day or night, and it stood through 
some hard gales. The beauty of the improvement is, that it stands still when 
the wind rages hardest, with the edge of the wings to the wind, and as it 
lulls they gradually resume their position for a gentle breeze. It is so con- 
trived that nothing but a squall of great severity falling upon it without a 
moment's warning can produce damage. 

The mill mentioned has drawn water from a well 28 feet deep, 100 feet 
distant, and forced it into a small reservoir in the upper part of the barn, 
sufiicicnt for all farm purposes, garden irrigation, and " lots to spare." The 
cost of such a mill will be $50, and the pumps and pipes about $25. It is 
elevated on a single oak jjost a foot square, the turn circle being supported 
by iron braces. The wings are made of one longitudinal iron bar, through 
which run small rods ; upon these rods, narrow boards, half an inch thick, 
are fitted, holes being bored through from edge to edge, and screwed 
together by nuts on the ends of the rods. This makes strong, light sails, 
which, it will be seen, are fixtures not to be furled or clewed up ; but they 
are thrown up edgewise to the wind by a very ingenious and simple arrange- 
ment of the machinery, which obviates the great objection to windmills for 
fai-ra use — the necessity of constant su; ervision of the sails to suit the 
strength of the wind. 

With this much food for reflection, we will close the chapter upon the 
farmery. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 

SECTION XXII.-THE FOOD QUESTION-QUANTITY, QUALITY, VARIETY, 
ADAPTATION, ADULTERATION, AND CHANGES PRODUCED BY COOK- 
ING, BRIEFLY CONSIDERED. 

" OMESTIC ECONOMY ! What is it? ''Domestic, 
belonging to the house or home ; Economy, from 
two Greek words, signifying a liouse or family 
law — that which relates to the family concerns 
of a household, and the disposition or arrange- 
ment of any household work." 
Such is the character of this chapter. It is full of 
information Tiseful to every household. Without it, 
we should have fallen short of our object in writing 
this book. It was never our intention to make a work 
for the sole benefit of the male portion of farmers. 
Much of the preceding chapter, and nearly all of this, 
is intended to promote the comfort of those who ad- 
minister all of our home comforts. 

We shall also say something that will be valuable 
upon the subject of the dairy, at least to new beginners in the various arts 
and mysteries of domestic economy. 

No question can be discussed between the master and mistress of the 
house, nor between parents and a family of growing children, that is of 
greater importance tJian the one that heads this section. To the employer 
and his hirelings, to the master and his slave, it is a question not only of 
interest, but of health, and it is all concentrated in four words : quantity, 
quality, variety, adaptation. 

There is only one thing more requisite, and that is, that each of these 
words should be fully understood and properly acted upon. Believing that 
they are not so, we shall treat upon each liriefly in its order. And first — 

371. What Amount of Food is Required by a Hard-working Man?— This de- 
pends on the quality of the food, the nature of tlic climate, and on such a 
variety of circumstances that it is impossible to give a satisfactory answer. 
The average allowance to British sailors in active service is .302 ounces of 
solid food per week, and a pint and a half of rum. Dr. Percy, an English 
author, mentions the diet of a prize fighter during a course of rigorous train- 
ing, who ate one pound of mutton at each meal three times a day ; at dinner 




352 DOMESTIC ECOXOMY. [Chap. IV. 



Le ate in addition two ounces of bread, and at each meal drank half a pint 
of ale. lie walked regularly 17 miles per day. The total solid food con- 
tained in this diet is 350 ounces weekly. We suppose about three pounds 
of solid food per day in temperate climates may be taken as the average 
consumed by hard-working men. But in the Arctic and Antarctic regions 
the amount of food that can be disposed of is truly immense. Thus Ross 
tells us that the Esquimaux eat 10 lbs. of meat at a meal, accompanied by 
the same quantity of oil. Parry weighed the food of an Esquimaux lad, 
scarcely full grown, and found that he consumed, doring the day— sea- 
horse flesh, 8i lbs.; bread, 1| lbs.; rich gravy soup, li pint; raw spirits, 
3 glasses ; strong grog, 1 tumbler ; water, 1 gallon 1 pint. Cochrane de- 
scribes a Yakut or Tongouse as eating 40 lbs. of flesh in a day, saying that a 
good calf, weighing 200 lbs., "may serve four or five good Yakuts for a 
single meal," and that he has seen three of them " consume a reindeer at one 
meal." Admiral Saritcheft' says he knew a Yakut who consumed " the hind 
quarters of a large ox, 20 lbs. of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted 
butter for his drink" in a day. The admiral tried an experiment with him 
by giving him " a thick porridge of rice, boiled down with 3 lbs. of butter, 
weighing together 28 lbs. ; and although the glutton had already break- 
fasted, yet did he sit down to it with great eagerness, and consumed the 
whole M'ilhout stirring from the spot ; and, except that his stomach be- 
trayed more than an ordinary fullness, he showed no signs of inconve- 
nience or injury." Barrow states that three Hottentots ate one sheep in a 
day, and that ten of them ate an ox all but the hind legs in three days. 
Tlie Samoyedes are stated to consume 8 or 10 lbs. of meat at a meal, fla- 
vored with a dozen tallow candles, and washed down with a quart or two 
of train-oil. Extravagant as these statements appear to be, most of them 
have been verified by numerous observations. 

We need not go to savage lands to find gluttons. We liave the well-au- 
thenticated fact of one who lived in Connecticut, about seventy years ago, 
who ate three shad a day, upon a wager, thirty days in succession. Tlie 
same man repeatedly ate a goose or a turkey at a meal. These were acts 
of gluttony, and we look upon gluttony as a great sin. There is just as 
much wrong in feeding too much to those who labor for us, who may hap- 
pen to possess gluttonous natures, as there is in feeding others too little. 
Every laboring man requires a sufiiciency of sound, nutritious food to 
enable him to perform a fair task of labor. The question is, What is 
sufficient ? 

372. Rations of Sonlliern Slaves. — ^The average ration of negro slaves in 
our Southern States is 3^ lbs. of bacon and a peck of corn-meal per week to 
each adult. The meal will weigh 14i lbs., making 18 lbs. of the strongest 
kind of solid food. Then they always eat potatoes, turnips, greens, pindars, 
green corn, and other things in their season, enough to make up an average 
of three pounds of solid food a day. 

As it is the policy of jDlanters to give the slaves all the food that is neces- 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 353 

saiy to give them strength, and as it is against tlic rules of good economy to 
give more, we may safely calculate that three pounds a day is all that a la- 
boring man requires. 

373. Soldiers' Rations. — The English are proverbially hearty eaters, and- 
the English government have not only studied economy, but the wants of 
their healthy, strong men in fixing tiieir rations so as to give all that is nec- 
cssar\-, and this is found to consist of the following articles. While the men 
are in barracks, 1 lb. of bread and | of a lb. of meat per day. In camp or 
actual service, Ij lbs. of bread and | of a lb. of meat. On foreign service, 
1 lb. of bread or | lb. of biscuit and 1 lb. ofTncat. When billeted for board, 
the allowance is 1 lb. of bread, li lb. of meat, 1 lb, of potatoes, and 1 quart 
*>f beer. 

This was mainly followed in the American army until the summer of 
(SGI, when in consequence of grumblings among the soldiers about insuffi- 
cient food, the rations were increased, and are now as follows : 

Rations — Daily — 1| lbs. of pork or bacon, or li lb. of fresh or salt beef; 
22 oz. of bread or flour, or 1 lb. of pilot bread. 

Rations to One Hundeed Men — Daily — Eight quarts of beans, 10 lbs. 
of rice or hominy, besides 1 lb. of potatoes three times a week to each man, 
or a substitute therefor ; 10 lbs. of coffee ; 15 lbs. of sugar ; 4 quarts of 
vinegar; IJ lbs. of adamantine candles; 4 lbs. of soap; 2 quarts of salt. 
E.xtra issues of molasses occasionally made. 

Rations may be commuted at forty cents per day when stationed in cities, 
or when there is no opportunity of messing, or when in regular camp, at the 
cost of the rations. 

371:. Variety of Food. — Man craves a change of food, that is, a variety of 
substances, either one of which would sustain life, but would not be satis- 
factory. Nature demands the variation, and the mixing together of the 
several substances. Why? Simply because no one will give all the ele- 
ments that go to make up the animal economy. One article furnishes phos- 
phate for bones, which another article is destitute of, yet it may contain 
matter that will clothe the bone with muscle. Food that contained neither 
fat nor sugar Avould be insufhcieut to keep up the animal heat. Food that 
contained all the elements of bone, muscle, fiber, fat, and heat-producing 
qualities, might be so concentrated as to be unwholesome. 

A man fed upon pemmican would have a disposition to eat straw, husks, 
and twigs, or gnaw the bark from trees to get something to distend the 
stomach, and enable it to perform its functions healthily. Let this be 
thought of in feeding domestic animals as well as men. It will furnish an 
easy rule for your guidance. Judge them by yourself, and act accordingly. 
You will find it an easy and sure road to success. We do not for animals, 
quadruped or biped^ recommend, a variety of food at the same meal — only 
a change from time to time, so as to give variety, and consequently all the 
elements necessary to produce growth. 

And neither man nor beast will reach a high point in the scale of perfec- 



354: DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

tion who is confined to one single article, or to two or three articles of food. 
Look, for example, at the rice-eating nations; also to those who, like the 
Esquimaux, live princij^ally upon the fat of seals and whales ; or to savage 
nations, confined to an almost exclusive diet of meat. Each shows a lack 
of some quality that we consider essential in civilized man. The conlinc- 
mcnt of a large portion of a nation of people to a diet of potatoes is rapidly 
working a deterioration in the race. 

" The profusions of nature tempt the appetite of man. Tiie productions 
of all the eartli are at his command. But, for tlie control of his appetites, 
man is endowed with reason and conscience. The brute is governed in re- 
gard both to the quantity and kind of its food by an instinct from which 
it rarely deviates, unless when domesticated, and consequently corrupted. 

" There are three practical laws to be observed in tlie taking of food. One 
regards the time, another the quality, and tiie third the quantity. 

" An interval of at least five hours shoidd elapse between meals for 
adults, unless some extraordinary exertion has exhausted the system, or 
something has interrupted or prevented the reception of a full meal at the 
stated hour. The stated hours should be regular." 

375. Quality of Food Suited to a Farmer's Family. — " As to the quality of 
the food, tliere is no doubt that the more simply it is cooked the more easily 
it is digested. ' 

" Chemical analysis should bo the guide for the cookery book. 

" No one would think of eating raw potash, a substance that dissolves 
metals, but we do not hesitate to eat saleratus, which is a modified prepara- 
tion of it, and has the same, though a more gradual eti'ect, iipon the organic 
tissues and the blood. Soda, it is well understood, rots cloth and takes the 
skin from the hands when it is put into soap, or even when used to ' break 
hard water,' as the washerwomen term it ; yet we put it into bread and 
cakes. Our stomachs were not made to digest metals, and when we powder 
them and eat them, we try to cheat nature. 

"Spices were undoubtedly made for use in tliose climates where they 
grow, but the natives of those climates use them much more sparingly than 
we do. We may reasonably suppose that they are more adapted to the 
wants of hot climates than of cold ones, as nature has placed them in the 
former, and yet we saturate our food with them, mix them together, destroy 
the flavors of each by so doing, and make a stimulus to appetite by a con- 
glomeration, which is a most unnatural one, and gradually injures the very 
power of digestion. We thus conceal, also, that tine aroma of A^egetables 
and meats Aviiich distinguishes one from the other, and deprive ourselves of 
the fileasure God designed we should feel in partaking of them. There is 
a delicate fruit of the tropics resembling a muskmelon, which grows, how- 
ever, not upon a vine, but upon a tree, the taste of which is so finely deli- 
cate, that a foreigner can not even perceive it at first; but if he does not 
cover it Avith pepper and salt, as we have seen many foreigners do, to 'give 
it a taste,' he will, after partaking of it a few days or weeks (according to 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 355 



the simplicity or sophistication of his appetite), appreciate its flavor, which 
is tliat of the most delicate aromatic nut. In our climate we lose the flavor 
of many ve<i;ctables in the same way, by covering them with pepper, and 
also by putting them into water below the boiling-point when we cook them. 
Ever}' one who is so happy as to live in the country, and can gather vege- 
tables daily from his own garden, knows the difference between them when 
gathered thus and properly cooked, and those which have been picked and 
kept for market even one night. 

" Wiien substances like rice, corn-starch, and farina are u^ed, which have 
very little taste (rice, because it has been so long exposed to the air after it 
is gathered, and corn-starch and farina, because, from the mode of their 
preparation, they lose a great part of the nutritious ingredients of the corn), 
a delicate flavoring of spice may be used without injury to health. 

" Science may at last bring us to the conclusion, that each climate and 
region jiroduces those articles of food which it is most healthful to eat in 
their respective localities. 

" The quality of children's food shoiild diff'er from that of adults, so far 
as that it should consist of more substances containing starch, gum, and 
sugar. 

" It is not the most costly or most luxurious living that we would advo- 
cate, but it is a variety of food. The dithculty is, that we are tempted 
sometimes by a great ■variety of dishes at one meal to eat too much. This 
is no argument against variety of food. 

" It is important that we should study to increase earth's products, and 
improve their quality, to produce the highest condition of perfection in man. 
A man, it is true, maj' be a glutton, and consume mountains of flesh and rich 
dishes, but that is not the point. It is that we all should consume the best 
food possible to be produced, and in sufiicient variety to give healthy 
results." 

37G. How Food Affects the Systenii — " Tlie prevalent idea that soup which 
sets into strong jelly is most nutritious, is altogether a mistake. The soup 
sets because it contains the gelatin of the sinews, flesh, and bones ; it has 
been fully proved that no animal can live upon this imagined richness 
alone. In fact, such jelly is unwholesome, for it loads the blood with useless 
substances ; hence what are termed rich soups, being loaded with gelatin, 
are not ranked among the articles of wholesome food. Marked results of 
the efl"ects of cooking upon food may be seen in the contrast between civil- 
ized and savage nations. In every nation on earth, those who rule the 
masses are invariably better fed than tlie masses themselves. This is evi- 
denced in the power exercised by the beef-eating British over the rice-eating 
East Indian nations." It is further evidenced by the condition of the people 
of this country, where the masses are better fed than in any other on earth, 
artd where there are greater numbers of men fit to be rulers than in any 
other. And this proportion will increase as the laws of hygiene are Ijctter 
miderstood, for then, those who control the preparation of food for those 



356 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [CnAP. IV. 



masses will understand how cooking affects the raw material of food, so as 
to make it wholesome and nuti-itious, or otlierwise, 

• Next to the knowledge of the differences in the human constitution and 
the nature of food proper for man, the art of cooking so as to make tlie food 
most agreeable to the yialate should be studied by every good liousekeeper. 
Bear in mind that in preparing food three things are to be united — -tlie pro- 
motion of health, the study of economy, and the gratification of taste. 

Pie-eatiiuj is an Americanism that we can not approve Bor recommend to 
the extent it is practiced. Though pie be nearly allied to piety, tliis does 
not save it from' condemnation. Pies are eaten for breakfast, for lunch, for 
dinner, supper, and many go to bed on pies. " Oh, pies save a great deal 
of cooking!" says tlie frugal housewife, "and are so convenient for the 
children to take to school, and then they are not so hungry when they have 
pie to cat." Pies are New England's favorite refection ; but that does not 
prove them, as a general thing, well adapted to the wants of tlie liuman 
system. Pies of every description, as used in almost every ISTew England 
farm-house, may safely be classed "unwliolesome food." The woret of tlie 
family is the one most prized — the rich, sweet, highly spiced miuce-pie. It 
is one of the prolific parents of dyspepsia. 

377. Adaptation of Food to Circumstaiicesi— One of the great mistakes of 
many families is in not adapting the food to the season, the climate, and 
circumstances. A hard-working negro slave may eat fat bacon and corn- 
bread in August, and bask in the sun in Mississippi. It would not be good 
diet for a sedentary white man. 

Fruit is an essential article of food for the preservation of health, in 
bilious localities. It seems particularly adapted by nature to that end. 

A sensible man always adapts his eating to his labor. The following 
remarks upon this subject we adopt, because they are pertinent : 

" I have been asked sometimes how I could perform so large an amount 
of work with apparently so little diminution of strength. I attribute my 
power of endurance to a long-formed habit of observing, every day of my 
life, the simple laws of health, and none more than the laws of eating. It 
ceases any longer to be a matter of self-denial. It is almost like an instinct. 
If I have a severe tax on my brain in the morning, I can not eat heartily at 
breakfast. If the Avhole day is to be one of exertion, I eat very little till 
the exertion is over. I know that two forces can not be concentrated in 
activity at the same time in the body. I know that when the stomach 
works, the brain must rest — and that when the brain works, the stomach must 
rest. 

" If I am going to be moving about out of doors a good deal, I can give 
a fuller swing to my appetite, which is never exceedingly bad. But if I 
am engaged actively, and necessarily in mental labor, I can not eat much. 
And I have made eating with regularity and with a reference to what I 
have to do, a habit so long that it ceases any longer to be a subject of 
thought. It almost takes care of itself. I attribute much of my ability to 



Sko. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 357 

endure work to good habits of eating, constant attention to the laws of sleep, 
plu'sical exercise, and general cheerfnlness. 

"Tiiere is one thing more to be said in this connection. It is not a matter 
of epicureanism that a man should be dainty concerning tlic food he eats. 
On tlie contrary, I hold tiuit a civilized man ought to be civilized in his 
cookery. I suppose one of the infallible signs of tlie millennium will be a 
better regulated kitchen — a kitchen that sends out food that will help to 
promote health and increase Christianity. " 

378. The Food and Clothins; a Man may Tonsume in a Lifetime. — Alex. 
Soyer's " Modern Housewife" gives the following calculation as the probable 
amount of food that an epicure of seventy years might have consumed. 
" Supposing his gastronomic performances to commence at ten years, he will 
make 65,700 breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, to say nothing of luncheons 
and extra feastings. To supply the epicure's table for sixty years, Soyer cal- 
culates he wiU recpiire 30 oxen, 200 sheep, 100 calves, 200 lambs, 50 pigs ; 
in poultry, 1,200 fowls, 300 turkeys, 150 geese, 400 ducklings, 263 pigeons; 
1,400 partridges, pheasants, and grouse ; 600 woodcocks and snipes ; 600 
wild ducks, widgeon, and teal; 450 plovers, rufts, and reeves; 800 quails, 
ortolans, and dotterels, and a few guillemots and other foreign birds; also 
500 hares and rabbits, 40 deer, 120 Guinea-fowl, 10 peacocks, and 360 wild- 
fowls. In the way of fish, 120 turbot, 140 salmon, 120 cod, 260 trout, 400 
mackerel, 300 whitings, 800 soles and slips, 400 flounders, 400 red mullet, 
200 eels, 150 haddocks, 400 herrings, 5,000 smelts, and^ome hundred thou- 
sand of tliose delicious, silvery whitebait, besides a few hundred species of 
fresh-water fishes. In shell-fish, 20 turtle, 30,000 oysters, 1,500 lobsters or 
crabs, 300,000 prawns, shrimps, sardines, and anchovies. In the way of 
fruit, about 500 lbs. of grapes, 360 lbs. of pineapples, 600 peaches, 1,400 
apficots, 240 melons, and some hundred thousand plums, green-gages, ''ap- 
ples, pears, and some millions of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, 
mulberries, and an abundance of other small fruit, viz., walnuts, chestnuts, 
dry figs, and plums. In vegetables of all kinds, 5,475 lbs. weight, and 
about 2,434f lbs. of butter, 684 lbs. of cheese, 21,^)00 eggs, 800 tongues. Of 
bread, 4^ tons, half a ton of salt and peji^r, near 2^ tons of sugar. Ilis 
drink during the same period may be set down as follows : 49 hogsheads of 
wine, 13,683 gallons of beer, 584 gallons of spirits, 342 gallons of liqueur, 
2,394f gallons of coffee, cocoa, tea, etc., and 304 gallons of milk, 2,736 gal- 
lons of water. This mass of food in sixty years amounts to no less than 
33f tons weight of meat, farinaceous food and vegetables, etc., out of which 
I have named in detail the probable delicacies that would be selected by an 
epicure through life. But observe that I did not count the first ten years 
of his life, at the beginning of which he lived upon pap, bread and milk, 
etc., also a little meat, the expense of which I add to the age from then to 
twenty, as no one can really be called an epicure before that age ; it will 
thus make the expenses more equal as regards the calculation. The follow- 
ing is the list of what I consider his daily meals : 



358 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



" Breakfast. — Three quarters of a pint of coffee, four ounces of bread, one 
oiuice of butter, two eggs, or four ounces of meat, or four ounces of fish. 

" Lunch. — Two ounces of bread, two ounces of meat, or poultry, or game, 
two ounces of vegetables, and a half ]>int of l)cer, or a glass of wine. 

" Dinner. — Half a pint of soup, a quarter of a pound of fish, half a pound 
of meat, a quarter of a pound of poultry, a quarter of a pound of savory 
dishes or game, two ounces of vegetables, two ounces of bread, two ounces 
of pastry or roasts, half an ounce of cheese, a quarter of a pound of fruit, one 
pint of wine, one glass of liqueur, one cup of coifee or tea ; at night one glass 
of spirits and water." 

To this we have added the following calculation of the clothing the same 
man may have used. We estimate that a full-dr.essed man carries about 
fift}' yards of cloth upon his body, or at least it has taken so many square 
yards of cloth to make the following garments : one under and one over 
shirt and drawers, eight yards ; vest, with all its inside and out, four yards ; 
coat, overcoat, and cloak, 32 yards; the handkerchiefs in the coat and cloak 
pockets, two yards ; pants, lined, four yaids. Then we may add a night- 
shirt, four yards, and morning wrapper, 10 yards, and we have Gi yards for 
a single suit. Allow six of these suits a year — of some garments he will 
want more, and some less than sJx, but take that as an average, and we have 
384 yards for the gentleman's wardrobe one year. Multiply that by sixty 
years, and we have 23,040 yards of cloth, which appears a ftxir allowance, as 
we throw out the ten years of childhood. With tliese garments he will want 
each 3'ear two pair of boots, two pair of shoes, two pair of slippers, two pair 
of rubbers or overshoes — 480 pairs. With these he will wear sixty dozen 
pairs of stockings and (four hats a year) 240 hats. I will say nothing about 
the yards of cloth that he will want about his toilet and table, his carpets 
and curtains, and his bed, with its daily change of bedding; but you can 
imagine it would make a large spread. The great question for considera- 
tion, in an agricultural point of view, is this : Could such a consumer of 
earth's products produce as much as he consumed, with all industry applied 
during life, or -would he bejdependent upon the labor of others? 

379. How Cooking Changes Fo(»d. — We arc not going to make a cook-book, 
but simply to attract attention to some of the leading scientific principles of 
the efiect of fire upon articles of food. 

Meat, for instance, often loses more than half its substance, which is 
•wasted and lost in the process of cooking, because the cook did not under- 
stand some of the simple elements of the chemistry of cooking, and the 
eifect of water and heat upon flesh. 

If meat is to be boiled for eating, particularly fresh lean beef or mutton, 
never soak it in cold water. Have your water boiling over a brisk fire, and 
plunge the meat into it, and see that the heat is kept up. If soup is to be 
made, then the meat should soak a long time in cold water, because it 
extracts the substance that is wanted in the soup, leaving the fibrous portion 
of the meat almost worthless. If the meat is to be boiled for eating, plung- 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QDEST10}T. 359 

i:ig it in liot water has the t^aino effect tliat is produced upon an egg — the 
albumen is coagulated, and remains in the meat, and cooks with it, and 
becomes the most nutritive portion of it. Therefore remember it as one of 
the most important items of knowledge about cooking, never to put a piece 
of meat into water to boil, unless the water is boiling hot ; and never put a 
piece of meat to roast until your fire is very hot ; and if it goes into an oven 
to bake, see that the oven is hot enough to cook the outside almost instantly. 
If you let it simmer slowly, it will ooze out the richest jiortion of its property 
for food. "The first efi'ect of applying a strong heat to a piece of fresh 
meat, is to cause the fibers to contract, to squeeze out a portion of the juice, 
and partially to close the pores so as to prevent the escape of more. Heat 
is applied to meat chiefly in three ways — boiling, roasting, and baking. 
During these operations, fresh beef and mutton, when moderately fat, lose, 
on an average, about as follows : 

In boiling. In baking. In roasting. 

■1 lljs. of beef lose 1 lb 1 lb. 3 oz 1 lb. 5 oz. 

4 lbs. of mutton lose 14 oz 1 lb. 4 oz 1 lb. 6 oz. 

The greater loss in baking and roasting arises chiefly from the greater quan- 
tity of water evaporated, and of fat which is melted out by either of these 
two methods of cooking. 

• " In preparing meat for the table, we discover that it is most desir- 
able to retain all the ingi-edients of its juice ; how this is to be done will 
depend much upon the method of culinary procedure. If the piece of 
meat be introduced into the water M-hen briskly boiling, the albumen at its 
surface, and to a certain depth inward, is immediately coagulated, thus 
inclosing the mass ia a crust or shell, which neither permits its juice to flow 
out, nor the external water to penetrate within, to dissolve, dilute, and 
weaken it. The greater part of the sapid constituents of the meat are thus 
retained, rendering it juicy and well-flavored. It should be boiled for oaly 
a few minutes, and then kept for some time at a temperature from 158 to 
165 degrees. Meat is underdone or bloody when it has been heated 
throughout only to the temperature of coagulating albumen (140 degrees) ; 
it is quite done or cooked when it has been heated through its whole mass 
to 158 or 165 degrees, at which temperature the coloring matter of the 
blood coagulates. As in boiling, so in baking or roasting ; for whether the 
meat be surrounded by water or in an oven, as soon as the water-proof coat- 
ing is formed around it, the further changes are effected alike in both cases, 
by internal vapor or steam. In roasting or baking, therefore, the fire should 
be at first made quite hot, until the surface-pores are completely plugged 
and the albuminous crust formed. Hence, a beefsteak or mutton-chop is 
done quickly over a smart fire, that the richly-flavored natural juices may 
be retained." 

The above is extracted from a most valuable book — one that no house- 
keeper can afford to do without. It is " Youmans' Hand-Book of Household 
Science." It is science in such an attractive form that all may read it with 



360 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



pleasure and profit. Weshall drawupou its valuable store-liouse of knowledge 
forotlier facts in confirmation of what we liave to say upon the food question. 
3S0. How the Albumen of Jleat is Extracted.— When we wish to dissolve 
out the albumen, and not the gelatin of meat, for soup or for beef-tea, which 
is much used as nutritive food for the sick, the meat should be cut fine — the 
finer the better — and soaked a few minutes in an equal weight of cold water, 
then slowly heated to boiling, and so continued a few minutes more, and 
when strained you will have as much weight of pure extract as you had of 
meat, and it will afl^'ord equal nutriment. It would not do so if boiled for 
hours, in a large mass. Hence, meat for soups should be finely divided. 
The efiect of long boiling of meat for soup is to thicken the soup, and make 
it apparently richer; but it is so only apparently. The albumen is extracted 
by cold water. It is cooked in the water in as short a time as an egg would 
cook. The substance extracted by long boiling, making the soup appear 
thick when cold, is gelatin. Still further boiling would make glue, which 
would harden by drying, like the glue of commerce. It is not considered a 
nutritious kind of food. 

381. French Experimf nts with Gelatinous Food.—" The French attempted 
to feed the inmates of tlieir hospitals on gelatinous extract of bones ; mur- 
murs arose, and a commission was appointed, with Magendie at its head, to 
investigate the matter, the conclusion of which was, that giving gelatin to 
the poor M'as just equivalent to giving them nothing at all. The use of 
gelatin as a nutritive or invigorating substance may be regarded as given 
up. • The utmost claim now put forth for it is that, mixed with other food, it 
makes it go further ; but at the same time vre must be careful not to use it 
to excess, as it is apt not only to weaken the individual by its insufiiciency 
as an article of diet, but causesalso diarrhea, whether by acting as a foreign 
body, or by some spontaneous decomposition. Hence the unwholesomeness, 
to healthy stomachs, of dishes containing a great quantity of gelatin, such 
as mock-turtle soup, calves'-foot jelly, etc." 

The healthiness of any kind of strong meat soup is not a matter of doubt 
in the minds of those who have given the subject a thought. It may be 
taken in small quantities at the beginning of a meal, when it will be imme- 
diately followed with fibrous food; but the appetite never should be sat- 
isfied upon soup alone, unless it is soap-maigre, or soup made almost entirely 
of vegetables. 

382. Relative Values of Food for giving Warmth or making Flesh. — The fol- 
lowing table shows Liebig's estimate of the proportion of warmth-giving 
substances to the flesh-producing substances in various articles. Basing the 
flesh-producing power at 10, each of the following articles gives the propor- 
tion of warmth-producing power set opposite. 

Rye flour 57 

Barley 67 

White potatoes 86 

Black potatoes 115 

Rice 123 

Buckwheat 130 



Human milk 40 

Cow's milk 30 

Lentils 21 

Horse beans 22 

Peas 23 

Fat mutton 27 



Fat pork 30 

Beef 17 

Hare 2 

Veal 1 

Wheat flour 46 

Oatmeal 50 



Sec. 22.] XnE FOOD QUESTION. 3G1 

This table gives a sufficient explanation of the reason why buckwheat is 
always used as winter food. The reason is still more ajtparent when wc 
know that butter and syrup, wliicli are eaten with buckwheat cakes, are 
also producers of heat. It shows that veal is a very fit food for chiklrun 
and very unfit for aged people. In cold climates, particularly, where men 
are much in the open air, they instinctively crave fat meat. At the tropics, 
instinct teaches man to consume an abundance of fruits and vegetables. In 
temperate regions, where we may indulge with impunity in a variety ot 
food, instinct is not so strong, or at least does not point out so unerringly 
what we should cat, and therefore the question should be more fully dis- 
cussed ; for among all the arts of civilized life there are none in which all 
are more interested than the preparation of our daily food. 

3S3. Changes produced in Cooking Vegetables. — Many vegetables, for in- 
stance the potato, in a raw state, are wholly unfit for food. Every house- 
keeper knows that cooking renders them palatable and wholesome, but every 
one does not know how they arc affected by heat, nor why one mode of 
cooking makes them acceptable to the taste, while they may be nearly 
spoiled by a different application of heat. Hence it is not always applied 
in the right manner to produce the best effect. 

It is often said of potatoes, " they were spoiled in the cooking." Look at 
tlie reason. A pound of potatoes contains on an average about three quar- 
ters of 'a pound of water and two to two and a half ounces of starch. It also 
contains about one fourth as much sugar and gum as it does starch, and 
about one sixth as much woody fiber. 

If a good, sound potato is plunged whole into boiling water and kept boil- 
ing until softened throughout to such a degree that it could be readily mashed, 
the starch-grains burst and absorb the water, so that the mass appears more 
like meal than like starch boiled in water, and is then in a condition to af- 
ford its nutritious properties readily to the system. If potatoes are naturally 
bad, cooking will not make them good, but bad cooking will make the best 
potatoes quite unfit for human food. If they are put into cold water and 
simmered slowly till soft, they will generally become so waxy that they are 
quite indigestible. 

If potatoes are roasted or baked, they should be put into a hot oven 
or buried in hot embers, and kept hot until taken out, which should be 
as soon as sufficiently cooked — otherwise a new change takes place, the wa- 
ter begins to evaporate, and the outside burns, while the interior soon be- 
comes worthless. 

In frying potatoes, the starch and fibrin are often turned to charcoal, 
which is just as nutritious and digestible as charcoal made of wood. As it 
is with potatoes, so it is M'ith many other vegetables — they may be spoiled 
by improper cooking. As a general rule, put all into boiling water and 
keep it boiling briskly till the articles are sufficiently cooked. Never at- 
tempt to cook green vegetables in what is termed hard water ; it will some- 
times render green peas wholly unfit for food. The difficulty is often rem- 



362 DOMESTIC ECOXOMY. [Chap. IV. 



cdiccl by putting a little lump of potash, saleratns, or soda in the water. If 
too much is used, it causes the vegetables to fall to pieces. 

GS4. Reasons for Improved Cookery. — Erasmus says : " Cad feeding makes 
llie vulgar seditious and quarrelsome." Perhaps this will account for the 
quarrelsome cliaracter of some families. We seriously think every young 
woman should have some knowledge of cooking. Ignorance upon this 
subject ought to be a reproach. Few nations liave the wealth of material 
for fine cookery that we possess. Fish, flesh, and fowl are abundant ; fruits 
and vegetables unsurpassable, and can be raised without groat labor or ex- 
pense, and it is owing to our own culpable carelessness in all that pertains 
to liealth that we are not the liealthiest, best fed, and best trained people in 
t!ic woild. Yet Americans generally undervalue preparations for eating. 
Disdaining gluttony, despising pampering to fancies, tliey run into the op- 
posite extreme of neglecting that v/hich is of real value to their bodies. This 
inattention proceeds not from inability to comprehend the science of cook- 
ery, nor real dislike to good tilings, for their appreciative power of such is 
on a par with that of other nations ; but tliey grow iip with the idea that it 
is imbecoming to be dainty, and beneatli their dignity and independence of 
character to think too much of their stomachs. American mothers too 
seldom instruct their daughters in the culinary art. 

In early times necessities were stronger than comforts ; kitchens were un- 
furnished with conveniences ; cooking utensils were clumsy and scarce ; 
pots and kettles did double duty ; iron skillets were used instead of sauce- 
pans. This is not and need not be the case now. Every farm-house should 
have all the modern improvements for cooking, and then as a general thing 
our cooking should be better ; and as necessities are no longer stronger than 
comforts, the reason that we lack the comforts is because our young Ameri- 
can housekeepers lack the knowledge, and, ibr a certainty, their Irish cooks 
do not possess much of the science of the useful art of cookery. 

Every beginner thinks it an easy thing to learn, and, without any knowl- 
edge of the necessary rudiments, expects to blunder into some sort of pro- 
ficiency, so that in time ihe mistakes come to be regarded as the rule, and 
they abide by their own experience, rather than accept of rules that science 
teaches. 

Another, and perhaps to most people the most important reason for im- 
proved cookery is, the economy of food. " "What shall we eat ?" and " How 
shall it be cooked?" should be made a part of the household economy of 
eveiy family, particularly every one who purchases food by the wages of 
daily labor. This question is not an idle one, and only interesting to those 
who live in ciaes. It is equally so to those who furnish the city with 
food. Let us glance at the prices which the consumers in the city have 
to pay. 

Of late years, the price of butchers' meats in New York, at retail, have 
been frequently at the following rates : 

For roasting pieces of beef and beef-steaks, the nominal price per pound 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 363 



is from 18 to 25 ceuts, while the real price, owing to the cheating in weight, 
is often 25 per cent, higher. A piece only iit for soiij) is charged at about 
12 or 15 ceuts, and a &Iiin-bonc. with very little meat, rates at 10 cents a 
pound. Plates, navels, necks, briskets, and rounds are rarely sold fresh, 
and one of the strongest reasons given by butchers for selling the portions 
universally called for at such high prices is, that they can not retail the 
coarser jjarts at any price, except the small portion taken as corned beef, and 
for this the price is sometimes from 12 to IS cents a pound. A leg or loin 
of mutton is sold at 10 to 20 cents a pound, and all the coarser parts at 12 
to 16 cents, and some of them are coarse and poor enough. Veal that is fit 
to eat, is sold at about the same price per pound as mutton. Lamb is fifty 
per cent, higher. Fresh pork — miserably poor, too — sells at 12 to 15 cents. 
Salt pork and smoked bacon sell for 15 to IS cents, and smoked beef the 
same. 

When the greatest meat-eating people in the world pay such prices, it 
would be reasonable to expect that they would be willing to learn and 
practice improved cookery. We are sorry to say that they do not. A school 
that teaches the art is rare. It should*, as a universal rule, be taught in all 
schools. In many families, with all the economy of the best housekeeping, 
it certainly is a question of serious import as to what we shall eat, that will 
afford sufficient nourishment and variety of food for health, and still enable 
those whose income is limited to keep expenses below that limit. In such 
families it is important that they should learu how to cook butchers' meat 
more economically than it is generally in America. In some measure ad- 
vantage can be taken, though it seldom is, in buying fresh meat. The 
l^rice by the piece or by the quarter, of beef and mutton, often varies fifty 
per cent, and a fore-quarter always sells the lowest ; yet, to the consumer, 
it is absolutely the most valuable. 

The truest economy is to eat less expensive meat and more vegetables, 
and learn how to compound them as the French do, so as to make whole- 
some, nutritious, economical food by improved cookery. 

3S5. U':i{cr for Cooking. — One reason why we have treated so largely upon 
cisterns (s'.e CG3, 331r), and why we made one for family use while we had 
a never-failing well of water, is because rain-water is the best of all for 
culinary purposes. Wliat is termed hard-water is unfit for cooking some 
kinds of vegetables, and is never good for tea. We have already stated that 
water is sometimes so hard that green peas could not be cooked soft in it. 
On the other hand, care must be taken in the use of rain-water, or the tender 
vegetables M-ill be broken down by a little over-boiling. In such water 
always be careful to throw as much salt as will serve to season the vege- 
tables for the jjalate. Onions lose nearly all their peculiar flavor when boiled 
in soft water without salt. This matter of suitable water for the kitchen 
has quite as much importance to the cook as it has to the laundress. 

386. A New Cooking Vessel Wanted.— A writer in the Scientific American 
suggests an improvement in cooking vessels that we hope will be at onco 



364: DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



acted upon. It is to coat the inside willi silver or platinum, which could be 
done b}' the galvanic battery, so that the expense would not be too great for 
ordinary use in the houses of those who are able to live in a way suited to a 
high order of civilization. This would be a particularly desirable improve- 
ment in kettles for heating water for tea. So it would for such cookery 
as requires porcelain-lined kettles. From the greatly increased supply of 
silver from "Washoe, Arizona, and other silver mines, we may j'et be able 
to improve our domestic utensils. Iron, copper, brass, zinc, are all objec- 
tionable for many purposes, and porcelain lining is soon destroyed by care- 
less cooks. 

357. Flour — How to Select Goodi — Farmers of all the Eastern States buy 
flour, and some of them are not very good judges of what they buy. There 
are a few plain rules to observe in buj'ing flour l)y whicli you can tell its 
quality, and select that whicli is good. The best flour is not snowy wliite, 
but has a yellowish tint when a handful is squeezed together and then 
broken open. Lay a little in the palm of your hand and smooth it with a 
knife or your finger, and see that it is free from specks, and of even fineness, 
but not an impalpable powder. To prove this, throw a little lump against a 
perpendicular board or smooth wall, upon M'hich the most of it, if good, 
should stick. Good flour, squeezed in the hand, will retain its shape. If 
yon wet a little in your hand, see that it does not work soft and sticky, or 
you may get spring-wheat instead of winter-wheat flour. Flour that works 
sticky is not good. If it has a bluish tint it is not good. If it falls in dry 
powder when thrown, or if it falls apart, dry and powdery, when squeezed, 
it is not good. We commend to all families who buy flour the trial of these 
tests with the flour now on hand, the quality of which is known. 

358. Adulteratioiis of Foodi — The first object of a housekeeper should be 
to procure unadulterated articles. This is very diSicult for city people to 
do, owing to the adulteration of almost every article of food prepared for 
sale. But this is not the case with most of the food used by farmers, because 
it is made of home products. 

Many of the adulterations of such articles as are usually purchased may 
be detected by simple tests. The microscope reveals the adulterations of 
flour, sugar, farina, arrow-root, starch, salt, etc. 

Bread, that most important article of food, is always more healthful in a 
farmer's family, because it is free from adulterations, or at least much more 
free than baker's bread. 

389. How Eating Affects tbe IleaHhi — To meet at the breakfast-table, father, 
mother, children, all well, ought to be a happiness to any heart ; it should 
be a source of humble gratitude, and should wake up the warmest feelings 
of our nature. Make it a rule never to come to the table in a churlish mood. 
Let joy pervade your meals. 

" The tables of the rich and the nobles of England are centers of mirth, 
wit, and bonhomie, and they live long. It takes hours to get through a 
repast. The negroes of a well-to-do family in Kentucky, while at their 



Sec. 22.] 



THE FOOD QUESTION". 



365 



meals, abandon themselves to jabber and mirth, and they enjoy life. At the 
family-table all should meet to make a common interchange of high-bred 
courtesies; of warm aftections; of cheering mirthfulness, and that generosity 
of nature which lifts us above the brutes which perish ; for such things pro- 
mote good digestion, health, and long life. Children in good health, if left 
to themselves at the table, become, after a few mouthfuls, garrulous and 
noisy ; but if within bounds at all reasonable or bearable, it is better to let 
them alone; they eat less, because they do not eat so rapidly as if compelled 
to keep silent, while the very exhilaration of sjiirits quickens the circulation 
of the vital fluids, and energizes digestion and assimilation." 

Let this excellent advice of IlaWs Journal of JJealt/i be followed univer- 
sally, and we shall hear less about dyspepsia. 

390. Early Drcakfast— its Effect on Health.— '"Breakfast should be eaten 
before leaving tlie house in the morning for exercise or any description of 
labor. Those who practice this will be able to perform more work, and with 
greater comfort and alacrity, than those who work an hour or two before 
breakfast. Besides this, the average duration of tlie life of those who take 
breakfast before exercise or work will be a number of years greater than 
those who do otherwise. 

" If early breakfast were taken in regions where chill and fever and fever 
and ague prevail, and if in addition a brisk fire were kindled in the family 
room for the hours including sunset and sunrise, these troublesome maladies 
would diminish in any one year, not ten-fold, but a thousand-fold ; because 
miasm is more solid, more concentrated, and hence more malignant about 
sunrise and sunset than at any other hour of the twenty-four." 

This, and much more said upon the same subject by Dr. Hall, agrees fully 
with our long experience in a miasmatic region of the AVest. Tiic most in- 
dustrious people who come from New England, where they had always 
been accustomed to early rising and working before breakfast, were the 
ones most liable to attacks in autumn of bilious fever and ague. Let us 
therefore urge every resident in such a region, never to go to work, nor 
go much out of doors before breakfasting, and let no expense or trouble 
about the work deter you from having your dwellings purified by fire. In 
some parts of South Carolina men have lost their lives from a single night's 
exposure to miasm, without fire. Hence, whenever persons are compelled 
to spend a night in such a situation, their first care is to build a large fire 
and, without sleeping, keep near it, even in the smoke, and thus they escape 
the danger of the poisonous aimosphere. ' 



366 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 




SECTION XXIII.-THE BREAD QUESTION-VARIETIES AND QUALITY OF 
BREAD, AND HOW IT IS MADE-YEAST, AND HOW TO MAKE IT FOR 
FAMILY USE. 

UCH is the importance of the subject in relation 
to tbe healthiness of food, that bread should be of 
the very best quality, we have devoted a section 
especially to its consideration. In this country it is 
the general custom to make bread in families, and as our 
domestics are not scientific, it is in many cases absolutely 
necessary that they should not be left to the temptation 
of using the readiest means for making bread acceptable, 
by putting in the convenient saleratus or soda, which, like 
charity, in that particular, covers a multitude of sins. If the 
dough has been put together over-night, it may have gone 
on to the stage of acetous fermentation, and a little sale- 
ratus (more than is necessary to sweeten it is often put in) 
will conceal the fact, and make all appear right. It will 
also save the trouble of kneading well. Let the mistress, then, if she do 
not actually mix the bread, overlook the process ; and it would be a good 
custom if all the ladies in a family would take their turn at bread-making, 
and thus insure its good qualities by efficient kneading. It can not be 
kneaded too much. But of that hereafter, and in all that pertains to the 
subject, we hope to give some useful information to all who are not already 
good bread-makers. Not only in bread, but in every article consumed 
upon the farmer's taldc, we beg of him and the mistress of the family 
never to lose sight of the importance of quality. The proper consideration 
of this question will save many a doctor's bill, as well as the misery 
attendant upon sickness. 

There is nothing that the good housekeeper so much desires about her 
cooking as to have good bread, and as all have not had the advantages of 
the daughters mentioned in the following extract of a letter to the author, 
we shall give as much information as we can crowd into a brief space upon 
this subject. 

391. Good Wheaten Bread, and How to Make it. — The letter alluded to is 
from a sensible, practical woman, who says: 

" I have been a housekeeper thirty years, and I have reared a family of 
six daughters, and we have always made our own bread, and it is a very rare 
thing for us to make poor bread. 

"Now, the first thing I strive to teach my girls is cooking, and making 
bread is one of the first items of cookery. I know that good bread can be 
made by the different kinds of yeast, but the recipe that is the most simple 
is the best. 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION". 367 

" Here is my way of making good bread : Take one pint of warm water, 
one teaspoonful of salt, put it in a disli sntticiently large to admit of stirring 
in flour uutil it is a thick batter, and keep it warm, quite warm, and in five 
hours it will rise or become fit for use. If it does not rise sufficiently, dis- 
solve a piece of common soda as large as two kernels of corn and stir into 
the batter. 

" You can make three common-sized loaves of bread with this yeast, 
which will be nice and tender. The soda is only necessary when the flour 
is of an inferior quality." 

Tlie following directions for making bread we give in the language of 
another good housekeeper. She says : 

"To have good, wholesome bread, it is absolutely necessary to pay atten- 
tion to the making of it, and to believe that making bread, like learning to 
read, does not come by nature ; that it is indispensable to learn every little 
fact connected with the fermenting or raising of the dough ; absolutely nec- 
essary to understand the difi'erence between vinous and acetous fermentation, 
and when an alkali, such as saleratus or bicarbonate of soda, is required. 

"Of course, good flour is the first requisite. The finer the flour the 
greater the labor in kneading it ; and the finest flour does not always make 
the sweetest and healthiest bread, yet the best flour is the cheapest ; though 
I must confess I can not advise about using inferior flour, for I have never 
had any. 

" The next important thing is the yeast, and I give the preference to tha 
made of potatoes. I have tried brewer's yeast, baker's yeast, yeast cakes, hop 
yeast ; leaven, which is a bit of sour dough, and needs saleratus to make tlie 
bread sweet ; in fact, all the various kinds of yeast, and after over two years 
of constant use, I am content with potato yeast. 

" The rule of making it is this : Take ten potatoes of nearly equal size — 
wash and boil them ; when cooked, peel and mash them perfectly smooth ; 
pour on to this a quart of boiling-hot water ; stir in a cofice-cup of good, pure 
sugar, and after standing a few minutes, pour in a quart of boiling water 
wanting a gill ; when lukewarm, add a pint of yeast to raise it, put it in a 
tightly-covered vessel to ferment, and set it away in a moderately warm 
place until sufiiciently risen, which may be known by the potato appearing 
upon the top of the liquid, and light, foamy spots bursting up through it. 
The temperature of the place where this is set to rise or work should be 
from 68 to 74 degrees ; too much heat is as bad as too much cold. When 
this is risen, put it into a stone jug and cork it ; tie in the cork and keep it 
in a cool place. A gill and a half, or common-sized teacupful, is sufficient 
to raise dough for two large loaves of bread. The source of the sourness 
which supervenes in bread, under careless or unskillful hands, was formerly 
ascribed to each of all the constituents of flour; to its gluten, which is 10 
parts; its starch, which is 70 parts; and its sugar, 4 parts; the other 16 
parts are water — but erroneously, for it is merely the result of the second 
fermentation, which always succeeds the vinous when pushed improperly 



368 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



too far. Tliere are extremely simple and effectual methods for enabling the 
baker to adopt measures either to prevent or correct the evil of acescence, 
and these are to neutralize the acid by the use of an alkali, such as soda, or 
an alkaline earth, such as magnesia or chalk. 

" If proper care be taken of the yeast, there is no danger of having sour 
dough ; and if the yeast be removed to a lower temperature after the signs 
pointed out, the acetic fermentation never sets in. 

"To make bread I set a sponge over-night. To a half pint of lukewarm 
water, put in a gill and a half of yeast and a pint of flour (after measuring, 
sift the flour), and stir this all well together, strew a little flour over the tojj, 
and cover the dish and put it in the same temperature that the yeast was 
in. In the morning, warm half a tea-cup of milk (if water is used, add half 
a tablespoonful of butter), add two tablespoonfuls of lime-water after it is 
warm, and stir this into the sponge ; have ready a pint and a half of flour, 
and knead this with half a teaspoonful of salt into the sponge. Divide this 
into two portions, and put each into a buttered pan to rise, and when the 
dough rises to the top and bursts into little cracks, it is ready to bake. 
Tliese loaves will bake in a common stove or range-oven, heated with coal, 
in thirty or thirty-five minutes. The advantages of lime-water are these: 
The dough requires less kneading, the loaves bake in less time, and tiio 
bread keeps soft and moist longer, and is less liable to mold, and it is healthy 
bread. After the bread is baked, it should be turned upside down from the 
pans upon a folded cloth, and left there until cool. Then it may be put into 
a covered tin. By following tliis plan, I never lose any bread from mold. In 
cool weather, the pans containing the dough should be placed over a vessel 
containing hot water, or each pan over a Ijowl or pitcher with hot water in 
it, and covered with a cloth. These loaves are generally ready to bake in 
two or two and a half liours. 

" To make biscuit, I warm a tablespoonful of butter in half a teacupful of 
milk, and stir it hot on a quart of flour, let it stand and cool, and when 
lukewarm add a gill of yeast, a spoonful of lime-water, and a little salt, and 
lukewarm water to knead the whole into a smooth lump of dough ; sprinkle 
a little flour into the bottom of the dish, lay in the dough, cover it, and 
when risen (which may be known by the dough's cracking and its spongy 
look when cut with a knife), divide the dough into equal portions and put 
in jians, and let them stand twenty minutes before piTtting to bake. 

'• 1 never use tin or metal ware of any kind to mix bread in. I prefer a 
wooden bowl and spoon, because they can always be kept clean and sweet. 
A still better thing is a yellow nappy, as it can be dipped into hot water be- 
fore setting the dough in it. 

'• As to the use of saleratu.s and soda, it is only tolerated by the grossest 
ignorance. It is the received impression that an alkali makes the bread 
tender, and it is indiscriminately used, and hence so much yellow-looking 
bread. These alkalies are only of service when an acid is to be neutralized, 
and then they should be used very sparingly. It is very difficult to enlighten 



Sm 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 369 



an ignorant cook, whose obstinacy is in proportion to lier ignorance, and 
■whose threat of leaving if not left undisturbed in her kitchen, frightens her 
timid, delicate mistress into silence and absence. How few mistresses there 
are who are able to contend with these kitchen autocrats, or are comiJetent 
to prove their ability to execute what they have undertaken to teach. 

"If an old housekeeper reads what has been written, she will cry out; 
• La, -what a fuss about bread-making, which any ninny can do !' And jf 
she has a batch of good bread once in a fortnight, and that by good luck, 
as she would call it, she thinks she knows all about it, and disdains to give 
attention to such a trifling matter. Yet, if you ask her why her bread was 
not invariably good, she can not explain otherwise than that the leaven was 
overworked, the yeast not good, the water too hot, or the flour was bad. 
No wonder this question continues to agitate the world, since the world is 
daily doomed to dough and burnt crusts. Good bread is the exception and 
not the rule in more than half the fiimilies of the world." 

For this reason we think that some farther rules for bread-making, which 
come from those who always have good bread, will be acceptable. The 
first is from Waldo, Ohio. The writer says; 

" I soak about a pint of dry hops two or three hours, or until the water 
foams, by which time I have boiled seven medium-sized potatoes, which I 
then mash, boiling hot, with a saucerful of flour, leaving the skins on ; then 
add a quart of cold water, little at a time, mashing and mixing thoroughly 
after each addition of M'ater. When lukewarm, I stir in the hop-yeast, and 
let it stand until morning ; then I run it through a cullender, with two 
quarts of lukewarm water, which I add part at a time, that the ferment 
may be rinsed from the potato-skins. Then add two rounding tablespoon- 
fulsof salt, and then flour until it can only be stirred with ditHcnlty. Then 
I set it over a kettle of warm water in winter, or in a cool place in summer, 
until it is very light, when I mix it and knead it thoroughly iintil it will 
not adhere to the table or bread-bowl. When very liglit, knead into loaves 
and put it in the pans, this time kneading as little and handling as lightly 
as possible. When it is again light, I put it in a hot oven, bake an hour, 
taking care by watching not to let it burn. When done, rub the crust with 
a little lard, and wrap up till cold. If the j'east sours, add soda to correct 
acidity." 

Another woman, Lynda Eall, of Clevit, Eaton County, Mich., gives her 
method, as follows : 

"Pare and slice four common-sized potatoes, and boil them in one quart 
of water. When done, pour the water off into a basin, mash the jiotatoes 
and' put them in the water, and wlien about milk-warm add one teacupful 
of good hop-yeast; stir in flour enough to make a thick batter, and let it 
stand about two hours in a warm place. Then put flour enough in your 
bread-bowl to make three loaves of bread ; add three pints of warm water 
to the yeast, and stir it in the flour, and set in a warm T)lace till it has 
sponged nicely ; then mold, and bake one hour." 

24 



370 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



Tlie two following are from the Granite State Healtli Institute : 

" Indian Snow-Cake. — With one quart of meal mix two tablespoonfnls of 
fine dry sugar and one teaspoonful of salt. Stir into this quickly two 
quarts of light, clean snow. When it is well mixed, put it in a deep cake- 
dish, sprinkle a little snow over the top, and bake half an hour iu a hot 
oven. 

" Potato Roll. — Boil one dozen mealy potatoes, nicely peeled, covered 
closely in just water enough to cook them. As soon as they are tender, 
drain off the water if any remain, and leave them over the fire a few min- 
utes uncovered. This is the best manner of cooking potatoes for the table, 
also. Mash them fine with one cup of sweet cream or new milk ; rub them 
through a cullender into a quart of flour ; then add half a tea-cup of fresh 
yeast, and sufficient sweet milk to make a stiff dough ; keep it iu a warm 
place until light; mold into rolls, and let it stand fifteen minutes; bake in a 
quick oven for half au hour." 

We give another practical rule for potato bread : " The evening be- 
fore you wish to bake, take six or eight potatoes, more or less, medium 
size, jjare, boil in water till done ; mash very fine, then put back into the 
water they were boiled in, and, when they come to a boil, have ready a pan ; 
I prefer earthen, as that keeps warm longer, with, say, a pint of flour ; pour 
on the scalding potatoes and water, beat w-cll, cool with water, if thicker 
than buckwI)C'at-cake batter; add, when a little more than milk-warm, half 
a pint or less of your bottled yeast, stir well, cover close, and set in a warm 
place till morning, when the mass will be perfectly light, if all the materials 
are good and put rightly together. Then mold out into small loaves, put in 
pans, cover, and set aside till they rise again ; be very careful not to let 
them over-rise this time, or all your care is thrown away ; have your oven 
of a moderate heat, and while baking watch carefully ; the loaves ought to 
bake in 40 minutes or au hour, according to the size. When done, they 
should be a light brown ; Vover them up on a board kept on purpose, and by 
evening you will have bread that is rich and wholesome." 

Another direction, from an old housekeeper, says : "Take two handfuls 
of hops, three pints of water, six potatoes ; boil all till the potatoes are soft ; 
pare them, mash through a cullender, strain the liquid ; then put it in your 
preserving kettle, over the fire, with the potatoes added ; also, one cup of 
sugar, one table-spoou of salt, one table-spoon of ginger ; then add flour 
enough to give it the consistency of paste ; let it boil five minutes, stirring it 
all the time. Turn out, and when partially cool, add half a pint of good 
yeast. Let this stand until fermentation takes place. In the winter I keep the 
yeast in a stone pot in the cellar, but in summer I dry it by mixing it with 
corn-meal, and spreading it on a table and exposing it to the air (tiot sun). 
Now we have good yeast, w^e will proceed immediately to make good bread. 
Wash and pare two dozen good-sized potatoes ; boil them, with a large 
handful of salt, till reduced to a fine pulp ; strain through a cullender, add 
three pints of sweet milk, and when sufficiently cool to bear your hand in it, 



Seo. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 371 

stir in as much flour as will make it into a thick batter; to this sponge add 
a cofl"ee-cnp of the yeast. I always make my sponge at niglit* In the 
morning I add six quarts of sweet milk and three gills of lime-water, and 
knead into a stiff dough. 

"Some housekeepers use alum, as it makes the bread fairer, but I prefer 
lime-water, as that coagulates the gluten ; and it requires less baking, and 
retains its moisture longer — and I think it much liealthier than alum, and 
health is the great desideratum. In two or three hours after you knead 
your bread, it will be as light and porous as a honeycomb ; knead it down, 
and when it has again risen, mold, and put it into pans. Let it stand till it 
rises again, then wash the loaves over with cold water ; this prevents the 
formation of too hard a crust ; bake in a well-heated oven. "When baked, 
wash again, wrapping it up closely in your bread-cloth. Wrapping the 
bread up in the steam till cold, prevents it from becoming hard and dry. If 
your flour is good, bread made in this way will be equal in appearance to 
the best bakers' bread, and in point of sweetness and economy, far superior. 
The quantities I have named make twelve good-sized loaves, and my family 
requires such a baking twice a week. For many years this plan has given 
me good bread, and I hope others will try it." 

392. How to make Good " Bakers' Bread,"— To those who would like to 
know how to have such bread as the city bakers make, we recommend the 
following formula of one that we know makes good bread, and we believe 
uses tirst-rate flour, and no deleterious mineral substances: 

Bakees' Yeast. — ^The following is the formula for making a tub of yeast : 
Four pailfuls of hot water, two quarts of malt, half a pound of hops, six pounds 
of flour, four quarts of yeast. The hops are boiled about five minutes, and 
strained. The flour is made into a paste, with hot water, before mixing in 
the tub. The malt and yeast are added when the water in the tub is milk- 
warm, and stirred briskly. It must stand from 14 to IS hours before it is in 
order to use. 

Feement. — The following is the preparation for mixing a barrel of flour : 
Boil one half peck of potatoes, which are to be mashed, strained, and mixed 
thin in water, with four pounds of flour and four quarts of yeast, and left to 
stand eight hours. 

Settino the Sponge. — A pailful of this ferment is poured into the flour 
in one end of the bread-trough, and mixed, with an addition of some hot 
water, into a soft dough, and left to stand three hours, when more water is 
added, and the whole mass mixed into a stiff bread-dough, and left two 
hours to rise, when it is ready to make out into loaves for the oven. 

SAm- Used. — ^The quantity of salt used in a barrel of flour is four quarts, 
and no other mineral ingredient is ever added by an honest baker. Care 
must be taken to use plenty of yeast, but not an excess, and that the dough 
is not left to rise too long. A great deal of hard manual labor is required 
in kneading dough, to have good bread. 
393. Browu Bread, or " Boston Bread." — An old Yankee housewife gives 



372 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



US the following valuable directions for making home-made or family 
bread, sometimes called — 

" Wheat and Indian Bread. — ^To two quarts of sifted Indian meal add 
hot water enough to wet the same ; when sufficiently cooled, add one tea- 
spoonful or more of salt, half a pint of yeast, and one half teacupful of mo- 
lasses. Then add wheat flour enough to make it into loaves (it should bo 
well kneaded), and when well risen, bake or steam it three or more hours; 
if this should get sour while rising, add a teaspoouful of sugar and a little 
saleratus dissolved in water. 

"Rye and Indian Bread. — Take equal quantities of Indian meal and rye 
flour; scald the- meal, and when lukewarm add the flour, with one half 
pint of good yeast to four quarts of the mixture, an even tablespoonful 
of salt, and half a cup of molasses, kneading the mixture well. This kind 
of bread should be softer than wheat flour bread ; all the water added after 
scalding the meal should be lukewarm. When it has risen suflacientlj-, put 
it to bake in a brick oven or stove — the former should be hotter than for flour- 
bread ; if in a stove oven, it sliould be steamed two hours, then baked one 
hour or more ; when done, it is a dark brown. The best article for baking 
this kind of bread in is brown earthenware — say pans eight or ten inches 
in hight, and diameter about the same — grease or butter the pans, put in the 
mixture, tiien dip your hand in cold water, and smooth the loaf; after this, 
slash the loaf both ways with a knife, quite deep. Some let it rise a little 
more before they put it to bake. Many people prefer this bread made 
of one third rye flour, instead of one half. When it is difiicult to get 
rye, wheat flour will answer as a substitute. It adds very much to 
the richness aud flavor of this kind of bread to let it remain in the oven 
over-night." 

Indian or Yankee Brown Bread. — Another old bread-maker gives the 
following information about Yankee brown bread : 

"Brown bread, kneaded and made into loaves in the common way of 
mixing white bread, dries more quickly than the white. I obviate this dif- 
ficulty thus : Take a quantity of meal, suflicieut for as much bread as you 
wish to make at once, put it in the mixing-pan with a bowl of rising, and 
add sufficient lukewarm water to bring it to the consistency usually required 
in making johnny-cake, mixing in the same manner with a spoon, but do 
not stir too long, or it will not have that liveliness so desirable in good meal. 
It is also a much neater method, as you are not obliged to immerse your 
hands in the dough. 

" Grease your pans, and fill not quite half full, and set it as usual to rise, 
which it will not be long in doing if the temperature is right. Bake one 
hour in a slow but steady oven. It injures a large loaf to cut while warm, 
though my family are very fond of it in this state, and I generally bake a 
loaf in a small pan to be eaten warm. 

" I can assm-e you that bread made in this manner will keep moist for 
several days, and even when it does become rather dry, owing to its being 



Sko. 23.] THE BREAD QDESTION. 373 



light and porous, it is immediately restored by simply warming the slices 
slightly in the oven of your stove before eating." 

We reproduce here, from a useful little book called "How to Live," 
which we wrote a few years since, for those who will try the economy as 
well as palatableness of a loaf of wheat and Indian bread, the following 
good receipt, long in use by our good mother and grandmother : 

" To two quarts of Indian meal add boiling water enough to wet the same ; 
when sufficiently cooled, add one teaspoonful of salt, half a pint of yeast, 
one teaspoonful of saleratus, one half teacupful of molasses, and flour 
enough to form it into a loaf (it should not be kneaded hard) ; when 
light, bake two hours in a well-heated oven. (It should be baked until 
brown.)" 

And here is another good receipt from the same book for making rye and 
Indian bread, which is both cheap and wholesome: 

"Stir and mix most thoroughly two quarts of Indian corn meal with a 
tablespoonful of salt and a quart of boiling water, or enough to wet every 
grain of meal. When the mush cools to milk-warm, stir in one quart of rye 
meal and a teacupful of good yeast, which you will first mix with half a pint 
of warm water, so that tlie yeast will be more evenly diffused. With the 
rye meal add water enougii to make the mass a stiff dough, but not as hard 
or tough as flour. It must be kneaded witii the hands. \^Rememher — rye 
meal is not rye flour. It is the unbolted product of the whole grain.] Put 
the dough in a pan, and pat it smooth with a wet hand. It will rise enough 
to bake in an hour, in a warm place, and should be put in a hot oven, and 
remain three hours; or if during the night, all tlie better. If white flour 
was not fashionable, or if people did not think that brown bread has a look 
of poverty, we should have the brown bread upon every table, for it is not 
only more economical, it is more nutritious and more healthy, particularly 
for children. 

" We do not eat oatmeal in this country to any extent, and yet it is the 
most nutritious breadstuff ever used by man." 

394. Potatoes tsed in Bread-Making.^When potatoes bear such a price to 
wheat flour that, when cooked, they are about half the price per pound of 
the flour, it is good economy to add of potatoes about one fourth tlie weight 
that is used of flour, for a batch of bread. Bread so made is pleasanter to 
the taste, and equally nutritious. The potatoes should be boiled with the 
skins on, and then peeled, mashed, and stirred into a pulp with warm water, 
and rubbed through a wire sieve, and then mixed with the flour, and yeast 
added as for other bread. The bakers of New York understand the economy 
of using potatoes in their bread, whenever they are sold at low prices. The 
small potatoes, which are unsalable for other purposes, are often sold whole- 
sale to bakers, and added to the flour. 

The potatoes make the bread moister than it would be if composed en- 
tirely of flour, so that for those wlio sell their loaves by weight, the more 
water they can be made to contain the greater will bo their profits. When 



374 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



about one third of the weight is composed of potatoes, it makes first-rate 
bread. Many persons prefer tlie potato-bread because it is moist, and never 
think liow much water they are buying at sixpence a pound. 

There is anotiier use of potatoes in bread — they make it appear light, not- 
withstanding its specific gravity. Potatoes take on the vinous fermentation 
quicker than flour, and sometimes that passes into the acetous state, which 
the bakers correct with bicarbonate of soda, or lime-water, still adding 
weight without any addition of nourishment. Lime-water is not objection- 
able ; it is only so that we should be induced to buy it at sixpence a pound, 
because the baker puts it in his sour flour or potato-bread, to make us think 
it is sweet. 

Prof. Liebig advises the use of one pint of lime-water to every five 
pounds of flour. Tiie lime-water should be prepared by dissolving lime in 
water to a point of saturation, and letting it settle and then bottling for 
futur* use. With this lime-water, use pure yeast, and you will liave light, 
healthy bread. With saleratus, largely used, you will not have wholesome 
bread, disguise it as you will. In using lime-water, add it first to the flour, 
then add pure water and yeast, and you will have better bread than you can 
obtain from any preparation of carbonate of soda or cream of tartar. 

Wheat, divested of all its bran, does not contain enough of all the health- 
giving ingredients, particularly of phosphate of lime, to satisfy the demands 
of nature. With such flour, potatoes are beneficial. 

Bread should be more thoroughly baked than it is usually, and not eaten 
warm from the oven. 

Dry bread should never be thrown away. By soaking and reconverting 
it into dough, it can be again baked into excellent bread. It is of such ma- 
terials that the delicious tea-rusks are made. Dry bread also makes most 
delicious puddings. Bread of fine flour is too much eaten. We recommend 
farmers to have their wheat ground more coarsely, and only take out a por- 
tion of the bran. They may also add corn or rye meal, with advantage to 
economy and health. It will be also economical in the country to add 
potatoes. It is not always so in the city. And it is not quite honest either 
to sell them at the price of superfine flour bread. 

For potato biscuit, grate one half dozen potatoes ; add one quart of water ; 
one cupful of hop-yeast at night ; and in the morning, when light, add three 
teaspoonfuls of sugar, and flour to form a dough. Let it rise ; when light 
put in tins; let it rise again, and bake one half hour. 

395. Sprouted Wheat Flour— its Effect oh Bread.— Sprouted wheat flour 
makes wiiat liousewives call runny dough, and that is apt to make clammy 
bread. To remedy this, it has been recommended to add half a gill of 
whisky to flour enough to make four moderate-sized loaves. But many 
object to the use of whisky to make bread, and ask if something else will 
not answer as well. We think it will. We think if about the same quan- 
tity of shortening is added to the flour that is commonly used in making the 
old-fashion Yankee light biscuit, that the bread will be light, fine-grained, 



Seo. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 375 



and free from all tlio difficulties usually attributed to grown wheat. 
The addition of a little butter or lard to any flour will not do any harm. 
Try it. 

396. Yeast — How to i>Iakc it. — The chemists have proved that yeast is a 
plant, as much so as mold or any other fungus. As we get it fresh from the 
brewer, yeast appears to be a j'ellowish gray or f\iwn-coIored, frothy liquid. 
It soon settles down and appears dead, but is still active. The taste is bit- 
ter, and it emits a ratlier disagreeable odor. Its effect upon all moist sub- 
stances is to cause them to ferment, by a rapid increase of its growth, and a 
generation and diffusion through the mass of carbonic acid gas, which makes 
the dough puff up and assume the condition called light. 

The great secret of bread-making is to use just the right quantity of yeast 
to produce a light loaf without having any of the flavor or odor of the 
yeast imparted to it, as it will if too much is used, or if the action of the 
yeast is not arrested at exactly the right time. 

We give in No. 397 the most convenient form for preserving yeast ready 
for use. If liquid yeast is preferred, it can be made by mixing wheat flour 
and water into a paste and letting it stand two or three days in a mod- 
erately warm place, when it will begin to emit a disagreeable sour odor, 
which afterward passes off or changes to a vinous odor at the end of six 
days. Then if you have the opportunity to get malt from a brewery — and 
if not, you can make it by sprouting barley or Indian corn, which must 
then be dried and crushed — you will make an infusion of malt and boil it in 
water with a handful of hops, and cool it till lukewarm, and add it to the 
paste previously thinned into a soft batter with tepid water. This mixture 
kept in a warm place a few hours, begins to show activity. Fermentation 
has commenced, and will work the mass until there is a clear liquid on the 
surface, which pour off, and the opaque liquid at the bottom is good yeast, 
■which you may keep as long as you like in winter, and in summer upon ice, 
or hermetically sealed in bottles till wanted for use. 

A good yeast can be made, when you, have the seed — that is, active yeast 
— from four pounds of peeled potatoes boiled in four quarts of water and 
a large handful of hops in a bag. The potatoes are mashed and thoroughly 
mixed with the water and a little salt, molasses, and flour to make a batter, 
to which a couple of spoonfuls of good yeast are added, and this will ferment 
the whole and make it fit for use as leaven for bread ; it may be kept a long 
time in a cool place. 

Yeast is sometimes preserved by dipping clean twigs in it and drying 
them and preserving them dry till needed, when they are soaked and the 
liquor added to the sponge. 

It has also been dried by spreading it with a brush upon a board and re- 
peating it as fast as each layer is dried until of considerable thickness, when 
it is scaled off, broken up and bottled, and sealed air-tight ; it will then 
keep for years. 

A yeast-plant has been found in California capable of reproduction to an 



376 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



indefinite degree when placed in a bottle with a little sweetened water. 
These plants appear somewhat like small grains of white-hulled corn soaked 
in water, or like the lumps of wheat flour wliieh form in boiling, if not suf- 
ficiently stirred. A spoonful of this substance put into a quart of flour 
mixed for a sponge will cause it to ferment, just as an addition of ordinary 
yeast would. Tiic difficulty in its use is, that it is rather liable to become 
too acid, but it is a pretty good substitute for common yeast in a new coun- 
try where bakers and brewers are not convenient. 

397. Yeast-Cakes, or Ready-made least,— Take three ounces of good fresh 
hops, three and a half pounds of rye flour, seven pounds of Indian corn 
meal, and one gallon of water ; rub the hops so as to separate them ; put 
them into boiling water and boil half an hour ; strain the liquor through 
a fine sieve into an earthen vessel. While hot, put in the rye flour, and 
when lukewarm add a pint of yeast. Next day put in the Indian meal, 
stirring it well, and tlie mess will be stifl" dough. Knead it thoroughly, and 
roll it out to the thickness of about a third of an inch, and cut up in cakes 
three inches square, and dry them on a clean board or a tin in the sun. 
Turn them every day, let them receive no wet, and they will become as hard 
as ship biscuit. Store them in a bag or box, perfectly free from damp. 
When you bake, take two cakes for three loaves, and put them into a quart 
of tepid water witii half a pint of flour in a vessel near the fire-place over- 
night, where they will dissolve by morning, and then use them in setting 
your sponge as you would the yeast of beer. These yeast-cakes may be 
kept just as long as you desire. 

Rye flour is better than wheaten, but not absolutely essential. Some use 
potatoes, but a lady writes us that she finds tlie addition of the potatoes of 
no benefit and no injury, and for years has used Indian meal only — which, 
being simpler, makes the work easier. 

To make yeast powder, take one pound of saleratus and two pounds of 
cream of tartar, mix tliem thoroughly together by passing them two or three 
times through a sieve. To each quart of flour add two heaping teaspoonfuls 
of this yeast or baking powder ; wet with sweet milk or water, as usual, 
and bake at once in a quick oven. The bread should be in small loaves — 
biscuit in the same way. 

398. Saleratus-Rising for Breadi — " In discussing this I aim at the health 
stand-point, and reject whatever impairs the nutritive qualities of the flour, 
injures its flavor, or discolors it. The excellence of bread and its lightness 
depend upon the disengagement of carbonic acid gas during the process of 
fermentation, which is the action of yeast upon the saccharine matter of the 
flour. Ferment or yeast is an organized matter, and its essentially opera- 
tive constituent is a peculiar azotized matter, wliich, in the wine-vat, is 
mixed with some tartar and other salts, and in ^the beer-tun with gum and 
starch. Azote is found in animal bodies, and certain vegetables contain an 
azotized principle ; indigo, caperine, gluten, and many others contain an 
abundance of azote. All bread-making which dispenses with kneading and 



Seo. 23.] 



THE BREAD QUESTION. 



377 



true yeast fermentation may be distrusted. Tiie compositions of what may 
be termed bread compounds, cveu if palatable, difl'er greatly from true, 
good bread. 

" It is not of what kind of eatable things bread can bo made, but how to 
best make good, wholesome bread that is as sweet when a day or two old as 
when first made, or better even than when new, that has no taste of yeast, 
none of the bitter of hops, nor the disagreeable flavor of alkali, and that will 
keep good a week, if necessary. 

" The preference should be given to that yeast that will make the light- 
est, sweetest bread, without aid from extraneous substances, that is least 
likely to run into the acetous fermentation witiiout infusing the bitter of hops. 

" The idea that alkalies make the bread tender is an error, the dough be- 
fore their introduction having run into the mucilaginous or putrefactive fer- 
mentation." 

But as many do and will continue to use alkalies, we will give some of 
the most approved methods. 

" For making prepared flour that can be used at leisure, to each quart of 
flour add one teaspoonful of saleratus and two of pure cream of tartar, and 
what salt is required ; mix them thoroughly together while dry, and set 
aside for use. Flour prepared in this way will last three months, for the 
reason, the flour keeps the chemicals separate from each other; it can then 
be wet up in the usual way and baked at once. Use this prepared flour for 
bread, biscuit, or any kind of sweet cake or pan-cakes, but do not mix the 
pan-cakes until you want to use them. 

" The best method for making bread with sour milk and saleratus is to 
add to each pound or quart of flour one heaping teaspoonful of saleratus and 
what salt is i-equired ; mix them well together ; which is best done by pass- 
ing it all through a sieve. Then add as much sour milk as will make 
the dough the usual thickness. Mold it in small loaves, and bake at once. 
If the bread should be a little yellow, put in less saleratus next time. For 
biscuit, it sliould be molded quite thin. Veiy little shortening is required ; 
it should be baked in a hot oven ; and, if baked quick, tiie steam will help 
to raise the biscuit." 

It is contended by the advocates for this bread, tliat " being free from all 
yeasty particles, it is more digestible and not so likely to create flatulence or 
turn acid on weak stomachs as fermented bread ; and when of the finest 
quality, it is beneficial to those who sufler headache, acidity, flatulence, 
eructations, a sense of sinking in the pit of the stomach, distention, or pains 
after meals, and to all who are subject to gout or gravel. It is also useful 
in many aft'ections of the skin. 

" These remarks apply to both varieties of tlie bread, but especially to the 
brown, which is further invaluable to all who are liable to constipation 
from torpidity of the colon, or large intestines — the common infirmity of 
the sedentary — and of those who have been accustomed to oatmeal diet in 
their youth. 



378 DOMESTIC ECOXOMY. [Chap. IV. 



" But the advantages of the process are not limited to matters relating to 
health. It is valuable because bread can be prepared by it in the short 
space of half an hour, thus saving much time and labor. It is valuable, also, 
liecause the materials are not perishable, and may be rendered available in 
places and at times when yeast and other ferment is not within reach — as at 
sea, for example, or in country retirements ; and it is still more valuable as 
regards economy. The cost of the chemicals is counterbalanced by that of 
the yeast, salt, and alum, otherwise employed; but were it not so, they 
would form an altogether unimportant item in the price of bread ; while by 
their use a saving is effected in the flour of not less than 13 per cent. In 
the common process much of the saccharine part of the flour is lost by being 
converted into carbonic acid and spirit, and thus waste is incurred solely for 
the purgose of getting carbonic acid to raise the dough. By the new method 
waste is avoided, and the gas obtained in a manner equally efhcacious. 
And it is a striking instance of tKe successful application of chemical phi- 
losojDhy to the common arts of life, for fermentation destroys a part of the 
flour or meal, so that 280 lbs., which make 3G0 lbs. of bread by fermenta- 
tion, give 380 lbs. by the new process." 

399. Soda vs. Yeast, and Bread without Yeast. — Without taking any part 
in the controversy about the healthiness or unhealthiness of soda bread, we 
will give extracts from the opinions of its advocates as follows : 

" Soda is a caustic alkali in its uncombined state. It is the base of com- 
mon salt. In this form it is daily taken into our stomachs with food, and 
also administered regularly to domestic animals by the careful husbandman. 
Let ns remember that notwithstanding the chlorid of sodium has been used 
from time immemorial by man, and always eagerly sought after by wild 
animals, it has also met opposers among ultra hydropathists. It is therefore 
not so astonishing that the bicarbonate, which is what is used in cookery 
and of recent introduction, should find many opposers. 

" Potash is an alkali extracted from wood ashes by percolation, and for 
culinary purposes is combined with two equivalents of carbonic acid, and 
sold under the name of saleratus. The chemical natures and physiological 
effects of the two bicarbonates are so nearly identical that I shall not keep 
up the distinction in treating of them, though from the fact that the bicar- 
bonate of soda is dryer and more easily reduced to powder, it is preferable. 

" To secure the desired effect of bicarljonate of soda, it is necessary to use 
it in connection with some acid which, by combining with the alkali, sets 
free the carbonic acid, in form of gas, at the time of baking. Sour milk, 
which contains lactic acid, is best. The lactic acid, having a stronger afiin- 
ity for the soda than the carbonic acid has, combines with it, forming 
lactate of soda, a neutral salt, possessed of no caustic property whatever ; 
while the gas, disengaged, fills the bread with minute cells and thus renders 
it light and palatable. 

" In the absence of sour milk, tartaric acid or cream of tartar should be 
used. If tartaric acid is used, tartrate of soda results ; a harmless substance 



Sec. 23.] 



THE BREAD QUESTION. 



379 



even iu considerable qiuiiitifies, and by no means unpleasant to take in 
■warm days in the I'onn of an efl'ervescing draught. If cream of tartar is 
used, the product is tartrate of soda and potassa, or Rochelle salts, which, 
in ounce doses, is known to be one at' our mildest saline purgatives. 

"A hearty cater will take only a few grains of any of these salts at a 
meal, and these readily pass off through the excretions of the body, or enter 
upon their physiological offices in the gastric fluids — the bile or blood. 

" These bicarbonates, used without an acid, render bread unpalatable ; and 
this of itself would prevent persons from using them to a hurtful extent. 

" Instead of being a curse to the world, the introduction of the bicarbon- 
ate of soda has been a great blessing in banishing lard, iu a great measure, 
from our biscuit. That the large quantity of grease necessary to make good 
short biscuit of superfine flour renders bread in a high degree indigestible, 
v,'ill be universally admitted. Make biscuit according to the following 
formula, and you have an article altogether superior in point of digestibility 
and flavor to those in which lard is used as the only shortening. 

''^ Rule 1. Flour, two pounds; fine Indian meal, a teacupful; bicarbonate 
of soda, a heaping teaspoonful. Thoroughly mix these dry, and make up 
with new buttermilk, or if the milk is very sour, add water sufficiently to 
make it about like new buttermilk. The soda must be neutralized, and, in 
using milk, judgment on this point must be exercised. 

" Hide 2. Flour and meal as above ; rub together dry a teaspoonful of 
soda and two thirds as much tartaric acid. Mix this dry with the meal and 
flour, and make up with water. 

" liule 3. Same as Xo. 2, except use a teasuoonful of cream cf tartar in- 
stead of the tartaric acid. 

" A very small quantity of lard or butter may be used with advantage to 
the taste, but it is not essential. These ingredients added to corn bread 
make a wonderful improvement on the old-fashioned hoe-cake. That this 
bread is healthier than yeast bread there is no doubt. 

"A liealthy stomach, especially in winter, when the system is in a vigor- 
ous condition, may take yeast in considerable quantity and digest the meal 
before the pjoceis of fermentation has time to take place. But not so with 
weak stomachs, or healthy ones in the heat of summer, because yeast is the 
deposit formed in fermenting liquids, and has the property, when added to 
solutions of starch or sugar, even in exceedingly small quantities, of excit- 
ing the vinous fermentation in the whole mass, and may, and often does, do 
it, in the stomach as well as in bread." 

But tbo sweetest, most nutritious, most wholesome bakers' bread, we 
believe, that ever was made, is that first brought into general use in New 
York in 1861, by the establishment of a large manufactory for its produc- 
tion, which used over forty barrels a day, when working in full force. Tliis 
bread is called " unfermented," yet it is as light as any good home-made 
bread, which it veiy much resembles. 

The following is the process bywhich it is made light without yeast: 



380 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

"The liest superfine flour, with a due proportion of pure water, passes 
from the bin, tlirough a large iron pipe, into a liuge, hollow globe of cast- 
iron, lined with tin, in which revolves an iron shaft with polished steel arms, 
whicli mix and knead the dough. 

" During this operation pure carbonic acid gas is conveyed from the gas- 
ometer into the globe by a powerful force-pump, and is incorporated uni- 
formly into the whole mass. Every ingredient is in definite proportion, and 
the most perfect accuracy is thus insured. By the pressure of the gas the 
dough is then forced through a valve into baking-tins, and in an hour and 
a half, from flour in the bin, it is beautifully baked bread. No hand of man 
touches it in the whole process. All is done by the iron hands of machinery 
and the power of steam. No chemical change whatever occurs in the flour. 
All its elements — the starch, the gluten, and sugar — are retained in their 
original proportions and purity, and the result is the best and sweetest bread 
in existence. By the old process a little of the starch is always converted into 
dextrine — a species of glue — giving the bread a dark color, and sometimes 
sodden texture. To remedy this, alujn is generally used, and the bread there- 
by further vitiated. Perfect cleanliness in the manufacture of bread has 
not been possible heretofore. It is by this process. 

" Bread made at home has been the purest that could bo had, for the ves- 
sels were carefully looked after, and the air was generally free from dust 
and decomj^osing particles, but none could tell what impurities contaminated 
the yeast, which, whether it came from baker or brewer, was necessarily 
more or less mixed with foreign substances. Home-made bread was the 
cleanest we could have, but was not perfectly pure ; while with the most 
watchful supervision and most careful cleanliness, bakers' bread, made in 
the ordinary way, can not possibly be entirely clean." 

Another advantage unfermented bread has over all other bakers' bread, is 
its remarkable keeping quality. It has been eaten with great satisfaction 
when twelve days old. 

"William Lounsberry, commissary of the 20th Kegiment, New York State, 
which had been served with this bread while in the city and on the march 
to Washington, speaks of it in the following terms : 

" The bread has been on our table every day since we left, and is con- 
sidered by all a great delicacy. It loses none of its flavor by its age, but, 
for mo, it really seems to improve. 

" It is sweet, light, and very palatable. I consider it, in many respects, 
the best bread I ever tasted, in addition to its power of retaining its excel- 
lence so long, the virtue whicli gives it its inestimable value. I wish I could 
be the means of informing a much larger number than I am able of its in- 
estimable merits." 

We have spoken of this method of making bread, not because it will help 
families to make better bread, but to show what improvements have been 
devised to make bread upon a large scale. The process would be a good 
one for the army and navy, and in all Large towns. It is proper to say. 



Sko. 23.] 



THE BREAD QUESTION. 



381 



however, that the bread is not a universal favorite. Habit so vitiates the 
taste, that there are people wlio love sour bread, and also bread that smells 
and tasres rank of yeast. To us it is not agreeable nor healthy. Tiiis " uii- 
fermented bread" is patented by Elisha Fitzgerald and James Perry, New 
York. 

400. Other Substitutes for Yeast— fheniicals iu Bread.— A substitute for 
cream of tartar has been discovered by Prof. E. N. Ilorsford, which he 
thinks far preferable to use with soda in bread. He says of it: 

" All these considerations led me to the conviction that, if it were possible 
to prepare phosphoric acid in some form of acid pliosphate of lime, such 
that, after its action with moist carbonate of soda, it would leave phosphate 
of soda (a constituent of the blood) and phosphate of lime (an essential con- 
stitu^t of food), and confer upon it the necessary qualities of a dry, pulver- 
ulent acid, the end would be so far attained as to justify a practical experi- 
ment in domestic use. 

'•I succeeded in producing an article in condition to meet the wants of 
the problem. I then introduced it into my family for use in all forms, as a 
substitute for cream of tartar for culinary purposes. When many months 
of daily use had assured me that my theoretical views were sustained by 
practical application, I gave it into the hands of friends, whose prolonged 
experience fully confirmed my own. It has been in constant use in my 
family now for more than four years ; and in the form of yeast powder, 
during tliis time, it has been produced and consumed in all parts of the 
country to a vei-y large extent, settling, in the most satisfactory manner, all 
questions as to its serviceability and healthfulness. 

" Tiie article is prepared according to instructions furnished by myself, as 
the result of long-continued experiment, and it will be produced of invari- 
able purity and strength equal to that of cream of tartar." 

Of the same purport, and having a direct reference to this case, are the 
views of Dr. Samuel Jackson, professor of the institute of medicine in the 
University of Pennsylvania : 

"Your substitute for cream of tartar for tlie raising of bread is a decided 
improvement. The tartaric acid is not a constituent of the grains from 
which flour is made ; it is not a nutritive principle, and often disagrees with 
the alimentary organs. The phosphate of lime, which is the principal in- 
gredient of your preparation, is an essential constituent of all grains. It is 
further an important nutritive principle ; and recent experiments have 
proved it is an indispensable element in the formation, not of bones only, 
but of all the animal tissues. A deficiency of the phosphate of lime in food 
is a common cause of ill-health, of defective development, and retarded 
growth iu children. In the conversion of wheat into flour, the phosphate 
of lime is rejected with the bran ; and, in consequence, this necessary ele- 
ment of nutrition, contrary to the arrangement of nature, is not obtained 
from our fine wheat bread. Your preparation, while it makes a light, sweet, 
and palatable bread, restores to it the phpsphate of lime which has been 



382 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

separated from the flour, and thus adapts it as an aliment for the mainten- 
ance of a liealfhy state of the organization." 

Other chemists and physicians of acknowledged high chai'acter and stand- 
ing have given similar opinions. 

If raising bread by yeast is properly conducted, it is quite unobjection- 
able ; but if, as is often the case, fermentation is allowed to proceed too long, 
acetic and lactic acids are formed, and some of the complex nitrogenous 
substances arise from the decomposition of the plastic bodies of the flour, 
and are incorporated in the bread. 

Yeast bread is never good unless the fermentation is arrested by baking 
at just the right time. Ordinarily, this right time is a period of short dura- 
tion, and probably not one loaf in one hundred is raised and baked when it 
should be. The circumstances wliich modify the time in wliich the fermenta- 
tion may take place are so various, that it may occur in thirty minutes or 
twelve hours. Tlie sponge requires constant watching, and this, in the mul- 
titudinous duties of the kitchen, it is not always possible to secure. Then 
saleratus or soda, to sweeten the sour sponge, is the resort of the cook ; and 
the result is an unpalatable and unwholesome loaf, unworthy the name of 
bread, and is really unwholesome food. 

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman recommends the following 
formula for nnfermented bread : 

"Take of flour 3 lbs., bicarbonate of soda 9 drachms, hydrochloric acid, 
specific gravity I.IC, 11 drachms. About 25 oz. of water will be required 
to form the dough. First mi.K tlie soda and flour as thoroughly as possible ; 
which is best done by sliaking the soda in line powder from a sieve over the 
flour with one liand, wliile the flour is stirred with the other, and then 
passing the mixture once or more through the sieve. Next pour the acid 
into the water and diftuse it b\' stirring them well together, avoiding the use 
of any metallic utensil tliat tlie soda might como in contact with. Then 
mix the dough and water so prepared as speedily as possible. The dough 
should be speedily put into a quick oven. Tliis manner of making bread is 
a great improvement, and will prove advantageous, compared with the fer- 
, menting method, and the quality also will be found vastly superior to the 
antique ' leavened bread,' particularly for dyspeptics, as it has this advant- 
age, that it never sours on the stomach. By this method bread can be made 
in two hours, and it saves both time and labor. The ingredients are simple, 
and cost little. Fermentation always destroys more or less of the flour, be- 
sides otherwise injuring it for the purj^oses of assimilation. 

" A large proportion of the bread used in some families is scarcely more 
than an active form of yeast, which produces in the stomach a new fer- 
mentation and a host of disorders. And then we witness, of course, the 
blue vapors, wdiich under difterent aspects are as ruinous to tlie welfare and 
peace of a family as are those of a distillery. If the proportions of acid and 
baking soda directed to be used are thouglit to be too great, they may be 
varied at discretion. 



Seo. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION'. 383 



" III bread-making the only purpose served by fermentation is the genera- 
tion of carbonic acid to raise the dough, and to effect this a quantity of yeast 
is mixed with the flour. But the eame purpose is gained by mixing a 
quantity of carbonate of soda with the flour, with a corresponding propor- 
tion of hydrochloric or muriatic acid, and bread so formed is more nutri 
tious and economical." 

Common salt always should be added, not only because it is palatable, 
but because it has a chemical effect upon the flour, so that that of inferior 
quality assumes an appearance above the reality. This is proved in ■what is 
called " salt-rising hvad," vrhich always looks whiter tlian the same flour 
made with yeast. Salt also has the effect to make flour take up and retain 
more water in the bread. Alum has the same efl'ect as salt in a stronger 
degree, and its use by bakers is dishonest, because it is much more delete- 
rious than salt to the human stomach. 

Sulphate of copper is another deleterious article in bread, but it can only 
be used in small quantities, without great danger, and produces the same 
results as alum in a still greater degree. 

Carbonate of magnesia, used at the rate of 20 to 40 grs. to the pound of 
flour, produces effects similar to the alum or sulpliate of copper, and good 
scientiflc authority has pronounced it harmless, or at least preferable to soda. 
Other authority says its inaptitude to become entirely soluble makes it 
highly objectionable. 

Probably the safest mineral substance that can be used in bread is lime, 
as reconnnended by Liebig (394). 

To prepare this lime-water, mix a quarter of a pound of slaked lime in a 
gallon of pure, soft M-ater or filtered rain-water, and cork it tight in bottles. 
The water will dissolve olof^i of its weiglit of the lime, and tlie balance will 
settle to the bottom, leaving the water transparent, which niay be used at 
the rate of 5 lbs. to 19 lbs. of flour, and then fresh water may be added to 
the lime until all that is soluble is used up. The quantity of lime taken into 
the system is so minute that it is believed that it is not only not deleterious, 
but positively beneficial. 

401. Prof. Youmjns' Opinion of Chemicals in Bread. — Speaking of the use 
of various chemical substances for yeast, Prof. Youmans says : 

" The class of substances thus introduced in the bread are not nutritivo 
but medicinal, and exert a disturliing action upon the healthy organism. 
And although their occasional and cautious employment may perhaps be 
tolerated on the ground of convenience, yet we consider their habitual 
use as highly injudicious and unwise. This is the best that can be said of 
the chemical substances used to raise bread, even when pure ; but as com- 
monly obtained, they are apt to be contaminated with impurities more 
objectionable still. For example, the commercial muriatic acid which is 
commonly employed along with bicarbonate of soda, is always quite impure, 
often containing clilorine, chlorid of iron, sulphurous acid, and even ar- 
senic, so that the chemist never uses it without a tedious process of purifica- 



384 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

tion for his purposes, which arc of far less importance than its employment 
in diet. While common hydijDchlorio acid sells for three cents per pound 
wholesale, the purified article is sold for thirty-five. Tartaric acid is apt 
to contain lime, and is frequently adulterated with cream of tartar, which is 
sold at half the price, and greatly reduces its efficacy ; wliile cream of tartar 
is variously mixed witli alum, chalk, bisulphato of potash, tartrate of lime, and 
even sand. Sesquiearbonate of ammonia is liable b}' exposure to tlie air to 
lose a portion of its ammonia. It is hence seen that the substances Vfe 
employ are not only liable to injure by ingredients which they may con- 
ceal, but tliat their irregular composition must often, more or less, defeat the 
end for which they are intended. "We may suggest that in tlie absence of 
tests, the best practical defense is to purcliase these materials of the drug- 
gist rather than the grocer. If soda is desired, call for the bicarbonate of 
soda ; it contains a double cliarge of carbonic acid, and is purest. Soda- 
saleratus is only the crude, impure carbonate — soda ash. The cream of tartar 
should appear white and pure, and not of a yellowish tinge. Carbonate of 
potash in its crude state ajipears as pearlasli ; in its more purified form it is 
saleratus. Crude soda is known as sal-soda or soda-saleratus ; refined and 
cleared of its chief impurities, it forms carbonate and bicarbonate of soda. 
All these compounds have the common alkaline or burning property, wliich 
belongs to free potash and soda, which is lowered or weakened by the car- 
bonic acid united with them. Tlie potash compounds are the strongest, 
tiiose of soda being of the same nature, but weaker. Yet the system, as we 
have just seen, recognizes essential differences between them ; one pertains 
to the blood and tlie other to the flesh. According to the theory of their 
general use for raising bread, tliey ouglit to be neutrsllized by an acid, mu- 
riatic, tartaric, acetic, or lactic, thus losing their peculiar properties and be- 
coming salts. These changes do take place to a certain extent, and the sa- 
line compounds formed are much less powerful and noxious than tlie nn- 
neiitralized alkalies ; their cflfects are moderately laxative. Yet, in the 
common use of these substances, as we have stated, the alkali is not all ex- 
tinguished ; much of it enters the system in its active form. Pure, strong 
potash is a powerful corrosive j)oisou, disorganizing the .stomach and dis- 
solving its way through its coats quicker, perhaps, than any otlier poisonous 
agent. When the alkalies are taken in small quantities, as when there 
is an excess in bread, tliey disturb healthy digestion in the stomach by neu- 
tralizing its necessary acids. They are sometimes found agreeable as pal- 
liatives when there is undue acidity of the stomach ; and, on tlie other 
liand, they may be of service in the digestion and absorption of fatty sub- 
tances. It is alleged that their continued use tends to reduce the propor- 
tion of fibrin in the blood. Cases are stated where families have been poi- 
soned by the excessive employment of saleratus." 

402. Baking Bread— Heat of the Oven— Quality of FIoiiFo— The heat of tlie 
oven, besides being equally diff"used, should continue regular. Tlie heat is 
right when flour sprinkled on the oven-bottom turns brown gradually, and 



Skc. 23.] 



THE BREAD QUESTION. 



385 



too hot if the flour chars black directly ; for then it will produce a thick 
crust, often burnt, while the interior of the loaf is underdone. The crumb 
is cooked at tlie boiling-point — '212 degrees — and might be done in a steam- 
chamber as well as an oven, but for the crust, which we all love so well that 
we are not willing to dispense with it for any more economical mode of 
cooking than the oven. 

The heat of the oven swells a well-raised lump of dough to about double 
the size hj the expansion of carbonic acid gas, and by steam arising from 
the moisture in the loaf, and by the vaporizing of alcohol, distilled out in 
the process of baking, to an amount equal to about one quarter of one per 
cent, of the weight of bread. A well-raised loaf of bread is more than half 
cavities. The loss of weight in baking depends upon the quality of the 
flour and size of the loaf. A one-pound loaf will generally require 1 lb. 6 oz. 
of dough. A three-pound loaf requires 3 lbs. 12 oz of dough. A six-pound 
loaf requires 7 lbs. of dough. This shows that it is the most economical 
to bake large loaves. 

If you wish to prevent baking a hard crust, you can do so by rubbing the 
loaf, after it is shaped for the oven, with a little lard, just enough to varnish 
the surface. The crust, however, if not bjirnt, is always eaten with satis- 
faction, its agreeable bitter taste being preferred by many persons. 

The crust, which is dry and crisp upon new bread, grows soft and moist 
after a day or two. Some housewives always wrap their loaves in wet cloths 
when taken from the oven, to ^jrevcnt the crust from continuing to get dryer. 
There is no need of this, because the moisture of the crumb soon softens the 
crust, and frequently leaves the crumb too dry. When this is the case, re- 
turn the stale loaf to the oven in company with a dish of hot water. 

The average quantity of water in well-baked wheaten loaves is about 
forty-five per cent. Tlie best flour contains six to ten per cent, of water. 
The reason that spring wheat flour makes moister bread than winter wheat, 
is because it contains more gluten, and that being once thoroughly wet in 
mixing the dough, is retentive of the water, even after it has lost its tough, 
adhesive qualities, in passing from dough into well-baked bread crumb. A 
portion of the starch of the dough also retains water by being converted by 
the baking process into gum. The loaf will retain much more moisture, 
and consequently be better bread, if it crusts over immediately upon its 
being placed in the oven, as it is then in a measure impervious to water, and 
shuts in all that the interior of the loaf contains. 

403. Th9 Effect of Kneading. — Good bread can not be made by merely 
mixing flour and water and yeast. The mass must be kneaded so as to 
be sure to bring every grain of flour in contact with its equivalent grain 
of water, and so as to diffuse the yeast uniformly throughout the mass, 
or else the resulting gas will be liberated in excess in one spot and not at all 
in another. This is seen in badly-kneaded loaves in the large holes they 
contain, and in a crust that easily detaches from the crumb, as though it had 
been lifted up by internal force. The air-cells in a well-kneaded loaf are 



386 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



fine and uniform throughout the mass, and all will be formed at about the 
same time. If the flour and yeast are decidedly good, and tlie kneading 
decidedly bad, the bread will not give satisfaction. On the otlier iiand, 
good kneading, good molding, and good baking, will make a second or 
third-rate quality of flour pass almost equal to the best. 

404. Preparations of Wheat and Other Substances for Bread. — There are 
many things which may be used to mix M'ith white wheat flour, or as sub- 
stitutes for it. A baker in Paris has tried a successful experiment to reduce 
the cost of bread by mixing rice flour with tliat of wheat. lie puts in one 
part of rice to five of wheat flour, and the economy effected reaches the very 
considerable figure of one sou in the two-pound loaf. The government has 
had the bread examined by competent persons, and has authorized the sale 
of it at a less rate than fixed by the police. Tiie demand is such that the 
baker can not supply it. Neither the nutriment nor the taste of the bread 
would appear to be affected by the presence of the new ingredient. 

The greatest advantage of mixing rice flour M'ith wheat flour is to enable 
the loaf to retain more water, and make a moister bread. 

Bread made of wheat meal, as is proved by the chemical experiments of 
Prof. Johnston, affords much more nutriment than that made from superfine 
flour. These experiments show us that 1,000 lbs. of wheat meal, or the 
wheat ground coarselj', and the hulls or bran portion sifted out by using a 
common meal-sieve, contain the elements of — Muscular matter, 156 lbs. ; 
fat, 28 lbs. ; bone material, 170-354 lbs. 

"VVliereas in fine flour are found only of — Muscular matter, 130 lbs.; fat, 
20 lbs. ; bone material, 60-210 lbs. Leaving a balance in favor of the 
former of 144 lbs. in 1,000 lbs. of the real elements of food convertible by 
assimilation into muscular flesh, fat, and bone. 

Now, as bread ranks among the chief, if not as the chief substance de- 
signed for the nutrition and support of the human frame, the above facts 
ought to have weight, in a pecuniary point of view, as an argument against 
the exclusive use of superfine flour. 

Unbolted wheat meal for bread is in high favor with many, and we think 
every family should use it a portion of the time. In mixing the dough of 
this meal, do not make it quite as stiff as you would white flour, and you 
must be careful that it does not sour in rising, as it will do so sooner than 
bolted flour. It also requires a hotter oven and longer baking, and the crust 
is more apt to burn. 

Rye flour mixed with wheat flour enables the loaf to hold more water. 
The objection to it is its darker color and rye taste. 

Indian corn meal is also mixed with wheat flour, for the same purpose as 
rye flour, and if pure white corn is used, it does not affect the color of the 
loaf, and makes very sweet bread. 

Of mixing potatoes we have fully treated (394), and recommend farmers 
to grow some of the very white fleshed, dry sorts, for this purpose. 

A French process uses ninety per cent, of the wheat making white bread. 



Sec. 23.] ' THE BREAD QUESTION". 887 

The wheat is ground into fine wheat flour, seventy-four per cent. ; brown 
meal, sixteen per cent. ; bran, ten per cent. The meal is then mixed quite 
thin wilh water and the necessary yeast added, and this is used to mix the 
white flour into a dough, which is baked as usual wiicn liglit. The bread 
is declared to be greatly improved, being less likely to sour, and is light, 
sweet, and nutritious, 

405. Com Breadi — Although Indian corn is a more universal crop than 
wheat, corn bread is by no means in universal use. The reason is in some 
measure to be accounted for in the inborn love of fermented l)read which 
the meal of this grain will not make. The use of "leavened bread" has 
been tliought by some to come in part from the early notion that it created 
a distinction between Christians and Jews.* The former always use leavened 
bread — at least the Protestants do, in their sacraments — and the Jews have 
their holy " feasts of unleavened bread ;" so that eating unleavened bread 
as a constant i^ractice has been said to be an unchristian act. It was also 
the daily food of the heathen, and in early times, when the first settlers of 
the country were very poor, corn bread was the only kind ; and the use 
of it now may call up reminiscences of painful poverty. It is also the only 
bread of slaves, and it may be looked upon as a badge of servitude. At 
any rate, the poorest classes of the Northern States make the least use of 
corn bread. Yet it is the very thing that they should eat, because it is 
nutritious, healthful, and economical. In Northern cities, corn meal fur- 
nishes scarcely one per cent, of the bread food, and not one per cent, of tliat 
is made into bread. In the ftirming regions of the northeastern States pure 
corn bread is only seen occasionally upon the farmer's table, though bi-ead 
made of a mixture of about two parts of corn meal and one of rye meal, 
familiarly known as " ry'u'-injun," is still extensively used. (See 393.) 

A much better mixture is one part rye meal, two parts corn moal, and 
four parts fine wheat flour. The rye and corn are mixed with J'east, quite 
soft, and set to rise, and after getting very spongy, the wheat flour is worked 
in, and the mass allowed to get light before it is put to bake. 

At the South, corn bread is almost the only sort ever seen u|ion the tables 
of many families who rank upon a par with the mass of Northern farmers. 
All eat it tliere and are content, both master and slave, and those who are 
hired, or sit at the table as guests. If a farmer at the North should attempt 
to feed his laborers exclusively upon corn bread, there would ])robably be a 
revolt, particularly if a majority of them were Irish, whose only bread in 
their own country was potatoes. 

Such laborers have yet to- learn that corn bread gives more working force 
than l)read of fine wheaten flour. Tlie latter gives the most brain food, and 
is best for growing children ; but Indian corn, eitiier in the form of bread, or 
many of the other forms in which it comes to the tables of those who know 
how to cook it, furnishes the laborer with a greater jiroportion of power 
than any other grain, and its value should be better known, and it then 
would be more used as an article of food. 



388 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Perhaps the reason wliy the use of corn bread is going out of fashion in 
tliis region, which is in tlie very center of the great corn belt, maj' be found 
in the fact that so many households are now served by cooks who were not 
born in a corn-growing country, and who seem incapable of learning that 
corn meal is not fit to eat in a semi-raw state. If they make it into mush, 
they only scald it. If they mix it into bread, they insist upon its being done 
as soon as it is lieated through. Learn, then, that corn meal can not be 
cooked too much— it seldom is enough. The best corn bread we ever ate 
was from meal well kneaded with notiiiug but water and a little salt, and 
then made into lumps about the size and somewhat the shape of a man's foot, 
and raked in the embers just like potatoes to roast, and there allowed to 
remain and cook all night. The n'ext best corn bread is the old-style johnny- 
cake, mixed in the same waj% and patted about three-quarters of an inch 
thick upon a board, and roasted before an exceedingly hot fire. 

The next best are the "corn-dodgers" of the Southwest, mixed like the 
first, and baked in an iron bake-pan, standing on hot coals, with hot coals 
on the lid. These dodgers are usually of two to four pounds weight, and 
when brought hot to the table are certainly good bread. They are much 
eaten cold, but ■we can not recommend them in that condition, only as being 
infinitely better than the half-baked corn bread common at the North. 

All the improvements of corn bread ever attempted by adding other 
ingredients have failed, to our taste, to produce an article equal to a well- 
baked ash -cake or corn-dodger. 

Eemember the three grand secrets about making good corn bread : never 
to grind your meal very fine, always to have it fresh ground, and never fear 
baking it too much. All corn bread should be cooked a long time. The 
negroes often bury the dough in the hot embei-s all night. 

One of the most common objections to the use of corn bread is its sup- 
posed indigestibility. On account of this character, which it has obtained, 
as we think, unjustly, it is avoided by many people who are of a dyspeptic 
habit. We think there is a mistake in ascribing this character to corn bread 
indiscriminately. If Indian corn meal is not thoroughly cooked, it is indi- 
gestible — more so, perhaps, than any other grain. But such bread as that 
above described as ash-cakes or corn-dodgers, we do not believe indigestible. 
We have often eaten corn-cakes, made purposely for a severe affliction of 
indigestion, and found them better than any other kind of bread. These 
were made of meal and water and salt only, and patted out into the size 
and thickness of Boston crackers, and most thoroughly baked in a quick 
oven. See Section XXIV. 



Seo. 24.] 



SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 



389 




SECTION XXIV.-SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD, IN GREEN AND DRIED 
CORN, POP-CORN, HOMINY, AND PREPARATIONS OF WHEAT 

OW truly has bread been denominated " the staff 
of life!" For it there is no substitute; though 
some of the excellent preparations of food treated 
of in this section may be considered substitutes, 
but they are only partially so ; yet they are 
worthy of our especial attention, because, as 
articles of food, all over America, they hold a high 
rank ; and a notice of them seems fitting in connec- 
tion with the bread question. Each one of the 
articles named in this section furnishes wholesome 
and economical food, and some of them should be 
better known in every farmer's family. 

406. Greeu Corn, or Roasting Ears.— Roasting the 
ears, is the primitive way of using Indian corn. It 
is the first use that the early settlers of America made of it, because that was 
the mode in which they found the Indians preparing it. The quality of the 
corn grown for eating while in its milky state, has been mucli improved 
since Captain Smith took his first meal with Pocahontas, on the banks 
of James River, in 1607. Certainly there can be no richer vegetable 
food than the best quality of sugar corn, such as every farmer should 
grow, when simply boiled, or when made up in that Indian dish called suc- 
co-tash. And if any farmer doubts the value of this green corn, as winter 
food, when carefully preserved by drying, or in sealed cans, we think he 
would be convinced, if he could dine at our table for a month in midwinter, 
where he would find it was one of the regular dishes. We have just made 
a hearty meal of this and another preparation of corn, directly to be noticed. 
It is almost a substitute for bread and meat. It is useless to advise any 
native American farmer's family to eat green corn, but it is not useless nor 
improper to urge nine tenths of them to use a better variety. And we do 
most earnestly ask every lami'ly to preserve cnougli by drying to give the 
family a dish of it two or three times a week, cooked by boiling in plain 
soft water two or three hours, and until nearly all the water is absorbed or 
evaporated, and then season with salt and butter. If a little saleratus is 
added at first, it will become tender with less boiling. Some like it dished 
up with milk or cream. It is also excellent stewed with beans (succotash), 
seasoned with a piece of meat, and it is very good in soups. 

407. now to Dry and Took Sweet Cora. — When the corn is in good condition 
for eating, the grains being fully grown, boil a quantity of ears just enough 
to cook the starch, and let them cool and dry a few hours, and then shell or 



390 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

cut off tlie grains and spread tlicni in the sun till dried. The best way to 
dry the corn is to nail a piece of cloth of very open texture on a frame ; say 
two feet wide and five feet long, will be a convenient size to handle. If the 
corn is spread thinly upon this cloth it will dry rf\iickly without souring. It 
should be covered with a piece of musquito netting to keep off the flies. 
Another person gives the following directions for drying sweet corn. 

" As soon as the corn is fit for the table, husk and spread the ears in an 
open oven or some quick drying-place. When the kernels loosen, shell the 
corn as soon as you can, and spread it upon a cloth to dry in the sun, or on 
paper in a warm oven ; stir it often that it may dry quickly and not over- 
heat. Dried in this way, the kernels remain whole, are sweeter, and retain 
more of the natural flavor by drying faster. When all dried, expose it to 
tiie wind liy turning it slowly from dish to dish ; the wind blows off all that 
troublesome white chaff." 

Another plan has been highly recommended and a machine invented to 
facilitate the operation ; this is to bore out the pith of the cob and then com- 
pletely dry the corn on the cob and keep it there till wanted for the table, 
when it may be shelled first or boiled as it grew. 

Directions for cooking dried sweet corn are very simple. ■ Wash and put 
it in ^varm water to soak several hours ; then in the same water boil it for 
a half hour. Just before taking it up, add some sweet milk or cream, pep- 
per and salt to the taste, and a little sugar if it is not as sweet as would bo 
agreeable. Sometimes a bit of soda as large as a pea in a half pint of corn, 
while soaking, makes it more tender, and corrects any stale taste which it 
has acquired by long keeping. 

This is a good dish with meat, dressed with gravy, or it may be eaten with 
sauce as a dessert dish. It is good enough, eaten any way, to be, and it 
should bo, upon every American farmer's table. 

408. Hulled Corn, or Lye Hominy, is another primitive form of preparing 
an excellent substitute for bread. In the form of " tortillas," it is the almost 
universal bread of Central America. We look upon hulled corn as one of 
the luxuries of American farm life, yet not one in ten of farmers' fiimilies 
ever enjoy it. It is particularly acceptable in the spring of the year, when 
old vegetables are on the decline, and new ones have not yet come into use. 
When the farmer burns wood, a white lye may be made in a few minutes, 
or cobs may be burned and ashes used to make a lye, into which put the corn 
to bo hulled, which should be large, white-flint corn, and let it remain until 
the hull will slip easily, and then rinse it thoroughly in cold water, rubbing 
it with the hands or stirring it with a stick till all the hulls are washed off. 
Feed the hulls and chits which come out to the pigs or hens, and boil the 
corn for yourself until it swells to three times its original size, and is as soft 
as bread. You may prepare and boil a gallon at once for six persons, and 
what is not eaten at first may be warmed over just as you would potatoes. 
Those who have no wood ashes or cobs to make weak lye of, may hull corn 
by using a teaspoonful of saleratus to a quart of corn, in water enough to 



Sko. 24.] SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 391 

cover it. In eitlier case the lye must be made liot after the corn is put in 
to loosen the hull ; and if the lye is not carefully washed from the corn, it 
will tiiste unpleasantly. 

400. 8au]!>, or Dry Uominy. — This is another and most valuable prepara- 
tion of coi-n, and an excellent, wholesome, economical substitute for bread. 
It is an article that no family, desirous of practicing economy, can do without. 
It is a very cheap, healthy, nutritious food. It usually costs only half the 
price per pound of flour, and contains no moisture, while the best of ilour 
holds from twelve to sixteen pounds of water in a barrel. In point of econ- 
omy as human food, one bushel of hominy is equal to ten of potatoes, for 
which it is an excellent substitute, and is almost as universally liked as po- 
tatoes, and at the South it is more freely eaten ; while at the Norlh it is 
seldom seen, except by a few pei"sons in cities. By hominy, we do not mean 
a sort of coarse meal, but grains of white corn from which the hull and 
chit or eye have been removed by moistening and pounding in a wooden 
mortar, or patent hulling machine, leaving the grains almost whole, and 
composed of little else t>ut starch. 

410. How to Cook Hominy • — ^The process is very simple to those who know 
how. As but few do, we give the formula of practice in our own family : 
Wash slightly in cold water, and soak twelve hours in tepid, soft water ; 
then boil slowly from three to six hours in the same water, with plenty more 
added from time to time, taking care to prevent burning. Do not salt 
while cooking, as salt or hard water will harden the corn ; so it will peas or 
beans, green or dry, and rice also. When done, add butter and salt ; or a 
better way is to let each one season to suit the taste. It may be eaten with 
meat in lieu of vegetables, or with sugar or syrup. It is good, hot or cold; 
it is good frequently warmed over, for it is like the old-fashioned pot of — 

" Bean porridge hot, or bean porridge cold, 
Bean porridge best at nine days old. ' ' 

So is hominy ; it is good always, and very wholesome, and like tomatoes, 
only requires to be eaten once or twice to fix the taste in its favor. 

In KeW York this article is called samp, and the name hominy is given to 
corn cracked in a mill, and winnowed, and sifted, and numbered according 
to its fineness. We add a few of the ways in which hominy may be used. 

Hominy Beeakfast-Cakes. — Mash the cold hominy with a rolling-pin, 
and add a little flour-and-milk batter, so as to make the whole thick enough 
to form into little cakes in the hand, or it may be put upon the griddle with 
a spoon. Bake brown, eat hot, and you will declare you never ate anj'thing 
better of the batter-cake kind. 

IIoMtsY Pudding. — Prepare as for breakfast-cakes ; add one egg to each 
pint, some whole cinnamon, sugar to suit the taste, and a few raisins, ai.d 
bake like rice-pudding. A little butter or chopped suet may be added. 
Serve hot or cold, with or without sauce. 

Hominy Salad. — To a pint of cold hominy add a small onion, a quaiter 
of a boiled chicken, or about the same quantity of lobster, chopped fine, to 



392 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

which some add a small pickle. To be dressed with sweet oil, mustard, 
pepper, and vinegar. It is a very good substitute for green salads at seasons 
when the latter can not be obtained. 

HoiiTNY AND Milk, hot or cold, is as much better than mush-and-milk as 
that is better than ryemeal porridge. 

Hominy and Beans. — Mix equal parts of cold baked beans and hominy 
together, and heat up, and you will have an excellent dish. 

Soft Hominy Brkad. — One spoonful of boiled hominy, cooled ; a small 
lump of butter, one egg, half a pint of wheat flour — mixed with milk to the 
consistency of cream. Bake a half hour in a hot oven. 

Hominy Waffles. — Two spoonfuls of hominy, a small lump of butter, 
two eggs, one quart of wheat flour. Thin with milk to the consistency of 
very thick cream. Bake in waflie-irons. 

411. How Hominy is MnAe, — The primitive way of making hominy was 
beating the corn in a mortar, in a considerable mass together, so as to rub 
oif the hulls by attrition of the grains, without breaking them. Nearly 
forty years ago, in floating down the Ohio River of a still evening, we first 
heard the music of the hominy mortars, which filled the air, as the voices of 
the negroes kept time to the strokes of the pestles, preparing a favorite food 
for their masters as well as themselves. But of late years the ground hom- 
iny, or cracked corn, has in a great measure driven the old hominy mortar 
out of use. Negro hominy is cooked by soaking and boiling until it 
becomes gelatinous, and then, when cold, if cut in slices and fried in a 
little fat, is often eaten in preference to any other bread. Hominy is also 
made by mechanical means, one of which is a shaft armed with files, 
revolving in a case with the corn, which makes a very nice article. 

At the South, negroes prefer hominy or corn meal to wheat flour, pound 
for pound. Corn is ground very coarse, and frequently eaten, hulls and all, 
in preference to sifting. Few would be willing to live upon that alone. It 
would not bo good economy to do so. It would be good economy for us all 
to use more Indian corn meal, and it would' not only be econonjical, but 
healthy, to eat more hominy. ' 

"We will add here several good receipts for cooking corn meal, as substi- 
tutes for wheaten bread : 

412. Virginia Corn Breadi — Dissolve one tablespoonful of butter in three 
and a half pints of boiling milk; in this scald one quart of Indian meal; 
when cool, add a half pint of wheat flour, a little sugar, a teaspoonful of 
salt, and two eggs well beaten ; mix well together, and bake in two cake- 
tins well greased or buttered. 

413. The St. Charles Hotel Indian Bread. — Beat two eggs very light, mix 
them with one pint of sour milk (or butter with sweet milk will do), then 
add a teaspoonful of soda or saleratus, then stir in slowly one pint of Indian 
meal and one tablespoonful of melted butter ; beat these well together ; 
bake in a common cake-pan, in a quick oven. The bread can be made very 
good without eggs. 



Sbo. 24.] SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 393 

414. Musb, or Hasty Pudding. — Stir into a half pint of cold water enough 
Indian meal to make a thick hatter ; put this into three or four quarts of 
boiling water over the fire ; after this has boiled ten minutes, stir in a 
dessert-spoonful of salt, and sifted meal until it is quite thick; let it boil 
from one to two hours, stirring it often to prevent its burning. 

415. Fried Mush. — Mush to be fried should boil a little stifl'er, with a lialf 
pint of flour, say, to two quarts of mush ; put the mnsh in an earthen dish 
dipped in cold water ; let it stand until perfectly cold ; then cut it in slices 
half an inch thick, and fry them brown on both sides in a little butter or 
pork fat — lard will do with a little salt. 

416. Indian Cakes. — To a pint of mush add milk or warm water to make a 
batter, and flour enough to make the cake hold together ; two or three eggs, 
two spoonfuls of molasses or sugar, a little nutmeg or lemon, to suit the 
taste ; bake on a griddle or in an oven. 

417. Baked Indian Pudding. — Into one quart of boiling milk scald ten 
tablespoonfuls of Indian meal ; when cold, add a teacnpful of molasses, a 
piece of butter the size of an egg, a teaspoonful of salt, also of ginger and 
cinnamon ; bake in a pudding-dish from one to two lioui-s, in a cook-stove, 
or longer if in a brick oven. When done it has the appearance of brown 
bread. 

418. Pop-€orn— Its Uses as Food— It makes Delicious Puddings. — We can 
not close this section upon substitutes for bread without bringing to the notice 
of farmers a new preparation of Indian corn, original with the author, hut 
highly approved by a very large number of persons to whom the new dis- 
covery has been made known. It is as much a pleasure as it is a duty to 
tell farmers how they can grow and prepare upon their own fiirms a substi- 
tute for rice, farina, tapioca, sago, etc., for culinary purposes — something, in 
short, that shall be as good as either of the above substances for the use of 
the good housewife, to make a pudding — a pudding that is not a mere 
adjunct of a dinner, but a real substantial addition to it; as hearty as one 
of corn meal ; more wholesome than that, more toothsome, and equally cheap ; 
BO that it is within the reach of all, both rich and poor ; and as I think it a 
valuable discovery in the preparation of food, I am anxious that everybody 
slioukl enjoy the benefit of my discovery. 

" Necessity is the mother of invention." It was so in this case. It was 
discovered that a pudding could be got up in an impromptu manner, upon 
an emergency, in a farm-house, when the ingredients in most common use 
were exhausted. 

For years popped corn had been an almost daily dish, all the family and 
all visitors liking it very much ; but we had never thought of reducing it to 
meal, and applying it to culinary purposes, until one winter day, when a 
pudding was wanted, and it was not convenient to obtain any of the ordi- 
nary substances used for that purpose. To the cook's suggestion that corn 
meal might be borrowed, the mistress of the house replied : " No, no — ^my 
father would rather go hungry than live by borrowing. Besides, I don't 



394 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

think there is time to make a corn-incal pudding; it requires four good 
hours to cook it sufficiently, otlierwisc it always has a raw taste; for corn 
meal is never good unless cooked a great deal. I think you will have to 
give up the pudding, hut I will ask my father." 

So she did, and he said : " Let us have a pop-corn pudding." 

" Oh, it will, I fear, be a waste of time and material, and prove a great 
failure." 

"No matter; there is as much to be learned by failure as success. Let 
us try." 

So we did. A pint of pop-corn was put through the operation, and it 
made sixteen pints of ])opped corn, which was first crushed with a rolling- 
pin on the kitchen-table, and then ground in the coffee-mill into a coarse 
meal, which measured eight pints. It is easiest crushed by putting it in a 
bag. We have since pi-ocured a large-sized coifee-mill, that grinds the corn 
without first mashing it. The difficulty was, that it was so light it would 
not feed regularly into tlie grinding-plates of the mill. We grow the corn 
for popping; it is a small, white, flint grain, upon small cobs, and quite 
prolific in its yield. It is popped in a small popper made of woven wire, 
and takes perhaps half an hour to pop and grind a pint. 

419. How to make a Pop-Corn Fuilding. — Mix five pints of the pop-corn 
meal with full four pints of sweet milk, and set it where it will warm 
slightly, and soak an hour or two. Then let it cool, and add two eggs, 
sugar, raisins, spice, as you would to a rice-pudding. Let it be set on a hot 
stove and boiled a few minutes, stirring it several times to get the meal well 
mixed with the milk, because it inclines, from its great lightness, to float, 
and if baked without stirring there will be a brown crust on top and custard 
at the bottom. It should be baked about an liour, and served hot, and will 
be eaten with great satisfaction — satisfaction that a new ingredient for a 
delicious, rich, wholesome pudding has been discovered — one always at hand, 
easily prepared, and one that has never failed to gratify the taste of all who 
have tried it. 

The cost of such a pudding to a farmer is the cost of the sugar, raisins, 
and spice — the milk and corn I count at nothing. What should I count the 
cost of flve eighths of a pint of corn and four pints of milk, which, if not 
eaten upon the table, ^vould go to the pigs ? The eggs would sell possibly 
for four cents, and the things bought cost as much more, in a pudding that 
fed eight hearty people. Let us tlien eat pudding— good, rich pudding — as 
much as we can at a meal, at a cost of one cent each. It is cheap ; try it, 
and you will say it is good. 

420. Pop-Corn Griddle Cakes. — Another use for this pop-corn meal is for 
griddle cakes. To my taste, they are quite equal to rice cakes, cooked in 
any way that rice is, and are much heartier. In fact, there is no stronger 
food for a laboring man than any of the preparations of corn in the way I 
have indicated. At the same time, its digestibility is unquestioned. 

421. The Philosophy of Popping Corn.— The philosophy of the advantage 



Sko. 24.] 



SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 



395 



of thus preparing corn is wortliy of our attention. Of all the cereals, Indian 
corn requires the greatest action of tire to fit it for food. It is full of essen- 
tial oil, and that ueeds to be cooked, and it can only be done by a very Iiigh 
heat or a long-continued moderate one. If long continued, the other con- 
stituents of the corn are sometimes injured, and so are the ingredients .added 
to the meal. If not -well cooked, any article of food prepared from corn, 
however palatable, is not so digestible as wheaten bread. N^ow, in pop- 
ping corn, it is subjected to a very high heat, which thoroughly cooks the 
oil, and fits the corn at once for food — a food that almost everybody loves, 
and so will everybody love the various preparations of food from meal made 
of popped corn, for it may bo eaten without fear by the dyspeptic, and it 
will be eaten with satisfaction to appease hunger. 

As we know that corn and corn meal, properly kiln-dried, will keep a long 
time, we may safely argue that meal prepared by a still more perfect system 
of fire-drying, M'ill keep an indefinite length of time, or just as long as we 
wish. If ground and packed in barrels, the pop-corn meal will keep better 
than corn meal or flour, or even whole grain. 

422. Hulled Wheat, Wheaten Groats, and Boiled Wheat.— Uid/cd wheat is 
another excellent substitute for bread. It can be hulled by lye, or by any 
of the mechanical means used for hulling corn or rice, one of which is to 
run it through millstones, set just far enough apart to rub off the husks. 
It is cooked by simply boiling, and is eaten in the various ways that we have 
mentioned for hominy. 

Wheaten Groats, or "grits," as they are usually called, are coarsely- 
ground wheat — as coarse as it can well be ground. This is also a substitute 
for bread. It is cooked by boiling in plain water, as hominy or hulled corn 
and wheat should always be, until all the water is absorbed. It is eaten both 
hot and cold, or warmed over, and it does not require as much cooking as any 
preparation of Indian corn, and it is both palatable and healthful. 

Every family, whether rich or poor, or in town or country, should make 
it a religious duty to use more corn meal, oatmeal, Graham fiiour, hominy, 
and criicked wheat for bread, in preference to fine wheat flour, both for 
health and economy. Look at the relative retail prices per pound of these 
articles, and see which will give the most nutriment for the least money; 
not which will aflbrd you the most fashionable bread. 

Boiled wheat is another simple form of preparing an excellent substitute 
for bread, particularly at harvest-time, while the grains are not as hard as 
afterwards. It should be carefully selected, and cleaned, and washed, and 
then soaked several hours, and boiled in the same water until some of the 
grains crack open. It may be eaten with meat, or as a dessert, with syrup, 
sauce, or milk. 



396 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 




SECTION XXV.-EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 

NDEE this head, -which really means selecting 
choice extracts from books that we read, we intend 
to gather \\p a great number of useful things, and 
concentrate them here for easy reference in a some- 
what miscellaneous order. 

We will open the section with a most valuable line 
of advice, selected from a letter of an excellent house- 
wife to her daughter, when about undertaking the 
responsibilities of housekeeping. She says : 

423. "Always Buy Good Articles, notwithstanding 
the first cost is more, in preference to cheap or low- 
priced sorts, which are generally the most uneconomi- 
cal; and sometimes low-priced articles of food prove 
detrimental to health. Make it a point to read every- 
thing that comes in your way about domestic economy. 
You can not learn too much. Keep a little memorandum-book, with alpha- 
bet pages, and make it a rule to store up exccrpta from all you read, for 
future use. It will prove to you a lasting source of useful knowledge. 
Frequently you need only make a reference in your memorandum where to 
look for what you want. No head is large enough for a storehouse of all 
that a good housewife will at some time want to know." 

424. Economy of Farm-house Lights. — This is a very important question for 
the consideration of farmers' wives, who may find that it will not always be 
good economy to burn their own tallow. Certainly not, if it can be ex- 
changed for a light-producing substance which will save the hard, unplea- 
sant labor of candle-making, and at the same time afi"ord a much better and 
a pleasanter light. Unfortunately, we have no standard of comparative 
cost of tallow-y-the almost universal source of farm-house light — with fluid 
substances. E. N. Kent, of the United States Assay Office, tells us, in the 
following table, which is the most economical as regards cost of oleaginous 
substances for light. 

425. Cost of Oils for Light Compared : 

w„,„_;.. , rr A Eetail Price of Oil Coat of on Eqn>I 

"""'"'''•• Lamp Used. per Gallon. AmouDt of Lighl. 

Kerosene oil Kerosene $1 00 $4 10 

Camphene Camphene C3 4 85 

Sylvicoil Eosin oil 60 6 05 

Rape-seed oil Mechanical 1 50 9 00 

Wiialeoil Solar 1 00.. 12 00 

Lard oil Solar 1 25 17 00 

Sperm oil Solar 2 25 26 00 

Bumingfluid Large wick 87 29 00 

426. Cost of Oil and Candles Compared. — Dr. Ure gives the comparative cost 
of an equal amount of light per hour from the following substances: 



Sko. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR UOUSEWIVES. 397 

" Carcel lamp, with sperm oil, lid. ; wax candles, 6d. ; spermaceti candles, 
5id. ; stearic acid candles, iid. ; molded tallow candles, 2id." 

427. Economy of Kerosene Oil.— From the foregoing it will be seen that 
kerosene oil is the least expensive of all fluid light-producing substances ; 
and as it is now retined, and burnt in improved lamps, we believe it to be 
a very agreeable substitute for tallow candles, but whether cheaper or not 
can only be determined by actual experiments in diiferent households, com- 
paring the cost per gallon with the value per pound of tallow, and the light 
produced or the light required. As a general thing, farm-house lights are 
very inferior, and many a bright pair of eyes has been dimmed in conse- 
quence. It is on this account that this question of light should be more 
discussed and experimented upon. Do not continue to use candles, or any 
particular form of lamp or kind of oil, because you have long been in that 
practice, if there really is something better. 

428. How to Improve Caudles. — If you do use home-made candles, pray 
purify the tallow, and do not mix lard with it, though you may add a little 
alum, and never use your candles any sooner than you would soap — until 
thev are at least six months old. Pack them in bran, and set them away in 
a cool, dry place, and see how much they improve by age. 

It is well to mix beef and mutton tallow, but the proportion of the latter 
should be small, because it sometimes gi»'es off a disagreeable odor. All 
good tallow is white, firm, and brittle, and dipped candles can only be made 
of it in mild M'eatlier. Be careful to use nothing but fine, M'hite, clean cot- 
ton yarn for wicking. 

429. Lard— How !o Make and Keep it Sweet.— The lard of a hog of about 
a year old, fattened upon corn, and carefully rendered and packed in stone 
pots or sound oaken firkins, and kept covered close, will keep in a cool cel- 
lar just as long as any farmer's wife wants to keep it. Lard must be thor- 
oughly cooked in rendering, to keep sweet. 

A cooling-room attached to the ice-house is an excellent place to keep 
lard in summer. Bat remember that lard will never keep well in any place 
if it has been insutficiently cooked. 

430. Rice and Sago should both have a clear, fresh, white appearance 
when you purchase. liice with the largest whole grains is the best. Rice 
is remarkable for being the richest in starch, and most deficient in oil, of all 
the cultivated grains. Old rice is apt to be infected with weevil. 

The small, M-hite sago, called pearl sago, is the best. The largc, brown 
kind has an earthy taste. These articles, and ground rice, tapioca, etc., 
should be kept in boxes or jars closely covered. 

431. Spices, Cocoa, and Chocolate. — Spices should never be purchased by 
a farmer's family in a ground state. They are frequently adulterated, and 
always lose strength as soon as opened. 

Ifutmcgs sometimes are kept in store until stale. Fresh ones can be se- 
lected by pricking with a pin at the stem end, when, if good, a drop of oil 
will ooze out. 



398 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. W. 



Cocoa shells are apt to be innsty from long keeping. Never piircliaso a 
large quantity until you have tried a sample and proved it fresh and sweet. 
Cracked cocoa is generally the best. Some that is carefully put up in 
papers keeps well. Chocolate is often adulterated so that it makes a nau- 
seous beverage. Do not buy but a single cake until you prove it good. 
Both these articles are made from the cocoa beans, which grow upon small 
trees, cultivated for the purpose in Central America and other tropical lati- 
tudes. The beans are bitter and astringent, and are roasted like coffee to 
prepare them for use. They contain much more oil or fatty matter than 
coffee berries. It is rated in an analysis by Lampadius over 53 per cent, of 
the substance. Tlie substance containing the aroma of the bean is given at 
16.70 per cent. The shells are the dried fleshy puljj that surrounds the 
beans in the pods. 

The cracked cocoa is the broken roasted beans. Chocolate is made of the 
beans, ground with hot rollers, and made into a paste with sugar, and sea- 
soned with vanilla and spices, and if not adulterated, makes a wholesome 
beverage, but it is next to impossible to And chocolate that is pure. 

432. Coffee, as it comes to us, is the half of a dried bean which was inclosed 
in a pulpy berry that grew somewhat like a cherry upon a tree naturally ten 
to thirty feet high, but kept pruned low in coffee plantations, which are to 
be found in most tropical countries. The best variety of coffee comes from 
Mocha, in Aral>ia. The berry is small and round, and the odor and flavor 
very agreeable ; it bears a high price. And next to it is the Java coffee, a 
large, pale j-ellow berry. The Brazilian, commonly called Rio coffee, is the 
sort in mnst cnnimon use. The berry is of medium size, greenish color, and 
appears rus'.ed with specks of gray. It is not a fine flavored cofi'ee, having 
a good deal of acridness, but it is in favor with farmers generally, because 
"it goes farther than mild coffee." All coffee improves by age if kept dry. 
It should be roasted verj' evenly, of a light brown color, and used very soon 
afterward, as it loses value every day after it is roasted, and after it is 
ground it will become almost worthless by a few days' exposure to the air. 
Eoasted coffee should always be carefully kept iu a closed canister, separate 
from all food, as it rapidly alisorbs odors. Roasting coffee in a room will 
always disinfect it of bad effluvia. It also imparts its own odor to other 
things, such as tea, butter, and bread. 

In roasting coffee, first dry it gently in an open pan until it changes ' 
color, and then cover the pan and scorch it rapidly without charring a grain.' 
The term, " burning cottee.*' implies a great error in its preparation, or ig- 
norance of its character. Roasting renders the grains of coftee brittle, and 
makes the matter that it is desirable to extract more soluble in hot water, 
and produces as great a chemical change as fire does upon corn meal or any 
other article of food. 

The peculiar aroma of coffee as it comes to the table, which gives it the 
flavor and stimulating effect ascribed to it, is never found in coffee grains 
before they are roasted. But if it is burnt, this flavor is destroyed, and 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 399 

in its place we have a bitter, acrid, tannic acid taste, which produces py- 
rosis in the stomachs of tliose who use it largely. 

Never allow pepper and cofTee to come in contact. The two should not be 
kept in the same pantry. 

The best water for a decoction of coffee is that with a slight alkaline tine 
ture, and it has been recommended to add 40 grs. of dry soda to a pound 
of coffee. It is certainly true that some of the springs of the Rocky Mount- 
ains, which are so alkaline as not to be drinkable, make good coffee. So do 
wells that will not make good tea. 

Never buy ground coffee. Besides the fact that it loses strength, it is 
almost universally adulterated. Peas are largely used for this j^urpose, and 
beans, corn, dried carrots, turnips, chiccory, and several other substances are 
also employed. 

433. Tea — its Value as Food. — Tliat tea has a value as food, we can not 
doubt. Long before its use among European nations, the Chinese had set- 
tled this question to their satisfaction. If it is not of itself food, it seems to 
help us to assimilate other things. It certainly is a favorite beverage with 
all who are accustomed to its use, and so far as health is concerned, we be- 
lieve it is certainly harmless, if pure, as the best black teas generally are. 
Tlie green teas, either from the nature of the article, or from something 
added in curing, have a much greater effect upon the nervous system than 
the black teas. Pekoe and Oolong are the names of two of the best varieties 
of black tea. Gunpowder and Imperial are the two best green teas. 

434. Uow to Make Black Tea. — Black tea must be boiled some minutes 
— thirty is better than less — in a close vessel, to get the fragrant aroma and 
all the vegetable extract that adds value to the delicious beverage we get 
from a well-made cup of good black tea. 

Never use hard water for tea. Filtered rain-water makes good tea. 
Never steep it in lukewarm water, and never let it come to the table at that 
temperature. The true aroma of tea is never obtained except when it is 
boiling hot. Tea should never be exposed to the air. Keep all ground 
spices, and also ground coffee, carefully excluded from the air, 

435. Sugar and 9Iolasses> — For most purposes refined sugars are the 
most economical. In buying raw sugar, select none but the cleanest sorts, 
such as the best New Orleans, or Santa Cruz, of a light straw color, coarsely 
crystallized. White Havana sugar is not as clean as white Brazil sugar. 
Select bright, light-colored molasses. Never buy the thick, dark-colored, 
srgar-house syrup. Its thickness does not indicate sweetness. For the 
table, the real " golden syrup" of the sugar-refiners is not only the best, but 
most economical. We make an excellent table syrup every year of maple- 
sugar dissolved in boiling water. 

436. Rnowledg^e for the Kitcheut — Here are a few simple rules for the kitchen 
that may be usefully remembered : 

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, and laid in a 
drawer with linen. 



400 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



Bread and cakes should be kept in a tin box or stone jar. 

Salt codfish should be kept in a dry place, -where the odor of it will not 
afl'ect the house. Tlie best kind is that which is called dun, from its peculiar 
color. Fish skin, for clearing coft'ee, should be washed, dried, cut small, and 
kept in a bo.K or paper bag. 

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and should not be 
used till three months old. 

Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, and left where it 
will become dry. It is well to keep it several weeks before using, as it 
spends fast when it is new. 

Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the cellar. 

Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as they are dug. Lying 
exposed in the sun turns them green and makes them watery. Some good 
housekeepers have sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. 
To prevent them from sprouting in the spring, turn them out on the cellar 
bottom. 

To thaw frozen potatoes, put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples, 
put them in cold water. Neither will keep well after being frozen. 

437. Storing Butter and Cheese. — ^The most economical, and, to our taste, 
the best table butter is that which is packed in September and October for 
the next winter's use. If well made, in a soft-water region, there is no 
difficult}' about keeping butter sweet in a temperate climate, if properly 
made. Never keep butter and cheese together, except it is in a very cool 
room, and then not in close contact. 

If cheese is rich and good, it always feels soft under the pressure of 
the fingers. Even if kept until quite old, it does not become horny. Be 
careful not to select a horny cheese. That which is very strong is neither 
good nor healthy. To keep one that is cut, tie it up in a bag tliat will not 
'admit flies, and liang it in a cool, dry place. K mold appears on it, wijje 
it off with a dry cloth. 

438. Keeping Sweet Potatoes, — One who is a successful grower of sweet 
potatoes in quite a northern latitude— near 42 degrees — gives the following 
as his method of keeping them over winter. He says : 

" I use dry sand to put them up in ; it does not matter how the sand was 
dried — in a kiln, a log heap, or in the sun — if it is dry, that is all that is 
required. I prefer drying it in a log heap, as it costs at least four times less, 
and is just as good. And a family that has a little room with a stove in it, 
may keep a box or two, with eight or ten bushels in them, without any in- 
convenience of consequence. The boxes must be raised a few inches from 
the floor, and they must not be less than four inches from the wall. Fill the 
boxes with potatoes, and then put in dry sand until they are covered. 

" I have known them kept well in buckwheat chaff. In order to beep 
potatoes with success, there must be a thermometer kept in tlie room. The 
mercury must not sink below 40 degrees ; if it does, the potatoes will chill 
and rot ; and it must not rise above GO degrees, or they will grow." (See 565.) 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 401 

439. Preserving Eggs. — The following receipt is of such easy application 
that all housewives should try it, and satisfy themselves whether it is all that 
its author claims for it : 

"Dissolve some gum shellac in a sufficient quantity of alcohol to make a 
thin varnish, give each egg a coat, and after they become thoroughly dry, 
pack them in bran or sawdust, with their points downward, in such a man- 
ner that they can not shift about. After you have kept them as long as you 
desire, wash the varnish carefully off, and they will be in the same state as 
they were before packing, ready either for eating or hatching." 

440. Beans— How to Cook Ihem. — " Few people know the luxury of baked 
beans, simply because few cooks properly prepare them. Beans generally 
are not cooked half long enough. This is a sure method : Two quarts of 
middling-sized white beans, two pounds of salt pork, and one spoonful of 
molasses. Pick the beans over carefully, wash them, and add a gallon of 
boiling-hot soft water; let them soak in it all night; in the morning, put 
them in fresh water, adding a teaspoonful of saleratus, and boil gently, till 
the skin is very tender and about to break. Take them up dry, put them 
in your dish, so as to have the beans fill the dish nearly to the upper edge ; 
turn in boiling water till the top is just covered ; bake with a steady fire 
four or five hours. "Watch them and add more water from time to time, as 
it dries away. Tliis is an old-time New England Saturday-evening dish." 

441. Tomatoes— Various Methods of Preserving and Using them.— There is 
no way to preserve tomatoes for winter use so good as drying them. It is 
easily done thus : Scald, and peel, and stew to a gelatinous mass, and sprcaij 
upon earthen plates, and dry in the sunshine or in a slow oven. It will thea 
resemble dried stewed pumpkin, or the pulp of peaches dried in the same way. 
When wanted for use in winter, a portion of this dried tomato is soaked first 
in cold water, and that is gradually warmed till the whole becomes a ho- 
mogeneous mass, more or less thick, according to the quantity of water used. 
It may be eaten as a sauce with meats, or, by adding sugar, as a sweet- 
meat, or in place of currant jelly with venison and mutton, or as a substi- 
tute for cranberries with roast turkey. It is an excellent and a cheap 
sauce. 

Tomato Chowder. — ^To one bushel of green tomatoes add one dozen green 
peppers, 12 common-sized onions, one quart of grated horseradish, one cup 
of ground mustard, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, whole. The 
tomatoes, onions, and pejjpers chop fine. Put the tomatoes and onions in a 
vessel over-night, sprinkle a little salt over them, and in the morning drain 
off the water, put all together and boil them in clear water until tender, then 
drain the water from them, mix with the above-named spices, pack in ajar, 
and pour scalded vinegar over them. 

Another way is to take green tomatoes, cut a small piece off the stem end, 
and also from the other side ; then lay them in a pan. Sprinkle with salt, 
pour boiling water on them, and let them stand ten minutes. Pour the 
water off and serve them in the sarae manner again ; then pour boiling wa- 



it 



402 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ter on them without salt, and let them stand a few minutes. Chop them up 
fine, putting in some cabbage, horseradish, and peppers ; and when all 
chopped, put on salt, pepper, and vinegar, and they are ready to pickle in 
crocks. This makes an excellent relish with meat. 

Tomato Catchup. — Scald ripe tomatoes just sufficiently to allow you to 
take off' the skins ; let them stand for a day, covered with salt ; strain then", 
to thoroughly remove the seeds ; then to every two quarts add three ounces 
of cloves, two of black pepper, two nutmegs, and a very little Cayenne pep- 
per and salt ; boil the liquor for an hour; let it cool and settle; add a pint 
of the best cider vinegar : bottle, cork, and seal tight, and keep it always in 
a cool place. 

Anothek Wat. — Take a bushel of tomatoes and boil them till soft; 
squeeze them through a fine wire sieve, and add half a gallon of vinegar^ 
one pint and a half of salt, two ounces of cloves, quarter of a pound of all- 
spice, two ounces of Cayenne pepper, five heads of garlic, skinned and sep- 
arated ; mix together and boil about three hours, or until reduced to about 
one half ; then bottle, without straining. 

Tomato Sauce. — One peck of tomatoes, one ounce of cloves, one ounce 
of cinnamon, one quart of vinegar, four pounds of brown sugar, two table- 
spoonfuls of salt, and the same of ground black pepper. Peel the tomatoes, 
and boil until very tender. Drain them from the juice. Now boil the 
sugar, spices, etc., in the liquid until it is thick as syrup ; return the fruit 
into this syrup, and stew until the mass is a jam, and it keeps well any 
length of time. This may be used to flavor the following sauce : 

442. Picnic Sauce> — Beat the yelks of four eggs perfectly ; mix with the 
eggs a tumbler of jelly, four large tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, four large 
tablespoonfuls of mustard stirred into a batter with vinegar ; to these ingre- 
dients add a teacupful of butter and two tumblers of best vinegar. Stir all 
together carefully ; set the vessel in which you have mixed the sauce in a pot 
of boiling water and cook until it thickens and the egg is done ; stir in a 
little salt and half a teaspoonfnl of Cayenne pepper and as much tomato 
sauce as will give it a pleasant flavor. 

443. Muslirooms, and their I'ses and Prodnclion.— It has been published 
that some of the great producers of mushrooms near Paris, who grow them 
in artificial caves, can produce at the rate of eighty quarts a day upon an 
acre of surface, which would give an annual crop of 29,200 quarts. Allow- 
ing the actual crop only one fourth of this quantity, it would be a very val- 
uable one, as the average market price in New York is 25 cents a quart. 
Say 7,300 quarts for the product of an acre, at 25 cents, this would be 
$1,825 a year. The construction of artificial caves, however, is so ex- 
pensive, that mushrooms are not likely to be much cultivated by farmers for 
family use, though many of them will continue to collect such as are pro- 
duced spontaneously about the homestead ; and to enable them to do so 
without danger of getting hold of other plants of the aganc family that are 
poisonous, we give the following rules to distinguish the edible mushrooms 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 



403 



from toadstools. Without giving the botanical characters, we notice some 
of the marks by which they may be distinguished: 

First. Tiie mushroom lias no bad smell. The skin on the top of the 
mushroom will readily peel oif. Tlie gills or plates on the under side of the 
mushroom are of .a white and pinkish or rosy hue, and though turning 
brownish by age, yet never of that lurid brown of the toadstool. Wlien 
sprinkled with salt and allowed to stand a few hours, the mushroom gives 
out juice, but the toadstool becomes dry and leathery. If all these charac- 
ters are united in the specimen it may be safely eaten, otherwise it should 
be rejected, as it would be better to throw away acres of good mushrooms 
than to eat one of the poisonous toadstools. 

Secondly. Mushrooms which grow in marshy, shady places, and in thick 
forests where the sun has no access, are in general to be regarded as pos- 
sessing dangerous qualities ; their substance is softer, moister, and more 
porous than that of mushrooms used for the table. They have likewise a 
more disagreeable and dirty-looking appearance. Those which have a 
dusky hue, and change color when cut, or show a gaudy or many very dis- 
tinct colors, particularly if they have been originally covered by skin or ex- 
hale a strong and unpleasant odor, ought not to be eaten. Those which 
have short bulbous stalks, or fragments of skin adhering to the surface, or 
which grow rapidly and corrupt quickly, should also be rejected. It has 
been generally supposed that poisonous mushrooms lose their deleterious 
qualities, but this is a rule to which there are many exceptions, and which 
ought therefore to be very cautiously admitted. 

If you wish to grow mushrooms, procure some of the spawn from a "gar- 
dener, and make a bed of light loamy soil, mixed with manure from horses 
fed upon grain ; it will produce these plants when the temperature is right, 
"which is about 50 or 55 degrees Fahrenheit, in dry, calm, summer weather. 
A cave cellar, or natural cave, or recess in the rocks, is a good place to make 
a mushroom bed. 

44:4. Drying Rhubarb. — Ehubarb, when well prepared, M'ill keep good for 
an indefinite period. The stalks should be broken off while they are crisp 
and tender, and cut into pieces about an inch in length. These pieces should 
then be strung on a thin twine, and hung up to dry. Rhjibarb shrinks in 
drying more than any other plant, and when dry strongly resembles pieces 
of soft wood. "When wanted for use, it should he soaked in water all 
night, and the next day stewed over a slow fire. N^one of its properties 
appear to be lost in drying, and it is equally as good in winter as any other 
dried fruit. 

Another plan is to cook it first ; for this get the Linnfeus rhubarb. It is 
larger, more tender, and better flavored than any other, requires less sugar 
by one fourth, and has no skin to be taken oflF. Do not attempt to peel it, 
but cut in pieces as long as the thickness of the stalk, and put them with 
yoor sugar in an earthen dish without water; cover it to retain the flavor, 
and place it in an oven and cook till quite tender, without stirring or break- 



404 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



iug the pieces. If too much cooked, it assumes a disgusting stringy appear- 
ance, and loses all fruity character. The rosy color of the stalks will give 
your dish an attractive appearance, and the dyspeptic will find in it a power- 
ful aid to digestion. 

This, if thinly spread upon plates, and dried in the sim or a slow oven, 
just as the pulp of peaches or stewed pumpkin is sometimes prepared, will 
keep as well as pumpkin, if packed away in thick paper bags or boxes, and 
kept in a dry place. 

Rhuliarb has within a brief period, quite within our memory, become 
generally ditfused, and is now looked upon as a family necessity rather than 
a luxury. Tliere are several varieties : Gaboon's seedling is the largest, but 
is rather coarse and not so high flavored as some others, of which wc may 
have more to say under the head of the garden. We will only speak here 
of one or two methods of preserving the good qualities of the stalk by dry- 
ing. For drying whole, the Victoria is one of the best varieties. Other 
sorts contain too much woody fiber. 

445. Facts about Pork and Bacon— How to Cure and Keep Hams.— The best 
and most solid pork is made by rapid feeding of pigs in autumn, which have 
been kept growing, but not fat, all summer. Hogs that are kept fat through 
the summer are most apt to afford soft pork, which shrinks in the pot. 

One writer says that — ■" Pigs should be wintered upon two ears of corn 
a day, fed very regularly, one at night and one in the morning, keeping 
them in a warm, close pen, without water, and they will hibernate in good 
condition upon this small amount of feed. If watered or fed with liquid 
food, and kept in the cold, much of the food is expended in keeping up 
animal heat. The pigs should be in good condition when put up, and must 
be well bedded to enable them to keep warm." 

440. Dry-Salting Bacon.— Hams, or any part of the pig designed for bacon, 
we think, should never be put in pickle ; they are decidedly better salted 
dry. 

Our practice has been to weigh both pork and salt, giving six pounds of 
fine salt to one hundred pounds of pork. Firet sprinkle about one fourth 
of an ounce of saltpeter, finely pulverized, upon a ham or shoulder, 
and then rub it well over with salt, and pile up the pieces in some dry 
room, just as you would pile up a lot of stove-wood. It should be over- 
hauled once, and the spare salt rubbed on fresh-looking spots, and tlie pile 
reconstructed so as to allow the air to come to all parts. It will completely 
salt in as many days as a ham weighs pounds. 

For pickled pork, it is advantageous to salt it in bulk, before packing in 
barrels. Nothing will drain off from meat thus salted, but just what should 
drain away. When your pork is ready to go into the barrel, pack it as tight 
as you can force it in, and then fill the barrel with brine ; not salted water, 
but brine, which is water saturated with salt. Pork thus cured will keep 
longer than we can calculate. 

447. English and Irish Mode of Curing Bacon.— The Irish Farmer^s Gazette 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES, 405 

gives the following directions : " Singe off the hair, and scrape thoroughly 
clean ; when cut up, rub the flesh side well with common salt, and pack the 
pieces on top of each other on a tray with a gutter round it to catch the 
brine; once every four or five days the salt should be changed, and the 
flitches moved, placing those on top at the bottom ; five or six weeks of this 
treatment will suflice to cure the bacon, when it may be hung up to dry, 
first rubbing over with coarse bran, or any kind of sawdust except deal ; 
if smoking be preferred, hang in a chimney ; if not, in a dry, airy part 
of the kitchen, not too near the fire. "We are not acquainted with tiie 
Limerick mercantile process ; the Wicklow is similar to that given above, 
and practiced by farmers there." 

An English recipe says: "For four hams, take two ounces of saltpeter, 
two quarts of molasses, one quarter of a pound of pepper, half an ounce of 
cochineal, and about three pints of fine salt. If the hams have been in salt 
pickle, the salt will not be needed. Pound the saltpeter and cochineal, then 
put all these ingredients together, and rub the hams thoroughly with the 
pickle, turning them every day." 

4J:8. A Good Pickle for Uams. — It depends partly upon how hogs are fed, 
but more ujion the manner of curing than anything else as to the quality of 
hams. They can be made almost as delicate as tender chicken. For curing 
hams in pickle we have tried and aj)prove the following compound of 
articles: To 100 lbs. of hams use S or lbs. of rock-salt, 2 oz. of saltpeter, 
2 lbs. of white sugar, 1 quart of best syrup, 4 oz. of saleratus, and 1 oz. of 
allspice. 

These materials are boiled and scummed, in ten or twelve gallons of water, 
and tlie hams packed in a barrel, and the brine put on cool, adding water 
if necessary to cover the hams. !Rone but a new oak barrel should be used. 
Scald the barrel and cool it before putting in the hams. Let them lie three 
weeks, and then take them out and air them twenty-four hours ; put them 
back again three weeks, and then take them out aud dry them thoroughly 
before smoking, which is done in an airy smoke-house, with cobs and mai>le 
or hickory chips. It is then a most delicious article of food. In smoking, 
be careful to keep your hams cool; never allow fire enough to heat the 
meat. 

449. PreservinfT Hams for Family Tse. — To keep hams through the summer, 
hang them in a dry, cool room, aud draw a loose cotton bag over tliem, and 
tie it tightly around the string that holds the meat. This must be done 
before flies come in the spring, and it will keep them away. "We have kept 
hams prepared in this way till over three years old, and they were as much 
better than new ones, as ripe old cheese is better than one a day old. The 
best hams that we have in this country are from hogs fed upon beech-nuts; 
but hams of hogs fatted upon corn are much better than those from what 
are generally known as mast-ted hogs. 

450. Uow to Cook a Ilam. — Never piit a ham into a kettle of cold water, 
and be equally careful never to put one into boiling water. First let the 



406 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

■water become lukewarm; then put in the liam. Let it simmer or boil 
lightly for four or five liours — five is better than four — then take it out and 
shave off the rind. Hub granulated sugar into the whole surface of the 
ham, so long as it can be made to receive it. Place the ham in a baking- 
dish, with a bottle of champagne or prime cider. Baste occasionally with 
the juice, and let it bake an hour in a gentle heat. A slice from a nicely- 
cured ham, thus cooked, is enough to tempt a Jew. 

451. Sansai^e-AIaking. — All the lean scraps of pork that accumulate in cut- 
ting up the pigs, whether for bacon or pickled pork, will be most economi- 
cally nsed if made into sausage meat. But do not attempt this work unless 
you have a good sausage-meat cutter ; and if you wish to stuft' the ineat into 
cases, you siiould have a combined cutter and stuffer, so as to do the work at 
one operation. Cut the pork into small pieces, and divide it in parcels of 
about a quart, upon a clean table, to which the cutter should be fastened. 
Mi.x your seasoning of salt, sage, thyme, cloves, jiepper, and a little sugar, 
if you like it, with your meat, and then put it through the cutting-machine, 
thus nicely blending the seasoning with the meat, which passes directly into 
the cases, and finislies the job with great expedition. 

452. The Value of Pork in Bacoiii — If bacon sides should range at 13 cents 
per pound, shoulders at 10 cents, and hams at 15 cents ; and prime pickled 
pork at $18 per barrel, mixed pork at $16, and rumps at $14 per barrel, we 
•would advise all small farmers, who have a limited force to feed, and a 
limited purse to empty, to buy the rumps ; they are about eight inches of 
the small end of tlie backbone, with the tail cut off, and consisting of a due 
proportion of fat, lean, and bone, and are the cheapest meat diet that can 
possibly be purchased by planters for tlieir people. 

453. How to Cure and Cook Corned Dcef. — For a pickle, to every 100 lbs. 
of beef, take five lbs. of salt, a quarter of an ounce of saltpeter, and one pound 
of sugar ; dissolve in sufficient water to cover the meat. Do not get your 
meat too salt, for it makes it tough and tasteless. Do not allow it to remain 
over two weeks in the first brine, for it takes up all the blood that was in the 
meat, and consequently ought to bo drained oflf, as the meat will be much 
more likely to be injured than it will when separated and replaced with 
fresh-made brine : but more especially in warm weather. In this way it will 
keep with just sufficient salt to season it. In the second place, the cooking 
is of just as much importance as the corning ; it should be boiled at least 
four hours, or until it can be cut and eaten as readily as a piece of soft 
bread. Not one half of the domestics cook their meat long enough. Try it 
once and you will see the difference. Meat prepared in this way can be 
eaten with a relish, and is easily digested, giving nourishment and strength 
to the body. But fried meats, or meats half cooked, can not be properly 
masticated or prepared for the action of the stomach, and are among the 
most indigestible articles of nourishment. Some persons are always in too 
much of a hurry or too lazy to chew .their food, thereby favoring their teeth 
and throwing the responsibility upon the stomach. Frequent abuses of this 



Skc. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 407 



important organ develop disease, and the individual is said to have dyspep- 
sia witli all its attendant evils. Therefore, spare not the cooking ; you 
will have the less chewing, and greater advantage of the food. 

454. Italian Mode of Cooking Scrap, or Coarse Portions of Beef.— A very 
economical and most savory and delicious dish can he made with two or 
three pounds of chuck steak, or cheap parts of beef, which inlinitcly surpasses 
the tasteless, insipid, common eating-house stuff, called " beef a la mode." 
Cut the steak into pieces of less than two inches square ; season with black 
pepper and salt, put them into a saucepan Avith a full half pint of cold 
water on the Hre, and as soon as it boils up, remove it from the fire and set 
it where it would simmer for two hours and a half, until perfectly tender. 
While simmering, tie up in muslin a bunch of sweet herbs, composed of 
knotted marjoram, winter savory, and a little thyme, and take it out just 
before the dish is served. Of course, the stew must occasionally be shaken, 
as all others are ; remember, however, the fat must not be skimmed off; the 
more fat there is, the better the stew. The dish is of Italian origin, and is 
eaten by Italians with plain boiled macaroni and Parmesan cheese, or with 
a salad, and witli either is a dainty dish. 

455. Pressed Beef. — This is another excellent way of using up the cheap 
parts of fresh beef, or even tliat which is corned by the receipt given in No. 
453. Boil any ragged scrap pieces, with not too much fat, until the bones 
M-ill freely separate from the meat, which pick off and pack in any strong 
dish, and add such seasoning as you wish of salt, pepper, spice ; some add 
a trifle of molasses or sugar, and press the whole into a cake, just as those do 
who make " head-cheese" from that portion of pork that is better prepared 
in this way than any other. 

456. Useful Little Things for Housekeepers.—" Tlie truest economy begins 
in little things." And so we give a dozen of them in a bunch to conclude 
our " excerpta of knowledge for the kitchen." 

Mahogany Stain. — ^lake four ounces of red sanders, one pound of fustic, 
and an ounce of logwood, and boil them in half a gallon of water for one 
hour; tiien apply it warm with a brush or sponge; when dry, apply var- 
nish. With this you can renovate old furniture. 

A Cheap Eefeigekatoe. — "Two tin pails, soldered one into the other, the 
space between them filled with charcoal, in small pieces (not necessarily 
dust), with the cover arranged in the same way, will keep a small quantity 
of ice a very long time. Three inverted tea-cups, or something made for 
the purpose, should support the ice to keep it out of the water. Next to 
putting the ice in a tin pail and wrapping it in a blanket, this is the 
simplest ice-keeper we know of, and it is entirely philosophical and ef- 
fective." 

To this we add the recommendation of putting this tin pail, with the ice 
in it, with a hole as big as a pin at the bottom and dripping-pan under it, 
in a chest or close-shutting closet, the air of which will be cooled, with the 
provision placed in it. 



408 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

This, of course, is only a substitute for a good refrigerator, but will be 
found much better than none, and can be made for almost nothing, by any 
man with Yankee gumption. 

To Make Tougu Meat oe Fowl Tender. — One or two tablespoonfuls of 
sharp vinegar put into the water when set to cook will do this, and in no 
way impair the flavor of the stew or soup. Veal to roast is much improved 
by being rubbed nil over with vinegar and allowed to remain two or three 
hours before cooking. Fifteen minutes to the pound is the received rule for 
roasting and boiling meats, and ten for fish. 

IIow TO Use Salt. — Beef or mutton should not have a bit of salt put 
upon either when first set lo roast ; just before serving, baste the meat, sprin- 
kle fine salt slightly over it, dredge flour on, and let it brown up. Poultry 
must bo covered with sweet lard and salt — a teaspoonful of salt to two of lard 
— before roasting. 

To Prevent Mktals from Hcsting. — Melt together three parts of lard 
and one of rosin powder. A very thin coating applied with a brush will 
preserve Russia-iron stoves and grates from rusting during summer, even in 
damp situations. For this purpose, a portion of black lead may be mixed 
with the lard. The eflfect is equally good on brass, copper, steel, etc. 
Tlie same compound forms an excellent water-proof paste for leather. 
Boots, when treated with it, will thereafter take the usual polish when 
blackened, and the soles may be saturated with it without soiling the floor, 
as it does not rub off. 

Seeds and many other things are best kept in wooden boxes. By a new 
patent contrivance, boards are cut about one eighth of an inch thick, of suit- 
able length and width to bend into forms for the sides of a round box, the 
largest holding about a peck, and eight others, smaller and smaller, to form 
a nest. The ends are fastened together with some kind of glue, and the bot- 
toms are fastened in by a rim of tin bent over the corner ; and the lids are 
made in the same way, so that the ends may be of stufi" but little thicker 
than the sides. The tin corners are great protectors against mice, as that is 
the only part of a circular box likely to be gnawed into, and this makes 
them quite safe for seeds and better as well as cheaper than tin boxes, and 
a decided improvement upon the old-style circular wooden boxes which have 
bottoms made of a half-inch board, so as to nail it in. We should think that 
half bushel and smaller measures, made up on the same plan, with iron in- 
stead of tin corners, would be first-rate. 

Unpleasant Odoks arising from boiling ham, cabbages, etc., are com- 
pletely corrected by throwing whole red peppers into the pot, and at the 
same time the flavor of the food is improved. Pieces of charcoal will pro- 
duce the same efiiect. 

A Good Wat of Eoastino Apples. — Select the largest apples; scoop 
out the core without cutting quite through ; fill the hollow with butter and 
fine, soft sugar ; let them roast in a slow oven, and serve up with the syrup. 

Hodge-Podge. — Cut two pounds of mutton into small pieces, and put them 



Sbo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 409 



in a stewpan with three quarts of water and a tablespoonful of salt. Set it 
on the fire and let it come to a boil ; then set it where it will siiinner an 
hour; keep it well skimmed; then add one carrot, two turnips, two large 
onions cut into small pieces, and half a dozen lettuce-heads, and let the 
whole cook quite tender. Skim off all the fat, and serve either with the 
meat in the soup or separately. A pint of green peas boiled in the soup will 
be found to be a great addition. 

IlAiK-BRUsnEs are best cleaned by washing them in sal soda or saleratus 
water, which removes all the oily coating. 

Sage and all other herbs for family use should be cut when the plant is 
budding for blossom, and dried in the shade, and tlien stored in thick paper 
bags, and there is no better place for them than hanging from the garret 
rafters. 

To Clean Knives. — ^Take a potato, cut in halves, and dip the cut part in 
brick-dust and rub the knives, the potato affording just enough moisture. 

For Cleaning Tainted Baeeels. — Put one peck of charcoal and one tea- 
cup of saleratus into each barrel, fill them up with boiling water, cover tight, 
and let them stand until cold. 

457. Vermin-Remedies— Moths, Bugs, Ants.— Moths are driven away, it is 
generally believed, or rather the miller that lays the eggs is, by any strong 
odor; so that furs or woolens, packed in a chest of camphor-wood, or of 
cedar, or sassafras, or with the shavings of those woods, or with gum-cam- 
phor, or tobacco, snuff, or pepper, arc preserved from the ravages of these 
pests. After moths commence eating, they pay no regard to the presence of 
camphor, cedar, or tobacco ; in fact, I think they enjoy the latter, if any- 
thing else than humanity can. The superiority of pepper to camphor, as a 
preventive of moths eating furs, consists in the fact that, while the eggs will 
hatch among camphor, there is something in the aroma of pepper which 
destroys their vitality. "Woolens may be safely stored in a close linen bag 
if often looked after. And probably looking after is the best of all the 
preventives, for moths never work where they are frequently disturbed. 
But if articles are packed in linen bags, they should be taken out and aired 
once a month during summer. 

Before packing away furs, they should be well beaten, to dislodge the 
moths that, despite the most scrupulous care, may be deposited in them. 
But the dreaded and inconvenient taking up and beating carpets will not 
always insure success; but one who has tried it, says: "I conquered 
them wholly in this way — 1 took a coarse crash towel and wrung it out of 
clean water, and spread it smoothly on the carpet, then ironed it dry with a 
good hot iron, repeating the operation on all suspected places, and those 
least used. It does not injure the pile or color of the carpet in tlie least, as 
it is not necessary to press hard, heat and steam being the agents ; and they 
do the work effectually on worms and eggs. Tlien the camphor will doubt- 
less prevent future depredations of the miller, by placing a few little crumbs 
under the edges of the carpets without moving them." 



410 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



Patchouli is recommended as a preventive of moths. Sachets de patcJv- 
ouli are made of cotton- wool, among which a few grains of the powdered 
patchouli leaves are mixed, and folded in paper. Placed among clothes, 
they are said to drive away moths. In Ilindostan, patchouli is used by the 
women for scenting their hair, and it is also mixed with toljacco for the 
hookah. In this country the patchouli leaves, it is said, will retain their 
scent if dried in the dark by being placed singly in a drawer, and turned 
daily for a fortnight. The Arabs dry the leaves and stuff pillows and mat- 
tresses with them, believing that they prevent contagion and prolong life'; a 
belief which attaches among the ignorant to sage and other odoriferous 
plants. As a scent, patchouli is used by perfumers chiefly for mixing with 
other aromatics. 

Benzoin is used in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, to 
keep the moths out of the skins of the animals. 

Tallow packed with clothes is also a moth preventive. But after all, fre- 
quent shakings are the best preventives of all injuries by moths or mold. 

Bugs may be killed with alum. Make a solution of alum, as strong as 
water will dissolve, and apply that hot to places infested with bugs of any 
sort, in bedsteads, closets, or trees and plants, taking care not to apply it so 
as to kill tender plants, and the bugs will take a strong dislike to the 
locality. You may brush it in cracks and crevices of floors, ceilings, or 
walls of a room, or in the holes and nesting-places of these small vermin in 
trees. 

Corrosive sublimate is excellent for bugs and ants. For bedsteads it may 
be mixed with soap. For ants, with lard and sugar, through which draw 
woolen yarn, and fi.x it in cracks infested with ants. 

458. Rat RemedieSi — Chlorid of lime has frequently proved a sure thing 
to drive rats away from any place infested by them. An ounce of it, scat- 
tered in the place where they come to feed, or wrapped in a bit of muslin 
and put in their holes, where it acquires dampness, produces a gas that is 
not offensive to man, but is to the rats. If chlorid of lime is moistened 
with muriatic acid, and placed in a drain, vault, or cellar, and closed from 
the air a little while, the rats will depart, because it will be death to remain. 
This is also a good disinfectant, and will for a time remove the effluvia of a 
dead rat. One application of dry chlorid of lime to rat holes has driven 
them away for a year. If they return, a renewal of it will start them again. 

Cats are the best rat-traps that we have found after many years' ex- 
perience, and next to cats, the chaff-trap. This is best made by partly filling 
a large, smooth kettle with water, and then covering with a few inches of 
chafl'. The first rat that gets in makes a great outcry, which brings others 
to share his fate. 

Tlie best food with which to mix poison for killing rats is pumpkin seeds. 
"Wet them, and sprinkle on a little arsenic, which will adhere to the seeds. 
They will be eaten by rats and mice, while cats, fowls, etc., not being fond 
of such food, will not meddle with them. Wherever poison is put for these 



Sbo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 411 



troublesome pests of the farin, water should be near by, so that they may 
eat, drink, and die outside of their holes and hiding-places. Musk-rats, 
which are often troublesome pests upon some farms bordering creeks or 
ponds, may be poisoned with ai-seuic upon pieces of parsnep or sweet apple. 
Gunpowder, flashed in rat-holes, is said to be good to drive them away from 
the premises. 

459. Disinfectants and the Value of Disinfe ctingi— j^othing conduces more to 
promote the health of a family than pure atmosphere. It can be kept so 
only in dwellings properly constructed for ventilation. From sitting-room, 
dining-room, and bed-rooms we have air flues that have a strong draught 
out of the top of the house, and the kitchen is largely furnished with venti- 
lation. In all uiiventilated rooms of the house, and in sick chambers, odors 
at times accumulate so as to need disinfecting, while cellars, sinks, out- 
houses, and stables often need it. Coflee roasted in a room, solution of cop- 
peras sprinkled about, or cloths wet in it and hung up ; chlorid of lime 
moistened, each acts quickly as a disinfectant. The odor of a dead rat can 
be allayed at once by moistening an ounce of chlorid of lime with a tea- 
spoonful of muriatic acid. But no one should breathe much of the gas it 
engenders. 

There is a considerable difference between a deodorizer and a disinfectant. 
The former either merely removes or disguises a foul odor; the latter changes 
the character of the matter which creates the effluvia, and prevents it from 
sending forth disease. Fresh slaked lime and charcoal dust are very good 
deodorizers, but their disinfecting powers are not equal to some of the salts 
of manganese, which, when they combine with pestilential fluids in sinks 
and drains, give out at the same time a considerahle quantity of pure oxygen 
to refresh the atmosphere. The manganate of soda, or potash, has recently 
been tried in London with much success in deodorizing and disinfecting the 
water of the river Thames, and its use in our cities during dry weather may 
be of great benefit. It is applied by dissolving it in warm water, and pour- 
ing it into the sink or drain to be disinfected. 

M. Ilerpin, of Paris, in the Journal da Pharmacie, recommends dried 
and pulveiized plaster of Paris, mixed with rather more than one fifth of its 
weight of powdered charcoal, as a cheap and most effective disinfecting 
mixture. It entirely removes the noxious emanations from decomposing 
organic matters, fixing the ammonia, and forming a valuable manure. 

Prof. Nash, of Amherst College, gives the following formula for making 
wliat may be termed home-made chlorid of lime : 

"Take one barrel of lime and one bushel of salt, dissolved in as little 
water as will dissolve the whole; slake the lime with the water, putting on 
more water than will dry-slake it, so much that it will form a very thick 
paste; this will not take all the water; put on, therefore, a little of the 
remainder daily until the lime has taken the whole. The result will be a 
sort of impure chlorid of lime, but a very powerful deodorizer, equally 
good for all out-door purposes with the article bought at the apothecary's, 



4:12 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

and costing not one twentieth part as mucli. This should be kept under a 
shed or some out-building. It should be kept moist, and it may be applied 
whenever offensive odors are generated, with the assurance that it will be 
effective to purify the air, and will add to the value of the manure much 
more than it costs. It would be well for every farmer to prepare a quan- 
tity of this, and have it always on hand." 

How much more sensible it would be for the city authorities to use this 
mixture, which concentrates effluvia, instead of quicklime, which d-issipates 
it through the air and into everybody's lungs ! 

To prove how quickly the air of a sitting-room becomes impure, place in 
it a pitcher of iced water, and in a few hours it will have absorbed from the 
room nearly all the respired and perspired gases of the room, the air of 
which will have become purer, but the water utterly filthy. This depends 
on the fact that the water has the faculty of condensing, and thereby absorb- 
ing all the gases, which it does without increasing its own bulk. Tiie colder 
the water is, the greater its capacity to contain these gases. At ordinary 
temperatures a pint of water will absorb a pint of carbonic acid gas and 
several pints of ammonia. This capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the 
temperature to that of ice. Hence water kept in the room awhile is always 
unfit for use, and should be often renewed, whether it has become warm or 
not. And for the same reason, the Avatcr in a pump-stock should all be 
pumped out in the morning before any is used. That which has stood in 
the pitcher during the night is not fit for coffee-water in the morning. Im- 
pure water is injurious to health as well as impure air, and every person 
should provide the means of obtaining it fresh and pure for all domestic uses. 

460. Soap-Making and Washing. — Wood ashes made from any hard wood 
will make soap. Pine ashes are nearly worthless. Beech, maple, birch, and 
hickory are among the best sorts for leaching. Put sticks and straw in the 
bottom of the leach-tub, packed close, and four quarts of lime to a barrel of 
ashes, which wet and pound down as you put in, and then put on water 
slowly two days before you let the lye run, and it will come strong, but 
should be boiled still stronger before you put in grease. Bones, rinds, 
gristle, and hard scraps must go into very strong lye, and will then soon be 
eaten up, all but the earthy part of bones, Avhich skim out and save for the 
grapevines and pear-trees. Make the soap strong of grease as well as lye, 
and do not use it till very old, and it will bo very good. It should be of a 
salvy consistence. 

To make soap with potash : Use the best quality of " first sorts" of pot- 
ash, in the proportion of six pounds of potash to seven pounds of grease, for 
a barrel of 40 gallons. Break up the potash into small lumps and dissolve 
24 lbs. iu two pailfuls of hot water. It dissolves rather slowly when the 
potash is good. When dissolved, put the solution into the kettle, and add 
the grease quite warm, and stir the mixture together ; allow it to stand all 
night, if convenient. In the morning apply a moderate heat until the mix- 
ture appears ropy ; then fill up with cold water. Cost, say G lbs. of potash, 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 413 



36 cents ; 7 lbs. grease, 28 cents — 64 cents for a barrel of soap. Another re- 
ceipt says : 

" One hundred pounds of good soap for $1 30 : Take six pounds of potash, 
75 cents ; four pounds of lard, 50 cents ; quarter of a pound of rosin, 5 
cents. Beat up the rosin, mix all together well, and set aside for five days; 
then put the whole into a twelve-gallon cask of warm water, and stir twice a 
day for ten days, at the expiration of which time you will have about one 
hundred pounds of excellent soajj." 

The following is considered a valuable aid to the washerwoman, by one 
who has tried it. She says : 

" Take one pound of sal soda and half a pound of unslaked lime ; put 
them in a gallon of water and boll twenty minutes; let it stand till cool, 
tlien drain off and put it in a stone jug or jar. Soak your dirty clothes 
all niglit, or until they are well wet througli, then wring them out and rub 
on plenty of soap, and to one boiler of clothes well covered with water add 
one teaspoonful of the washing fluid. Boil half an hour briskly, tlien wash 
them thoroughly tlirough one suds, and rinse well with water, and your 
clothes will look better than the old way of washing twice before boiling. 
This is an invaluable recipe, and I do want every poor tired woman to 
try it." 

Another one says : " Take two pounds of soda ash, two pounds of hard soap, 
and ten quarts of water ; cut the soap fine ; add all together, put into a kettle, 
and bring to a boil, then take it off the fire and stir until nearly cool. Put 
your clothes to soak the evening before you wash. In the morning, wring 
out, boil them in water, to which is added nearly a pint of the compound 
to every pailful. Wash out in the same water and rinse, and your washing 
is done." 

4G1. Washing Machines have been contrived, patented, made, and sold and 
discarded almost as numerously as "patent churns." We have tried a good 
many. The churns have all been given up for the old dasher, and notwith- 
standing washing was " made easy," the old wash-board still holds its place, 
though some washing machines are worthy of commendation as assistants in 
the laundry. None will do all the work. Perhaps our lady readers will say 
that we ought to tell them which to buy. We can not do it. The latest 
experience of our family is decidedly in favor of Doty's New York machine, 
" improved," which acts upon the plan of a cloth-dresser's fulling-mill, and 
is very easily worked. The " Metropolitan washing machine" is the pound- 
ing barrel improved by springs that make it work easy. It is useful for 
iieavy work. Clothes Wringers are worthy of the highest commendation. 
They are the most important of all household labor-saving machines. Tiiey 
!ue made of diflercnt forms, but the principle in each is the same, being con- 
structed to attach to the edge of a wash-tub, and contain two elastic rollers 
which are turned by a crank with one hand, while with the other tiie washer 
picks up one end of a garment and holds it to the rollers, through wliich it 
passes rapidly and falls into a clothes-basket a great deal dryer than any 



414 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



woman could wring it witli all her strength and ten-fold more time. These 
machines cost from §5 to $10, according to size, and are very simple in con- 
struction, very effective, and look as though they would be very durable, 
and are certainly very great labor-saving machines, and one should be in 
every family, and we are doing a public duty in making them as exten- 
sively known as any other fact for farmers. With a Metropolitan washing 
machine and a clothes-wringer, or, rather, a clothes-squeezer, which has 
been several years in use in the author's family, washing-day is no longer 
one that is dreaded. With these, washing is made easy. 

462. Soft Water. — No woman can wash with any satisfaction unless she 
has soft water. It is for this that we have treated so fully npon cisterns — 
333, 334, 335. Hard well water can be softened with lye, potash, or soda. 
We have seen a statement that a well of Iiard water was permanently cured 
by putting four feet of coarse gravel in the bottom, where the water oozed 
in tlirough the blue clay. We recommend that a space at least a foot 
wide behind the wall should also be filled with gravel as high as the water 
comes in. 

As Iroxing follows washing, we say : If your flat-irons are rough, rub 
them well with fine salt, and it will make them smooth ; so will rubbing 
them with a waxed rag. Be sure to use them hot. 

463. Beds and Beddingi — Tliere is no article of household furniture of so 
much importance as the bed. It is the place where exhausted nature enjoys 
recuperation, and all that art can do to make it comfortable at all seasons 
of the year, should be done, ^particularly in the farmer's home, where the 
nature of the labor is so exhausting. We are so much opposed to feather 
beds, tliat we have not had one in the house for many years, and we never 
sleep more comfortably than we do at home upon hard mattresses. We 
think that feather beds ouglit to be done away with, especially in warm 
weather. For spring, summer, and fall, husk beds ought to be in use in 
every family, and would be if better known. Tliere is no better time for pro- 
curing husks than when the corn is being harvested, and the husks will be 
much nicer and cleaner when corn is cut and shocked, and not become so 
dry and weather-beaten. A good husk bed will last from twenty to thirty 
years. Every farmer's daughter can supply Herself with sucli beds against 
time of need at a trifling expense. 

No one who has not tried them knows the value of husk beds, which is 
such that some persons think that straw and mattresses would be entirely 
done away with if husk beds were once tried ; that they are not only more 
pliable than mattresses, but are more durable, and the first cost is but little. 
To have husks nice they may be split after the nlanner of splitting straw for 
braiding. The finer they are the softer will be the bed, although they will 
not be likely to last as long as when they are put in whole. Tliree barrels 
full, well stowed in, will fill a good-sized tick, that is, after they have been 
split. The bed will always be light, the husks do not become matted down 
like feathers, and they are certainly more healthy to sleep on. 



Seo. 25.] S:XCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEfGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 41» 

4:6i. Home-Made Mattrossos of Hair and Wool. — Hair mattresses can also bo 
made in every farmer's laiuily of very good quality out of pig's hair, which 
should be cleaned in the same way that iino wool is cleaned of all its gummy 
dirt. See 129. Where sheep are kept, a great deal of good material for 
mattresses can be saved from taglocks and clippings of wool, which can bo 
cleansed with but little trouble by placing them some days in a basket in a 
running stream, or even by soaking in still water. The filth dissolves with- 
out injury to the wool. The cardings of horses and bullocks, if saved and 
cleansed, will soon accumulate enough for ti mattress ; for one of twenty 
pounds on the top of a husk one will make a luxurious bed. There is no 
secret about making a mattress. Holster the edges upon one of the sides, 
and lay it flat on the floor or a broad table, and fill in the material evenly 
of an equal thickness all over, and then sew on the top and lift the mattress 
upon two or three narrow strips of boards supported at the ends upon tables, 
benches, or barrels, so that you can stitch through and through with a long 
needle which you can buy for such work, using strong, smooth linen twine, 
with a cloth button under the loop of each stitch. 

Cotton makes a soft, pleasant mattress when new, but it soon mats to- 
gether, and \{c do not esteem it a healthy material for beds or bedding, ex- 
cept for sheets and light quilts. Beech' leaves make a very good mattress, 
clean, sweet, and wholesome; they are best when gathered by hand from 
green trees. Straw, too, is always much better cut in a green state and dried 
in the sun, and rye straw is the best kind. 

The best vegetable material ever used for mattresses, and almost equal to 
liair, is the long moss which grows upon forest trees, covering them as with 
a gray beard in several of the " Confederated States." It requires to be 
macerated in water until a thin cuticle peels off by washing, or by drying 
and beating, leaving the black, hairy-looking threads of the interior, which 
are very tough and durable. 

4G5. How to Make Bed Comforlers. — The best bedding ever used is linen 
sheets and blankets for summer, and cotton sheets and blankets for winter. 
But as all can not have blankets, we M-ill tell them hmo to make heel com- 
forters. It may be new to some readers that nice, warm bed comforters can 
be made without the labor of quilting. 

Make two calico spreads, old or new, and tack one in a quilting-frame, if 
you have one, and if not, spread it on the floor and lay on four pounds of cot- 
ton batting, and then the other spread, and tack through and through with 
<i darning-needle and tie tight over a piece of bright colored cloth, or yarn, 
or wool, in squares of a foot, and you will have a neat-looking warm article 
of bedding. Two persons can make five of them in a day. 

466. Improvement in Quilting-FrameSt — And why not improve quilting- 

frames? They need it. The old ones are about as awkward contrivances 

as ever were conceived — always in the way when in use, with their long 

arms sticking out all over the room long after they had ceased to be useful. 

"What man ever looked upon these necessary implements of household econ- 



416 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [CnAp. IV. 



omy with any satisfaction ? He looks every time he comes into the house 
with an anxious eye at the progress of the work, " hoping the confounded 
long-armed quilting-frames will get out of the way some time." Now, for 
the special benefit of such nervous gentlemen, some good soul out in Mich- 
igan has invented a quilting-machine that has no arms to stick out in the 
way. " Necessity is the mother of invention," and this inventor, we sup- 
pose, lived in a log-cabin only sixteen feet square, which, as it contained two 
beds and a cooking-stove, had no spare room to set up the quilting-frames 
on four chairs ; so he contrived a machine something like this, as near as 
we can understand the description : Frame four legs together like the frame 
of a kitchen table, with side pieces nine feet long, dropped five inches below 
the top of the legs, and end pieces two and a half feet long. Now take some 
scantling, two or two and a half inches square, and round them with inch 
round tenons upon each end to work in sockets in tlie top of the legs. Upon 
one end of each of these rollers have a little ratchet wheel and catch, and 
nail a strip of cloth along one side of each to which to tack the edges of the 
quilt. When all ready, roll it all but the two and a half feet wide strip 
upon one roller and tighten the catch ; now quilt tliat side and roll upon the 
other roller and so on till finished. The side j^ieces should be made to go in 
with a key, so that the frame can be taken down and packed away at any 
time, even with the quilt half finished, as it can be rolled up snug. It is a 
simple piece of domestic machinery, but would add to the comfort of many 
a household. 

467. Carpets and Carpet Sweepers. — Keep a broom exclusively for carpet 
sweeping. Never use it for any other purpose. Every one knows that the 
daily dust arising from sweeping carpets causes a permanent injury to furni- 
ture, books, pictures, and the lungs. It is an old but good way to sprinkle 
the floor first with damp tea-leaves, and then sweep with a bristle brush ; 
but latterly we have found it much easier and more convenient to use one 
of the new revolving carpet sweepers, which takes up the dust and puts it 
away in a box so it does not rise without using any moistening application. 
They are especially suited to libraries, offices, cabinets, and parlors. 

The most economical carpet, probably, is a good, stout American ingrain, 
which will cost about two dollars a square yard. If you are buying a 
carpet for durability, choose small figures. A farmer should never grudge 
the money to cover one room, at least, with a first-rate carpet, and 
cheaper ones for sitting-rooms, bed-rooms, and dining-room, if one is set 
apart for the latter purpose. There is no furniture that adds so much to 
the comfort of a house at the same cost as carpets. These is no labor better 
bestowed about a house than giving the carpet a thorough shaking and 
beating in a hot, dry day, upon the clean grass, at least once a year. 

You need not hesitate to wash a carpet with strong soap-suds, with a 
brush, as it lies upon the floor, using clear water afterward, and drying it 
by ironing upon coarse towels spread over the wet spots. 

468. Removing Stains — Beef-Gall. — ^There is no better substance than the 



Sbo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE ■ FOR HOUSEWIVES. 



417 



very clieap article — ii])on most farms — of beef-gall to take out slains upon 
carpets, as well as many otiier things. 

The clarified gall of the ox is also much used by scourere for renovating 
the delicate colored silks and satins. Iti its natural state it contains green- 
ish coloring matter, and is then only applicable for restoring the brightness 
of dark materials. It is de-colored thus : Take one pint of gall, boil and 
skim it, then divide into two parts ; to one half pint add half an ounce of 
salt, to the other add half an ounce of powdered alum ; each part is to be 
heated till the additions are dissolved; then pour into separate bottles, and 
allow them to stand in a quiet place, and clear for a month or eight weeks, 
even longer if not bright. The clear portions of both are then to be poured 
gently oflf the sediments and mixed together ; the coloring matter coagu- 
lates and falls, from which the transparent gall is finally separated by filter- 
ing through blotting-paper. In this state it will keep any length of time 
with its qualities unimpaired, and free from odor. 

If the stain upon silk or satin is produced by an acid, such as from fruits, 
and that upon black or dark colors, the best re- agent is liquid ammonia (strong 
hartshorn) rubbed in till it disappears. For plain and figured silks, of 
delicate colors, we can not give a general rule, and therefore leave them 
to lie operated upon by the professional dcgraisseurs. To obliterate greasa 
spots from white silk or satin, we may proceed as directed for colored silks; 
but fruit, ink, and glove marks require a different treatment. These marks 
are generally removed by dampening the part with oxalic acid dissolved in 
water ; about the eighth part of an ounce in a wine-glassful of water is strong 
enough. The common salts of lemon in water also answer well. CoflTee- 
stains, mud-splashes, etc., will mostly give way to the use of soap and water. 
Curd soap should be applied for this purpose. 

For grease spots upon cloth and all kinds of woolen goods, soap and water 
may be used without fear, provided it is well washed out afterward. Ful- 
ler's earth or powdered French chalk, made into a paste with water, and 
laid upon the part, is, however, the best application, to be brushed out when 
dry. 

Paint marks are removed M'ith turpentine, the smell of which may be 
quickly dissipated by hanging the article upon a line in the air. 

Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as the chlorid of 
lime used in bleaching the paper M-ill probably impair the color of the silk. 
Brown or blue paper is better; the yellowish, smooth India paper is best of 
all. Silks intended for dress should not be kept long in the house before 
they are made up, as lying in the folds will have a tendency to imjiair its 
durability by causing it to cut or split, particularly if the silk has been 
thickened by gum. Thread-lace vails are very easily cut. Articles of vel- 
vet should not be laid by with any weight upon them. If the nap of a thin 
velvet is laid down it is not possible to raise it up again. Hard silk should 
never be wrinkled, because the thread is easily broken in the crease, and it 
never can be rectified. The way to take wrinkles out of silk scarfs and 



418 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



handkerchiefs is to moisten the surface evenly with a sponge and some weak 
glue, and then pin the silk with some toilet pins around the selvedges on a 
mattress or feather-bed, taking pains to draw out the silk as tight as possible. 
Wlien dry, all the wrinkles will have disappeared. It is a nice job to dress 
light-colored silk, and few should try it. Some silk articles should be moist- 
ened with weak glue or gum-water, and the wrinkles ironed out by a hot flat- 
iron on the wrong side. 

To Take Grease Out of Silk. — Kub a lump of wet magnesia over the 
spot ; when dry, brush off the powder, and no grease will be seen. It may 
be applied to other stuffs. This is an old and well-tried remedy ; but there 
is a newer and better remedy, but not so thoroughly proved — this is ben- 
zine., the most complete substance to cleanse all fabrics that we have ever 
seen. 

Ox-gall and turpentine are both good to take out grease. If turpentine 
be employed, it should be distilled, and perfectly free from rosin. The 
preparation called scouring-drops is pure turpentine, perfumed with essence 
of lemon. Either of these substances may be applied with a piece of 
sponge, or with a remnant of the same material that is being cleaned. 
When the grease spot is large, the greater part may l)e removed, in the first 
instance, by the application of blotting-paper and a hot iron. 

Use a piece of zinc to stir your glue, or keep a small piece of zinc in the 
bottom, and it will — so we read — prevent it from acquiring that unpleasant 
odor common to glue. "Where glue is alwaj-s to be heated with steam, a 
zinc glue-pot is recommended. 

The presence of cotton in woolen fabrics may be easily recognized by the 
following tests : 

When boiled for twenty minutes in a solution of nitrate of mercury, the 
woolen fibers acquire a red color, but the cotton fibers remain colorless. 
When the fabric is boiled with caustic soda solution (sp. gr. 105), the wool 
dissolves, but the cotton is only slightly affected. Picric acid also stains 
wool yellow, but has no action on cotton. 

There are five pounds of pure sulphur in every 100 pounds of wool. 
Hence silverware, wrapped up in flannel, or any other woolen stuff, will 
turn black. 

A bit of glue, dissolved in skim-milk and water, will restore old crape. 

Elbbons of any kind should be washed in cold soap-suds, and not rinsed. 

A hot iron, held over varnished furniture, will take out grease spots. 



Sko. 26.] 



DOMESTIC WINES. 



419 




SECTION XXVI.-DOMESTIC AVINES, CIDER, AND PRESERVES. 

EULE8 FOE DOMESTIC WINE-MAKERS — HOW TO PEESEKVE CIDEE 6WEET PEE- 

SEEVING FKUITS FOE WINTEE. 

OMESTIC WINE, as usually manufactured, is ra- 
ther a cordial than a wine, and is entirely inferior 
to good grape wine ; but when properly made, it 
will be a very healthful beverage, particularly for 
summer drink, when fully diluted with water. 
"We recommend to those who have the means, 
to manufacture currant wine; and lot it be pure cur- 
rant wine, using nothing but currants, water, and 
sugar, without alcohol. 

There is no great dithculty in making good currant 
wine. "White sugar only should be used. Tlie better 
the quality of the sugar the better the wine will be. 
The idea that any sort of sugar M'ill do for wine is 
pretty well exploded. 

It is now also said that white currants make a much 
nicer wine than the red currants, but that is according to fancy. 

"While we admit that the true wine must be made from the grape, still, 
for the want of a more appropriate name for beverages made from fruits 
other than the grape, we call them wines. These domestic wines may be 
made from the currant, rhubarb, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, and 
gooseberry, of passable qualitj'. Inferior but drinkable wines may be made 
from parsneps and many other roots. 

In tlie manufacture of all domestic wines, the grgat mistake is in the use 
of sugar of an inferior quality ; double-refined is not sufficiently pure to 
manufacture either of these wines of the best quality ; treble-refined sugar 
should be used ; that of inferior kind contains gum, and after the fermenta- 
tion this gum becomes fetid, and its disagreeable odor has to be overcome at 
the expense of the odor of the fruit, and therefore it should never be used. 

Brown sugar, no matter of how good a quality, will not make wine, for 
when fermented, that portion which is like molasses in flavor, if separated 
from the sugar, as in the process of refining, becomes a rank rum, and not 
sufficiently delicate as the preserving alcohol of the result. When grapes 
are fermented, the sugar or saccharine matter is not converted into rum, but 
into an undistillcd brandy of an unobjectionable flavor. 

In making small-fruit wines, alcohol should never be added ; a sufficient 
quantity will be produced by the fermentation to preserve the product, and 
any further addition injures the quality and arrests the fermentation. When 
alcohol is added, these wines do not improve at all by age. 



420 DOMESTIC ECOJTOMY. [Chap. IV. 

The common practice of racking cider lias caused many to rack fruit 
wines, -which some wine-makers tell ns is all wrong. Tliey say : 

"When the proper amount of the juice of a fruit, and treble-refined 
sugar in solution, is jilaced in a barrel with the bung loose, in a cellar of 
even temperature, fermentation will readily commence, and will proceed 
until the sugar, or a portion of it, is converted into alcohol, when it will 
cease. The bufly coat which rises to the surface will tlien settle and at- 
tach itself to the cask ; the bung should then be driven in, and in six months 
the wine may be drawn oil' and bottled. Ko alcohol will be necessary to 
keep it." 

Let these general rules be observed, and the following special directions 
pursued, and domestic wine may be made in any farmer's family of almost 
any kind of small fruits. 

The directions given in 469 are from George II. Ilite, of Morrisania, near 
New York, who is one of the most successful domestic wine-makers of our 
acquaintance. 

4G9. liow to Make t'urrant and oUicr Wiues. — "The currants should bo 
perfectly ripe when gathered ; they should be stemmed and washed before 
pressing, which should be done as thoroughly as possible with a 12-inch 
cider press. Ascertain the amount of juice thus obtained, and then add 
that amount of water to the pumice, and incorporate the water, and pum- 
ice well together : let it stand a few hours, and press it again. By tliis 
process an additional quantity of juice, though not so strong, is obtained; 
then mix the first pressing with the second, and weigh a gallon of it, and 
whatever it falls short of 10 pounds to the gallon, add enough of good re- 
fined sugar to make it weigh 10 pounds, and so on of the rest. I would here 
remark that an additional amount of sugar added to the above will make a 
sweeter wine, and perhaps more suitable to the taste of many. 

" It would be rather an expensive business to those who have but few ber- 
ries to make currant wine from the first pressing of the currant alone, as it 
requires one bushel of currants to produce a little over three gallons of pure 
juice. The red currant pure juice weighs eiglit and a half pounds to the 
gallon. The white currant juice comes almost witliin the wine-maker's rule, 
weighing nine and a quarter pounds to the gallon. Tlie way in which I 
make currant wine is, to use the pure juice alone or without mucli water, 
and I find that I can readily command three dollars per gallon for it, 
whereas the other would be dear at one dollar per gallon, and not much of 
a wine at that. 

'' Elderberry wine is made in tlio same way as first stated, adding about 
half water in the way of re-pressing the pumice, etc., as, if it is made without 
the addition of too much sugar, it resembles claret very closely. 

" Black currant wine is made in the same way as the elderberry, only the 
berries should be scalded before pressing, and if carefully managed in the 
fermentation, will resemble the Kliine wines. 

"When the juice, sugar, and water are well incorporated by stirring to- 



Sko. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES. 421 

getlier tintil tlie sugar is dissolved, it is then placed in an open tub in a tem- 
perature of about CD degrees Fahrenheit, tlicro to stand a few days until the 
froth and impurities rise to the surface, which must be removed as often as 
they accumulate ; and when tlic liquid becomes limpid and somewhat trans- 
parent, then it is put in a clean barrel, filling to M-ithin five or eight inches of 
the bung. A tube, somewhat in the shape of a siphon, or more in the shape 
of an ox-bow, made of glass, is inserted into tlie bung about two inches, and 
made air-tight by means of small wedges of wood and wax, etc., the other 
end passing into a pail of water to the depth of three or four inches. Tiiis is 
done to prevent the oxygen of the air ]>enetrating the fermenting mass, and 
also to retain mucli of the finer aromatic essences which are so essential to 
fine-flavored wines. 

" A great advantage is also gained thereby in rendering it less necessary to 
keep watch over the fermentation as pursued by some in keeping the barrel 
bung fnll by replenishing with some of the juice standing near at hand, 
which becomes pricked before fermentation has ended, rendering it in the 
end little less than sweetened vinegar. No admixture should be attempted 
after fermentation has commenced, and if the temperature of fermentation is 
kept at about CO or Go degrees Fahrenheit for about six weeks or two 
months, it will be ready to remove the tube. Then fill the barrel full of tlie 
sort made in a separate vessel for that purpose, and put the bung in 
moderately tig])t for a few days, and after that drive it in tight until about 
December, when the wine must be racked off from the lees, the barrel rinsed 
with hot and cold water, and when drained quite dry, insert into the bung- 
hole a small cup, suspended by a wire, containing one ounce of s])irits of 
wine or alcohol, ignited, and kept there until the barrel is well fumigated, 
during which the bung must not be closed. Then return the wine again and 
keep it there for three months, when the same process is repeated. If it is 
done a third time it will be all the better. It is now finished, and can be 
kept for any length of time, either in bottles or wood, slowly improving 
by age. 

" Grapes may be made into wine in the same way as fii"st mentioned above, 
with this diflerence, that when the pumice is to be re-pressed, sugar dissolved 
■with grape-juice (by heat) must be added to the water that is mixed with 
the pumice, and stand a few hours before the second pressing. It must con- 
tain the same proportion of sugar and water as is found in the natural juice 
of the first pressing, all of which is mixed well together and fermented as 
above. But if the grapes are left on the vine until they are quite ripe, say 
until they have received the effects of a white frost, and carefully selected, 
the good from the Imd, and thoroughly pressed and fermented as above, 
without the addition of either sugar or water, you will have wine worthy 
of the name. It is true we can not have so great a quantity of juice, but 
what we have is good." 

We add several other formulas for making currant wine, as follows : 

First. *' Gather your currants when fully ripe; break them in a tub ; press 



422 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

them tlirougli a sifter; strain tlirongli a flannel bag, and measure tlie juice. 
Add two gallons of water to one of juice, and three pounds of New Orleans 
sugar; stir till dissolved. Strain through a hair sieve, then a close tow 
linen hag, and afterward a flannel one. The juice must not stand all 
niglit. The cask nnist he sweet and clean, never used for beer nor cider, and 
if new, well seasoned. Do not fill your cask too full, otherwise it works 
out at tlie hung, wliich is injurious to the wine; make a quantity over and 
above to fill up the cask. Lay the bung on tlie hole to prevent flies from 
creeping in. In three or four weeks hung up, leaving only the vent-hole 
open till done working ; rack ofl", if wanted for present use, hut it is best to 
leave it on the lees till spring, or it may be left for two years without dam- 
age. When you draw off the wine, bore a hole so it may run ofi' clear of 
the lees. Some put in s]>irits, but I do not think it advisable. Do not put 
in more than one third juice, for that would render the wine hard and un- 
pleasant ; nor too much sugar, as that would deprive it of its pure vinous 
taste. It improves by age." 

Second. A sample wliich was very clear, and at two years old of a deli- 
icate, fine flavor, was made by the following rule : 

Take two quarts of juice, two quarts of water, and three pounds of refined 
sugar ; mix and let it stand two or three days; skim every day, then strain 
through gauze, and put into the cask and let it stand one year ; then bottle, 
and you have an excellent wine. 

Another sample, made with one quart of juice, three quarts of water and 
one pound of sugar, was a very pleasant drink, but would not keep as long 
as the other. 

Third. " Before pressing the juice from the currants, pass them oetween a 
pair of rollers to crush them, after which they may be placed in a strong 
bag, and they will part with the juice readily liy light pressure, such as a 
common screw or heavy weights. To each quart of juice add three pounds 
of double refined loaf sugar — single refined sugar is not sufticiently pure — 
then add as much water as will make one gallon. Or, in other words, sup- 
pose the cask intended to be used to be thirty gallons ; in this put thirty 
quarts of currant juice, ninety jiounds of double refined sugar, and fill the 
cask to the bung with water; roll it over until the sugar is all' dissolved. 
This will be told by its ceasing to rattle in the barrel. Next day roll it 
again, and place it in a cellar where the temperature will be sure to be 
even. Leave the bung loose for the free admission of air. In the course of 
one or two or three days, fermentation will commence. By placing the 
ear to the bung-hole a slight noise will lie heard, such as may be observed 
when carbonic acid is escaping from champagne or soda water. Fermenta- 
tion will continue for a few weeksj-converting the sugar into alcohol. As 
soon as this ceases, drive the bung in tightly, and leave the cask for six 
months, at the end of whicli time the wine may be drawn oflT perfectly clear, 
without any excess of sweetness." 

Fourth. Take one quart of juice, three pounds of sugar prepared as above, 



Sbo. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES. 423 



and M'ater enough to make a gallon ; leave it in the cask one year, then 
draw off and bottle. 

470. elderberry Wine.— We have tasted of a wine made from elderberries 
by Alfred Specr, in New Jersey, that certainly liad some excellent qualities. 
After prejxiring the juice, like that of currants, he requires four years to 
ripen it. Ilis statement is: 

" First year, it is kept in large casks, with valve bungs to allow the gas 
to escape, and at the same time prevent the oxygen of the atmosphere from 
coming in contact with the Avine. 

" Second year, racked to small casks, and moved to another buildii:)g. 

"Third year, drawn off in bottles and piled away in stacks, whicli are 
tlien completely covered Avith sand, kept at one certain temperature the 
year round. 

" Fourth year, they are dug out, the wine decanted in fresh bottles and 
laid away, being kept in another temperature until the end of this year, 
when they are sealed, labeled, and packed ready for shipping. 

"The principal part of the whole operation is the management of 
the temperature in the rooms and cellars. Each year, as the wine is 
drawn off into other vessels, it is moved to a building IKspt at a dif- 
ferent temperature from the previous 3'car, where it is kept uniform during 
tlie whole time by means of cool vaults or stoves, as the case and season 
require. 

" So that after four years it becomes unchangeable, and ready for market 
in any climate. 

"It is made from the juice of cultivated elderberries, which are made to 
grow nearly as large as the smallest-sized grapes, and pure without the ad- 
dition of alcohol or spirits in any form." 

471. Wine from Rhubarb Stalks. — Rhubarb will' yield five times as much 
per acre as grapes, but care should be taken not to use the stalk too close 
to the leaf, as it will impart a peculiar flavor to the wine. Take a thirty- 
gallon cask, put in sixteen gallons of rhubarb juice, ninety jjounds of sugar, * 
and water to fill the cask. Nothing but the best refined sugar sliould be 
used if tlie best results are desired, and it is still better to dissolve the sugar 
and boil it, witli the addition of a spoonful of sulphuric acid to every five 
or six gallons, before mixing it with the juice. This must be allowed to get 
cold before using. 

Another formula says: "Trim off the leaves, and grind and press the 
stalks in any cider-mill. To each gallon of juice add one gallon of water 
and six pounds of refined sugar, and fill the casks, leaving the bungs out. 
A moderately cool cellar is the best place to keep it. Fill up occasionally, 
either from juice kept on purpose or with sweetened water, so that the im- 
purities whicli rise to the surface while fermentation is going on, may be 
worked off. When 6ufl[iciently fermented, which will require from one to 
two or more mouths, bung tightly, and let it remain till winter, when it may 
be racked off into other casks, or bottled. Some persons refine it before 



424 DOMESTIC ECOXOMT. [Chap. IT. 



bottling, by putting into each barreL two ounces of isinglass, dissolved in a 
quart of wine." 

Gaboon's seedling yields the greatest quantity of juice. Mr. Gaboon's 
method of making wine is to mi.x equal quantities of water with the juice 
of the stalks, and to eacli gallon three and a half pounds fair quality of New 
Orleans sugar, filling the barrels quite full, and refining with isinglass, 
and allowing the wine to remain till spring, when it is bottled. By adding 
or diminishing the quantity of sugar, it will vary the strength of the wine 
in the same proportion. Tbe pure juice, without water, makes a very strong 
wine by using four pounds of sugar to each gallon. Mr. Gaboon estimates 
that 2,500 gallons of wine can be made from an acre planted with his seed- 
ling. Sold at fi'om $2 to $i a gallon, this would yield a return of $5,000. 

The fault of the above is the unrefined quality of the sugar. "Well-made 
rhubarb wine will cease to ferment in about eight weeks, and then it should 
be corked tightly, and kept one year undisturbed before bottling. In three 
years it will become like a dry sherry wine. 

472. Bottling and CorkSi — Use none but strong, heavy bottles, and look to 
your corks if you would liave your wine keep. One of the greatest mis- 
takes made by those who are new beginners in wine-making is the using of 
poor corks ; they do not reflect that the common cork permits the air to 
reach and destroy the wine. Besides this, a poor one can not be drawn 
without breaking, and thus injuring the flavor of the wine. If wine-makers 
would desire to have their wine keep well and taste well on opening, let 
them never use any but the very best velvet corks. The use of the best 
quality will more than doubly pay by securing the wine from spoiling, and 
retaining the flavor, which is often lost by a bad cork. 

Bottles should always be stored upon their sides, or in racks, with the 
corks down. If poor corks are used, they must be covered with sealing-wax. 

473. Wine of Grapesi — Most of the wine made in this country is barely 
drinkable; what is called pure juice of the grape is often but little, if any, 
better than very poor sour cider, and is not generally palatable to the com- 
mon taste. In a trial of wine that I attended, a number of first-rate judges 
of wine finally settled upon a specimen of currant wine, as superior to any 
of the sweetened specimens of grape juice; yet the concoctors of it label it 
"pure juice of the grape," "fit for sacramental purposes and for the sick." 
They insist that fermentation of sugar does not produce alcohol. Tiiey are 
mistaken ; fermentation produces it, and distillation separates it. Tliis 
sugared wine is not pure — it is one fourth alcoliol. Much of the imported 
wine is sugared. Some of the best wine can not be imported ; we can not 
move from place to place the very best wines made of pure grape juice. 

These sweetened beverages all lack one very essential element of wine, 
and that is the gmot, which all genuine grape wines possess. Unfortunately, 
with very few exceptions, American grapes have proved so deficient in 
grape-sugar, that they would not make wine without adding cane-sugar, 
which makes rum instead of brandy, which is the true spirit of wine. Some 



Seo. 26.] 



DOMESTIC WINES. 



425 



good 



substitute for 



of the best Avine-uiakers of tlie country now believe that they liave dis- 
covered, in the Delaware grape, one that will make wine equal to the best 
European varieties. Some Cincinnati Catawba is a 
Rhine wine. Some good wines are made in California. 

■i'-i. How to Make Grape U'iiie. — For the benefit of those who may wish ! ■ 
do a little in the way of domestic wine-making, wo will give a few simple 
rules, such as are followed by wine-makers on a small scale : 

Mashing the Gkape. — There arc various methods of mashiuir the trrapo 
now used by the more careful Avine-makers. Previous to the mashing, 
however, -when first-rate wine is to be made, the bunches are carefully ex- 
amined, and all unripe and rotten berries are plucked off and throwii away ; 
then the grapes are thrown into a tub and mashed by tramping with tlic 
feet, or bruised with a club, or crushed by passing between two largo 
wooden rollers, which are far enough apart to allow the seeds to pass with- 
out being broken. The seeds, if mashed, would give a bitter taste to the 
wine. To tramp grapes, wear India-rubber boots. 

Peessixg the Geape. — The pressing of the mashed berries is a simple 
process, like the pressing of cheese, or apples for cider. The grape-press is 
usually made to hold aljout 150 lbs. of grapes at each pressing. If white 
wine is to be made, the grapes are pressed as soon as mashed ; but if red 
wine is wanted, the whole mass is left to ferment for six or seven days, in 
which time the juice takes the dark color of the skin. 

Feememtation. — The juice for white wine, as it comes from the press, is 
put into pipes measuring 140 gallons, about 115 gallons of juice being put 
into each cask, leaving one fourth of it empty. The bung-hole is left open, 
and in two or three days the fermentation begins, and its force is over in 
three or four days. The wine-maker then proceeds to fill up the casks. 



gradually pouring in six 



or eight 



gallons at a time, so that the casks are 



filled in the course of three or four days more. The casks should be filled 
up before the strength of the fermentation is over, so that the dirt or scum 
may be borne up to the bung-hole and there thrown out. 

Racking. — The vigor of the movement being over, the bung-hole is closed 
and the wine is left for a period varying from four weeks to three months. 
It is then drawn off through a cock jjlaced a couple of inches above the bot- 
tom of the pipe, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. 
Tlie clearer wine is poured into a clean cask; that filled with sediment is 
filtered through a doubled cotton cloth, and is then mixed again into the 
first drawing, or it is used without filtration in making brandy. About 
one twentieth of the juice as it comes from the press falls down as sedi- 
ment. The process of transferring wine from oue cask to another is termed 
" racking off." 

After the first racking, the new cask is completely filled, the bung closed, 
and the wine is not disturbed till March or April, when it begins to feel a more 
lively fermentation, for that process never ceases entirely. "When the vine 
sprouts in March or April, and when it blossoms in June, and the grape 



426 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ripens in September, tlie new wine ferments ; and at those times the bungs 
must be raised, and care must be taken not to disturb the barrels. Between 
times, when there is no perceptible fermentation, the wine should be racked 
off two or three times in a year, and at the end of a year and a half it is 
clear and good, but it continues to grow better with age. The red wine is 
treated 'in precisely the same manner, except that it is allowed to ferment 
before pressure. Immediately after the pressure the wine should be placed 
in as cool a cellar as can be obtained in the country, and should be kept 
•there always. This cellar should have no moldy matter about it, no vege- 
tables,t)'r salt meat in it, nor anything that can corrupt the natural sweetness 
of the lyr. 

IIED&.ND "White Wine. — Beandy. — All the white wine made in this man- 
ner resembles hock or sauterne ; the red wine may be made to resemble 
claret, burgundy, or port. When the berries are picked early, the red 
wine is like claret, but has more body ; if the grapes are left upon the stem 
imtil they are nearly dry, they give less juice, but the wine has a much 
stronger body, and rivals port in strength. 

The method of making champagne is held as a secret, and we shall not 
attempt to describe it fully. Tiie main facts, however, are that the wine is 
bottled about six months after pressing ; it is again re-bottled in eight 
months more. The bottles are laid down upon their sides in racks, and 
a large per-centage of them are broken by the activity of the fermenta- 
tion. 

The refuse of the press and all the sediment of the new wine may be used 
in making brandy, which is obtained by distillation in the same manner as 
whisky is distilled from maize or potatoes. For every hundred gallons of 
wine about twenty-five of brandy are obtained. 

475. Wine of Tomatoes. — We have no experience of wine from this fruit, 
but a lady writes us from Iowa as follows : 

" Are you aware what very excellent wine can be made from tomatoes ? 
I tried it on a small scale last year, and find it serves as good a purpose for 
using in sickness and in cooking as the compounds of nauseous drugs usually 
sold for wine. Many who have tasted it were unable to tell it from grape 
wine. If people will use wine, it is certainly well to have it free from 
poison, and tomatoes are so abundant that it could be afforded cheaply. 
If vinegar can be made from it, it will be a blessing to the West, where 
we have such horrible compounds under that name. The recipe : One 
pound of white sugar to a quart of juice, and similar treatment to cm-- 
I'ant wine." 

47G. Blackberry Cordial. — This is not wine, though an article called black- 
berry wine is often made in the same way that wine of other small fruits is 
made, and is a very good beverage ; but this is what the name implies, 
blackberry cordial, and it should be provided in every family, particularly 
where there are growing children ; it is such an excellent remedy for chil- 
dren troubled with diarrhea and all other diseases of the bowels generated 



Seo. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES AND CIDER. 427 

ill the Spring season. Tn ni.ako it, to two quarts of blackberry juice add one 
pouiHl of loaf sugar, half an ounce of nutmeg, half an ounce of cinnamon, 
pulverized fine, quarter of an ounce of cloves, quarter of an ounce of allspice, 
finely pulverized, and a Iiandful of raisins. Boil all together for a sliort 
time, alid when cold, add one pint of fourth-proof French brand}-. Black 
currants also treated in the same way make an excellent cordial. See 472. 

477. Cider — Preserving it Sweet. — The following is the plan recommended 
by Professor Ilorsford, of Cambridge, Mass. : 

"When the cider in the barrel is undergoing a lively fermentation, add 
as much white sugar as will be equal to half or three qirarters of a pound to 
each gallon of cider, and let the fermentation proceed until the liquid attains 
the right taste to suit ; then add an eighth to a quarter of an ounce of sul- 
phite (not sulphate) of lime to each gallon of cider in the cask ; first mixing 
the powder in about a quart of the cider, and then pouring it back into the 
cask and giving it a thorough shaking or rolling. After standing bunged 
up a few days for the matter added to become incorporated with the cider, 
it may be bottled or used from the cask." 

Do not mistake sulphate of lime — which is a natural production, and 
known as plaster of Paris — for sulphite of lime, which is a manufactured 
article, and is worth by the barrel about thirty-three cents a pound, and by 
the cwt. thirty-seven and a half cents, and by the single pound fifty cents. 
It has been of late years much used by sugar-makers to prevent fermentation 
of cane-juice, and in our opinion it will be found more efffective as a pre- 
ventive of fermentation in cider than an arrester of it after it has proceeded 
nearly to completion. 

We kept cider on tap that was treated as above for six months, which 
appeared to-possess exactly the same degree of acidity as it had when first 
treated, but it had an unpleasant sulphur taste. 

Using Heat and Bottling. — The following is the formula: Fill bottles 
with swe^t cider and sot them on a board in a flat-bottomed boiler with cold 
water, which heat to the boiling-point until the cider begins to run over, 
but not to boil so as to alter its flavor; then cork and seal just as fruits are 
treated, and the cider will keep equally well. 

Condensed Cidee is the name of a new article first made by Gail Borden, 
Jun., in 1863, using the same process which he invented for condensing milk ; 
that is, boiling it in vacuum with steam-pipes, reducing the cider direct from 
the press to a stifl" jelly, which will keep as well as any fruit-jelly made by 
domestic process. For transportation it is put up like the condensed milk. 
In tin cans. It is reduced to its original condition by adding as much water 
as it had parted with. It is, probably, the best plan ever devised for keej)- 
ing cider sweet. 

478.— Oiliug Cider. — When a barrel of cider is tapped, it grows hard ; that 
is, more and more acid, until it gets too hard to drink, if it is kept long on 
tap. This is occasioned by the air, which fills the cask above the cider as 
fast as it is drawn out. The air can not be excluded, even if the cask were 



428 DOMESTIC ECOKOMY. fCnAP. IV. 

air-tight, because tlie cider will not run from the tap if there is no air to 
press it out. If cider is exposed long to air, it will become vinegar. In 
fact, the M'ay to make vinegar of cider is to expose it to the air as much as 
possible. To prevent the cider on tap from becoming acid, it is recom- 
mended, as soon as one or two gallons are drawn out, to pour in the bung-hole 
about half a pint of clear sperm oil, or sweet oil if it is preferred. It should 
be warm when poured in, and it will spi'ead in a ihin coat over the surface, 
and keejj spreading as the cider is drawn down, and thus exclude the air, 
without giving any taste of oil to the eider. 

This plan of preserving cider is worthy of further attention. "We have 
faith in it from knowing that oil-casks are the best we know of for storing 
cider, imparting no flavor, and keeping it sound as bottled cider for years. 
Sperm-oil casks are more valuable for cider-casks than for an}' other purpose. 

470. Filtering Cidcrt — Cider is very much improved by filtering. This 
should be done when the first fermentation is over, by racking it otf into 
clean barrels. A good plan for a filter is the following: 

"Take a square or round wooden box, made of inch pine plank, three 
feet in diameter, and one foot four inches deep. Make it with a bottom 
perforated with numerous one-quarter-inch augur holes, over which should 
be laid coarse hemp bagging. Now fill in the box for eight inches with 
pieces of charcoal — animal charcoal is the best — about nut size, and on the 
top of this place a four-inch layer of clean washed sand, and cover all with 
coarse hemp bagging, and you have a cheap and good filter. Any num- 
ber of such filters may be used, according to the quantity of cider to 
be operated upon, and the cloth can bo frequently washed without dis- 
tui-bing the sand and charcoal. Before any cider is filtered through, pass 
a stream of clear water into the filter for fifteen minutes, so as to remove 
any fine, loose particles of charcoal that otherwise would be mixed with 
the cider." 

4S0. Aerifying fider^ — If cider, when it first comes from the press, could 
be filtered, and the clear liquid allowed to fall from an upper story in a thin 
stream into a large tub in tlie story below, or, if feasible, to continue falling 
from one to another through several stories of a building, it would become 
greatly improved, and we are assured by one who has tried it, that it may 
be bottled at once without any further fermentation, and it will remain in 
its sweet or slightly acidulated state, and when at a year old it is uncorked 
it will sparkle like champagne wine. 

The grand secret of having a cider equal to pure wine is in checking any 
further fermentation. If the cider is left to itself, the acetous fermentation 
follows — the sedimentary matter at the bottom of the cask rises, and the 
liquid becomes muddy — this, acting as yeast, produces a second and more 
violent fermentation, resulting generally in hard cider. 

By straining out the crude and useless matter from the liquor, the liability 
to excessive fermentation is greatly lessened, and so it is by fumigating 
casks with burning sulphur as well as aerifying. Remember, however, that 



Skc. 2G.] cider, vinegar, AND PRESERVES. 429 

tliis airing process must be confined to cider wdiilo (|uito new. If fermented 
eider were treated in the same way, the result M'ould be vinegar. 

Wlien cider is kept tiglitly bunged up, it changes little and very gradually ; 
bottled, it changes none at all, except a certain improvement by ago which 
takes place. 

Air will at once begin to change tlio alcoliol into vinegar if it comes in 
contact with it, and this will make the best cider hard and sour before 
long. 

481. Vinegar — Slow to Make it.— If you have cider that " won't turn to 
vinegar," just try the following plan: Fill a barrel, tub, box, or any other 
clean vessel, with clean shavings, or small twigs of any sweet wood, such as 
maple, birch, beech, etc., and wet them with vinegar, if you have it, and if 
not, cider, or even warm water will answer. This barrel must be full of 
holes, sides and bottom, and set over a larger vessel, to catch the drip as it 
leaches through. The cider is to bo conveyed to the leach by any con- 
venient method. A good way is to put it in a pail, set on the barrel over 
the shavings, and carry it over the edge by siphons, made of rags, or cotton 
lainp-wicking, or a hank of cotton yarn. These conductors should be cut 
long enough to reach from the bottom of the pail or pan nsed, up over the 
edge, and down an inch below the bottom. This gradual emptying of the 
pail, and trickling down throngh the filter, exposes the liquid to the atmos- 
phere, and that is what is wanted to make vinegar. If the first ojjeration is 
insufficient, let it be repeated, and good strong vinegar will be the result. 

CcKEANT ViNEGAu. — " Last year," writes a lady, " for trial, I took fourteen 
pounds of currants, mashed them as for wine, put them into a tub Avith two 
or three pails of water, stirring it two or three times a day. After standing 
several days, I strained or i)ressed it, and with molasses enougli to make it 
as sweet as new cider, I had ten gallons. I put it into a keg, and did not 
open it till December, when I found it to be as good vinegar as was ever 
made." 

Blackberry vinegar may be made in the same way ; or, if you arc making 
wine, do not throw away the seeds and skins after drawing off the must. 
Pour warm water over these until they are entirely covered, and let them 
stand in an open vessel three or four days. Then draw off the liquid and 
let that stand until the acetous fermentation takes place. A small quantity 
of coarse sugar or molasses will hasten the process. In this way a most 
excellent article of wine vinegar may be obtained by many who have not 
the means of making cider vinegar. 

482. Preserving Fruits for Winter Use. — "We have already given a plan in 
337 of a fruit-drying house, and have recommended preserving various kinds 
of fruits by drying for winter use, and now we give some directions for 
various other preparations for jJi'eserving fruit, cooked and uncooked. 

Ajjplts keep best in a dry, cool room, just above the freezing-point. If 
headed in barrels, apples will keej) in a room where water would freeze 
quite solid. They will not keep well in a warm cellar where cabbage. 



430 DOMESTIC ECOXGMY. [Chap. IV. 



tui'nips, or any strong-smelling substances are stored, for tliey al:)Sorb the un- 
pleasant odor. If packed in straw or chaff that becomes damp and musty, 
they will spoil. 

453. Grapes— How to Keep Tlienii — There are three easy ways that will 
serve the purpose in some degree — that is, it will preserve them some weeks 
into the winter in a tolerable state of freshness. The first is to hang up the 
bunches separately by the stems in a dry room, barely warm enough to pre- 
serve fruit from treezing. The next is to pack the bunches, each separately, 
in absolutely dry sawdust, of some sweet wood, in layers, in a box or cask. 
The other is to pack the bunches separately between la^-ers of clean cotton 
fiber Or batting. In each case the fruit should be kejDt in a dry, cool room, 
and, when packed in cotton, the room may be so cold that it would freeze 
water, yet will not injure the grapes. Care must be taken that the fruit is 
dry and clean, and that there are no decayed, mashed, or imperfect grapes 
on the bunches. 

Another direction says : 

" In gathering grapes for keeping fresh, they should be allowed to hang 
on the vines until fully ripe, and then gathered with care to avoid bruising. 
The fairest bunches should be chosen to put away, and with a pair of small 
scissors all defective and bruised berries should be cut ofl". They should 
then be placed in boxes well ventilated, and remain for a few days, when 
they should be packed in boxes holding six or eight j)ounds each. It is not 
important that the box be tight ; it is better that it should not be. These 
should be put in the coolest place in the house, where the air is dry. On 
the approacli of freezing weather they may be removed to upper shelves sus- 
pended in the cellar, or in any dry room where the temperature is as near 
the freezing-point as possible. 

" While grapes may he grown in such profusion and with so little labor, 
it is a little remarkable that a supply for every household in the country is 
not secured, not only in the regular season of them, but to last until spring. 
There is no trouble in keeping grapes through the winter as fresh as when 
they are first gathered." 

454. Preserving; Fruit in Air-Tight fans and Bottles.— The nmlas operandi 
of putting up fruit so as to preserve it in a fresh state without cooking, dry- 
ing, or packing in sugar is not yet fully understood by all farmers' families, 
though largely manufactured for sale by many persons in cities; and many 
contrivances have been invented for sealing up cans, some of which are 
very convenient ; but the same thing can be •accomplished with bottles 
corked and sealed according to these directions. 

It is a business that can not so well be done in families as in large manu- 
factories, where everything is arranged for convenience ; but still, with a 
little experience and careful attention, every family can save enough of the 
various fruits of the season to furnish their tables with a great delicacy 
during that portion of the year when they can get nothing of the kind. 
The whole secret consists in expelling the air from bottles or cans by heat, 



Sao. 26.J PRESERVING FRUIT IN AIR-TIGIIT CANS. 431 

and then sealing up the contents hornietically. If the article to he pro- 
served is peaches, select such as you would for swcetuieats, and pare and cut 
them so that they can be put in the bottle, and you must do this -with the 
least possible delay, or they will be colored by the atmosphere. Some per- 
sons who want them to retain their natural whiteness peel them under wa- 
ter. When the bottle is full, cork it tight and wire down the cork with 
very little projecting above the glass. "When you have bottles enough to 
fill a kettle, such as may be most convenient, pnt them in and boil wiih the 
water all around up to the nozzle for about fifteen or twenty minutes, or 
xmtil the bottle appears to be fnll of steam, the atmosphere having been 
forced out through the cork. As soon as the bottles are cool enough to 
handle, dip the corks in sealing-wax, so as to cover tliem quite tfght. An 
additional precaution is used by some in putting tin-foil over the wax. 

Another plan is to cook the fruit sliglitly in a kettle, and then put it into 
cans or bottles, and ponr hot syrnp of sugar in to fill up the interstices, and 
then cork and seal, the heat of the fruit and syrup answering to expel tlie 
ail'. But the less they are cooked or sweetened, the more natural will be 
the taste, like fresh frnit when opened. We have eaten peaches a year old 
that we could not tell from those sugared ten hours before. 

Tomatoes are very easily preserved, and retain their freshness better than 
almost any other fruit. The small kind only are used. Scald and peel 
them without breaking the flesh. Bottles should hold about a quart only, 
because when once opened, the contents must be used up at once. Bottles 
made on purpose, with large throats and a ring on the inside, are the best, 
and bottles are better than cans for all acid fruit. The cans, however, are 
more easily secured by solder than the bottles by corks and wax, as the air 
is let out through a small puncture after the large opening is soldered up 
and cans heated, and that hole stopped with a single drop of solder. 

Every article of fruit will keep fresh if the air is exhausted and the bottle 
sealed light. The least particle of air admitted through any imperfection 
of the sealing will spoil the fruit. If the air could be driven out without 
heat, there would be no need of any cooking, and only just enough should 
be given to expel the air and not change the taste. Many persons prefer 
to add syrup made by about one pound of sugar to a quart of water to all 
suitable fruits. Green corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, pie-plant, currants, 
gooseberries, cherries, plums, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, are the most 
common things put up in this way. They add greatly to the pleasures of 
the table and to the health of those who consume them — in that respect 
quite unlike the common preserves. 

We have known fruit for pies put up in three-quart cans by partially 
cooking in an open kettle in a syrup just sweet enough for use, and putting 
the fruit in the cans hot and soldering immediately. It kept thus perfectly. 

Some fruits keep much better and with less heating than others. Peas are 
among the hardest articles to keep, they contain so much fixed air. 

We advise every family in the country to try this plan of putting up 



432 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



fruits foi" M'inter use on a small scale this year, and if successful, enlarge 
tipon it next year 

A new mode, to \is, of canning fruit is recommended as follows : 

" Take a common wide-mouthed crock or jar of any size ; prepare the 
fruit in the usual way ; fill the jar and tie two waxed cloths tightly over 
the mouth. The jar must not be very narrow-mouthed in proportiofl to its 
size. A common, straight, stone gallon jar is of good proportions. If the 
mouth is too small, the clotlis can not follow the surface of the fruit down 
in a cold time. The cloth must touch the fruit at all times, and if the 
mouth is wide it can rise and fall with the weather. In order to have the 
jar very full, it is well to let the fruit cool down a little below 212 de- 
grees; then fill up witii more fruit just before putting on the cloth. The 
cloths may be of the common muslin, but they must be soaked in melted 
wax. The wax should be beeswax chiefly ; a little rosin and tallow will 
help it." 

485. Dry Suaiar-Preserving. — Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cher- 
ries, and peaches can be preserved in this manner : Lay the ripe fruit in 
broad dishes, and sprinkle over it the same quantity of sugar used in cook- 
ing it. Set it in the sun or a moderately heated oven until the juice forms 
a thick syrup with the sugar. Pack the fruit in tumblers, and pour the 
syrup over it. Paste writing-paper over the glasses, and set them in a cool, 
dry place. Peaches must be pared and split, and cherries stoned. Pre- 
served in tliis nuumcr, the fruit retains much more of its natural flavor and 
healthfulness than when cooked. The paper wliicli is usually pasted over 
jars of preserves is porous, and admits air. To render it perfectly impervi- 
ous to air, apply the wliite of an egg with a brush to the paper before cover- 
ing the jars, overlapping the edges an inch or two. 

48G. Dry Pressure Preserving. — By submitting vegetables to a powerful 
pressure, they have been prepared in France so that they have been kept in 
a dry state many months. Cabbages, beets, parsneps, peas, apples, etc., are 
divested of all moisture by a powerful hydraulic press, and thus are packed 
in small compass for use of men on sliip-board. They are a tolerable sub- 
stitute for fresh vegetables, but as unlike them as bull beef is to tender 
lamb. Upon such a voyage, however, as that of the Grinnell expedition, 
where the ships were frozen up nine months, a taste of such food as this 
would have been not only palatable, but extremely beneficial to health. We 
understand it is not expensive. 

487. Currant Jelly. — As currant jelly is pleasant and useful to both the 
sick and the well, we give the following directions for making it of excellent 
quality, which retains the beautiful crimson color of tlie currant much bet- 
ter than that made by the old mode: "Squeeze the juice out of the cur- 
rants, strain and measure it, put it in a porcelain or very well-cleaned C02> 
per or brass kettle, and boil it until the scum ceases to rise ; tlien, without 
taking the juice oflT the fire, stir in one pound of well-refined sugar to every 
pint of juice, and as soon as the sugar is fully dissolved — which will be 



Seo. 26.] PICKLES AND PRESERVES. 433 



in less than a minute— take it off and pour it into the vessels prepared to 
receive it." 

CiDEK Jelly. — Boil three quarts of cider just from the press till it is re- 
duced to one. Skim well, and add not quite one quart of white sugar. Boil 
fifteen or twenty minutes, and strain through a coarse linen cloth into your 
jelly glasses. 

488. Picklinp; Cucumbers, Melons, Tomatoes, Peaches.— The great art in 
making good pickles is to have good vinegar. The best vinegar for pick- 
ling is made of sound cider. As good vinegar is not always at hand, the 
best way is to prepare a brine strong enough to bear an egg. When the 
tub is full of pickles, allow the brine to cover them ; then cover them over 
with cabbage-leaves, and a board and weight to keep them in the brine. For 
use, freshen in warm water, and put them in a bright brass kettle, with 
vinegar enough to cover them, and scald them fifteen or twenty minutes ; 
put them in jars, and pour hot vinegar over them ; flavor th.em with 
cloves, mace, black pepper, an onion or two, and a little horseradish and 
ginger. 

For Peach Pickles. — Stir two pounds of white sugar into two quarts of 
Ihe best cider vinegar. Boil it ten minutes, skimming it well. Have ready 
some large, fully-ripe peaches ; rub them with a clean flannel to take off the 
down, and stick four cloves into each. Put them into glass or whitewaro 
jars, rather more than half full, and pour on them the vinegar boiling hot. 
Cover them closely, set them in a cool place, and let them rest for a week. 
Then pour off the liquid, and give it another boiling. Afterward pour it 
again on the peaches; cover them closely, corking the jars and tying leather 
over each, and put them away till wanted for use. Instead of cloves you 
may stick the peaches with blades of mace, six blades to each peach. If 
you find a coat of mold on the top of a jar of pickles, remove it carefully, 
and do not throw away the pickles, as they may still be quite good be- 
neath. 

489. Apples, how Preserved, and their Tscc — Where apples abound, as they 
do in a large portion of the Nortliern States, they should be found in some 
form upon every farm-honse table at nearly every meal. Several very 
choice sorts can be kept througli the winter up to tlie time when apples 
come again ; and where they abound, there is really but little occasion for 
preserving small fruits, as indicated in preceding paragraphs. Apples, 
when first taken from the tree, if laid in a heap eighteen inches in depth, 
and covered with a cloth, or a little straw, will soon sweat and become quite 
moist ; then the cover or straw should be taken ofi^, and the apples suff'ered 
to dry as suddenly as possible. Then packed in barrels and kept till they 
sweat again, and finalh^ dried, repacked, and stored in proper situations, they 
will always be ready for furnishing some of tiie best sweetmeats at short 
notice that a fiirmer can enjoy, for they furnish healthy food. 

Apples brought to the table raw should be only such kinds as can be eaten 
after sweet things, as pastry and custards, hence all intensely sour apples, 



434 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

however grateful at other times, are not fit for the dessert. There is almost 
an infinite number, and among them our best varieties, which do not come 
within this stricture, though some of the choicest for culinary purposes are 
too sour for the dessert uncooked. 

The eflect of heat on many apples is quite noticeable. Baked ajjples are 
always liked. We are not surprised when a tender apple bakes soft and 
delicate, but when one tough and corky loses all these characteristics, and 
surpasses in delicacy even the other, as is often the case, we appreciate better 
the chemical action which heat induces. Sweet apples, free from decay, 
worms, or gnarly spots, scrupulously cleaned and placed in pans, and baked 
in a slow oven till fully done, are excellent. The apples should shrivel and 
dry away very much, and the skin should not be broken so as to let the 
juice out. The sweetness is thus concentrated, and they are three times as 
good as if simply baked through. 

Sour or tart apples may be baked much quicker ; the juice, instead of be- 
coming viscid and thick by heat, is apt to flow out, or the steam splits the 
skin aud lets it out, and it is likely to burn to the pan. Baked tart apples 
should be eaten with sugar, or they may be baked with sugar. Tart apples, 
washed, placed in a pan with a little water, aud sprinkled over well with 
sugar — or the same, cored and the holes filled with sugar — or pared as well 
as cored, and spice added with the sugar, are delicious. Some use one or two 
cloves to each apple, or a bit of cinnamon with some lemon-peel ; others grate 
nutmeg or sprinkle cinnamon over the apples in the pan. 

To our taste, plain baked apples, or slightly sugared if very tart, is the 
very best preparation of this valuable fruit for the table. 

Apple Custaed. — To make the cheapest and best every-day farmer's apple 
custard, take sweet apples that will cook soft, pare, cut, and stew them ; 
when well done, stir till the pieces are broken ; when cool, thin with milk 
to a proper consistency, and bake with one crust, like a pumpkin pie. Eggs 
may be prepared and added with milk, though it will do without. No 
sweetening is necessary. It may be seasoned with any kind of spice to suit 
the taste — the less the better. ^ 

Eaw Apples'and Milk. — A tender sub-acid, or sweet apple — the latter 
preferable — pared and sliced thin into a bowl of milk, for breakfast or sup- 
per, is a great luxury to some persons at any time of the year; and it is not 
less healthful than grateful to the palate. 



Seo. 27.] 



HYGIENIC. 



435 



SECTION XXVII.-nYGIENIC. 



PKEPAKATIOX OF FOOD FOE THE 



SICK REMEDIES FOB POISONS, BITES, AND 

STINGS. 




(E will not tire the reader with nostrums under this 
title ; we simply ask attention to a very short section 
ujiOQ matters of great importance to those who are 
sufl'ering, and which come properly under the head 
of this chapter. All of our readers who have, 
while recovering from sickness, asked, " What shall 
I eatr' will appreciate all that is said in the next 
paragraph. 

490. Food for the Sick and Dyspeptic— Sickness 
occurs in every family, and during convalescence 
the appetite is sometimes so delicate it needs a good 
deal of pampering. In some families there is always 
an invalid, who can not eat the every-day food of 
those whose appetites are strong. To such, some of 
the following hints may be very acceptable, and equally acceptable to some 
who are not sick. 

"What shall I eat ? How often this question is asked by the sick, or those 
with delicate appetites! Nature demands food, but the appetite does not 
crave it, and the mind of the feeble invalid can not fix upon anything that 
he will relish. 

It may relieve such sufferers to point out a few suitable articles of food, 
such as are easily prepared and usually tempt delicate appetites. 
Here is one ])eculiarly New Englandish : 

"Cut some codfish in bits the size of a pea, and boil it a minute in water 
to freshen it. Pour off all the water, and add some cream and a little 
pepper. 

"Split and toast a Boston cracker, and put the above upon it. Milk and 
a little butter may be used instead of cream. 

" Ham or smoked beef may be prepared in the same way. For a variety, 
beat up an egg and stir it in, instead of cream, or with the cream. 

"These preparations are also good for a relish for a family breakfast 
or tea." 

Another excellent dish for sick or well, and economical withal, is made 
by taking a few cakes of pilot-bread and soaking them till partially soft, 
after breaking them into mouthfuls, in just water enough to be all absorbed ; 
then cut a slice of fat salt pork into very small })iecos, fry it crisp, pour it 
over the bread, and heat the whole in a stove or oven, or in a spider. 



436 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



Another plan is to ponr over the bread a sweetened butter gravy, or wine 
sauce, or the juice of stewed fruit or preserves. All are good. 

A very excellent food for delicate stomachs may be made by sweetening 
water, cold or hot, with refined sugar, and crumbling into it stale bread. 

Bread and cider used to be a favorite food in Yankee land in old times. 
Sweeten the cider, and crumb into it toasted bread. 

Sometimes a piece of codfish or a slice of fat salt pork, roasted upon 
live coals, will tempt a convalescent appetite when nothing else will answer. 

In making porridge of corn or oatmeal, bo careful to cook it TiVell. Do 
not think it done till it has boiled an hour. 

Eice gruel does not need so much cooking. It should not be given to a 
person of constipated habits. Simple boiled rice is a delicate food for the 
sick. 

Arrowroot, tapioca, farina, and corn starch are all of the same character — 
highly concentrated food. A good gruel may be made of either, and fla- 
vored with sugar, nutmeg, lemon, or whatever would be agreeable. Stale 
bread, very dry, crumbed and made into a gruel, is perhaps the most di- 
gestible. Stale bread, toasted very dry and brown, and then steeped in wa- 
ter a long time, makes a good drink for the sick, and furnishes considerable 
nourishment. 

In all cases of sickness, when the appetite craves fruit we would give it, 
ripe and fresh in its season, or preserved and cooked in the most simple 
manner. Apples for the sick should always be roasted. So should po- 
tatoes. 

If tlie friends of the sick possess a little skill and neatness in the prepara- 
tion of dishes, the patient need never say, " What shall I eat ?" 

The following is well relislied by some appetites, but we doubt its di- 
gestibility : Shave a good crisp liead of cabbage as fine as possible; add a 
tablespoonful of horseradish to each quart of shaved cabbage ; let one pint 
of vinegar come to a boil ; have ready three well-beaten eggs with a little 
salt ; pour tlie eggs into the vinegar and stir until cooked ; then pour it 
over the cabbage and set it away, as it is better when cold. This will keep 
some days, and is always ready. 

Roasting a Chicken may bo thought a very simple operation, but, 
in our opinion, not one in ten of modern housekeepei-s can do it to per- 
fection. First, because they have no conveniences. The abominable cook- 
ing-stove has spoiled many a dish, and none more so than this of a roast 
cliicken, which never has been and never Aviil be roasted to perfection in 
any other way than tied up by the legs swinging by a string before a wood 
fire, dripping its gravy into a pan in wliicii there is a little cream and a 
lump of butter, with which the roast is to be basted from time to time until 
the skin is brown and flcsii thoroughly cooked. It is tliis cooking in tlie 
open air that gives it the peculiar richness. If a chicken must be roasted or 
baked in a stove-oven, it should be done with the oven door open. With 
some stoves it can be much better done in an open pan set down before the 



Sko. Sr.] HYGIENIC. 437 



grate. All holes in the body of a fowl should be sewed up as tight as pos- 
sible — not merely drawn together, but tight. 

A badly cooked fowl should never be set before an invalid, or one whose 
digestion is naturally weak. The following makes a nice dish for a delicate 
appetite : 

Lay half a dozen crackers in a tureen ; pour enough boiling water over 
them to cover them. In a few minutes they will be swollen three or four 
times their original size. Now grate loaf sugar and a little nutmeg over 
them, and dip on enough cream to make a nice sauce, and you have a 
simple and delicious dessert that will rest lightly upon the stomach, and it 
is easily prepared. Leave out the cream, and it is a valuable recipe for 
" sick-room cookery." 

Lemoxade. — ^Three lemons to a pint of water makes strong lemonade ; 
sweeten to taste. This is a cool, refreshing, pleasant, and salubrious bev- 
erage for invalids. 

Mead. — ^Three pounds of sugar, five gills of molasses, three pints of wa- 
ter, three ounces of tartaric acid, one ounce of sarsaparilla. Stir it over the 
fire till at the boiling-point. "When cold, bottle and cork tight. Add the 
supercarbonate of soda when you drink it. 

GiNGEE Beek. — Two gallons of boiling water, two pounds of crushed 
sugar, one and a half ounces of bruised ginger, one ounce of cream of tartar, 
one lemon, two tablcspoonfuls of j'east. M\x all together (except the yeast) 
and let it stand over-night ; then add the yeast ; strair and bottle it ; tie 
down the corks. In twelve hours it may be drank. 

Beef Tea is very nourishing if rightly prepared. Take perfectly lean 
parts of fat beef, cnt it into cubes half an inch square, and soak it some hours 
in cold water, and then boil all together for an hour. You may improve 
this by adding a toasted cracker to each bowlful. 

The following formula is given by Liebig : Half a pound of fresh, lean beef, 
cut small in one pint and a third of pure water, with four drops of muriatic 
acid and half a small spoonful of salt, to stand an hour cold, and then strain 
without squeezing. It may then be cooked and taken hot or cold 

Mutton or chicken tea should be made according to the first of the above 
directions, and rice may be added, if not intended solely for drink. 

491. rautions about Preserving Health. — The art of preserving health is of 
more consequence than all tiie prescriptions for pampering sick appetites. A 
great deal of sickness might be avoided by forethought. There is alwavs 
some cause to produce sickness, and that cause may frequently be removed 
by a few horn's' labor. 

Stagnant water in the cellar is a great breeder of disease. Let there al- 
ways be a free passage of air through the cellar by taking out the windows, 
60 that the air can circulate freely and keep it healthy. 

If there are stagnant ponds near your dwellings, tliey should be drained. 
Remove, as far as you can, every cause of disease; be temperate and regu- 
lar in all your habits ; avoid exposure, and be careful of what you eat. 



438 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



492. PoisonSi — There are numerous poisons larking unsuspected about 
many dwellings that tend to produce sickness. Among other poisons, we 
enumerate— 

Oxalic acid used in solution for cleaning brass and removing stains from 
linen, is a virulent poison. Lime forms an insoluble compound with it, and 
proves the best antidote when it has been taken into the stomach. 

Among vegetable poisons we find the mountain laurel {Kalmia latifolia), 
and the dwarf or sheej) laurel {K. migustifoJia). These not only are eaten 
by animals, but the leaves are mistaken by children for wintergreen, and 
we have known serious cases of poisoning to result. 

Poison sumach {Rhus venenata) and poison vine or poison ivy (/?. toxico- 
dendron) produce excessive irritation of the skin, and even blistering from 
contact with most persons, and some are so sensitive that the odor only of 
the first or its smoke in burning produces most painful results. Tlie wild or 
poison parsnejj has a similar cifect upon some persons, and some very del- 
icate skins are affected by the garden parsnep. The effect is higlitened 
when the leaves arc covered with dew ; when dried, they may be handled 
witli safety. 

Water hemlock {Cicuta maculata) is a virulent poison. From the form 
of its inflorescence and tlie aromatic odor of its seed and root, it is some- 
times mistaken for sweet cicely {M/jrrhis odorata) by children. Pains 
should be taken to extirpate it wherever found, as also to prevent the spread 
of a similar plant, a foreigner, poison hemlock {Conium macidatuni). 

Among poisonous garden flowers we have the larkspur, monkshood, and 
foxglove. 

Opium, the product of the poppy, in some form, either as laudanum or 
elixir, is a very frequent means of poisoning. These medicines are too pow- 
erful to be trusted in ignorant hands, as the yearly record of fatal accidents 
sadly attests. 

The green color on wall paper and on cards attached to various dry 
goods, often contains arsenic, a single square inch having enough to destroy 
a child. Green M-all paper is unfit for use, especially for sleeping-rooms. 
The exhalation from such walls has been known to sicken the occupants. 

[The frequent use of poisonous colors upon candy or children's playthings 
indicates the need of the utmost caution on the part of parents. The red, 
green, yellow, and blue colors may all bo harmless, but fatal cases of poi- 
soning and the examination of chemists prove that the grossest ignorance or 
the deepest depravity prevails with some makers and venders. 

Copper in all its forms is poisonous. Acid or greasy food allowed to stand 
in copper or brass vessels, readily corrodes them, and proves their unfitness 
for such uses. The metallic or brassy taste of the articles usually afibrds 
reasonable warning. 

Common black writing-ink, made of nutgalls and iron, is not poisonous, 
but the blue ink has a different composition, and is so in a greater or less 
degree. Indelible ink and also hair-dyes having nitrate of silver as the es- 



Seo. 27.] HYGIENIC. 439 



sential ingredient, are poisonous. Corrosive sublimate used in alcohol as a 
bedbug poison should never be kept in families, as it has been the cause of 
very Tnany accidents. 

Phospliorus, an ingredient in friction matches, is a deadly poison. Too 
mucli caution can not be used to keep them away from small ciiildrcn, who 
will put anything in their mouths. The free use of warm water will not 
only favor the vomiting wiiich may ensue from the action of the poison it- 
self, but as a diluent it may serve to weaken its power and render it com- 
paratively harmless. Common table-mustard is a very prompt emetic. The 
dose is a teaspoonful of dry mustard ; stir this in a tumbler of water and 
drink at one draught. It is quick, sure, and as agreeable as any emetic. If 
some does remain in the stomach, it does no liarm. In a few cases some a-n- 
tidote may neutralize the poisonous substance in the stomach, but the main 
dependence must be in removing immediately its contents either by an 
emetic or, better, by the stomach-pump. Vegetable acids, as vinegar, are good 
antidotes to many of the vegetable poisons, yet no rules cau be given upon 
which it would be safe to rely without medical assistance. 

493. Bee Stings aud Mosquito Bites. — We have often cured the poison of 
bee stings, and relieved the pain almost instantly by an application of spirits 
of hartshorn (liquid ammonia). If that is not convenient, wet the skin and 
apply powdered saleratus or sal soda, which effects upon some persons in- 
stant relief. The same things may be applied with success to mosquito bites 
upon children or others, where they are particvflarly poisonous. Some- 
body has published a statement that, if a piece of raw beef is placed in 
a room infested with mosquitoes, they will all suck the beef and let folks 
alone. 

494. Snake Bites and Remedies. — ^The most virulent and fatal of all poisons, 
excepting always the poison of bad ventilation, comes from snake bites, 
which occur occasionally in some of the new settlements of our country. 
We have known death to supervene in several cases for want of a little 
knowledge of remedies ready at hand. One remedy is to drink whisky, or 
any spirit, as soon as possible, sufficient to produce insensibility. Another 
remedy is to kill a chicken, or any other animal, and cut it open and apply 
the warm flesh to the wound, holding fast, and renewing it when it loses the 
animal heat. Another is a poultice of equal parts of raw onions, tobacco, 
and salt, mashed together, moistened with whisky, and bound on tight and 
frequently renewed. Sweet or olive oil, we know as a very valuable 
remedy, taken in half-gill doses, and cloths bound upon the bitten spot 
soaked in oil. We earnestly recommend a trial of the following remedy : 
AVet a bunch of lint with a teaspoonful of chloroform, and lay it on the 
bite, and cover it with a watcli crystal, a wine-glass, or a tumbler, pressed 
down so as to exclude the air, and liold it there fifteen to tliirty minutes, 
which will probably raise a blister, and prove so painful that the pain of the 
poison will not be felt. 

495. Hydrophobia— Cure of Slad-dog Bites. — A Leipsic — Germany— journal 



440 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



gives the following, said to have proved many times a sure remedy for the 
bite of a mad dog : 

"Take immediately -warm vinegar or tepid water, wasli the wound clean 
therewith, and then dry it ; then pour upon the wound a i'aw drops of 
hydrochloric acid, because mineral acid destroys the poison of the saliva." 

Brazilian Mode of Cure. — We have seen it stated that the biles of rat- 
tlesnakes and mad dogs and stings of scorpions are cured in Brazil by the 
use of spirits of hartshorn. It should be applied immediately, if possible, 
and the wound kept wet by cloth application or continual sponging, and 
doses of the spirits diluted, taken into the stomach three or four times a 
day. It is said that the spirits of hartshorn has a chemical affinity for the 
poison virus, and absorbs and decomposes it, and thus renders it harmless. 
If this is the case, then ammonia in any form would have the same effect. 
At any rate the remedy is simple and easily tried, and should be tested. 
We have faith in it, knowing it to be an excellent remedy for a bee sting. 

490. Remedies for Lockjaw, Felons, aud Ulcers. — We have heard a great 
deal about the medicinal value of a poultice made of grated beet-roots, and 
now we find the following statement, which we consider worthy of attention, 
the remedy is so easily applied : 

"A young lady ran a nail into her foot, which produced lockjaw of such 
a malignant character that her physicians pronounced her recovery hope- 
less. An old nurse applied a poultice of pounded beet roots, renewing it 
often, and the result Avas a complete cure." 

A good remedy for a felon is made of common soft soap and air-slaked 
lime, stirred till it is of the consistency of glazier's putty. Make a leather 
thimble, fill it with this composition, and insert the finger therein, and our 
informant says a cure is certain. This is a domestic application that every 
housekeeper can apply promptly. 

A fig heated as warm as it can be borne, and cut open and applied to 
almost any ulcerated sore, and renewed as it cools, is recommended for boils 
and similar affections as one of the best remedies. It may be applied to an 
ulcerated tooth. 

497. Remedy for a Tight Finger-Ring. — If it can not be removed by such 
mechanical appliances as inserting a stout thread under it and pulling upon 
it, nor by thin strips of metal, then chemistry must be resorted to, and the 
strength of the ring destroyed, so that it can be easily broken. This is done 
by rubbing it with quicksilver, which has an affinity for pure gold, aud 
makes it brittle. 



Sec. 28.] 



THE DAIRY. 



441 



SECTION XXVIII.-THE DAIRY. 



BUTTER-MAKING, A3 



PKACTICED BY FIKST-CLASS 
CHEESE-MAKING. 



DAIRYMEN CHEESE AND 




to be taught the 



(E can not teach all who need 
perfect art of butter-making, which is one of the 
useful ai'ts that but few households possess. In the 
great butter market of New York, we find that not 
one tenth is really first-rate; and probably more 
than one half is sold from one to three cents a 
pound below the first price, while tons are sold 
every year at the price of soft grease, and used for 
other purposes than food. What a loss to the pro- 
ducers! In hopes to aid this class, we have em- 
bodied in this section directions for making butter, 
as practiced by some of the best butter-makers in 
the country. Among these. we may name A. B. 
Dickenson, Hornby, Steuben Co., N". Y. ; Jesse Car- 
penter, of Elmira, N. Y. ; John T. Norton, of Farmington, Ct., and others. 
498. First Requisites in Butter-Making. — A. B. Dickenson says : " One of 
the first requisites in butter-making is care that all the utensils of the dairy 
are kept dry and sweet; that the milk-room is well ventilated, of a proper 
temperature, free from dampness and the unpleasant smell generated by 
moisture ; that the cream is not allowed to stand too long upon the milk, 
nor after it is skimmed ; that it bo churned at a proper temperature, the 
operation being neither hurried unduly or carried too far; tliat it should lie 
salted with the nicest salt obtainable, not injured by the addition of sugar 
or saltpeter, and that all the buttermilk be properly and effectually removed. 
"The utmost moisture which should be found in thoroughly worked but- 
ter is a very slight dew, and it should bo of such firm consistency as to slice 
down, hardly dimming the brightness of a knife-blade. No butter is jirop- 
erly made unless it will bear these tests. 

" For depositing the milk, when strained, the tin pail of the capacity of 
about twelve quarts is preferable to any other kind of vessel. It is sufii- 
ciently large to fulfill all the requirements in that particular, while its su- 
periority over the shallow pan — wliich is considerably used — is too palpable 
to admit of doubt. 

" No first quality of butter can be made either in November or August. 
While the one is too cold with frost-bitten grass, the other is quite too 
warm, and without ice it is impossible to make first quality of butter. Be 
careful in washing butter to handle it with a ladle, so as not to affect the 



442 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

grain ; then put it away in some sweet, cool place out of the reach of any bad 
odor which it might absorb. When it has stood long enough to get its 
proper rich color, work it over and lay it down and keep it with the same 
degree of care. It would spoil in sixty days in a common farm cellar, 
where meats, fish, and vegetables are kept. 

" It would be a much easier task to teach a man to make a watch than liow 
to make the first quality of butter, as it is the most sensitive and the most 
liable to injury of all the eatables extracted from the vegetable kingdom. 
It is so sensitive as to partake of everything that can affect it that it comes 
in contact with — as onions, carrots, parsneps, turnips, fish, or anything else 
that would make it iinpalatable, either in the butter or the milk before 
churning. Kot only so, but the butter partakes of everything the cow eats 
or drinks, and the longer it stands after being made, the more perceptibly 
will the unpalatable things on which she fed make themselves manifest. By 
this it will be seen that the most important thing for first quality of butter 
is the food for the cow. Neither from roots of any sort or kind, nor grain 
of any description, can first quality of butter be extracted. It must be from 
something that imparts a sweeter and finer flavor. The cow must give good 
rich milk, as first quality of butter can not be made from poor pale milk, 
for it lacks the essential quality of good butter." 

Hest and quiet are as important to a butter-producing cow as good food. 
She should never be dogged, beaten, driven on a run, nor have her quiet in 
any way disturbed. 

499. Churning, Washing, and Coloring Dutter.— In spite of all the patented 
improvements, the old dasher churn still holds its position, not only in fam- 
ilies, but among dairymen. The following are A. B. Dickenson's directions 
for churning milk and working butter : , 

" The churn should bo as nearly straight up and down as possible, as the 
dash should' stir all the milk every stroke it makes, so that the butter in the 
churn should all come at the same time. If the milk is too cold, the only 
safe way to warm it is to place a pail of milk in a large boiler of warm wa- 
ter to bring it to the exact temperature, which is about 55 to 60 degrees — a 
few dcn-ees warmer in cold than warm weather. As soon as the butter has 
come and gathered, take it immediately from the churn in its warm state 
and put it in a large wooden bowl, which is the best vessel for the purpose ; 
then put it in cold, soft water; then commence pulling the butter over with 
the ladle in so gentle and careful a manner as not to affect the grain, for as sure 
as that is injured at the washing or working, the butter becomes oily and 
can never be reclaimed. Every particle of milk must be washed out, and 
then season with the best Liverpool salt. Set the bowl away until the next 
day, and when sufficiently cool, work the mass thoroughly, but not so as 
to make it oily, and on the third day pack it away if it has assumed the 
right color. Examine it well before packing, and be sure that no milky 
■water runs from it, for if packed with the least drop, you will hear from it 
next April. 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 443 

" If your spring or well is hard water, save ice from streams, as lime never 
congeals with ice. Save rain-water, and then with ice you will have soft, 
cool water to wash your hutter, without which you can not get the milk 
out without injuring tlio grain. Soft water is as indispensable to wash hut- 
ter as it is to wash fine linen. Washing butter is not positively necessary 
if it is to be used within a few weeks. 

'•The idea of coloring butter with any tiling after it is made is as absurd 
as painting rye bread white, •with the expectation of making it taste like 
wheat." 

Jesse Carpenter saj's : " The milk in the churn, when fit for churning, 
should indicate G4 degrees Fahrenheit, and sliould be agitated with a move- 
ment of the dash at not less than fifty strokes to the minute. Less motion 
M-ill fail to divide properly the butter from the^milk. When done, the 
butter sliould be taken from tlie churn and thrown into a tub or a small 
cliurn partly filled with Avater 42 to 44 degrees Fahrenheit, and the butter- 
milk forced out with a small dash. It should then be put into trays and 
waslicd until the water used ceases to be the least discolored with butter- 
milk. It is then ready for salting, which done, carry the trays immediately 
to the cellar. Use one and a quarter ounces of salt to the pound of worked 
butter. Tliree or four hours after the first salting, stir witii a ladle and put 
it in the form of a honeycomb, in order to give it the greatest possible sur- 
f;;ce exposure to the air, which gives color and fixes the high flavor. 

" Butter, when well manufactured, while standing preparatory to pack- 
ing, is composed of granulated particles, between which are myriads of in- 
finitesimal cells filled wtili brine, which is its life. At this period it should 
be touched with a light hand, as too much and too careless working will destroy 
its gj-anular and cellular character, and reduce the wliole to a compact and 
lifeless mass, with an immediate loss of flavor, and a certain and reliable 
prospect, if packed, of a rapid change of its character from indifiereutly 
good to miserably poor butter. It should never be worked in the tray 
while in a dry state, or all the ill results just alluded to will be realized. 
As a general rule, after the butter has stood in the trays twenty-four hours, 
and has been worked three or four times as directed, it is ready for packing. 
After the firkin is filled, it should stand a short time, and then should bo 
covered with a clean piece of muslin, and the whole covered with brine." 

Mr. H. E. Lowman, a neighbor of Mr. Carpenter, states the following 
fact about his butter, which is a strong one in favor of washing butter : 

" Mr. Carpenter for the last twenty years, besides fattening the calves to 
the customary age of four weeks, has averaged a fraction over two firkins 
to the cow per year. He has had butter stand in packages in his cellar for 
one year and a half, and open then with a flavor so fresh and sweet that 
the very best and most ci-itical judges and buyers were deceived one year 
in its age, none even suspecting it to be the product of a former year. He 
never has, during that period, failed to reach in New York market the 
highest figure representing the maximum market for Orange County butter, 



444 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



and latterly he has very often exceeded the very highest market from i to 
2^ cents per pound." 

Bntter is judged by its color, aroma, taste, and consistency. Its color 
should be a delicate pale straw, not approaching white, and yet perhaps tliat 
is better than the deep orange tint, almost always a sure indication of ex- 
traneous coloring matter. The peculiar smell of good butter is easily rec- 
ognized. The better the quality the more delicate this aroma; while, as the 
quality degenerates, about in the same proportion does the smell vary, until 
it becomes positively offensive. This fragrance is dependent very mucli on 
the process of manufacture. Orange County dairymaids make " Orange 
County butter" wherever they follow the same processes. The taste of the 
butter will betray any inattention to the proper care of either the milk, 
cream, or the vessels in which they are kept. So will the addition of any 
foreign matter, such as impure or too much or too little salt, sugar, or color- 
ing matter. A certain amount of salt is necessary to bring out the true 
flavor of butter in its greatest delicacy. In texture or consistency, a greater 
difference is seen than upon any other point. Some are firm, leaving no mark 
upon a knife after being thrust into a lump, with hardly enough moisture to 
dim its brightness, while other lots are soft, leaving greasy streaks upon the 
blade, and large drops of an opaque liquid oozing from the newly cut 
surface. The existence of either of these signs gives sure indication of an 
imperfect, if not bad, process of making. 

500. Number of Quarts of Milk for a Pound of Butter.— The number of 
quarts of milk required to make a pound of butter varies very widely. By 
many trials in England, it is found that one pound of butter requires from 
fourteen to sixteen quarts of milk ; that is about one ounce from a quart, 
varying with the feed and the season. Although it may be true that the 
milk of a majority of the cows in this country would require an equal number 
of quarts to make a pound of butter, yet there are cows that will give a 
pound to four quarts of milk. Col. Jaques, of Massachusetts, and Maj. 
John Jones, of Delaware, both had a " cream-pot" breed of cows which we 
saw a few years ago produce this result. But we believe that it requires an 
average of fourteen quarts to a pound, and that is why farmers prefer to sell 
their milk where it brings over two cents a quart. At that rate a milk- 
dairyman can not even afford to make his own family butter ; he can buy it 
from a farmer, who can not sell his milk, at a rate more economical. 

William Buckminster, of Framingham, Mass., in 1855, exhibited a Devon 
cow for premium, as the best butter-maker, with satisfactory proof of the 
following yield of milk : 

" In June and July last she filled a common milk-pail, at night, as full as 
any dairymaid would wish to carry. And on June 17 her milk weighed, morn- 
ing and night, each 34i pounds; June 10, morning and night, 34? pounds; 
June 19, morning and night, 34 pounds; June 20, morning and night, 32a 
pounds; June 21, morning and night, 32f pounds; June 22, morning and 
night, 30i pounds ; June 23, morning and night, 30^ pounds." 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 445 



He also certified at the time she was otiercd, in October, tliat four quarts 
of her milk, when fed on grass only, and that of an ordinary pasture, pro- 
duced one pound of the finest yellow butter. "This cow," he says, "is one 
of the si.x cows owned and bred by me, whose milk lias repeatedly yielded 
one pound of butter from four beer cpiarts. Her keep through the autunin 
of the three years of her milking has been grass feed only, no grain, or 
roots, or corn stover having been given her." 

This is the richest milk of any but Alderneys, and above their average. 

AVilHam S. Lincoln, of "Worcester, Mass., produced from one cow, owned 
by him, in the spring of 1858, eighteen pounds of butter a week ; and cows 
that produce fifteen or si.xteen pounds a week are not uncommon in that 
State. The " Oaks cow" yielded her owner nineteen pounds a week at the 
best, and' nearly 500 pounds in the course of the season. These are extra- 
ordinary cases, it is true ; but if one cow can do it, others can. 

Now, if these are facts — and who can dispute them ? — what are we to 
think of the quality of judgment, sense, or economy of men who will keep 
cows on their farms for the sole purpose of making butter, at an average of 
one pound to fourteen quarts, when they could have cows that would give 
a pound from less than half that quantity ? Let this fact be thought of. that 
it does take fourteen quarts of milk for a pound of butter, which might be 
made from four quarts. "While this is a fact, it is not to be wondered at 
that Orange County farmers have quit making butter, notwithstanding the 
high reputation ii had attained, and prefer to send their milk to New York 
from ever^' farm within reach of the river or railroad. If the milk averages 
two and a half cents a quart when sold, and it would take fourteen quarts 
to make a pound of butter, it would make the first cost of the butter thirty- 
five cents a pound, besides all the labor of its manufacture. 

Tlie Homestead says : " Mr. Coit, of Norwich, keeps two cows which, in 
the best of the season, furnish four quarts of milk daily for use, and make 
nineteen pounds of butter a week. The writer also thinks that a:i improved 
style of milk-room would be quite as likely to increase the yield of butter 
as an improved breed of cows. If only an additional pound a week from 
each cow could be secured in this way, it would be a matter worth looking 
into by our farmers, and would greatly increase the yield of butter in the State." 

Think of it, farmers, in every State. An additional pound of butter a 
week to each cow ! What would be the aggregate ? Can anybody tell 'i 
Can anybody think of the vast amount, and that it would be all clear profit i 
And it is just as easy as it is to do right instead of wrong. 

Good cows, sweet feed, and pure water are the first of all requisites to 
the manufacture of good butter. Good cows, that proper color and right 
consistency be secured; sweet feed and pure water, that no flavor be im- 
parted to the milk which would render the butter unpalatable. Dependent, 
however, as the quality of the article is upon the cow and the goodness of 
the food, a proper degree of care and skill oa the part of the dairywoman is 
of much greater conseauence. 



446 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Undoubtedly butter can be worked so as to keep sweet without washing ; 
so can wheat be cut with a sickle, and thrashed with a flail, but they are not 
great labor-saving machines. 

Witli successful butter-makers the churning occupies about half an hour. 
By increasing the temperature of the cream, it could be done in one half 
the time, but the quality of the butter would be much reduced. In winter, . 
to facilitate the rising of the cream, the earthen pans for holding the 
milk are rinsed iu hot water before use, and warm water is aj^q^lied 
around them, not to heat the milk, but for a time to maintain its original 
temperature. 

When the temperature of the dairy is less than fifty degrees Fahrenheit, 
the milk will not ripen for churning, and in such case should be removed for 
a time to a temperature of fifty-iive degrees. The sudden warming of the 
milk will not always enable it to yield up its butter readily. 

One butter-maker says : " Carefully conducted experiments prove that 
more butter is obtained from a given quantity of milk, when set in pans 
partly filled, than when lull." This is iu opposition to the theory of A. B. 
Dickenson. 

A French chemist declares that butter may be made without churning, by 
the use of a filter, made of white felt, in the form of a bag, iu the four 
corners of which are inserted porous strings, like candlewick, to liasten oti' 
the fluid portion of the milk. The bag being suspended by the lour corners, 
from twenty-four to thirty hours, the contents of the filter will be found to 
be of the consistence of " smear case" (soft cheese). This solidified cream 
is then 2>laced in a linen bag, tied tight, and the bag kneaded like a roll of 
dough. In a few minutes the mass grows liquid, and the butter and butter- 
milk are separated. 

One large butter-maker says: "I use a horse-power churn, of a capacity 
suflieiently great to make one hundred and twenty pounds of butter. I 
always try the temperature of my churn before putting iu the cream. If 
below fifty-five degrees, I raise it to that point with warm water, and keep 
the cream as near that point as possible. As soon as the cream is in the 
churn I start the horse, and keep him moving at a steady gait until the but- 
ter is broken, or begins to gather in small lumps. Opposite the opening 
through which the cream is jioured into the churn is an inch hole, which is 
stopped with a plug. When the butter is formed as above stated, I open this 
hole and draw ofl' all the buttermilk, then start the horse again, and keep 
him going until I gather the butter into a solid mass. This accomplished, 
it is taken from the churn and put into a tub pre[>ared for it. I then weigh 
the whole mass, and transfer it to the butter-worker, when it is worked over 
twice, after which I add one dessert tablespoonful of the very best dairy 
salt to every pound. I again work it well, so as to incorporate the salt 
thoroughly. It is again weighed into pound lumps and printed. The 
human hand is never allowed to touch the butter, nor is water ever used to 
wash it." 



Seo. 28.] . THE DAIRY. 447 



Of course it is sold immediately ; if it is to be kept, we think it must be 
waslied. 

501. Butter Aflfected by Food of CowSi — The quality of all butter is so 
greatly affected by the food of the cows, that no one can make good butter, 
although he has good cows, if their food is poor. In summer, there is nothing 
better than clover pasture. At any rate, the pasture must atibrd sweet grass, 
running water, and trees for shade and rest. A cow should be selected for 
iier quiet disposition, as much as any other quality, for a butter-making 
cow ; for milk alone, this is not so important. If she has vicious propen- 
sities, she can not be cured by viciousness. In winter, clover hay, cured in 
the most perfect manner, is better for butter than any other hay. To this 
add slops once or twice every day, composed of bran, shorts, cut potatoes, 
corn meal partially cooked, and salt, and an occasional handful of bono 
meal, lime, ashes, or charcoal-dust will be found advantageous. Carrots 
are always good for a butter cow. Nothing should ever be given her that 
is not sweet enough for you to eat yourself. And even that is not always 
good food for a cow, as turnips, cabbages, and onions are considered good 
food for the table — they are not for the stable, if sweet milk is an object. 

Then she must be kept in a cleaa, sweet-smelling stable, warm and dry, 
but ventilated. The same stable should be used in summer for milking, 
after which the cows may be allowed to sleep out, if it is such weather that 
they can lie upon the ground in comfort ; and if not, keep them in until after 
milking in the morning. Ever}' cow should know her own stall as well as 
a man knows his own bed, and they Avill soon learn to be unwilling to eat 
or be milked anywhere else. Food and care of the cow, and perfect quiet 
and comfort for her in every respect, are the first requisites in making good 
butter. 

A stable can be kept sweet enough to lodge in by the daily use of plaster, 
charcoal, prepared muck, or an occasional sprinkling of dilute sulphuric acid 
or solution of copperas. 

It is necessary for a full flow of milk to maintain a continual supply of 
albuminous food, while in the latter period of fattening, such kinds of food 
are superfluous, and oiih' tend to enrich the manure heap There is one 
leading feature in his practice, to which the utmost importance is attached 
by Mr. Horsefall — an English dairyman — the maintenance of the condition 
of his cows giving a large yield of milk. This is done by the addition of 
bean meal in greater quantity to those yielding the most milk He refers 
also to the effect of clover upon the supply of milk as known to all dairy- 
men, the dry material of which is nearly as rich in albumen as beans, and 
the inference is drawn that " albuminous matter is the most essential ele- 
ment in the food of the milch cow, and that any deficiency in the supply of 
this will be attended with loss of condition, and a consequent diminution in 
the quality of her milk." He is of the opinion that "you can increase the 
proportion of butter in milk more than that of casein or other solid parts." 
Kape-cake seems more efiicient for this purpose than linseed-cake, the oily 



MS DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

matter in this seed more nearly resembling that in butter than that of flax- 
seed. He also says : " It seems worthy of remark that a cow can yield a 
far greater weight of butter than she can store up in solid fat. Numerous 
instances occur where a cow gives off two pounds of butter per day — four- 
teen pounds per week — while half that quantity probably would not be laid 
on in fat if she was fed for that purpose." 

These "English notions" are worthy of American attention. 

502. Butter AflTected by the Packages.— It is one of the greatest mistakes 
that butter packers make, to put it up in bad packages. Let it be taken for 
an incontrovertible fact that, as a general thing, a dairy of butter of uniform 
quality may be packed, one half in rough, untidy casks, and the other in 
neat, sweet-looking firkins, of suitable and uniform size, and that half will 
outsell the other at least ten per cent. The purchasers of butter, by the 
single package or by the hundred packages, are always influenced by the 
outside appearance. One of the reasons why "Western butter sells at a price 
generally under tlie market is because it comes in bad order. How can 
people expect first prices for butter in mottled rolls, packed in a dry-goods 
box or a flour barrel? Such butter, when it arrives in New York, is de- 
nominated '' Western grease," and sells at a price corresponding with its 
name. 

503. When to Skim Milk. — The right time to skim milk is just as the milk 
begins to sour in the bottom of the pans. Then the cream is all at the 
surface, and should at once be removed, with as little of the milk as pos- 
sible. That housewife, or dairymaid, who thinks to obtain a greater quan- 
tity by allowing the milk to stand beyond that time, labors under a mistake. 
Any one who doubts can try it. Milk should be looked to at least three 
times a day. 

504. Aldcrney Cows and Aldenicy Butter. — It is our matured opinion that 
the Alderney cow is the only one for a family, where but one is kept, and 
where rich milk and sweet cream are a loading object. (See -17, 4S, 49.) 
There is no doubt of the fact, that this breed of cattle is superior to any other 
for making butter of rich flavor to the taste, and with a peculiar sweet 
aroma. "We have thoroughly tested butter made from Aldcrney cows, by 
John T. Norton, of Farmiugton, Conn., and have submitted it to the sight, 
smell, and taste of some good judges of butter, who, without hesitation, pro- 
nounced it as unlike as it is richer than any other kind they have ever tasted. 
We kept it some weeks exposed to an atmosphere that would soften ordinary 
butter so that it could not easily be handled, and yet this remained almost 
!is firm as though just from a cool dairy-room. There can be no mistake in 
its natural superiority and good keeping qualities over butter made from 
cows of other breeds. This fact is as well known in England as the fact 
tliat Southdown mutton is superior to that of other breeds of sheep. And 
the fact is beginning to be known here, for we have heard of Alderney but- 
ter selling in market, in places where it is well known in this country, at 
double the price of good butter of common stock. This much for the in- 



Seo. 28.] THE DAIRY. 449 



formation and benefit of those who do not know that there is a very great 
difference in breeds of cattle for bntter as well as for beef. For tlie latter 
purposes the Alderneys arc certainly superior to the Durhams. Ilerefords, 
Devons, Ayrshires, or natives. 

Another good quality of the Alderneys is, that .they will live upon house- 
slops or garden or yard clippings, or upon short pastures. 

Mr. Norton says : " I live on one of the old worn-out farms of Connecti- 
cut, which I am trying, to impiwe ;" and we say, upon such a farm he finds 
it not only pleasant for his own use to keep Alderney cows, but profitable to 
make butter from them for the Hartford market. Our recommendation, 
however, is not for dairy jjurposes, but strictly for private family use, and 
for that -we do consider this small breed of cows most valuable. There are 
persons, however, of experience, who believe the Alderneys valuable for 
dairy farms. 

T. M. Stoughton, of Greenfield, Mass., says: "Alderney cows are not 
only good for private family use, but actually the best for a large dairy. 

" My experience has been with a herd of cows imported by Mr. Jonathan 
Bird, of Belleville, N. J., from the island of Jersey, and selected with par- 
ticular regard to their milking qualities. The herd came under my care in 
1856, with the request from Mr. Bird that I should give them the same care 
and feed as my native and Ayrshire cows, keeping a careful account of their 
product by measurement and weight, so as to be able to determine whether 
they are a profitable breed for butter-making. The following statement is 
offered as an answer to ' What is a good cow V 

" Cow Ko. 1 calved in January, 1851 — came into my care last of May. 
In June, she made 10^ pounds of butter per week ; in July, lOJ pounds per 
Aveek; in August, 9i pounds per week; in the month of September, 30 
pounds; in October, 28 pounds; and two weeks in November, 12^ pounds; 
and calved in December — making 19Si pounds in five months. 

"No. 2 calved in September, 1851, and througli the month of October 
made 14i pounds of butter per week ; in June following she made 12 pounds 
per week ; in August, 6 pounds per week ; and calved early in October — 
making 317 pounds of butter for the year. 

"No. 3 was a three-year-old heifer, calved in September, 1856. In the 
month of October, made Hi pounds jjer week; in June following, Si 
pounds per week ; in August, 4 pounds per week — making 267 pounds for 
the year. 

" No. 4 was a heifer two years old ; calved iii March, 1858. From the 
1st of April to November she made 200 pounds of butter. Greatest yield 
per week, lOi pounds ; and made 7 pounds per week in September. 

"No. 5, a heifer eighteen months old; calved in March, 1858. In the 
five months following she made 108 pounds of butter. 

" The above five are an average of the ten milking cows. Their feed has 
been pasture only in the summer months, with hay and two quarts of corn 
meal and rye middlings in the winter months. From the above statement 

3» 



450 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



it will be seen that the cows which have come to maturity will make 300 
pounds of butter per year under favorable circumstances. Alderney butter 
sells in the difl'ercnt markets of the country for from forty to fifty cents per 
pound. The best dairies of New York and New England do not average 
over 200 pounds per cow (native and Durliam). The average price of their 
butter is not over twenty-five cents per pound. 

" One of the most important peculiarities of tlie Alderney cow is her uni- 
formity of quantity, making nearly as much butter at the end of eight 
months after calving as at four. The objections urged against the Alderney 
cow are, that she is a voracious feeder, lean, awkward in appearance, and 
will make but little beef when old. 

" Admitting the Alderney cow to be a prettj' sharp feeder, it can hardly 
be expected that a cow will make from ten to fourteen pounds of first-rate 
butter by simply standing in a cold stable, and looking at a haymow, or by 
shirking round a stack of swamp ha}'. That she is inclined to be lean is an 
evidence that slie is a good milker; for a cow that secretes fatty matter can 
not secrete good milk at the same time, without being fed too high for the 
permanent good of the cow. If she is ugly to look at she is a good one to 
go, for slie will be worth $100 when six months, especially if a heifer. And 
after being milked twelve or thirteen years, producing over 3,000 pounds of 
butter, it is of no great consequence whether she makes 600 or 900 pounds 
of beef." 

505. Heating New Milk. — The Dairyrnaii's liecord gives the opinion that 
the heating of new milk to near the boiling-point just after it is drawn from 
the cow, is preferable to allowing it to stand for a time before heating, and 
thinks both butter and clieese are improved in flavor by so doing, '* because 
the animal odors which are objectionable would be expelled," and goes on 
to say that " tasteless and leathery" cheese is caused by manufacturing 
under too Iiigh a temperature rather than from high heating before manu- 
facturing. 

506. Dust and Fly Covers for niilk-Pans> — To keep dust out of milk-pans, 
make hoops of ratans, or ash wood, a little larger than the tops of the pans, 
and stretch over and sew on them some thin cotton stuff that will not stop 
the circulation of the air, but will keep out the flies and mites, and when the 
milk is cool, lay these covers over the pans. To keep out flies, use mosquito 
netting or wire gauze instead of cloth. The wire gauze is a fine thing to 
cover all windows in fly-time. 

Some inventive Connecticut genius has contrived a portable, ventilated 
milk-closet, which, from the description, we should think a very good thing, 
but presume that any ingenious wood-worker could get up one a little dif- 
ferent in form to answer the same purpose; and we recommend all fami- 
lies who keep but one cow, to provide themselves with such a convenient 
ventilated milk-closet; or one that will let fresh air in and foul air out, and 
keep the milk safe from pestiferous insects and vermin. 

The following item shows the benefit of keeping milk cool : " In sending 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 451 

milk to market, though it left the dairy pei-fectly sweet, it was often found 
curdled on delivery to customers. To remedy this, the cans were covered 
witli thick cotton cloth, and this was wet with salt water. In this way the 
difficulty was entirely ol)viated." 

507. Necessity and Value of a Family Dairy Room. — Every farm-house 
shoukl have a room for milk, solely devoted to that, and nothing else. In 
very dry soils this can be made easiest and best in the cellar, provided it 
has a chimney ventilator of ample ditnensions running to the top of the 
house, which can be easily made when building, and no milk-room is perfect 
without such ventilation, and in our opinion the cause of bad butter is as 
much in the want of a suitable place to stand the milk, and a cool, sweet 
room to store the butter, as in the process of manufacture. It is all import- 
ant, also, that the milk-room should be of an unvarying temperature, so far 
as it can be kept so without extra expenditure over the profitable advantage. 
An attachment to the ice-house is the best place for storing butter. The fol- 
'' lowing is a good plan for a family dairy -room : 

Build very convenient to the kitchen, but not adjoining, an eight-inch wall 
brick building, eight feet by sixteen feet inside, with a door in one end and 
a window in the other, and arch it over ten feet high in the center, and plas- 
ter it all over outside with water-proof cement. The top should be covered 
with a coat of asphaltum, if to be had, or else with sand and tar. Give the 
inside a" coat of hard-finished plaster, and paint that well, so that it can be 
willed. Where there is a good chance for drainage, the walls ma.y be 
dropped two feet below the surface, or the whole built into a hillside, in 
which case there can be no door nor window in one end, but there can and 
must be a large chimney ventilator. Make the floor of cement or flag- 
ging-stones, and, if not too expensive, use stone shelves, built in the wall. 
The outside is to be banked up with earth and sodded over so as to form 
a gi'assy mound, forming, in fact, a sort of cave cellar. A retaining wall 
must be built each side of the door-way, and a shed over it, with wii'e- 
screened windows in the door for ventilation, the sash being hinged to swing 
down and fasten to the lower half of the door. Such a room will keep milk 
sweet and of even temperature, and is not more expensive than a good 
frame building. 

The place where the milk is set, churning done, or butter stored, should 
be absolutely sweet, clean, and deodorized of every smell. Water — cold 
water, and its liberal application — is an essential about the dairy house, and 
outside of it ; upon everything ever used, hot water, soap and sand, and hard 
hand-work, to make absolute purity, are the essential requisites to proauce 
good butter. Every woman sliould assure all the "men-folks," and often 
repeat it to them, that no woman can make good butter if the cows are not 
provided with suitable food. Recollect, food and shelter — airy, roomy, 
clean stables, summer and winter; none of your milking in the road, among 
the hogs ; setting milk for cream where the air is scented with hog-pen efflu- 
• via, or any other but that of roses, mint, and new-mown hay. 



452 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



Food is the first, purity the second, temperature the third requisite in 
making sweet yellow butter. ' 

The best way to make dairy shelves is to use strips sawed one by two 
inches, and set so that the j^ans will stand upon their edges, or else place 
them wide enough apart to receive the bottom of the pan, having cross 
strips nailed in to supjjort the sides, so that the pans would only touch at 
four points, and so cause the milk to cool quickly, and save labor in keeping 
the shelves clean ; for a pan of warm milk set upon a flat shelf in a room a 
little damp, or when the shelf has just been washed, will generate mold — 
certainly more than when set on strips, as here recommended. 

A Mr. Motley, of Massachusetts, has a dairy-room in the cellar of his house, 
and arranged to be ventilated by an area window, which is covered with 
wire netting. The floor is cemented, and of course kept scrupulously clean. 
Plain, broad wooden shelves around the four sides of the room hold the j)an8 
of milk. A marble-top table, standing in the center of the apartment, is 
used for working the butter, and preparing it for market. The milk is^ 
churned in one of the well-known Crowell " thermometer churns," of a 
capacity of thirty gallons. A small air-tight wood stove is used to insure 
an equable temperature in winter. About 100 pounds of butter are made 
weekly, which is sold to gentlemen in Boston at fifty cents per pound. It 
is put up in neat quarter-pound rolls, prettily stamped, and sent to town in 
tin boxes, fitted with shelves inside to keep the layers of rolls separate. 
As to the delicious quality of tlie butter, that is proved by the price. » 

508. How to Make Wiuter Butter i — If cows are fed with roots, meal, or 
even whole corn, which, by-the-by, is only to be tolerated when corn is 
worth less than twenty-five cents a bushel, there will bo no complaint of 
poor white butter, unless the fault is in the churning or the keeping of the 
milk. Milk, in winter, sliould be kept about the same temperature as in 
summer-time, and should not be allowed to stand unskimmed merely because 
" it is taking no harm." Take off the cream, and if not enough for an im- 
mediate churning, let it be kept cool and sweet till enough is accumulated, 
when, if it is necessary to sour it, it may be put in a warm place and done 
all at once. "When put into the churn, it should be at a temperature of 62 
degrees, and if kept at that, yellow butter will be got in thirty minutes by 
churning moderately, if your cows have had a little salt every day. 

500. Butter Colored to Order. — Are the liutter-eaters of New York aware 
that butter, so far as color is concerned, is made to order as much as their 
boots, hats, and coats? We assure them that such is the fact, as is well 
ku(f\vn to all dealers, and should be known to all consumers, and by them 
wholly discountenanced. Our present notice of the fact arises from hear- 
ing a woman bitterly denouncing the grocer who sent her " white butter." 
After she had selected some " nice yellow" butter, at two cents higher price 
per pound, and retired, the grocer asked us to test 'the samples. We found 
the rejected white butter as sweet and fresh as could be desired, and worth 
twenty per cent, more than the other, according to our taste. The other, 



Sko. 28.] THE DAIRY. 453 

however, was pretty to look at. It was of a deep yellow hue, but we at 
once declared that it was made so by anuatto. " Yes," said the grocer, 
"you arc right. That butter was made to order for me for just such cus- 
tomers as that woman, who do not know good butter by the taste — tliey 
judge only by looks. It actually cost me two cents a pound less than the 
other. You saw how I sold it." 

A butter-maker, writing to the author about " coloring butter to order," 
says : 

" "We think you T^ew Yorkers possessed of remarkable tastes, if you really 
prefer butter made yellow to order instead of tliat of a natural color, though 
perfectly sweet. If it is the color instead of the quality that you care for, 
we shall have to solicit a sample of the shade desired, and order more dye- 
stuff. We shall have to make butter for home use and for city use, as no 
one in the country will eat colored butter in winter except as the milk 
colors it. There is but very little in the country at this season that an- 
swers the orders from the city, except such as has been fixed up to suit your 
market." 

Xow, butter-eaters, you hear how j'ellow butter is made "fresh from the 
cow" in winter, ajid how much you pay for the privilege of eating " annatto 
and other dyestuffs." 

510. Rules for Salting Butter. — First, none but the very purest rock-salt, 
or manufactured salt, prepared especially for the dairy, should ever be used. 
An experienced Scotch dairyman says : 

"Take the best crystal salt, wash it, dissolve, strain, settle, and turn. off; 
boil it down in some perfectly clean iron vessel, skim as boiling; when 
stirred ofi' dry, it will produce fine salt, white as the drifting snow, which, 
if stirred up in a glass of water, will produce no sediment, and will be dis- 
tinct from any mineral or other possible impurity." 

Three experienced dairywomen in Berkshire County, Mass., give the fol- 
lowing rules for quantity : 

" jS^o. 1. A teacupful of salt to six pounds of butter. 

" No. 2. One pint of salt to fifteen pounds of butter. 

"No. 3. An ounce of salt to a pound of butter." 

Salting the cream before churning has been advocated as a good 
practice. To every quart of cream, as it is skimmed and put in the pot to 
accumulate until sufficient for churning, add a tablespoonful of salt. It 
is stated that the time of churning is very much lessened by salting the 
cream. 

511. Packing and PreserTing Butter. — A patent has been granted to "W. 
Clark, of London, England, for a new method of treating butter. The but- 
ter is worked in the usual manner, and is thpn placed between linen cloths 
and submitted to severe pressure, which removes the whey and water. It 
is then. covered with clean white paper, which has received a coating on 
both sides with a preparation composed of the white of eggs and fifteen 
grains of salt to each egg. The paper is dried, and then heated before the 



454 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



fire or with a hot iron just before it is applied to the lumps of butter. It is 
claimed that butter treated in this way will keep two nioaths without salt 
in a cool cellar. Any ordinary cheese-press, or the presses accompanying 
the portable cider-mills, now common, will answer the purpose. Pressing 
removes the water, and the prepared paper excludes the air. 

Earthen jars, made of the size and shape of a fifty-pounds tub (not a 
firkin), and put in a wooden tub, made to fit, with a head in each end, are 
recommended as an improvement for packing butter. If desirable, the 
wooden tub may be made large enough to fill with salt between the two, or 
can be made close. Tlie heads should be made close to the butter-pot in 
either case. Butter packed in this way will keep sweet any length of time, 
if well made, while in the present mode of packing, in nine cases out of 
ten, it will taste of the tub after being packed two months. The first cost 
of the two is about one dollar, and after being sent to market, they can be 
returned a distance of 300 miles at a cost of aboirt thirty cents. "We fear the 
expense of this improvement will prevent its general adoption, though we 
can perceive no reason to doubt its efficacy. 

There is no doubt that if butter could be rendered absolutely pure, it 
would keep, if excluded from the air, as well as sweet-oil. That it is hardly 
ever pure may be shown by a sample melted, and put in a bottle, to stand a 
few hours in a warm place, when the oily part will float upon the top of 
water or other impurities it may contain. 

512. How to Cool Butter without Ice. — The following plan of cooling but- 
ter is founded xipou the scientific principle of cooling a body by evapora- 
tion. Fill a deep plate or flat dish with water, and in that set a trivet, such 
as are often used upon the ironing-table, to hold a plate of butter above the 
water. Cover the butter-plate with a porous, earthen flower-pot that must 
have its edge immersed in water, and a cork in the hole in the bottom. 
Now dash water upon the pot, and repeat several times as it evaporates 
during the day, keeping it in a cool place, and at supper-time you may 
bring your butter to the table as delightfully firm as you would from an 
ice-house. 

513. Milking by Machinery.— If anything has been or may be invented to 
relieve woman from the tiresome labor of milking, it will be hailed with in- 
tense satisfaction. We therefore chronicle the fact of the recent iaveution 
of a milking machine. The manner of its construction is simple enough. 
It consists of two diaphragm pumps made of tin and India rubber, so ar- 
ranged as to be easily taken apart for washing. The teat-cups are made 
tapering to fit any size, and attached by flexible joints, so as to be spread 
apart to suit wide-spreading teats, or those more contracted. It is possible 
that it will prove a very useful invention. If so, we presume that farmers 
will bear more of it. 

The machine is attached to a pail, and set on a stool under the udder, the 
four teats inserted in four tubes, and the pump operated, and the milk drawn 
and conveyed by a conductor into the pail, the inventor says in a marvel- 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 455 

ously short time — say three minutes for an ordinary cow ; milking entirely 
clean, without injur}' and to her advantage, as it is beneficial to have the 
work done quickly, and the machine is intended to do it quicker than it is 
possible by hand. It is said also that cows gently stand this machine milk- 
ing ; the contrivance is ingenious, and will work. Its practical utility wo 
can not vouch for. 

51-i. llow to Make fows give Down. — We have often heard that one man 
could lead a horse to water, but two could not make him drink. The great 
mistake of most people in the management of horses, cows, and even men, 
is trying to make them do things by force instead of milder means. The 
best way to make a cow give down is to coax her. Patience and perse- 
verance will generally overcome the difficulty and effect a cure. "\Ve have 
seen cows that had been trained to being fed when milked until they would 
only give down when bribed to do so. Strapping up the fore leg of a cow 
with a strap slipped over the bent knee so that she can not walk until 
milked, will sometimes cure her refractory disposition. If a cow will not 
give down by gentle means, it is of no use to try to make her do it. 

515. Milk Farms— Product, Price, Proflt. — Milk for Cities— Condensed Milk. 
— The entire business of many farmers, near cities, is producing milk for sale. 
It is sent by railway more than 100 miles. The average value upon the 
roads that supply New York may be three cents a quart, ranging about as 
follows, as a general thing: for five months, at 2 cents; one month, 2i cents ; 
two months, 3 cents ; four months, 3i cents. Freight will average two 
cents a quart, besides a great loss of cans. It costs the farmer most to pro- 
duce milk in April. The cost of winter feed, 5 lbs. of meal and 15 lbs. of 
iiayper day. The annual average product of good cows would be $G0 each. 
If cream only is sold, say 10 quarts per week at 15 cents, and 9 lbs. of 
" skim cheese" at 8 cents, Avill make a cow yield $2 22 per week. 

The yield of milk of extraordinary cows has been, for one, 15^ quarts a 
day for 150 days; for another, l-ii quarts a day for six months, sold at 3i 
cents a quart, producing $107, from one cow, fed on grass and meal. 

The income of an Illinois cheese and butter dairy, owned by Mr. Savory, 
of De Kalb County, is given as follows, in a poor, dry season : 10,500 pounds 
of cheese, at 10 cents, $1,050 ; 500 pounds of butter, at 14 cents, $70 ; 50 
calves, at $1 50, $75 ; whey and sour milk (estimated), $50 ; total income, 
$1,245. Dk. : 50 cows — to getting 100 tuns of hay, $150 ; care, milking, etc., 
$200 ; two hired girls, 30 weeks, and board, $180 ; interest on cash value of 
cows, $100. Total cost, $630 — $24 per cow ; and taking value of feed and 
labor into account, was perhaps as profitable as a New York milk farm. 
See Tl 41, etc. 

Condensed Milk. — There is one method of sending milk to the cities, 
lately adopted, that will enable farmers living beyond the limit of shipping 
fresh milk, to send it to market. It can be done upon the same principle as 
associated cheese dairies. See T 518. There are two modes : the product 
of one, called " condensed milk," resembles rich, thick cream ; the other, 



456 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

called " concentrated milk," resembles and is composed in part of dry, wbite 
su^ar. The former has nothing added, but much taken away. 

The process of condensing milk was invented by Gail Borden, Jun. (him- 
self an octogenarian). The first manufactory was established at Burrville, 
Litchfield Co., Conn., if we remember rightly, about 1854-55, and is still in 
successful operation, conducted by Wm. Borden. Another establishment 
has since been started at AVassaic, Dutchess Co., N. Y., on the Harlem Rail- 
road, 85 miles north of New York. This is conducted by the inventor him- 
self, whose residence is at that place, where parties desirous to commence 
similar operations can obtain the necessary inforngation. The product of this 
invention furnishes to residents in cities who have a taste for pure milk all that 
they can reasonably desire. ' The process of condensation not only separates 
the water from the more solid elements of the milk, but absolutely frees it 
from all impurities, even including the impleasant odor that is usually com- 
bined with the milk of cows, and which sometimes, when they are unhealthy, 
is exceedingly ofiensive. Samples of milk from all the dairies are constantly 
subjected to tests to indicate the quality and detect irajjurity. As it is brought 
in from the farms, it is emptied through fine strainers into tin cooling vats. 
These must be placed in running water or cooled with ice. The first process 
in the operation of condensing milk is to free tlie natural milk of all its animal 
heat ; and during this cooling, if there is any sediment that was not removed 
by the strainers, it is found in the bottom of the vats and rejected. The milk 
is then heated by steam nearly iip to the boiling-point. This brings up a very 
small per-centage of cream that makes butter. The milk is now ready to com- 
mence the process of condensation, and is drawn by an exhaust-pipe into a 
steam-boiler heated by coils of pipe Avhicli raise the temperature to a given de- 
gree, converting the water into vapor which fills the upper part of the boiler 
from which it is pumped ofl"; and as it is discharged into the air, it gives out 
a fetid odor almost equal to the swill-milk of New York. This pumping is 
continued until this odor is exhausted, and until so much of the water has 
been separated from the milk, that when it is once cooled again it has the 
appearance of thick, smooth cream. It is then packed in cans for transporta- 
tion; and we see no reason why milk could not be put up in this way upon 
the prairies of Illinois as well as the pastures of Dutchees County. 

For many purposes the condensed milk is used in the same condition ; for 
ice-creams, eating upon fruit, and many culinary purposes, it is delicious. 

When milk is desired in its ordinary condition, add water until the con- 
densed milk is thoroughly combined with it, and it is like good, rich, fresh 
milk, except that it has lost a little of that piquancy which is found in some 
"pure milk " and which some cit}' peojile seem to relish. 

The advantages to the farmer of this invention he will readily understand. 
A milk-condensing factory established in any neighborhood, as it may be 
wherever there is a pure stream of water, would prove as great a conveni- 
ence as a grist-mill, and more advantageous, because he can sell his grain 
in the rough state, but can not dispose of his milk unless it is converted mto 



Sec. 28.] TOE DAIRY.— OHEESE-MAKING.- 457 

some condensed product. Tlie advantage of selling milk instead of convert- 
ing it into Imtter or cheese, every farmer can calculate for himself, upon the 
basis that it will require four quarts of milk for one pound of cheese, or 
fourteen quarts for ono pound of butter, taking the average product of cow.'^ 
and average process of manufacture. If intended for a condensing factory 
in the immediate neighborhood, the farmer would be enabled to carry the 
milk directly from the stable. 

Another advantage would bcvgained in the saving of cans, many of which 
sent to cities are lost in spite of all the care of the owners. The establish- 
ment of such factories will open up new fields of industry in many parts of 
the country, adding wealth, comfort, and happiness to farmers' families. 
Wc urge them all to consider the subject, and compare with other products 
of the dairy this new one of condensed milk. 

516. Cheese — How to Make Itt — The following directions are given by Ed- 
win Pitcher, of Martinsburg, N. Y., a noted maker of good cheese : 

" The way to make a mild, rich, good-flavored, sound cheese is to work 
the curd carefully, so as not to start the white whey, or, in other words, 
work out the cream ; second, cook it well ; salt even, and enough to make it 
good flavored ; press it well, and keep it cool and dry when made. A 
neglect in part will spoil the whole. "We set our milk 86 degrees, as nearly 
as we can, and put in rennet enough to bring the curd in half an hour. 

" We use a cheese-cutter. Cut the curd carefully over once, and then let 
it stand fifteen or twenty minutes, till the whey begins to rise ; then work it 
fine with a cheese-cutter ; then put hot water enough under the tin vat to 
raise the heat to 90 degrees. Stir often, so as not to let it pack down. We 
then dip off" about one third of the whey, and increase the heat to about 
102 degrees, and keep it at that heat till it is well cooked, keeping it fine all 
the time. When it is done, it will fall apart in the hand like wheat. We 
dip out of the tin vat (when it is cooled down to 90 degrees) into a sink, and 
when the curd is dry put in a teacupful of salt curd, enough to make fifteen 
pounds after it is pressed. If the curd is a little too soft, put in a little more 
salt to harden it. We cool in the vat, in hot weather, by putting in cold 
water under the vat, to 90 degrees, before dipping out. I think it hurts the 
cheese very much to dip it out too hot. 

" My cheese-room is plastered, and I let down my windows from the top 
in hot weather, and I have a ventilator in the center overhead. The floor 
is matched and made tight, so as to shut up the room in cool weather, with 
seven trap-doors to let in the air when necessary. I think it essential, 
in making good cheeses, to keep them cool. The cheese-room should never 
be over 75 or 80 degrees, and it is better not over 70 degrees. I use cold 
water on the floor, and a large piece of ice in a pan on the counter if the 
weather is too hot. Keeping cool is a great cure for almost everything. It 
saves cheese from fermenting and becoming strong. You can not very well 
cook your cheese too much in May or June, and you must be sure and keep 
your rennet sweet." 



458 - DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

A first-rate cboesc-makcr of Herkimer County, N. Y., gives the follow- 
ing as her practice : 

"I set tlie milk at 00 degrees, in spring and fall, and 86 degrees in hot 
weather. Heat up three times — first 90 degrees, then 95 degrees, and last 
100 degrees. I put about one teacupful of salt to sixteen pounds of curd, 
and use much care in breaking it up and working; cutting at first with a 
dairy -knife of four blades, and using the knife with one hand during the 
whole operation, taking particular care not to squeeze the curd in any way, 
but pass one hand under, and lifting gently, and letting it fall oflf the hand 
and between the fingers, and with the other keep the knife in motion in the 
curd, cutting it as fine as possible by tlic time it is ready for salting. 

"Tliought and care are essential in all the various operations. Intense 
interest and anxiety are necessary in order to do all these things well, for 
they influence the texture, flavor, and quality of the cheese. 

'• Kenxet. — The stomach of the calf should be taken when empty (no 
curd in it) — care taken not to get dirt on it — and, without rinsing or wash- 
ing, salted inside and out with one teacupful of salt to a rennet, and placed 
in an earthen dish. It should lie in the salt two days, then be stretched 
and dried upon a stick in the form of a hoop. Wheu dried, take it off the 
stick, and place it in a tiglit sack for use. Those prepared one season are 
not to be used till the next. 

"When rennets are to be used, put three in an earthen vessel; then take 
two gallons of water, put one quart of salt in it, boil and skim, and cool till 
milk-warm. Tiien pour it upon them, and in one week the liquor will be 
fit for use. One teacupful of it will curdle the milk of two milkings from 
fifteen cows, fit to break up in forty minutes." 

An experienced cheese-maker of Warner, N. H., gives her method as 
follows : 

" I first scald the tub, then strain the milk into it as soon as brought from 
milking. Next put in sufficient rennet, the quantity depending upon the 
quality to fetch the milk to a curd in from forty to sixty minutes. The curd 
is then dipjjed carefully into the basket for draining until the next morning. 
The morning's milk is prepared in the same manner (after the thorough 
scalding of the tub). The curd, when formed, is dipped in with that of the 
previous evening ; then left to drain, with an occasional stirring witli a knife 
or slice. I prefer a knife, as it is not so likely to injure the curd. When 
snfiiciently drained, which it will be by nine or ten o'clock if properly at- 
tended to, I tie together the ends of tiie cloth, and liang in the cellar until 
the succeeding day, when the curd of tliat day is prepared in the manner of 
the previous day's curd. It is now ready for scalding. I pour boiling hot 
water, at the rate of one gallon for ten pounds of curd, into the tub ; next 
slice in the curd from the basket, handling it carefully, so as not to disturb 
the white whey. The curd is next brouglit from tlie cellar and sliced in the 
same manner. It is put in lastly, for being older it does not require as much 
scalding as the newer curd. I now let it Stand from five to ten minutes, 



Seo. 28.] THE DAIRY.— CIIEESE-MAKING. 459 

from the time the last slice is dropped in, then dip back into the basket, curd 
and water together, to drain. I check and stir it up with the knife four or 
five times, when it is ready for.t grinding. The mill is placed upon tlic 
cheese tongs over the tub ; the curd is then sliced into the mill and ground, 
when it is ready for the seasoning, which consists of a couimon-sized teacup- 
ful of rock-salt and one teaspoonful of saltpeter for every twenty pounds of 
curd. It is thoroughly mixed — not squeezed —with the hands. It is then 
ready for pressing, which is done gently until night, when the cheese is 
turned, cloth changed, and put back to pressing with sufficient weight, where 
it remains until the next cheese is ready for the press." 

We find in the best large cheese-dairies of this country, that where the 
curd is scalded by steam, that the right temperature varies among different 
cheese manufacturers ; thus Mr. O. S. Cumings, of Trenton Falls, N. Y., 
scalds to lOi degrees; Mr. A. Coon, of Russia, from 108 to 110 degrees ; Mr 
W. Buck, 102 to 10-4 degrees ; and Mr. S. N. Andrews, 100 to 102 degrees. 

517. English Cheese-Making.— The method of heating the milk by the ap- 
plication of steam to the cheese-vat, is a great improvement over the English 
method. So is the method of separating the curd from the whey by strain- 
ing it through a cloth much more expeditious. Ifi Cheshire the whey is re- 
moved by pressing down a flat-bottomed pan gently on the curd in the 
cheese-tub and allowing it to fill. When the curd is thus partially freed 
from the whey, it is again gently broken and allowed to settle and sep- 
arate and the whey is boiled out slowly, the curd being placed on one 
side of the tub, which is slightly raised, and a board is placed on the curd 
with heavy Avcights on top to press out the whey. 

The curd is then cut into pieces six or eight inches square, and again 
pressed with heavier weights. When as much whey as possible is removed 
in this way, the curd is placed in a vat and gently broken. It is then put 
under the press and a slight pressure applied at first, which is gradually in- 
creased till no more whey can be j^resscd out. To facilitate the flow of the 
whey, the cheese is pierced with skewers. This preliminary pressing occu- 
pies four or five hours. The cheese is then taken out of the press, broken 
up again V(.iy fine, salted, put up in the, vat again, and pressed under a 
heavy press for three or four days, clean and dry cloths being put round the 
cheese as the old ones become wet. 

This is a tedious process, and we think some of the operations of the 
American process might be adopted in England with advantage. The es- 
sential point of difference is the scalding; this renders less salt and less 
pressing necessary. There can be no doubt that the preserving action of the 
salt is greater in proportion to the absence of whey in the cheese when it is 
applied ; and it is for this reason that the Cheshire dairymen press their 
curd before the salt is added. Many people prefer cheese made by the 
English process. 

518. Chrese-SIaliing by Assoriatcd Interest in Manufactories. — This system 
was originated, we believe, by Jesse Williams, of Rome, Oneida, Co., N. Y., 



460 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



somewhere about the year 1850. Since that time it has been greatly extended 
in Central and Northern New York, and considerably in Northern Ohio. It 
is like the manufacturing of any other /arm produce, except that this is 
usually carried on upon joint account of tlie producers of the raw material. 
The sxiccess of this mode of cheese-making has now become fully established. 
It not only lessens the expense of manufacture, but improves the quality of 
tlie cheese. The establishments vary greatly in size, using the milk of from 
one hundred to fourteen hundred cows. The business has become so im- 
portant that regular organizations have been effected, both in New York and 
Ohio. To enable our readers to consult with those already engaged in the 
business we give the following list, naming the owner or superintendent and 
location of a number of establishments represented in a convention held at 
Rome in January, 1864. Tliis list, though representing only a portion of the 
dairy interest, shows how the subject has affected the minds of farmers in 
the central part of New York. 



Names. Factories located. Cows. 

Hugh Quinn Oneida Co 527 

Williams, Adams & Dewey . Oneida Co 350 

G. W. Davis Oneida Co 380 

F. Clark Oneida Co 350 

Hiram Brown Chenango Co, . . 500 

James Kathbum Oneida Co 707 

Charles Rathburn Oneida Co 125 

J. W. Brooks Oneida Co 320 

G. E. Morse Madison Co 650 

J. Greenfield Oneida Co 300 

D. Ellis Warren, Mass. . . 500 

Isaac Shell Herkimer Co. . . . 600 

A. Anstead Oneida Co 500 

J. G. Coates Oneida Co 300 

Henry Hill Oneida Co 500 

G. W. ■\Vheeler Oneida Co 200 

Gold Creek Factory Herkimer Co. . . 600 

Collins' Factory Erie Co 1,000 

New Woodstock Factory .. Madison Co 1,200 

F. Smith Oneida Co 575 

Crosby & Huntington Oneida Co 610 

G. B. Weeks Oneida Co 640 

H. L. Rose Oneida Co 1,000 

B. F. Stevens .T . . .Lewis Co 800 

T. Tillinghast Cortland Co 900 

Kenny ft Frazer Cortland Co 1,400 

Rome Cheese Manuf. Ass . . Oneida Co 624 

Wright & Williams Oneida Co 550 

Whittaker & Curry Oneida Co 500 

D. ITiomas Oneida Co 600 



Names. Factories located. Cows. 

L. M. Dunton Lewis Co 800 

Asel Burnham, Jr Chautauque Co, 500 

Hanck, Wilcox & Co Chautauque Co, 600 

Clear Spring Factory Chautauque Co. 600 

A, L. Fish Herkimer Co. . , . 600 

Sehnser & Davis Fulton Co 600 

Caydatta Cheese Factory. .Montgomery Co. 600 

West ISaton Factory Madison Co 600 

Miller, Fowler & Co Oneida Co 800 

R. U. Sherman Oneida Co 130 

Jerome Bush Lewis Co 700 

A. S. King Oneida Co 200 

S. Allen Oneida Co 500 

Alfred Buck Oneida Co 475 

Brown & Co Madison Co 800 

F. A. Norton Madison Co 500 

S. Conan Madison Co 600 

Savery & Coventry Madison Co 600 

Kirkland Cheese Co Oneida Co 800, 

J. L. Dean Oneida Co 300 

Colosse Cheese Factory .... Oswego Co 600 

Harvey Farrington Herkimer Co . . . 470 

J. H. Hubbard Oneida Co 400 

David Yourden Oneida Co 150 

Ezra Barnard Oneida Co 220 

Asa Chandler Oneida Co 270 

J. M. Famham Lewis Co 897 

David W. Wilcox Oneida Co 750 

Levi Tanner Oneida Co 950 

E. S. Bennett Oswego Co 260 



PLATE XIV. 

(Page 461.) 

This picture illustrates the subject upon which the chapter treats, 
where it is placed as a sign is sometimes shown, to indicate the 
things within. It is the sign of the garden. In it were grown the 
cabbage, corn, cucumbers, turnips, tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes, 
beets, carrots, parsneps, egg-plants, ornamental gourds, onions, and 
so on of aU the rest. It indicates some of the subjects of this chap- 
ter, but not all. It would require a large picture to do that. So, 
after taking a glance at this, look well at every one of the next 
hundred pages. Every paragraph about " The Garden and its 
Fruits" has a deep interest to every reader. The picture is only a 
sort of wayside resting-place for the weary reader's eye. It ia to 
amuse and lead the traveler on to more substantial fare. 



^^1^%' 




• CHAPTER V. 
THE GARDEN AND ITS FEUITS. 

SECTION XXIX.-PLEASURE AND PROFITS OF GARDENING-ORIGIN 
AND HISTORY OF VEGETABLES. 

J— T is an error, and one that prevails to a considerable 
cr extent, to suppose that all labor bestowed upon a gar- 
den is so much " labor lost." Many farmers pass through 
a long life without ever having anything worthy of the 
name of garden- — a name which signifies : "1. A piece of 
ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs or plants, 
fruits and flowers. 2. A rich, well-cultivated spot or tract 
of country; a delightful spot." 

And colloquially, in the Northeastern States, a garden is 
a spot not always delightful — where all the potatoes, beets, 
t-Hrnips, cabbages, onions, etc., grown for family use, are 
planted. It also includes a small patch of strawberries, a 
row of currants along the fence, and sometimes a few flowers. 
Often, however, it is as destitute of the latter as it is of all 
the other attributes of a " delightful spot ;" yet the vegetable garden is one 
of the necessities of life that no farmer can aftbrd to do without. As a gen- 
eral rule, the garden of a farm should be in tlie form of a parallelogram, 
running north and south, with orchard trees and shrubbery at the north end 
and a grass-plat at the south end, and everything should be planted in long 
rows. This admits of plowing the ground, with a place to turn at each end, 
both in breaking up the soil early in the spring and in after cultivation. It 
is just as well to have a row of beets twenty rods long as to have twenty 
rows of one rod — indeed, much bettier, because you can do more in one hour ■ 
in deepening the soil sufficiently for beets with a stout horse than a man can 
in a day with a spade. Even in a spaded garden, the old fashion of raising 
beds and deepening alleys has come to us from Europe, particularly Ireland, 
where there may be a necessity for the practice ; there is none here. It be- 
longs to the same family of antiquated notions as hilling up Indian corn. It 
is a foolish notion. 

Although a garden should be rich, it must not be made excessively so 
with stable manure. We believe a continuance of any one kind of manure 
to excess will render a soil unfit for crops in general. For an over-rich gar- 
den soil the best remedy is lime, and the best way to apply it is in the forni 
of "lime and salt mixture," which is made by dissolving salt in water until 




4G2 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



it will dissolve no more, and then using that brine to slake lime. A bushel 
of salt may thus be mi.xed with three bushels of unslaked lime and the mix- 
ture applied at the rate of 30 to 100 bushels of the slaked lime per acre. If 
the lime after slaking is kept in a pile under a shed, the outward portion 
effloresces, and it may be raked off and put away in barrels as it accumu- 
lates. The lime is then in tiic best possible condition for use. 

Of the profits of gardens there can be no doubt. Any one who is fa- 
miliar with the operations of the market gardeners near large ci'.ies, knows 
that the business is more profitable than ordinai-y farming. TherQ is no 
reason why many other persons should not enjoy similar jjrolits. 

There is not one village in ten in all the Eastern States that is large 
enough to support a locomotive butcher that would not support a good 
market garden from the first year of its establishment, tlie produce being 
sent around to the houses in the same way that the butcher sends his meat. 
Of course, all the waste or refuse of the garden must be fed to the cow, 
pig, and poultry, and of course the owner would grow wealthy faster than 
the owner of a large farm cultivated in the ordinarv way. 

The great secret of success, in market gardening lies in the succession 
of crops. Heavy manuring, thorougli cultivation, and a good market are 
of coui-se important adjuncts, but all of these will not give maximum re- 
sults without the gardener's skill in keeping the ground fully occupied ; and 
in tliat, more than in all other things, is where not only gardeners, but 
farmers, fail. They keep too much unoccupied land, allowing a grain crop, 
oats, for instance, to be followed by a crop of miserable weeds more woi'th- 
less than it is easy to imagine, for they are more exhausting thrm tlie grain, 
and of no use to man, animal, or soil. Land should never be left idle. lu 
a well-arranged market garden one thing succeeds another so rapidly that 
one row of the first crop is off to day and its successor growing in its place 
to-morrow. The owner can not afford to wait till all is oflT, because by 
planting one after the other, he has the ripening crop for sale in the same 
order, and thus secures the whole value of the manure. 

Tlie work in a market garden properly begins in autumn. There are 
several vegetables tiiat must be started at this season, and all the ground 
should be manured either then or during the winter. Much of the success of 
the garden pecuniarily depends upon having its products a little anticipate 
the usual season. Potatoes early in the season are worth two dollars a 
bushel. Three weeks later they are down to a dollar or less. There is a 
like falling off from most other articles, though hardly anything fails to re- 
turn a paying price. 

Spinach is sown in September and October to furnish cuttings iu April 
and May. Cabbage is sown about the same time to furnish plants for the 
cold frame, which are kejit through the winter, transplanted in April, and 
furnish heads in June. They are put into the frame in tows very near to- 
gether in November, and wlien tlie winter sets in, are covered with boards, 
removing only in mild weather and increasing ligiit and heat as spring ad- 



Sec. 29.] PLEASURE AND PROFITS OF GARDENING. 463 



vanccs, until tlic open ground is in condition to receive them. These arc 
called cold-frame plants, and furnish heads about two M-ccks earlier than the 
hot-bed ])lants started in JIarch. The best varieties for this early crop arc 
tlie Early York and the "Winnigstadt, which makes a very solid head of ex- 
cellent qualitj'. 

Lettuce is also sown in the faW, and with a little protection keeps weh 
through the winter. About the first of March operations commence with 
the hot-beds. These are prepared with various quantities of manure, ac- 
cording to the heat required. The beds are generally from four to six feet 
wide, for convenience in attending to the plants. They arc covered with a 
sash about three feet wide, the glass being not more than seven by nine. 
In these beds a great variety of plants are forwarded — cabbage, tomatoes, 
jieppers, egg-plants, and other early plants. 

The whole ground is covered as soon as it is sufficiently warm, and ar- 
ranged so as to allow a succession crop. In the first course come radishes, 
spinach, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, peas, turnips, corn, kohl-rabi. 

Early potatoes are off in time for late cabbage ; early radishes in time for 
celery, sweet corn, or cabbage. Early peas are always followed by a crop 
of something that will ripen before frost. Early corn may be followed by tur- 
nips, or by spinach for spring, which will be off in time for tomatoes. Beets 
are followed by celery, and peppers are transplanted among the heads of let- 
tuce a week or two before'they go to market ; or squashes or cucumbers are 
planted. Quassia chips, steeped in hot water, and that sprinkled upon the 
vines, are found to be efficient protection against bugs. Carrots form a good 
succession crop to the onions. They are sowed between the rows abont the 
middle of June. Two crops, and sometimes three, are always grown from 
the same plot of ground in a season. Nothing but ignorance of these facts 
prevents a great many small owners of land in the vicinity of small towns 
from establishing market gardens for the supply of those who can not, or at 
least do not, grow a supply for themselves of the most common sorts of gar- 
den vegetables. It is a fact but little appreciated, that a very large portion 
of those who have lived all their lives upon a farm, and made its cultiva- 
tion their only business, are utterly incompetent to manage a garden — that 
is, a garden intended for supplying any market with vegetables. 

Illustrative of the pleasures and profits of gardening, we insert a report 
of a visit of the author to the garden of an aitist, to show wdiat an un- 
professional gardener may do upon a little spot of ground. Geo. II. Ilite, 
of Morrisania, lives upon a village lot, and is by profession an artist. Not 
an artist in gardening — not one who professes or pretends to practice horti- 
culture upon a scientific or artistic plan. Nor do I mention his garden as a 
model of taste and skill which may be imitated by the wealthy at great ex- 
pense. I menti<3n it rather as the garden of a mechanic, and just such a one 
as a great many mechanics or professional men might have if they would — 
if they only knew how. I mention it full of hope that it may be the moving 
cause toward inducing other men who have daily employment, as this one 



464 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



has, at some trade or profession, to devote a little time, some money, and a 
great deal of soimd commou sense in tlie- cultivation of tlie little lialf-acre 
plats that we often see surrounding village residences, which are mere ex- 
amples of the utter nselessness of land except to enahle the owner to show 
how barren and worthless he can make it. There is no need of this idle use 
of land. There is no reason why every owner of a village lot should not 
revel in all the luscious fruits of the season, and treat himself and liis friends 
to an occasional bottle of wine, equal to any that he could purchase for a 
couple of dollars, just as Geo. H. Ilite is now able to do, free of expense; 
for his garden pays its own way, and a little more, of all cost of cultivation, 
leaving him in the enjoyment of its delicious fruits, fresh from the earth, or 
their products preserved to continue almost as fresh throughout the winter. 
And he is not by profession nor early education a gardener, being a native 
of a State less noted for its horticultural skill and fruits than for its pro- 
ductions of great corn crops, great bullocks, great men — physically and in- 
tellectually. Mr. Hite is a Kentuckian, and some of his early years were 
spent in painting portraits in Louisiana. Tlien he came to New York, and 
during other j-ears acquired fame as an artist upon ivory. Then, some years 
ago, like a sensible man, he began to create a home for his old age, when it 
comes; it is only in the blossom now ; and that home I have visited, and I 
wish I could take every one who hears or reads of it with me to learn what 
an artist has done, and what a mechanic, a lawyer, a doctor, or anybody 
else might do in a garden upon a village lot. Will the sluggards who sigh 
after an abundance of fruit, and envy those M-ho have, yet take no steps to 
have it themselves, believe me when I tell them that in this garden there 
are grapevines of such extent, luxuriance, and fruitfulness, that several bar- 
rels are required to hold the juice of the surplus of the crop? The fruitful 
arbor that extends some fifty feet from the rear of the house, affords a de- 
lightful shady spot, which, independent of the fruit, is well worth its cost. 
Isabella grape wine, five years old, with no addition whatever to the juice 
of the grape, is excellent. Strawberries grow to perfection in this garden ; 
and as a cultivator of currants, Mr. Hite excels. Not merely a few basket- 
fuls for family use, but bushel after bushel, red, white, and black. The ber- 
ries of the true red Dutch variety are upon the average as large as the cherry 
currants under ordinary cultivation ; and as for productiveness, no state- 
ment can convey an idea. To believe, you must see. And this is the result 
of pruning. True, Mr. Hite follows the Scriptural injunction about a bar- 
ren tree, to " dig about and dung it," with all of his trees, and vines, and 
shrubs, and flowers, and table vegetables ; but with the currant the secret 
of success is pruning. " Keep no old wood," is his injunction. Every 
branch that has borne three cropi must be cut away at the ground, having 
been twice shortened in, by which the short fruit-spurs on the new wood 
are always loaded, and the bunches growing close to the canes, so that they 
look like ropes of red berries. To commence with a single plant, cut it 
away close to the ground, to induce several vigorous shoots, instead of one. 



Se€. 29.] ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 465 

growing tree-shaped. Next spring sliorten all these canes, and let the fruit 
grow below and new shoots al)Ove, and next spring shorten these again. 
Some of Mr. Kite's three-j-car-old plants are now five or six feet high, so 
loaded with fruit that they have to be trained to stakes, which, by-thc-by, 
is the true way to grow currants. Next spring these vigorous, fruitful 
branches, all that are three years old, will be unsparingly cut away. It is 
the secret of success. Meantime, new shoots come up in successive order 
to take their place. I have no doubt of the fact that currant bushes thus 
treated, of the sour sort that are now growing neglected along many a gar- 
den wall, nntrimmed in half a century, may be made to afford a iicld crop 
of more than two hundred bushels per acre of superior size and flavor to 
those grown in the ordinary way, and that the cost of production will bo far 
below twent}'-five cents a bushel. The annual pruning would be the great- 
est part of the labor, and, in the vicinity of this city, the wood cut away 
would be worth nearly the cost of cutting ; and in the country, where stone 
chimneys and brick oA'ens are still fashionable, the brush, when well sea- 
soned, would rrfakc superior oven wood. Besides what I have said of this 
garden, there is much more to be learned from it, and that where it blos- 
soms now, nine or ten years ago was a wilderness of Avild bushes, blackber- 
ries, and rocks, and that he who has said " presto, change !" is not a magician, 
but a very humble individual, with no more power to produce such chant^e 
than the most humble one of the mighty multitude who have an idea above 
the gutter, with a will to work that idea out in the rich productions of na- 
ture improved. 

Besides the fruitful grapes I have alluded to, Mr. Ilite has others, prin- 
cipally of the Delawares, now growing beautifully ; and so satisfied is he 
with the advantages of growing superior grapes, that he dug up a fruitful bed 
of strawberry-plants to make room for more Delaware grapevines, which 
he thinks will be the greatest wine-grape in America. Some of the surplus 
products of his little plot of ground afforded the owner one year $400 in 
cash, which was more than enough to pay for hired labor and manure. This 
should encourage others to go and do likewise. I would have gone to this 
man for my miniature portrait, but who would think of going to an artist 
to learn horticulture? Yet I have learned, and in my opinion others may, 
fro;n very unexpected sources. Let us try. 

519. Origin and History of some Common Garden Vegetables.— The history 
of some of our fruits and vegetables is, in many respects, extremely curious. 

"The artichoke^ we find, was so highly esteemed in Rome, that an arbi- 
tary law was enacted to prevent commoners from eating it." 

This statement shows the importance of calling all plants by their botanical 
or scientific name, since we can not tell wliether the writer means the 
Ilelianthus tuherosxis (Jerusalem artichoke), which is a plant of the sun- 
flower species, or the artichoke which somewhat resembles a thistle, the 
Cynara scolymus, which grows the edible part at the top instead of the 
bottom. 

so 



466 



THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V- 



The plant used for flavoring, called has'd, which now stands so high that a 
London alderman would spurn a basin of turtle made without it, was, 200 
jears before Christ, condemned by Chrysippus as an enemy to the siglit and 
a robber of the wits. Pliny says they sowed the seeds with maledictions 
and ill words, believing that the more it was cursed the better it would 
prosper. 

Lettuce appears, from an anecdote related by Herodotus, to have been 
served at the royal tables of the Persian kings, five or six hundred years 
before the Christian era, but they only knew one sort, which was a black 
variety. This esculent has been greatly improved by cultivation as well as 
cabbase. We can remember when a head of lettuce would have been a 
great curiosity, and the heads of cabbage fifty years ago were very unlike 
merchantable cabbage-heads of the present day. 

Mint appears to have been used formerly for other purposes besides 
making mint-juleps, which produce a disease which, in ancient times, mint 
was used to cure; for Pliny says, at a consultation of physicians in his 
chamber, it was decided that a chaplet of pennyroyal was better for gid- 
diness and swimming in the head than one of roses. 

According to Ovid, mint was used by the ancients to perfume their tables, 
by rubbing the leaves upon them before serving the supper; and mvsh- 
rooms, both edible and poisonous, were known to the ancients. They were 
considered, when good, a great dainty with the voluptuous Komans ; and 
one of the poisonous sorts was used by Agrippina to destroy her husband 
Tiberius Claudius. 

Mustard, it will be recollected by Bible-readers, was cultivated in Syria 
at the time of our Saviour, as it is mentioned in one of his beautiful parables 
as being the.least seed that was sown in the field. 

Garlic and onions must have been in high favor as food at a very early 
day, since it appears that the Egyptians worshiped garlic, and were said to 
wish that they might enjoy it in Paradise; though the Greeks held it in 
such abhorrence, that they regarded those who ate it as profane. The Ro- 
mans gave it to their laborers and soldiers to strengthen them, and to their 
game-cocks previously to fighting them ; and the Israelites, while in the 
wilderness, lamented the deprivation of these stimulating roots, to which 
they had become so accustomed in Egypt. In this country, onions are eaten 
by all classes, and in New York city, we have noticed, are greatly esteemed 
in winter by the very poorest classes, particularly the dissipated. They are 
not generally considered unhealthy, though no dyspeptic should ever touch 
garlic or onions in any shape, particularly raw. 

ParsnejM were held in high esteem by the Emperor Tiberius, who im- 
ported them annually into Rome from Germany, probably because they 
grew much better in that colder climate, as they are greatly improved here 
by remaining in the ground to freeze during winter. 

Parsneps contain a large proportion of sugar; beer is made from tiiem in 
the north of Ireland, and wine, closely approaching the malmsey of Madeira, 



Sko. 2'J.] 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 



467 



is made from the roots. Marmalade, made with parsneps and a small 
quantity of sugar, is said to excite appetite, and to be a very good food for 
convalescents. 

Parsley was cultivated, as it is now in gardens, in the time of Pliny, and 
ajtpears to have been highly esteemed as a seasoning of food. 

Rmlishcs were so higldy esteemed by tlie Greeks, that they made them 
of gold to offer at the shrine of Apollo. If these were made of the size that 
radishes are represented as growing in those days, we certainly should prefer 
the counterfeits to the i"eal ; for it is stated that they grew to the weight of 
forty or fifty pounds. Probably they were an entirely different article from 
our radishes, and perhaps were a culinary vegetable. 

Beets were made for the same purpose of silver, which shows the com- 
parative estimation in which they were held. "With us it is quite the 
reverse. 

Ttirnips, too, do not seem to have been highly esteemed, since Apollo 
only got wooden turnips, while he got gold radishes and silver beets. This 
was somewhat owing to climate, undoubtedly, for we have observed tliat 
tuiTJps are not esteemed in the cotton States, except for the tops to be used 
as greens. 

Thyme was planted in Greece, and thence imported into the Koman 
Stater, on account of its value as pasture for the honey-bees. 

Water-cress was esteemed as a stimulating article of diet, as well in olden 
time as at present, and was often eaten with salad to counteract its effects, 
which were thought to be chill}'. An old writer says : 

" Water-cress is one of the most wholesome of onr salad-herbs, and one of 
the oldest in use. Its qualities are warm and stimulating, the reverse of 
nearly all other raw vegetables. Xenophon recommended it to the Persians, 
and the Romans gave it to those whose minds were deranged. Hence the 
Gruek proverb: 'Eat cress, and have more wit.' It is an excellent anti- 
scorbutic; and a salad so easily produced, and so important to tlie health of 
townspeo])le, can not be too highly recommended. The daily supply at 
Co'vent Garden, London, is about 6,000 bunches, but it is said if twice as 
many more bunches were brought in they would be all sold." 

Cahhage appears to have been used for food from a very early period, 
and few vegetables have undergone greater improvements, from tlie original 
sea-kale to the large drum-head cabbage, some of which have lieads almost 
as solid as turnips, and of twenty pounds weight. Germany, of all other 
countries, grows cabbage for food most abundantly. It is considered a 
necessity for every family to have a barrel or more of sour-kraut, which is 
made by cutting the cabbage-heads into small shreds, with sharp knives or i\ 
machine, which is packed in barrels with a little salt, and sometimes a Havor 
of spice, and in this way it keeps (we can not say sweet) in an eata!)le con- 
dition all winter, and is usually stewed and eaten with vinegar, in place of 
other vegetables, with meat. 

Asparagus is another sea-plant, very much improved by cultivation. The 



468 THE GAEDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



first time we hear of this vegetable is in the time of Cato the Elder, two 
hundred years before Christ. Tiie Emperor Augustus was very partial to it; 
and at Kavenna it grew to such a size that three heads weighed a pound. 
Mr. Grayson, of Mortlake, near London, has produced one hundred heads 
that weighed forty-two pounds, perhaps the largest ever known in Great 
Britain ; and hundreds of acres around the metropolis are devoted to its 
cultivation. The small heads are sometimes cut into pieces and boiled, as a 
substitute for green peas. Medicinally, it is considered diuretic, and is said 
to promote the appetite. It is considered antiscorbutic, and vei-y good in 
dropsical cases, but is avoided by those having tiie gout. The most extra- 
ordinary virtue is that ascribed to it by Antoine Mizold, who says: "If the 
root is put upon a tooth that aches violently, it causes it to come out without 
pain." Our modern dentists will, we are sure, thank us for this information, 
if it is true. 

Asparagus and cabbage are both benefited by the use of salt for manure. 
For asparagus, there is no danger of using too much salt. It may be used 
in a crude state, or dissolved, or in compost. 

Carrots, we are told, originated, or at least, were first cultivated for food, 
in Holland. They are not only nutritious, but the pectic acid which they 
contain has the effect to gelatinize other food, hence they are used in soups, 
making them richer. There is no root grown by farmers of quite as much 
value for stock as carrots. They are very nutritious food for our tables, 
simply boiled, and only require a little practice to be much liked. The 
white carrot is sometimes boiled, and mashed, and used in bread. The 
foliage of carrots is truly beautiful, and we read that, in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth, it was common for ladies to use the fresh, green leaves as orna- 
ments of their head-dresses. 

Potatoes have a history so wrapped in obscurity, that no one can tell for 
a certainty where they originated. Their adoption, as a general article of 
food, dates back only to a comparatively recent period ; that is, since the 
settlement of America, yet they are now considered an indispensable article 
upon almost all the tables m rich and poor in all countries where the 
potato flourishes, as it does in the northern United States and England and 
Ireland. 

The potato-plant {Solaniun, tuherosiim) is said to belong to a family 
of poisonous plants, and an extract, powerfully narcotic, may be made 
from the leaves and stalks, and a weak spirit is often distilled from 
the roots ; and a pretty good starch is made, both in a domestic way 
and in largo manufactories, from potatoes, with which sago is often 
adulterated. 

Potatoes make good yeast, and they are often used for making sizing; 
and the water in which potatoes are boiled is good to wash any fabrics in 
that arc liable to fade. 

Excellent as potatoes are for food, sad experience has proved that it will 
not do for any nation to rely upon them. This reliance brought famine, 



Sbo. 29.] HISTORY OF GARDEN" PLANTS. 469 

misery, starvation, and dcatli to Ireland, and disappointment to a great many 
who have lost entire crops from the potato-disease. 

/Salad-jylants liave long been cnltivated and eaten hy tlie rich as a hixury, 
and by tlie poor as a necessity, or rather, iu many cases, more as an agree- 
able economic article of food. In all cities and large manufacturing towns, 
the laboring class are every year becoming greater consumers of lettuces, 
radishes, and celery, and find benefit from tlieir use. This kind of food is 
grown to great perfection, and is very largely consumed in France, Belgium, 
and Holland — more so than in this countrv. 

Salslfi/ is a plant that should be known more extensively than it is, be- 
cause it aftbrds an excellent article of food. Its roots grow like parsneps, 
and the cultivation is similar, but they have quite a different flavor, and on 
acconnt of a real, though slight, resemblance in smell and taste to oysters, 
it is often called vegetable oyster-plant. 

The greatest resemblance to oysters is, when the roots, which have stood 
all winter in the ground, are dug in the early spring, boiled and mashed and 
mixed with butter, and cooked and served hot, like oyster batter-cakes. 

Oki'ci is another valuable food-plant not much known and cultivated, ex- 
cept iu market gardens in the Northern States, though it is considered an 
article of prime necessity at the South, being largely \ised by black and 
white. The negroes make a very favorite dish with okra and bacon, called 
gumbo, and we have eaten gumbo in New York, but it is ver^' rare. Tiic 
principal use of okra here is in soups. The seed-pods are the part used, 
either green or dry. They give the soup a mucilaginous character. The 
bark of the okra plant is very fibrous — as much so as hemp, and more 
tough. 

Sweet corn (see Sil), as it is now grown in a great majority of the gardens, 
affords one of the cheapest and richest luxuries that America enjoys. In 
the latitude of this city it is fit to eat in July, and continues in condition for 
the table, with a little extra attention, till late in October. There are 
several varieties, some of which are noted for keeping fresh very late in the 
season. There is no dish more universally liled than sweet corn while in 
the green or milky state, and eveiy family who have the means of growing 
it should provide for a succession of crops during the season, so as never to 
be without it, because no food can be produced cheaper, and none is more 
nutritious, palatable, and wholesome. 

We might go on to great length with this history and description of garden 
plants, and at last should hardly know where to stop without breaking oS" 
abruptly ; bo we do it here, to go more into particulars of garden cultivation 
of proper vegetables, plants, fruits,, and fiowers. 



470 



THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 




SECTION XXX.-GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



UR plan of treating lightly a great variety of sub- 
jects will not warrant iis in giving a complete 
" Young Gardener's Assistant." That can be 
bought in a separate volume, and it is a valuable book. 
But we sliall give a little information about all the 
principal kinds of culinary vegetables usually cultivat- 
ed by farmers, or which should be cultivated by them, 
which we trust will be found useful. In treating upon 
some of the same things under field-culture, in the chapter 
devoted to " The Farm and Its Crops," we shall probably 
give some further information, which may bo useful to 
those who only plant a garden. And so will what we say 
here be useful to those who wish to grow vegetables upon 
a large, as well as upon a small, scale. 
520. The Brassica Family— Propagating and Saving Seed.— This family of 
plants, which includes all that are near enough related to the cabbage to 
hybridize with it, is the most universally cultivated of any variety of culi- 
nary vegetables. In planting out cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips for 
seed, great care should be taken to set each kind by itself, at considerable 
distances apart, to prevent hybridization, and no seedsman must keep bees, 
for they are the greatest hybridizers in nature, carrying the pollen from one 
blossom to another, and mixing the two together indiscriminately. All the 
different varieties of cabbage, such as Flat Dutch, Savoy, Drumhead, mix 
very readily and spoil each variety, or else by one chance in a score of 
millions, produce a new variety which may be worth cultivation. As a 
general rule, however, all farmers who raise their own seed should try to 
keep the varieties separate. This may be done in most cases by setting out 
the seed-stalks in different fields. It is not necessary to confine them to the 
garden. Where there is any great inconvenience about keeping the sorts 
apart, you had better plant only one sort for seed, and buy seed for all 
other sorts you may wish to cultivate. Do not try to grow your own seed, 
if it will cost you twice as much as it would to buy a small paper of a pro- 
fessional seedsman. The principal advantage in growing your own seed is 
!o select carefully the very best and throw away all others, and unless you 
do that, you had better not grow any. To grow good cabliage and turnip 
seed, select the very best roots to plant, and then select the best seed 
branches. 

A correspondent wants to know if turnip seed, harvestea from roots 
that were left out over winter, will produce good turnips if sown for a 



Sec. 30.J GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 471 

crop. " My neighbors," says the writer, " tell me it will not produce tur- 
nips, hut cliarlock." 

Wc do not believe that it will change in a single season, but we do know 
of one instance where such seed was sown, and it produced turnip-tops and 
seed, but few bulbs of any value ; and we believe that if the seed of these 
bulbless plants had been sown again and again, the whole semblance of 
turnips except the tops would have been lost. And this being the fact, why 
may we not believe that the reverse will be the case, where the most perfect 
bullis are selected for propagation ? 

521. Cultivatiou and Value of the Turnip Crop.— The value of the rut;i- 
baga turnip for stock-feeding (see 880) seems to be almost universally con- 
ceded, while the common flat turnip appears to be under a cloud of preju- 
dice in this country. We have, however, strong faith, from personal expe- 
rience, in its value as winter food for horned cattle and sheep. There is 
great difference in the value of the several varieties. One of the best is the 
Red Strap, which grows well up out of the ground, and all the upper part of 
the bulb is of a rich plum red. This sort, if sown upon good land, grows 
rapidly and solid, and such turnips alwaj's keep the best and afford the 
most nutriment when fed to stock, and every vacant spot in the garden 
may thus be profitably occupied. 

For garden culture, turnips should be sown at three periods: first, as 
early as the ground is dry and warm enough for the seed to vegetate ; 
second, about the first of June; and the third, after the peas have ripened, 
and in all other vacant spots from which a first crop has been removed. If 
seed is sown as late as the middle of October, or, according to latitude, as 
late as it will grow bulbs the size of pigeons' eggs, and these are covered 
over with a mulch of coarse manure, straw, or leaves, and the mulch raked 
off very early in the spring, you will get a fine crop of sprouts for early 
greens, and sometimes the bulbs will grow again so as to be good eating. 
Kemember, never save seed froni such roots. 

522. Protection of Turnips from Insects. — Tlie young plants are liable to 
suffer from the attack of certain insects, especially the turnip flea, or beetle 
— called in England "the fly." As a protection against such enemies, we 
recommend the following recipe : Mix one tablespoonful of sulphur with a 
pint of blood-warm water to half a pound of seed ; let it soak a few min- 
utes, then pour off the water and mix the seed with ashes or plaster. 
"Whether this would afford any protection against grasshoppers, could be 
determined by trial. 

There has been lately offered in market a new preparation of " attenuated 
coal-tar," that is, coal-tar mixed with a dryer, makiijg a granulated sub- 
stance resembling gunpowder, which is said by those who have used it to 
be a good preventive of insects. We know that the scent of coal-tar is of- 
fensive to most of the farm-pest family. A board-fence painted with coal- 
tar appears to act as a protector of fruits trained alongside of it. Coal-tar 
mixed with dried loam in the form of a powder should be tried as a pre- 



J 



472 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



ventive of insects on the young turnips. In this form tlie expense would be 
very trifling. It may answer for all other garden plants just as well as the 
more expensive preparations sold for tlie same purposes. 

523. The Kohl-Rabi— Its Character and Use. — This relative of the turnip 
and cabbage is comparatively a new garden plant, but one much approved 
by all who are acquainted with it, and extensively grown for the jS^cw York 
markets. It appears to be a cross between the cabbage and turnip, growing 
with a bulb like the latter, which has the outward appearance of a cabbage- 
stalk, with leaves like ruta baga. These bulbs, cooked, have more of the 
flavor and general character of cabbage than turnips. Those who are not 
acquainted with them should procure seed and give them a trial. They are 
largely grown in England as a field-crop for stock, the seed being planted 
by drills, four pounds per acre, and produce twenty-five tuns. For garden 
culture, pursue exactly the same course as with cabbage. 

624. Cabbage Cultivation, and Value as Food.— Almost every family cul- 
tivates cabbage in the garden as an article of food, for which purpose we 
look upon it as of very little account. "Wc know it is relished by a very 
large portion of the laboring class, and that class alone should eat it, as it is, 
particularly when cooked, one of the most indigestible articles of food ever 
taken into the human stomach. Eaten raw, in small quantities, it is more 
digestible, and serves very well as a relish in place of other green food at 
seasons when the garden does not afl'ord a supply. 

We recommend tlie cultivation of cabbage in all gardens, even where the 
family do not care to grow it for the table, because a plant can be stuck in 
here and there to fill up waste places, and if the plants are not wanted by 
the family when grown, the cows will be very glad of them after the grass 
is frosted in autumn. If cabbage is wanted for very early use, the plants 
must be started in cold frames in autumn, and kept covered up all winter. 
Such plants are much more hardy than hot-bed plants started in spring. 
Seed may be sown, as soon as the ground is warm enough, in garden beds, 
for early cabbage, but for such as are Avanted for winter use, seed sown late 
in May or June, or even in July, will be early enough to set where peas and 
early potatoes have been harvested. Cabbage requires a strong soil, and will 
bear heavj^ manuring, except with hog-pen manure. That, it is pretty well 
settled, causes the disease known as " club-foot" in cabbage. This whole 
order of plants delights in bone-dust as a fertilizer and bones prepared as 
superphosphates are still better. 

The distance between the plants when set out varies from one and a naif 
to three feet. A moist, cloudy day is the best time for transplanting, and 
it is well to dip the , roots before planting in a composition of black mold 
and a little soot, made into thin mud with the addition of liquid manure. 

Cabbages may be headed in winter by setting them with their roots in 
good rich earth, just as they grew, and covering the tops so that they will not 
freeze. This may be done with a roof of boards, hay, or dirt, or brush and 
rails and straw covered with dirt, with little air-holes. Cabbage grown in 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 473 

this way is blanched, sweet, and tender, and will pay much more than the 
cost of thus arranging the late stalks which failed to form heads in the fall. 
The work should be done just before the ground freezes, and at first only 
slightly cover the tops. 

The lieads can be kept very sound and clean, and convenient for daily use 
in winter, by packing then: in wet moss in barrels or boxes, wliicli should 
be kept in a room where tlie temperature is just above tiie tVoezing-point. 

The easiest way that we ever put up cabbages for winter ixse was as fol- 
lows : Lay two common fence rails, or two jioles on the ground, side by 
side, about six inches apart, and as you pull up the cabbages, lay tiieni 
down, with the heads resting upon the poles and the roots on the ground on 
each side, at riglit angles with the poles. If you take off the loose leaves 
for feed, lay a thin coat of straw over the heads, and then throw up the dirt 
from each side, so as to cover the heads about six inches deep, and form a 
smooth mound, shaped like a winrow of hay. 

Of the kinds of cabbage, we recommend the " Bergen," for its large size 
and value for fodder. The " Fawn-colored Savoy" is more delicate for the 
table. " Red cabbage" grows with very hard, small heads, and is esteemed 
for pickling. It is not as sweet or palatable as other sorts to our taste. A 
kind called "Thousand-headed" is much grown in some gardens for eating 
green. It is a coarse variety. The " Green Curled Kale" is also grown for 
greens. It does not head. So is the kind called " Brussels Sprouts." Tiiu 
earliest variety of cabbage is the "Early York," or "Early Wakefield." 
Three other early varieties are called, " Early Sugarloaf," " Early Drum- 
head or Battersea," and " Early London." 

A new variety, lately introduced, is called " Stonemason." It originated 
with J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass. It grows a large, rich head 
on a very short stump. The " Marblehead Mammoth" is another new 
variety, introduced by Mr. Gregory, which grows heads that weigh thirty 
pounds each. There is a new kind called " Pomerain," which grows heads 
shaped like the Eed Dutch, that is, conical, though much larger, and re- 
markably solid. 

525. Cauliflower is a delicate vegetable of the brassica family, the edible 
part being the flower-buds, before they shoot up to seed. Cultivators have 
succeeded in forming these into a very compact mass of several pounds' 
weight. This is done, first, by using seed of the very best variety and culti- 
vating in very rich ground ; and second, by carefully tying up the leaves 
around the heads, to make it grow compactly. A heavy, moist, fresh loam 
is the best soil for cabbajres and cauliflowers. 

The way the Dutch obtain cauliflowers, famous for size and delicacy, is as 
follows : 

" In the autumn they dig deep some ground that has not been manured ; 
at the beginning of May tliey sow the large English cauliflower upon a bed 
of manure, and cover it with straw mats at night. When the young plants 
are three or four inches high, they harrow the ground that had been pre- 



474 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

pared the autumn before, and wilh a wooden dibble, eighteen inches long, 
they make holes about ten inches deep, at i)ropor distances apart, and en- 
large tlicin by working the dibble round till the hole at the top is about 
three inches in diameter. They immediately fill these holes with water, and 
repeat lliis three times the same day. In the evening they fill them with 
sheep-dung, leaving only room enough for the young plant, which they very 
carefully remove from the bed of manure and place in the hole with a little 
earth. Directly afterwards they give them a good watering, and as soon as 
the sun begins to dry them, water them again. Furthermore, as the plants 
grow, they dig round them, and earth them up in rows. When the head is 
forming, they pinch off some of the lower leaves of the plant, and use them 
to cover the young head." 

52G. Broccoli is nearly allied to cauliflower, and though inferior in quality 
is much cultivated. One of the secrets of growing cabbage is frequent hoe- 
ing, and in case of di'ought, watering. The ground can not be stirred too 
frequently, and it is well to hoe when the dew is on, if you are a little care- 
ful about getting dirt on the plants. 

Although cauliflowers are a little more difiicult to grow than cabbages, 
we have no doubt they are much more nutritious and digestible as food. 
We have said more about the cultivation of the brassica family in gardens 
than we shall of any other, because the various sorts may be grown in a 
great measure as a second crop, or to fill up waste places, and therefore it is 
economical, liccause it affords such a great quantity of food. 

527. Carrots, Beets, Parsneps, Salsify, aud Horseradish, — All these plants 
require one grand feature in their cultivation, and one which many farmers 
neglect. It is a perfect trenching of the earth, not less than two feet deep, 
and fur better if it is three feet. They all succeed best on a rather light 
loam, not too sandy, which was manured the previous year with old manure. 
If desirable to continue planting the same plat with these roots, let them 
come in rotation, and use no manure that is not in a very pulverulent con- 
dition. Guano, at the rate of three or four liundred pounds per acre ; super- 
phosphate, at the rate of five hundred pounds per acre ; lime, at the rate of 
fifty bushels per acre ; nnleached ashes, at the rate of ten to twenty bushels 
per acre, are all good fertilizers for root crops. All these roots are apt to 
grow pronged and ill-shapen in fresh-manured ground, as they always do in 
ground badly spaded or plowed, unless prepared by the very best kind of 
surface and subsoil plowing. 

52S. Carrots, for early use, may be sown as soon as the ground is dry. 
For winter use, the last of May or first of June in the latitude of New 
York. They are best preserved for winter use in dry sand. The best early 
variety is Early Horn ; the best for winter, or stock, is the Improved Long 
Orange, though some prefer the Altringham. The large, white, Belgian 
carrot has been cultivated here, but the yellow is still the favorite. 

529. Beets should be sown very early for greens. The Early Flat Bas- 
sano" or Early Blood Turnip-Beet will produce food soonest ; but for win- 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULI?fARY VEGETABLES. 475 

ter, we prefer the Long Blood Beet or Smooth Long Dark-red. The last 
sliould not be sown till near the first of June. If it matures early, the 
top part, which grows out of ground, is very woody. Always soak beet- 
seed twenty-four hours, and then roll it in plaster, ashes, dust, or meal, to 
dry it for handling while planting. An ounce of seed will plant a row one 
hundred feet long. 

530. Parsncps should be sown early, and may be left where they grow 
till the ground is wanted for a second crop. The soil must be trenched 
and rich, or manured deep below the surface, to grow good parsneps. An 
ounce of seed sows a row two hundred feet long — five pounds an acre. 
The Long Smooth is the best variety. Parsneps are excellent food for 
stock. 

531. Salsify, or Oijster Plant, should be sown early in spring; an ounce 
of seed to a row thirty feet long. Like parsneps, they are improved by 
standing all winter where they grew. 

Horseradish, is a plant of the genus Cachlearia, which is a sort of scurvy- 
grass, and is imknown to, or, at least, uncultivated by many farmers. Its 
sharp, pungent root is very agreeable to most persons as a seasoning to 
meats, and it is considered a healthy excitant of appetite. It is easily 
grown from cuttings in any deep, rich soil, even a mucky one that is quite 
wet. It is best after standin": out all winter. In the vicinity of cities it is 
extensively grown as a market crop, and is very profitable. For family iise 
a few plants will suffice. 

532. Onion CuiturCt — There are three principal sorts of onions grown from 
seed produced on the top — the red, yellow, and white. There is a kind 
called Early Ked, and the large Wethersfield Ked ; the latter grows the lar- 
gest, and is best for field culture. The Danvers yellow variety is mild fla- 
vored, early, and keeps well, and is preferred, where best known, to the 
Yellow Dutch, which is known in some places as Strasburg or Silver-skin. 
The White Portugal onion is the mildest, and good to grow for family 
use, but requires great care to keep it over winter. In some parts of the 
country scarcely any but top onions are grown. This kind produces 
miniature (iniuns on the top of the stalk, which are set to grow bulbs for 
use. Onions require a rich sandy loam, highly manured with thoroughly 
rotted compost, deeply and finely worked and rolled, and the seed sown, one 
ounce to a row fifteen feet long, in drills fourteen inches apart, and the 
plants left standing four inches apart. Unlike most other things, onions do 
best upon the same plat year after year. "Wood ashes, applied as top- 
dressing, make one of the best fertilizers that can be given to an onion bed. 
To prevent the ravages of the onion maggot, which of late years has proved 
so destructive, it is recommended to sow poppies with tlie onion. 

533. Peas— Choice Kinds and Cultivation! — The following are the best early 
peas in their order: Daniel O'Rourke; Early Princess; Early Emperor; 
Prince Albert ; Early Kent. The following are dwarf varieties : Tom 
Thumb ; Bishop's Early Dwarf, quite prolific and early ; Bishop's New Long 



476 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



Podded, productive and good quality ; Dwarf-blue Imperial, liighly recom- 
mended as a summer pea. The following are larger sorts, and are highly 
recommended : Champion of England ; Fairbeard's Nonpareil ; Champion 
of Scotland ; Eugenie ; Napoleon ; Missouri Marrowfat ; Large White Mar- 
rowfat, a late sort ; Blackeyed Marrowfat, an excellent kind, -worthy of gen- 
eral cultivation ; British Queen, very prolific, long podded, and fine fla- 
vored ; to which add the sugar pea, with edible pods. 

Judging from the little attention paid by many farmers to the cultivation 
of garden peas, we suppose they look upon them as luxuries, only to be in- 
dulged in by a few, except in very small quantities. In this they are quite 
in error. There is nothing grown that is more nutritious and wholesome, and 
much more attention should be paid to their cultivation, so as to have a full 
daily supply, early and late. The first planting should be made just as soon 
as the ground can be worked in spring, upon ground well manured the year 
before, or else with very fine old compost or guano in the hill, but not in 
contact with the seed. In small gardens, or where ground is scarce for early 
crops, plant potatoes and peas together. Land can not be too rich for peas, 
but if it is the richest of crude manure, more vines than seed will grow. 
Ashes and plaster upon peas while growing, when a few inches high, will 
help them remarkably. Plant in double rows, a foot apart, so as to set 
bushes between. The largest sorts require four to six feet between the lines, 
and we have found it advantageous to put them wide apart and plant a row 
of potatoes between. You want a pint of seed of the dwarf sorts, in a 
double row, fifty or sixty feet long. The large growing sort will take a pint 
to a hundred feet. 

Pea-bugs injure but do not destroy the germination of seed peas. It is 
recommended to keep them in sealed bottles, and if a piece of gum cam- 
phor as large as a pea is put in, it will destroy all bug life. One writer 
recommends planting peas five inches deep early in the spring to prevent 
the weevil. He plants beets at the same time between the rows of peas. 
Another writer recommends fall planting, or any time during winter when 
there is no frost in the ground. 

534r. Beans for the Garden— Good Sorts.— We recommend careful atten- 
tion to the cultivation of garden beans, because they furnish such good, 
cheap, palatable food. Tlie following half dozen sorts are the best that wo 
can name of the dwarf or bush variety, which give edible pods, called snap 
or string beans : 

The Early Valentine grows excellent, long, tender pods. Early Yellow 
Six-weeks is very productive. Early Mohawk is not only prolific, but hardy. 
The Early China is an old favorite ; it is a white bean, with red eye. The 
Thousand-to-One sort is also an old and very popular kind. As young 
bean-plants are easily killed by frost, you must not plant them till that 
danger is past and the ground is light and warm. A pint of seed will plant 
a drill eighty feet long. Cover lightly without manure, and never hoe wlien 
the vines are wet, but stir the soil very often, and use plaster and ashes. 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 47Y 

Of pole-beans, the Early Dutch Case-knife takes the lead. It is early, 
prolific, and good green or dry. The pods are sometimes eaten, but can not 
be recommended. The pods of all tlie Cranberry lieans are good. The 
" Horticultural Cranberry or Wren's Egg" grows in beautifully red-striped 
pods, is of a light red and cream color, speckled, of medium size, and very 
good, both in the pods and shelled. The White, or Marrowfat Cranberry, 
is very tender and nice, but is a shy bearer. The old Red Cranberry is more 
prolilic and hardy, but the pods are less tender, and beans not so delicate in 
flavor, but it is a valuable sort to rely upon. The beans grow of good size, 
roundish, and deep-red color. 

535. Lima Beans are a distinct order of plants from the others, and more 
difficult to cultivate, as they require a longer season of M-arm weather, and 
if planted before the ground is warm, are apt to rot, and each seed requires 
to be handled separately and put in the ground with the eye downward to 
insure their coming up. 

The best manure for Lima beans is superphosphate of lime. They grow in 
long, flat, rough pods, and the vines are such great climbers, that they would 
go to the top of poles thirty feet high. The best way is to nse poles five or 
six feet high, and pinch back the vines, or train them horizontally. To get 
an early start, set each bean in a piece of sod two inches square, and place 
these sods in a shallow box in the kitchen, and keejD them well watered till 
it will answer to set the beans out around the poles. 

536. faliforaia Beans. — A variety of beans new to the Atlantic States, in- 
troduced from California, has been highly recommended. A letter, written 
by L. Norris, Windsor, Ashtabula County, O., says of it : 

"This bean is of medium size, of a peach-blow color, and very prolific. 
It requires only one, or at most two plants in each hill, as it produces, many 
lateral vines. It is a short runner, only from three to four feet in hight. I 
find by planting them with corn, one bean in each hill answers the purpose 
well. By cooking these beans in the following way, they coTistitnte a 
savory disii, and need only to be tasted to be appreciated : Having cleaned 
the beans, put them in cold water ; add a little salt, and boil until done, but 
not so much as to have the beans crack open. Have ready a frying-pan, 
with some lard, which heat until it nearly boils ; then take the beans out 
with a skimmer an<l ])ut them into the frying-pan and fry them until they 
absorb nearly all the I'at ; then add about a pint of the bean liquor (of which 
you must reserve a plenty); then boil, or rather fry, a few minutes, stirring 
it gently ; but be sure the liquor does not all boil away, as it is this which 
gives the beans such a delicious flavor. They are now ready for the table." 

537. Flowering Beans are grown almost exclusively for ornament, and are 
known as ''Scarlet runners" or "White runners," being great climbers, and 
profuse in beautiful flowers, and not very prolific bearers. It is a mistake 
to suppose these beans are not edible ; they are so, but not of such delicate 
flavor as to be recommended for that purpose ; they are very ornamental, 
and may be planted to climb a pole in a showy spot in the garden, or near 



478 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Cnxp. V. 

the house trained to trellises, or climbing strings up the house side, around 
windows, or along a piazza front. 

53S. Asparagusi — But few farmers have this delicious, early spring vege- 
table in perfection, because they do not know how to cultivate it properly. 
It is a perennial plant, which, if once well set, produces its crop of tender, 
rich shoots, year after year, with very little annual cultivation. It may be 
started from seeds or roots, which should be set in a deeply-trenched bed, 
well drained, and made just as rich as rich can be, and heavily salted. 
Every autumn, cut ofl' the tops, and cover the bed with a thick coat of 
manure, salted ; and in the spring, fork up the groimd lightly, before the 
sprouts start, mi.xing in the manure, and if any of it is unrotted, lay it as a 
mulch between the rows. Lime and ashes are both excellent for surface- 
dressings. There are three varieties of asparagus — the Large Green Purple 
Top, or Giant; the Improved Ghent; and Common Green — though some 
contend that the difference is more in cultivation than anj'thing else. The 
common kind is certainly improved in size by high cultivation. 

In May, 1860, a Mr. Fecks, of Oyster Bay, L. I., exhibited, to the 
American Institute Farmers' Club, specimens of a giant asparagus, grown 
at Oyster Bay, originated from seed at Matinicock, L. I., the bed of which 
is now over thirty years old. Some of the stalks were nearlj' an inch in 
diameter. He stated "that he had about four acres, which he called only a 
' small patch,' because other persons had more than twice as much, and he 
had been told that one man near Jamaica has seventy acres. His beds are 
' made upon good potato-land, plowed deep, and highly manured with stable 
or hof'-pen manure. At one year from seed, the plants are set in rows four 
feet apart, and fiiteen or twenty inches apart in the rows. We trench four- 
teen inches deep, with manure at bottom, which is covered with three inches 
of soil, and the roots set, and the trench filled gradually during the summer. 
In cultivation, we plow olt" the earth and put manure in the furrows abund- 
antly. My bed is so near the level of salt water that the tide rises upon it 
at very higli water, and the yield is $300 an acre. We do not cut it much, 
if any, the first two years. AVe put fifty loads of manure per acre, and five 
hundred pounds of guano. Some growers use 1,500 pounds of guano per 
acre. Tlie bunches of sixteen stalks weigh four pounds. The best asparagus 
is that wiiich grows above ground. The white is always tough. We some- 
times have bunches with eight inches of tender green." 

It is a mistaken notion to cut or try to cat the white part of asparagus 
stalks. ISTone but the tender green part is fit to eat. An article now be- 
fore us has the following sensible remarks upon this subject. The vriter 
says : 

" The stalk is generally cut about four inches long, often not more than 
two or three inches, and from one third to one half the length is white, 
showing it grew below the surface of the soil ; this part is always tough and 
bitter, and unfit to eat. In truth, it is never eaten, so that fully one half of 
the weight of a bunch of asparagus, purchased in the market, is a dead loss. 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 479 

If the stalk be cut four inches long, and two inches below the earth's surface, 
about one inch and a half of the top jiart is fit for use — no more. Aspara- 
gus should never be cut till it is five or six inches out of the ground. I 
often let it grow ten or twelve inches high. When five or si.x inches high, 
it should be cut about a half inch above the ground ; but when ten or twelve 
inches high, it should be cut six or seven inches above the surface of the 
earth ; or, if it be cut near the ground, all the bottom jiart should be 
rejected. 

" After cutting it, take a sharp knife, and commencing at the lower end, 
feel your way along toward the top, till you come to where it is perfectly 
tender, then cut it off, throwing away tlie lower part. 

" It is only the green, tender part that is above the ground that is sweet, 
healthy, and nutritious, or fit to cook and cat. The white, tough, and bitter 
part, that grows below the earth's surface, is not half as good as corn- 
stalks, and should not be allowed to be sold in any market in the civilized 
world. 

" For private families, asparagus-beds should be made at considerable ex- 
pense, and with much care. Four or five dollars will make a bed that will 
amply supply, for many years in succession, a family of eight or ten per- 
sons, if properly taken care of. To make a first-rate bed for that number in 
a family, make it about five feet w-ide and twenty feet long. Dig out the 
ground two and a half feet deep, and fill up with chips, sawdust, tan, or 
sticks of wood, packed close together, five or six inches from the bottom. 
Then put in five or six inches of the strongest stable manure, and fill up to 
the top with manure and dirt, about half-and-half. 

"The bed is now fit to plant. Put your roots about ten inclies apart, each 
way, over the entire bed, and then cover them about three inches deep with 
the richest soil to be had, and sow evenly over the whole a peck of common 
salt and a peek of ashes, mixed together. Asparagus is a marine-plant, re- 
quiring salt and alkalies for fertilizers, which should be supplied every 
spring to make the plants flourish. 

" Keep the beds clean of weeds and well manured, and for this quantity 
of ground you will have a rich and abundant supply for eight or ten in 
a family, every day, if desired, from about the first of April till the last of 
June. The yield will be ten times as much as could be obtained from the 
same number of square feet planted in peas or beans. There is not, among 
all the green vegetables brought to market, another so productive, palatable, 
nutritious, and healthy as this plant. 

" Where it is raised for market, a warm, rich, vegetable mold should be 
selected. A sandy loam is better than clay." 

539. Celerji — This is another good vegetable for early spring, when there 
is a longing for something green or fresh from the garden, which is but little 
known to farmers in general. It is a hardy biennial, grown from seed sown 
in the spring, which will produce seed the second year. For the table, the 
stalks only are used, and generally raw, though good cooked, and to make 



480 THE GAKDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



them tender and palatable, are grown in a peculiar way, which blanches aiid 
makes them crisp, tender, and pleasant to the taste, being aromatic and 
slightly i^ungent, sweet, and agreeable to all who arc accustomed to eating 
them. There are Beveral varieties in cultivation, some of the best of which 
are named as follows : White Solid, Seymour's Superb "White, Cole's Crystal 
White, Cole's Superb Ked, Dwarf White French, Incomparable ; this is a 
dwarf sort, of a short, stiff, close habit, growing crisp, solid, and white, and 
keeps juicy and perfect longer than some otiier sorts. Laing's Mammoth 
Ked is the largest sort, and is highly esteemed in England, but not as much 
so here as Nonesuch, which is said to possess an excellent flavor, and keep 
well in spring without seeding. Mead's Improved White is a new American 
variety, getting into good repute. Celery-seed should be planted early in 
spring, and covered shallow in rich, mellow soil, beating the earth down com- 
pactly over the seeds with the back of a spade. When the plants are three 
inches high, thin them out to four inches apart, and keep them clear of weeds 
till six inches high, and then transplant into trenches about a foot deep, first 
filling them half full of fine manure, well mixed with soil, and set tiie 
plants six inches apart, first shortening roots and tops. As they increase in 
size, draw in the sides of the trench, and continue to earth up, keeping the 
stalks and leaves all drawn close together, so the tops only show 'a few inches 
above the ridge. There is no better fertilizer than salt for this plant. 
Sprinkle the ground each time before earthing up, and take care each time 
to hold the stalks together, so that no dirt will fall into the center of the 
bunch. An ounce of celery-seed will produce some five thousand plants. 
Both in the plant-bed and in the trenches, celery will drink up a great deal 
of wafer or liquid manure. Some rccotnmend keeping the plants in the 
trendies constantly saturated with water, tinctured with guano, or strong 
manure and salt. If kept constantly moist, the earthing-up process may be 
deferred till late in the fall. One says: 

"Late in autumn the whole bed is covered with forest leaves, a foot or 
foot and a half thick, with a few cornstalks to prevent their blowing away. 
From this bed the celery may be readily obtained at any time, fresh, sweet, 
and crisp, during tlie winter." 

Another covers the ridge with coarse manure, so it will not freeze ; and 
another takes up the plants, and packs tliem in an upright position in a 
trench three feet wide, and covers tlie whole with coarse manure. This is 
only necessary where the plants are required in winter for market purposes. 
For family use, a few can bo kept in wet moss, while the ground remains 
frozen. As a general rule, we believe the blacker the earth that celery is 
grown in, the M-hiter will it blanch. Some persons blanch with boards, set 
up against the plants, covered with charcoal-dust. A writer in the Garden- 
ers Chronicle, London, recommends the use of sawdust, wliich he finds an- 
swers the purpose better than any otiier material, especially for late crops 
to be kept during the winter. lie says: 

" Having had some trouble in keeping late celery from rotting, where the 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 481 

soil was very retentive and damp, and the plants earthed up in the usual 
manner, I used sawdust, and found tliat it answered perfectly. Last winter 
all ihe hitc celery was earthed up with sawdust, and it kept quite sound till 
April, and no slugs or insects attacked it underground, the heads being very 
solid, clear, and crisp, and well flavored. I had some doubts that the saw- 
dust from resinous trees might give the celery a disagreeable flavor, but on 
trial I found this not to be the case. Eefore the late severe frost occurred in 
October I had just finished the earthing up of all the late celery with sawdust, 
and I find it is now wonderfully fresh, the frost not having penetrated far 
through the surface to the hearts." 

Another correspondent recommends charred earth in preference to saw- 
dust, "as it ^vill not only answer the purpose as well, but will allow the 
rain-water to percolate more freely to the roots of the plants, and be of in- 
finite service to a soil of a damp, retentive nature." The sawdust, he thinks, 
will induce an injurious growth of fungi in the soil. 

5i0. fhiccorji — This is a garden plant, scarcely known to American 
farmers, though extensively grown in England, and within the last ten 
yeare it has become a favorite article of growth and consumption. It grows 
somewliat like carrots, and its cultivation is similar, and its principal use is 
to furnish a substitute for coflee, or an article to mi.x with it, as it is to a 
great extent with all that is sold iu a burnt and ground state for the pur- 
pose of I'educing the price, or if sold at the price of pure coifee, giving the 
manufacturer a larger profit. 

The carrot-like roots of the chiccory are washed, scraped, and cut into 
small pieces, and kiln-dried, and then roasted and ground like coflfee. To 
give the chiccory an oily appearance like coffee, lard is put in the roaster at 
the rate of two pounds to a hundred of dried roots. It is colored with Ve- 
netian red, or logwood and mahogany dust, where the chiccory is to be sold 
nearly pure for " pure coffee." 

Although not much grown here, we believe some coffee roasters in New 
York know its value to them, and import it in considerable quantities. No 
doubt it may be profitably cultivated, not only for sale or use as a substi- 
tute for coflee, but for a good forage crop in the tops. Sow it in April in 
drills a foot apart for hand hoeing, just as you should carrots, on rich, deep 
soil, on such ground as would produce a good carrot crop, and harvest in 
autumn. Some grow the leaves blanched, to use as a salad, by taking up 
the roots in autumn and trimming off the tops, and setting the roots in sand 
in a dark cellar, when young blanched leaves start out. The roots live over 
winter like parsneps, but, like them, are tough and stringy the second year. 
The leaves resemble dandelion, and tops and roots have a delicate bitter 
taste, and are slightly aromatic. For a forage crop, the tops grow very 
rapidly and thick, and may be cut four or five times. The roots, too, are 
very good for stock. We recommend its cultivation in gardens, in a small 
way, until its value is well tested. 

541. Corn in the Garden. — There are several varieties of sweet com suitable 

81 



482 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



for early and late use. We ■will mention a few, and advise all farmers to 
select such an assortment as will serve to give them ears fit for the table 
through the longest season possible. The earliest may be started in hot- 
beds, and transplanted as well as any other plants, or it may be planted, as 
we have recommended for early beans, in square bits of sod, or in small 
pots kept in the house, where it is warm and constantly moist. Smith's 
Early White is a dwarf variety, which may be planted for the first yield in 
hills only two and a half feet apart. Darling's Extra Early sweet corn is 
thought by some to produce ears the earliest of any variety ; and the Early 
Ked Cob is also a very early sort, growing short ears, eight or ten rowed, 
which fill well out to the end. The Early Tuscarora is a large variety, and 
matures early, but not as much so as the dwarf sorts. It is, eiglit rowed, 
with broad, white grains, and remains fit for boiling a long time. This sort 
requires a very rich soil. For the main crop, the kind known as Large 
Sweet is perhaps the most productive ; and for very late eating, Stowell's 
Evergreen or Burr's Mammoth Sweet should be planted iu rich hills, three 
and a half or four feet apart, as late as the middle of July. AYe have seen 
it yield well, planted late in August, by protecting the hills with stalks of 
the early sorts tied around them. It is also kept good till December by 
cutting or pulling up the hills and setting them in a dry cellar or out- 
building. Both of these late sorts grow ears witli twelve to eighteen rows, 
large grains on white cobs, and very bushy stalks. There should be a 
planting of corn for family use every fortnight from April to August. 

Where land is scarce, we recommend planting corn and potatoes in the 
same hill. Tlie corn will be just as good as though no potatoes were there, 
and if the stalks of the corn are cut away as soon as the ears are mature 
enough to boil, the yield of potatoes will be a fair one — in our experience 
just as good as hills alongside without corn. 

542. Early Garden Potatoes. — It is quite important to farmers to know 
what are the earliest sorts of potatoes, since they are the most staple food 
article grown as garden vegetables, and we therefore name some of the most 
approved varieties. We have always found the nutmeg potatoes the earliest 
of any, but objectionable on account of their general small size, and because 
they do not yield well. There is a sort called ''Mammoth Nutmegs," which 
grow larger and yield better. The Nutmegs have a very smooth skin, light 
yellow, with white flesh, and keep well, but are good for nothing for winter 
use. The Early June is a good potato, and more productive. The Extra 
Early AVhite is said to be productive, and capable of producing a very early 
crop. The Early Wendell and Early Carpenter are both spoken of by those 
who grow them as the best early variety known. Wo have been well satis- 
fied with the Buckeye as an early growing potato, but it did not keep well 
with us. The Dykeman is not as early as some others, but answers first-rate 
to mature a week or two later. Either of these may bd grown to great ad- 
vantage in the garden, and we recommend that all of them should be tried, 
and proved which is best for each particular locality. 



Seo. 30.] 



GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



483 



543. Cucurbita — GourdSi — ^Tlie family of cucurbita, embracing everything 
from gourds to encumbers, appears in an almost countless variety of forms, 
under some of which it is to be found in almost every garden. In our 
youthful days, almost every family raised a few gourds, and very conve- 
nient things they were, not only for water dippers, but holders of a great 
many little articles. "We used them for storehouses of small seeds. At the 
South, and in some of the new portions of the West, gourds are still grown 
to a considerable extent, and when we traveled through most of the South- 
western States between 1840 and 1S50, we should have thought soiiietliing 
M'as lacking if we had not found a pail and one or more drinking-gourds at 
some convenient spot about the house — generally on the front piazza, where 
every traveler could help himself to a drink of water. Often, too, on visit- 
ing the springs by the roadside or in the plantations, we have found the in- 
dispensable gourd hanging to a tree. They are grown of all sizes, from a 
gill to a gallon ; and one kind tliat grows without tlie elongation for a 
handle we have seen of the capacity of half a bushel, and the shell so hard 
that they would last many years for dry storage. In Texas, a variety with 
a depression in the middle, and buH> of erpial size at each end, is frequently 
used to carry water on horseback, it is so convenient to lash to the saddle. 
A little drinking-gourd, as hard as wood, and almost white, holding about 
a third of a pint, was given us by a lady in Mississippi, which accompanied 
us during many thousand miles of journeying, and out of which we had 
many a sweet drink of water from roadside springs. No one thought it 
worth while to steal a gourd from the wagon, while a tumbler, tin cup, or 
earthen mug would probably have disappeared the first night. We heartily 
commend this good old fashion of growing gourds to the attention of all 
farmers. It will save many a dollar used up in tin cups and dippers, and 
costly, fragile glass and earthenware. 

544. Cucumbers. — These rarely fail if planted in hills made as rich as it is 
possible to make them, six or eight feet apart, leaving only two or three 
plants to run to vines from each hill, and sometimes that is too many. The 
ground must be kept free of weeds in all the stages of growth of vines, to 
insure a good crop. A very good way to raise a few early cucumbers for 
family use is to fill a barrel or larger cask with hog-pen or other rich ma- 
nure, covered with sand, and set it in the grass-plat, near the house, where it 
can be watered every day — no matter how often. AVe have seen a good lot 
of cucumbers grown by earthing over the ash-leach and letting the vines 
hang over the sides. This also requires frequent watering, for that is the 
great source of all great garden productions. Without it, high manuring is 
worthless. 

Perhaps tlie earliest variety is one lately introduced, called the Eai-ly 
Russian. It is prolific, and matures for the table ten days sooner tlian the 
Early Cluster, or Early Frame, or Short Green. Tlie Early White-spined 
sort is considered best for the table. It is larger than the other early sorts, 
straight, smooth, and dark green. For pickles, there are several good sorts : 



484 



THE GAEDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 



the Lons; Green Prickly ; Long Green Turkey ; Stockwood Ridge ; and 
Carter's Long Eidge. 

For early use, cucumbers may be planted in sods inverted in a box that 
can be taken in and out of the house, according to weather, until it is warm 
enough to set them in place. You can not make the hills for cucumbers 
too rich. Some market gardeners divide tlie hills in quarters, and plant one 
fourth at a time, a week apart; so that if one planting fails, another will 
succeed. The plants should be hoed frequently, and the bugs watched care- 
fully. Seed improves by age ; an ounce will plant a hundred hills ; though 
as they are planted on Long Island for market, an ounce would be needed 
for a dozen hills. Tlie market gardeners put in such a quantity of seed, 
that tlie buirs are not able to eat all until some get too Ins for them. 

545. Musk-Melons should not be planted till the earth gets warm, and 
then in hills dug deep and made rich with well-rotted manure. It is a good 
practice to pinch out the bud of the main shoot as soon as half a dozen 
roudi leaves are formed, as that causes lateral branches, and makes the fruit 
set earlier. Light, dry, sandy loam made rich, and a dry, hot atmosphere, 
if the plants are kept moist, will grow fine melons. "We think the Green 
citron, a small, rough green skin, roundish form, the best sort. The Pine- 
apple and Jenny Lind are similar, and excellent. The Kutmeg melon 
grows larger, with rough skin and greenish flesh, aromatic and sweet. 
Skillman's Fine Netted looks as though tlie green melon was bagged in a 
brown net, and is a very fine melon, and ripens earl}^. The Christiana is a 
yellow-fleshed sort that ripens very early. It is a Massachusetts seedling. 

546. Water-Melons, though grown in all the Northern States, never come 
to such perfection of excellence as they do in warmer climates. Here they 
should be planted in May in liglit, dry ground, and they often do best upon al- 
most pure beds of sand, having hills jirepared by digging out large holes and 
filling them with manure, and covering it with soil. If the plants are wa- 
tered with a solution of two pounds of Peruvian guano in a barrel of water, 
their vigor will be much increased. It is a great object to get them forward 
as fast as possible. A very successful grower of watei'-melons upon the gra- 
nitic soil of Westchester County, N. Y., says : 

"I dig a hole three feet wide and three feet deep or more, and fill it with 
cow-yard manure early in the season — say 1st of May, and cover this with 
light soil, six or eight inches deep, before planting the seeds. For musk- 
melons I manure with well-decomposed manure, sown broadcast and worked 
into the soil. I would also work in a little of this fine manure in the top 
of the water-melon hills." 

The vines fruit better if the leading siioots are frequently pinched back. 
Water-melon hills should be ten feet apart in rich, sandy loam or artificially 
enriched sand. Six or eight seeds to a hill, not over an inch deep, in fine, 
black soil, over any amount of rich manure, will produce vigoro'us vines. 
The varieties of water-melons are almost innumerable. The Mountain 

Cut-worms and bugs are the 



Sweet and Black Spanish are our favorites. 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 485 

greatest pests of all vines, and the best of the many remedies in our opinion 
is tlic cheapest, which is simply inclosing the hill as soon as planted with a 
board box six or eight inches high, drawing the earth up a little around the 
outside. It has been found unnecessary to cover the top with thin muslin 
or flakes of cotton batting, except for tiie purpose of keeping the earth 
warmer. These boxes should be made about a foot square, and tapering 
enough to admit packing them in nests to stow away as soon as the plants 
are large enough to allow of removing their Avooden walled protection. 
Other seeds may be protected by such boxes against scratching hens, as they 
will seldom, if ever, get inside to do mischief; and so long as hens do not de- 
stroy seeds or i)lants, or fruit in a garden, they are useful, for they eat up 
thousands of worms and bugs. 

Other melons should be planted and treated as we have said of water- 
melons ; and of all the various sorts of musk-melons, the small green melon 
that looks as though covered with a fine flaxen netting is the best, to our 
taste, though we have great hopes that the new Persian melon, that grows 
as big as the old musk-melon, will prove as rich as its first fruits indicate. 

Great care is necessary to save melon seed pure. Yines of cucumbers 
and melons never should grow near to each other. Let the truth be re- 
membered, that the varieties of all this family will mix, and that seedlings 
seldom improve either sort, and that the best always sufier by the contact. 

Bees are great mixers of the pollen of flowers, and they can only be pre- 
vented by getting up earlier in the morning than the bees. Select a number 
of female blossoms which have opened during the night. They may be 
kiiown by g.rowing on the end of the young squash, melon, etc., while the 
male blossoms (" false blows," as they arc often called) have no fruit. Scat- 
ter the pollen of the male 1)lossoms upon the stamens of the female ones, and 
carefully cover the latter with raillinet, or anything which will protect them 
from the visits of the bees. A piece of cotton cloth, or even a squash leaf, 
kept in place by a few clods of earth, will answer a good purpose. When 
the blossom withers, the covering may be removed, and the fruit marked by 
a colored string tied loosely around the vine. 

5-17. Melous Smarted in (he E!ou$ei — It is recommended by one who has 
met with success, to fill some small open baskets with earth and start the 
plants in them by artificial heat. Suitable baskets to hold a pint may be 
made for half a cent each of bark or willow twigs, or split stuff, or even 
shavings, or old, worthless strawberry baskets may be used. Perhaps straw 
baskets would answer, and be very cheaply made. Anything jhat will 
hold the dirt until the plants are large enough to set out, will answer the 
purpose, and then the baskets and all the contents are planted in the hills. 
The object in using baskets is not to disturb the roots of the plants, as they 
are vfery tender, and do not bear transplanting. Any other tender plant 
may be grown in the same way. 

5-iS. The Apple-Pie Melon.— L. Norris, of Windsor, Ashtabula County, 
O., says : "The apple-pie melon, with good cultivation, will attain to 40 or 



486 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

50 lbs. each, and if gathered carefully when ripe, and kept in a dry, cool 
place, will keep sound a year, and will always prove a good suhstitute for 
fruit for pies or sweetmeats. To use, peel oS the skin, take out the pulp, cut 
fine, and stew three or four hours, when the substance will resemble stewed 
green apples ; to which add sugar and lemon-juice, and it will make pies 
that can not easily be told from those of apples." 

Another cultivator says : " Tiiis melon attains a largo size ; I have grown 
specimens the past season, eighteen inches in length, weigliing from 30 to 
40 lbs. The}' are cylindrical in form; color, when ripe, a golden tint, very 
solid, and flesh close-grained ; color of seeds, a dark green or blue ; ripens 
in September, and will keep sound and good, it is said, for two years, but 
we have not as yet tested their keeping qualities. They prove hardy and 
of easy culture, and I consider this melon a valuable acquisition. AVe have 
tested the quality of them for pies, and find them very delicious. To pre- 
pare one for cooking, peel and cut up the melon small, taking out the seeds 
and soft pulp. Put the pieces in a preserving kettle with just enough 
water to keep them from burning, and stew over a tolerably brisk fire for 
three or four hours, or until the Avhole is reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, free 
from lumps, and thoroughly done. You have then a substance resembling 
green apples stewed, and by adding a little sugar and lemon-juice to it, and 
making it with crust in the usual way, it is impossible to tell it from a fresh 
apple-pie. If you desire a pie like pumpkin or custard of the melons, stew 
as above directed, but omit the lemons, and bring the pulpy mass to the 
proper richness and consistency by the addition of sugar, milk, and eggs. 
Little of either of these ingredients will be found necessary — only sufficient 
to give the melon color and flavor." 

549. Squashes — Summer aud Winler Varieties. — The varieties of squashes 
are so numerous, that almost every neighborhood has some favorite. The 
most universal one is the Boston Marrow, and next the Hubbard squash ; the 
last the best, but being a newer variety, has only become generally known 
within a few years. They are both medium-sized, and are extremely rich 
food for winter use, simply boiled, and eaten as a taltle vegetable, as a 
substitute for sweet potatoes, or for pies and other cookeries. The form of 
the first is ovate, pointed, with thin, salmon-colored rind, and flesh of deep 
orange color and line-grained ; keeping all winter. Average weight, six 
to eight pounds. The Hubbard is a better substitute for sweet potatoes 
than the other. It has a hard shell, and is an excellent kind to keep 
through ^the winter. It grows aboiit the same size as the Marrow, and is 
immensely prolific. The Lima Cocoanut is a variety much esteemed by 
some as a winter squash ; it grows large, oblong, of a bluish color, very fine- 
grained, and sweet. The Honolulu, a new variety, is said to excel all others 
in productiveness, fine flavor, and good keeping qualities. A large, almost 
white squash, which we have grown several years, we like full as well as 
either of the above for pies, and it is more hardy, and sure to produce a 
good crop in all situations. The flesh is sweet and rich, but not as fine- 



Seo. 30.J GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 487 



grained as the othere, but it grows three or four times larger, with a smooth, 
jiolislied skin, the color of white wax. In size of fruit and vines, it is more 
like ])uinpkiiis tiian ordinary squashes. Among all new varieties, we should 
not forget the old Crookneck. It is a squash of good eating and keeping 
quality, and not so delicate in its growth as some others. Tliere is also a 
crook-necked suminei" squash, which is considered by those who have grown 
it, the largest, the very best of all the summer varieties. It is early, pro- 
ductive, and one of the kind called bush, or non-running sorts. Its color 
is yellow, and has a warty skin, and hard shell when ripe. The Early 
White, scolloped, a bush variety, we have grown with satisfaction as to its 
eating qualities, though we thought it a shy bearer. The hills for squashes 
should be highly manured with well-rotted stable manure or compost, but 
not with anything very putrescent, which will give off ammonia and kill 
the young plants, which are very tender. The seeds must not be planted 
while there is any danger of frost, as a very slight degree of cold will kill 
the vines while new. The use of salt in manure must be avoided with all 
the ciicurhita family, but plaster may be used to great advantage both as a 
fertilizer and bug preventive. 

550. Egg-PlautSi — Tiiese garden plants are not as much grown in Xorthern 
gardens as in Southern ones, Ijecause they can rarely be brought forward 
earl}' enough in the spring without the aid of artifici.al heat, as the j'oung 
plants are very tender. If you have no hot-bed, sow the seed as early as 
possible iu a sheltered, warm, dry situation, and protect the young plants 
with hand-glasses or boxes, or some covering in cold nights, until they are 
tliree or four inches high ; and when the weather has become steadily warm, 
transplant them into very rich, mellow soil, setting the plants two and a 
half feet apart. A fourth ounce of seed will produce more plants than any 
family wants. The earliest variety is called Long Purple, and gi'ows a 
plum-colored fruit of several pounds' weight, which those who are accustomed 
to eating it, call delicious. There is a sort, called Large Oval Purple, that 
grows larger than the above, and is perhaps preferable for general culture. 
The early and late sorts may be distinguished while growing by the stems. 
The earliest grows smooth and the others prickly. There are two sorts 
grown for garden ornament— one red and the other white— of much smaller 
size than the sorts generally grown for cooking. 

551. Salad-Plauts — Lettuce. — Lettuce is the principal salad-plant cultivated 
among farmers, and so far as our observation extends, the poorest varieties 
arc most in use, and rarely made to produce serai-solid heads, such as we 
often see in the city market, almost large enough to be mistaken for cab- 
bages. The best sort for early spring use, sown in open ground, or for hot- 
bed forcing, is the Early Curled Sihsia, because it makes a strong growth 
of yellowish-green tender leaves, which are very good eating as soon as they 
are large enough to pick, and will afterwards form loose heads. Do not pull 
up the young roots, but pick off the leaves, or clip them from the roots with 
a pair of scissors, and others will soon grow. The Early Tennis Ball i» 



488 THE GARDEN AKD ITS FRUITS. [CnAP. V. 

esteemed one of the best varieties which form heads. Recollect that some 
sorts of lettuce will not head, with all your care, but the leaves may be made 
more tender by tying them iijj, so that they will grow blanched. One of the 
best sorts of non-heading lettuce is the Ice Cos, the leaves of which are 
brittle, growing long, narrow, and dark-green, and of somewhat an icy ap- 
pearance. 

Tliere are also four other sorts of Cos lettuce — the Paris Green, Paris 
"White, Florence or Golden, and Spotted Cos — each of which you will 
be told is best by the person who grows it, and no other. The hardiest sort 
is the Brown Dutch, wliich may be started in autumn, and sliglitly protected 
so as to endure winter, and grow early in spring. It will form a loose head, 
but is not generally grown for heads, but for the early young leaves ; the other 
sorts being preferable to it for heading. One of the largest varieties is called 
Large India ; it is less curled than the Silesia, and the leaves are whiter, 
slightly edged with pink. This kind endures the summer heats well, and 
forms large, round heads, which cut solid and crisp. There are several 
other sorts, but what we have said of these is enough to show that there is a 
great variety in this family of garden plants. 

To grow good lettuce, the utmost care must be used in preparing the 
ground. The soil should be made as fine as the seed, and as rich as good 
garden mold can be. The seed should be sown every fortnight from Feb- 
ruary to June, to get a succession of young plants. The ground must be 
kept loose between the rows, and it pays -well to water with guano in a weak 
solution. 

An ounce of lettuce seed will grow plants enough for half a dozen families. 
It would require a bed about ten by twelve feet to sow an ounce of seed, 
and it would produce some 5,000 plants. 

552. Mustard is often grown for salad, the white or yellow seed variety 
being very good for that purpose. It should be sown in the fall, or it may 
be started in spring, in a hot-bed or warm southern exposure, in rows 
si.x inches apart, and no matter how thick in the rows, as it* is to 
be Gilt when two inches high. The black seed kind is often sown for 
greens, as well as to grow seed for use or sale. It ripens seed in July or 
August. 

553. NasturtiuiDt — This is another salad plant, when very young, though 
generally grown for its fruit, which is used for pickling. The pods are 
gathered before they ripen for this purpose, and some use the flower-buds, 
esteeming them as good as capers. The orange-colored flowers are also used 
for garnishing dishes. For salad, sow the dwarf variety early in spring, in 
drills an inch deep, along borders of beds, so that what is not cut for salad 
may grow for ornament. 

554. Garden-CresSi — ^This is a favorite salad plant, and in this character 
only the seminal plants are used. It is very hardy and proliticj and may 
be sowed once a week, from the opening of the ground in spring imtil the 
close of the season. Old rich garden soil is the most congenial to it, but 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULIN-ARY VEGETAULES. 489 



any lands of fine texture will, if properly pulverized and enriched with 
putrescent manure, produce a good crop. 

Do not mistake this for the ])lant more known as peppergrnss than it is 
as cress. The article we allude to grows annually from seed or from roots, 
forming compact bunches of twenty or tliirty stalks, which grow a i'oot high, 
and bear smooth succulent leaves and an upright stem full of seed-pods, soiiic- 
thing like turnip. It is very apt to seed itself, and may become trouble- 
some if care is not taken with it. It is so hardy that it keeps partially 
green all winter, under a very slight covering, and its greatest value is, that 
it aflords something green very early in spring. 

555. Uatfr-Cress {Si,^i/mbriu7}i nasturtium) can bo easily grown from 
seeds or roots, wherever there is a stream or spring in the ground near the 
house. It grows best in situations where the roots are always in water, and 
in winter the whole plant is overflowed, and it particularly delights in pure 
water, clear and cold, such as runs in th^j little spring-brooks. If j-ou hap- 
pen to have one that does not freeze, you may have water-cress at any time 
during winter. It is started by sowing the seeds or setting the plants in a 
suitable spot for its growth. After it once gets fixed as a habitant of any 
place, it requires no care in its cultivation. 

556. Endive, a plant of the chiccory species, is often cultivated for a 
winter salad, though more used in stews and for garnishing tables. The 
Green Curled is the hardiest sort, growing beautifully curled leaves, dark- 
green, which are tender and crisp when young, and much esteemed as salad 
by some persons, and are considered wholesome. The French use the Bata- 
vian Endive in stews and soups. It is a broad-leaf sort, which grows not 
much curled. This, wliQp very young, is eaten as salad, but is not as good as 
cither the Green or White Curled. The seed is sown late in the spring, or even 
middle of summer, for fall use, and the leaves are blanched for use by tying 
the outer leaves over the inner ones. An ounce of seed will sow a bed eight 
by ten feet. 

557. Turuip-Sprouts, grown under a straw mulch, are blanched and tender, 
and make a delicate, sweet salad, and may be had early in the spring with 
a little care. 

558. Okrai — Under the head of "History of Some Common Garden 
Vegetables" we have told the uses of this plant. Its consumption has in- 
creased so much ia New York since its introduction a few years since, that 
one market gardener of our acquaintance grew seven acres of it last year 
(1860), part of the crop selling green and part dried. There is no plant 

rown in the garden that afl'ords cheaper food than okra. The pods, in soup, 
make it mucilaginous and nutritious. There is a dwarf okra plant which 
does not grow more than two or three feet high, and is very prolific of 
branches and pods, that for this latitude will be a valuable imjirovement 
over the large kind, which grows five or six feet long. Ripe okra seeds are 
sometimes used as a substitute for cofl"ee. It is doubtful whether they are 
as good as the seeds of asparagus. 



& 



490 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

Okra seed slioiikl not bo jjlanted till the ground has become warm in 
spring, and may then bo treated much like Indian-corn in all its cultivation, 
:;iid grows well in soil suitable for corn. 

559. TomatooSi — The rapidity with which this vegetable has been brought 
into almost universal use is well-nigh beyond belief. It is quite within the 
memory of middle-aged people that it was grown only because its fruit was 
ornamental, and bj' many supposed -to be poisonous. Its common name in New 
Engjand was " Love Apple," though no one loved it. Now there are not 
many families that do not esteem tomatoes as much as any garden vegetable, 
and gardeners are constantly making efforts to produce new varieties of im- 
proved qualit}'. Let no one suppose he has got the best sort until he has 
tried several others. There is more difference in the quality and value for 
food of tomatoes than there is in potatoes. "We will name a few of the best 
We have grown a very large yellow tomato, which we prefer ovei all others, 
because it is less acid, and the meat appears to have more of the food prin- 
ciple in it than any of the red ones, unless it is one called Fejee Island 
Tomato, which wo think identical with one called " Perfected," and said to 
have been introduced by C Edwards Lester. It is a very large red sort, 
and very good eating, and a little finer grained than one called the Large 
Mammoth Hed. The poorest tomato in existence is the one almost univer- 
sally grown for the New York market. It is of medium size, smootli, round- 
isli, with a tough skin, and sour, hard meat, frequently veiy hollow, partially 
filled with seeds and sour water, and being generally gathered in a green 
slate, is no more fit to eat than the vines it grows upon. It is grown be- 
cause it bears transportation better than the good sorts, and it will sell to 
people who do not know how to appreciate a good tomato. As a general 
rule, to select good sorts of tomatoes for cultivation for family use, choose 
those which grow uneven-shaped rather than smooth, such as you can pull 
apart without cutting, the lobes separating with a glistening fracture. If you 
wish to have some ripen earlier than the large sorts, you may choose a round, 
smooth, medium size, called Early Apple Tomato. For pickles and pre- 
serves there is a sort known as pear or fig tomatoes, being about the size and 
shape of figs. There is a small yellow sort, grown for preserving, and so is 
the sort which grows about the size of potato-balls, and as round and smooth. 
A distinct variety, called "Winter Cherries (see 675), grows with a husk 
about the size of large cherries, and is much liked by some to eat out of 
hand. Care must be taken to prevent the difi'erent sorts of tomatoes from 
mixing, else, if you have a choice kind, you will be apt to lose it, as the in- 
clination is to run down rather than up the scale of improvement. 

The cultivation is very simple. In warm latitudes they are self-propagat- 
ing. In this latitude, where the family has no hot-bed, the seed should be 
sown for early use in boxes or pots, in February and March. The seeds sown 
in boxes, if kept in a warm room, in the light of a window, will grow healthy 
plants, which, when two inches high, may be pricked out and set single in 
pots, and carefully nursed till alj danger of frost is over, in some warm, 



Sko. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 491 

sheltered situation, where they can grow ont-ilooro. To hasten tlic first 
fruit, pinch off all slioots above the first forineil ones as soon as the tomatoes 
arc tlie size of cherries. Afterwards cut off most of tlie leaves, to let the 
sun have its full force upon the i'rnit; j-ou will thus get a small crop several 
weeks ahead of the riiiening when ])lantcd out at the ordinary time and left 
to the natural course of growth. To liave really good tonuitoes, fit to be 
eaten in a raw state, which certainly is the most delicious form in which 
they can be eaten, you nuist have a good sort, and grow them on good land, 
and select the first fruit, and trim the vines so that the sun shines upon it, 
and let it become fidly ripened before it is gathered. It should always 
be eaten while fresh to get its full value. Then it is both palatable and 
wholesome. 

If the seed be sown in May, in good rich soil, of a warm nature, with a 
sufficiency of old, well-rotted manure, there will rarely be any danger of 
failure. AVhen the vines begin to show leaves, they should be provided 
with a trellis, or tied to stakes fixed in the soil, to keep the fruit I'rom being 
injured by coming in contact with the dirt. 

There is, however, a new sort lately introduced, called " Tomcdo de Lays''' 
in France, and with us, the Upright or Tree-Tomato, that requires no sup- 
port. Its stem is two feet high or more, and so remarkably strong and stiff, 
that they are nearly self-supporting — a highly commendable quality. It 
branches less than the common Great Ked Tomato, is less leafy, docs not 
want so much pinching, does not bear so freely, but its fruit is larger and 
more regularly formed. 

Medicinally, the tomato is in high repute. Dr. Bennett, a professor of 
medicine of good standing, has published the following opinion of its good 
qualities : 

" 1. That the tomato is one of the most powerful deobstruents of the Ma- 
teria Mcdica, and that in all those affections of the liver and other organs, 
where calomel is indicated, it is probably the most effective and least harm- 
ful remedial agent known in the profession. 

" 2. That a chemical extract will be obtained from it which will alto- 
gether supci;^edc the use of calomel in the cure of disease. 

" 3. That he has successfully treated serious diarrhea with this article alone. 

" 4. That when used as an article of diet, it is almost a sovereign remedy 
for dyspepsia or indigestion. 

" 5. That persons removing from the East or North to the South or West, 
should by all means make use of it as an aliment, as it would in that event 
save them from the danger attendant upon those violent bilious attacks to 
wdiich almost all unacclimated persons are liable. 

" G. That the citizens in ordinary should make use of it either raw, cooked, 
or in the form of a catsup, with their daily food, as it is the most healthy 
article in the Materia Alimcntariar 

Prof. Ilafinesque, of France, says : " It is everywhere deemed a very 
healthy vegetable, and an invaluable article of food." 



492 THK GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



Dunglison says : " It may be looked upon as one of the most wholesome 
and vahiable esculents that belong to the vegetable kingdom." 

A writer in \\\e Farmer^s Hegistei- says: "It has been tried by several 
persons with decided success. They were afflicted with chronic cough, the 
primary cause of which, in one case, was supposed to be a diseased liver; in 
anotlier, diseased lungs. It mitigates, and sometimes effectually checks, a 
fit of coughing." 

The method most commonly adopted in preparing this fruit for daily use 
is to cut tliem in slices, and serve with salt, pepper, and vinegar, as you do 
cucumbers. 

To stew tomatoes, remove them ripe from the vines, slice up, and put them 
in a pot over the stove or fire, without water. Stew them slowly, and when 
done, put in a small piece of good butter, and eat them as you do apple- 
sauce. Some add a little flour-bread, finely crumbed, or a couple of crackers 
pulverized, to a quart of the stew. 

560. Radishes.— Almost every family grows radishes, but every one does 
not grow them to perfection. The radish appears to have originated from 
China, where it is still grown to much higher perfection than in any country 
of its adoption, and is largely used as an article of food throughout the year, 
one variety being grown especially for winter use. Although not a very 
nourishing sort of food, it is a very palatable condiment, and very ac- 
ceptable upon all tables in the spring season. The tops are frequently 
used when quite new as a salad, and the green seed-pods make nice small 
pickles. To grow good radishes, your ground must be rich from manur- 
ing in previous years, or by guano in solution, or superphosphate, while 
the plants are growing, and not by fresh putrescent manures. Radishes are 
only good when the growth is rapid. To have this they must have a good 
soil and frequent waterings, either naturally or artificially. 

For early use, sow on mildly hot beds, or in boxes in-doors, and after- 
ward in sheltered places, and water frequently, thinning out the weakest 
plants. Put in a few seed every ten days, as long as you want to continue 
the production, in drills ten inches apart, or with other seeds of slower 
growth, to mark the rows. An ounce of seed will plant a bed ten feet 
square. One of the best early sorts is known by the long name of Early 
Short-topped Long Scarlet. It grows half out of ground, and very crisp. 
The Olive-shaped radish, lately introduced from France, is an early and fa- 
vorite sort. It resembles the scarlet turnip radish; is rose-colored, oblong; 
top quite small, and if grown rapidly, is crisp and sweet. For our use, we 
prefer turnip radishes to the long sorts. For winter use, the Spanish, or 
Black radish, or a sort called Rose-colored China, is sown in the fall, and 
gathered before freezing, and packed in sand in a dry cellar. 

561. Rhubarb, or Pie-Plant.— This valuable garden vegetable is easily 
grown, and afibrds the first thing in spring for pies and tarts. It is best to 
get roots for a start, as it is not always true to the kind from seed. 

Autumn is the best time to make a rhubarb or pie-plani bed, and the 



to 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLKS. 493 



roots may be put in at any time when the weather will admit. The great 
secret of success is to get a deep, rich bed to begin with. It can not be too 
deep or too rich. We would dig it five feet deep for family use, and fill one 
foot with cobble-stone, if we could, or with broken brick, timber, and brush, 
so arranged as to give a good drainage. Then fill up with sods, chip 
manure, wood's mold, good soil, and well-composted manure in a homo- 
geneous mass, casting away the subsoil. Such a made bed will last as long 
as its maker will, and if ten feet wide and twenty feet long, set with three 
rows of roots, two feet apart in the row, it will furnish the largest family 
with more than they can use, so that some of their indolent neighbors can 
get a portion. E.xcept when grown for market, we would not select the 
largest variety of rhubarb. Seedling plants may be cut after the first year 
to a small extent. It is good to mulch the bed summer and wintei'. Seed 
stalks must be kept carefully cut away as fast as they appear, and the bed 
must be richly manured every fall. 

Some of the sorts in highest repute are the Victoria, Linnaeus, Koyal Al- 
bert, Scarlet Nonpareil, and Mammoth. The largest sort is known as Ga- 
boon's Seedling. It is better esteemed for wine-making than eating. Fif- 
teen hundred gallons an acre have been made from this sort, grown upon 
well-drained, rich, loamy land in Wisconsin. The stalks are cut in lengths of 
two or three inches, and ground and pressed in a cider-mill, one hundred 
pounds of stalks yielding ten gallons of juice, which is mixed with an equal 
quantity of water, and about three and a half pounds of refined sugar to 
each gallon, of the mixture. This, if treated like other small fruit wines, 
gives a palatable beverage, salable, and very profitable to' the grower and 
man u tact urer. 

50l'. Savory and Mediciual Garden Plants. — There is a variety of plants 
whicii every farmer's family should grow in the garden, which are useful in 
the kitchen, nursery, or sick chamber, a few of which we will name. 

Hoarliound. — This plant {Marruhium vulgar'e) is called hoar on account 
of the white, downy growth upon the leaves and branches, which resembles 
hoar frost. The plant is in high repute as a remedy for colds and coughs. 
It ia not a native of America, but was introduced by the first settlers as a 
valuable medicinal plant, and from the garden it has spread to the road- 
side and fields in every favorable location, as it propagates I'eadily from 
the seed. 

A good many other medicinal plants were introduced in the same way as 
hoarliound by the New England pilgrims. Among them M-e may name 
lavender, from which spirits of lavender and oil of spike are made, although 
another plant (Z. apioa) gives the name. Comfry is another of the old-time 
medicines that our ancestors made use of in cases of inflamed throat and i;.- 
testines, and for emollient poultices and salves. 

Peppermint and Spearmint are pretty well known and generally esteemed. 
One, if not both, come from Europe, and have been largely cultivated in this 
country for the oil which, when diluted, or "cut" with alcohol, forming 



494 THE GARDE>T AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

essence of peppermint, is esteemed as a remedy for flatulence. Until the dis- 
tillers of peppermint took to cheating by mixing oil of turpentine with their 
product, which spoiled the trade, the growing of peppermint was a good 
business in some of the New England States ; but since it has been so much 
injured by fraud, it is not worth while for farmers to engage in its field 
culture at the present price of the oil, though it should be grown in gardens 
for family use. . '■ 

As a crop, this plant can be grown upon any moist, rich soil ; that which 
will produce good corn will grow peppermint. The land should be })lowed 
deep, and it will be found advantageous to use the subsoil lifter, and the 
crop must bo cultivated while the plants are small to keep the weeds down, 
and therefore should be j^lanted in rows eighteen inches apart. Spring is 
the best time to set out a*new plantation by ofishoots or subdivision of old 
roots. The yield will be small the first year, and upon some land, after two 
or three years, it gets so full of grass as to render it necessary to turn the 
whole sod over and let the mint grow up again, which it will do, and the 
process of turning under enriches the land. The mint is cut for distillation 
when in blossom, and we think yields from fifteen to twenty pounds of oil 
per acre. 

Wormwood is another imported plant, and is a very hardy perennial. 
Its leaves, bruised and wet with vinegar, are esteemed a valuable applica- 
tion to sprains and bruises, and its bitter properties used to bo esteemed as 
a tonic. 

Balm, Saffron, Hyssop, Lavender, Fennel, Bene, and Rosemary are all use- 
ful medicinal herbs to cultivate in gardens, and the following are grown 
for various uses in cookery : Anise, Sweet Basil, Carraiuay, C'oria?ider, Dill, 
Fennel, Sioeet Marjoram, Summer Savory, Thyme, and Sage. The last is 
considered almost a necessity in some families, and is grown upon perennial 
roots. It is better, we think, to plant seed every year, and not keep the roots 
over two years. All of the above-named herbs are grown by gardeners near 
cities to sell in market. 

Parsley is another agreeable, savory herb, mnch used as a garnish of 
meats on the table and seasoning of soups. It is easily grown in good gar- 
den mold. It is sometimes planted as a fringe for beds or walks in the 
garden. It is grown in some })laces for the roots, Avliich are like small 
carrots, to feed to cattle. An ounce of seed is enough fur a row two hun- 
dred feet long. 

Peppers should ahvaj's be grown in sufficient quantity for seasoning all 
soups and stews, as such is far healthier than pepper that we import. 

The Long Caj'enne is a very pungent sort, and grows \ip dwarf-stalks. 
The Cherry pepper is also a good dwarf sort. For pods to pickle green, 
grow the squash pepper, which has a tomato-shaped pod, rather mild, and 
very productive. The Sweet Mountain grows in a similar form, but much 
larger. The Sweet Spanish is the mildest of all for pickling or to eat green 
as a sala(i. 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 495 



Peppers should be sown early in light, warm soil in a seed-bed, and trans- 
planted and inaniii-cd with guano water or hen-dung in solution. 

5(53. JerusaieiU Artichokes. — This [>lant, the Ildlanthus iulcrosus, should 
have a small corner in every garden, or somewhere convenient about the 
farmery, as it affords very agreeable food earl}' in the spring, when some- 
thing is longed for fresh from the earth. It is one of the best antiscorbutics 
known. It also affords a great crop of good pig feed. One man in Ohio 
estimates the yield at the rate of 1,700 bushels an acre. "Wo recommend 
this plant as altogether preferable for cultivation over the Chinese yam, 
Dioscorca haiutas, about •which so much has been written and said. All 
that is necessary to be known about that plant we give in the next par- 
agraph. 

564. The Chinese Tain. — This new esculent has certainly been tested long 
enough in this country to determine its true value for cultivation. That it 
is palatable and nutritious, when properly cooked, no one doubts. That it 
would ever be adopted as a substitute for the common potato {Solanum 
tulierosum), or of the sweet potato {Convolvulus hatatas), among those who 
grow those roots as a sale crop, we have never believed, but have hoped that 
it might prove a valuable addition to our family of food- producing plants; 
but as yet we have not the evidence that this will bo the case. 

The London Gardeners' Chronicle of September, 1858, says of the Chi- 
nese 3'am {Dioscorea hatatas) that — 

" Many excellent results were obtained last year in various parts of the 
country, and gardeners begin to understand the nature of this strange pro- 
duction, which, although provided for the food of man, naturally grows in 
the ground in such a way as to make it impossible for him to pull it up. It 
is now, too, agreed that the quality of the root, when properly cooked, is 
excellent. 

" When first introduced to Europe by the French, this esculent was re- 
garded as a mere curiosity, and maltreated accordingly ; but eventually 
sucli information concerning it was obtained from M. de Montiguy, Frencli 
consul at Shanghae, as led to its receiving the attention due to a root which 
might some day be found good to eat. 

"The herbage of the Chinese yam is singularly like that of Tamus com- 
munis^ the common black bryony of this country, consisting of long, weak, 
angular, wiry, annual stems, covered with heart-shaped shining leaves. It 
ordinarily begins to push its roots as soon as the ground temperature 
rises to about 50 degrees, which, near London, corresponds with the begin- 
ning of May. Shortly afterward the shoots appear and soon spread over 
the surface, not, however, with much vigor at first, nor, indeed, till the 
month of August. The plant is evidently occupied for some weeks in 
making these true roots and preparing for the singular development of that 
false root, which is the yam itself — the part to be eaten. "When the roots 
and stems have attained the necessary vigor, which seems to be when the 
ground has become heated up to 60 degrees, or thereabouts, in August, there 



496 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



appears among the roots a soft, fleshy liorn, •wliicli directs itself perpendicu- 
larly downward, and growing M-itli considerable rapidity, soon becomes a 
club-shaped body, the small end of which is near the surface of the ground. 
This manner of growth is cxactl}- like that of the arrow-root plant {Maranta 
arundinacea), and continues nntil the end of October, when the yam is 
completed, and under proper treatment will have attained the length of from 
15 to 2-4 inches, weighing about one pound. In France, specimens have 
been dug up weighing two and a half pounds, and measuring a yard in 
lengtli. In its perfect state it resembles a very long trumpet gourd or a 
large parsnep, with the crown downward. The tail, which forms one third 
of the lengtl), is cut off and divided into inch lengths for propagation ; the 
thicker part is eaten. In the course of its downward growth, the power of 
development is so great that the thick end will force its way into hard clay, 
and even bury stones or fragments of pottery in its substance if its progress 
is sufficiently opposed. All obstacles ought to be carefully removed. 

Tlie best results in the cultivation of this yam have been obtained where 
tho temperature was highest, and the first object of the gardener should be to 
obtain all the heat tlie sun can give him in soil three feet deep. 

The plant should be grown in ridges, made to run east and west, and rise 
eighteen inches above the level, in eartli trenched three feet deep. The yam 
will not be worth growing in poor or worn-out land, nor among stones. 

There is no doubt of one beneficial result from the attempt to cultivate 
this root, if the above directions are complied witli. If it does not produce 
a profitable crop of J'ams, it will fit the ground most admirably for any other 
crop; and any man wiio has ever planted, grown, and gathered them, and 
afterward planted any other crop upon tlie same ground, must be convinced 
of the advantage of deep cultivation, since the yams can not be extracted 
without digging two or tlii-ec feet deep, which, even without manure, is a 
most excellent preparation for beets, carrots, parsneps, or anytldng else ever 
grown upon the farm, orchards included. 

5G5. Sweet Fotatoes> — The first step in the cultivation of sweet potatoes is 
to know how to sprout them, as they are grown from sets, not from tubers 
planted in the hill. J. W. Tenbrook, of liockville, Ind., published the fol- 
lowing directions, which we copy and approve. 

"Arrangements should be made early in the winter to have frames and 
covers made and seed potatoes, manure, and all necessary material for the 
hot-beds ready in due time. 

" The potatoes should be kept in a warm, dry room, until they are placed 
in the hot-bed, which must be warm, as they will not bear a lower tempera- 
ture than 40 degrees without injury. 

"The location of the beds should be near a street or public road, on dry 
ground, with a southern inclination, and convenient to pond or branch 
water. 

"The best material for a hotbed is fresh horse-stable manure that has not 
been rotted ; and if mixed with one fourth to one half its bulk of either 



Sko. 80.] GARDEN CULIKARY VEGETABLES. 497 

sawdust, fresh leaves, tan-bark, or straw, the lieat woukl be more mild and 
durable, and less liable to scald tiie potatoes. 

" About the first or second week of April, in this latitude, haul the 
materials for the bed, and mix them together in a ridgo where the bed is to 
be made, and as soon as it is hot, shake it thoroughly, mixing the cold and 
hot, wet and diy portions together, forming a bed on the top of the ground, 
running east and west,- wliich, when settled with the fork — not trampled — 
should be fourteen inches high, more or less, as there is a greater or less pro- 
portion of manure used, and six inches wider on all sides than tlie frame to 
be placed over it. 

" Hot-bed frames should be made of two-inch oak plank, framed together 
at the ends with keys, so as to be easily taken apart and stored when not in use. 
They should not be over twenty feet in length, nor exceed four in width. The 
front, or south side, should be eight inches high ; the north, from eight to 
twenty, according to the slope of the ground on which the bed stands, as the 
top of the frame should have a pitch of eiglit to twelve inches to receive the 
heat of the suii, and to shed off the rain freely. Temporary beds are made 
by setting slabs or plank on edge, and filling in the manure ; but such 
beds are difiicult to cover, and if used, the potatoes should not be laid within 
six inches of the sides. [See 598.] 

" Cover the beds five inches deep with the mellow earth, on which set the 
frames and proceed to lay the potatoes two inches apart, with the top end 
of the potato toward the planks, and inure them to the open air. Glass- 
covered hot-beds cause the plants to spring up tender and weak, and such 
plants do not grow, when set out in the hill, like those raised in open beds. 

" Tlie best covere are made of strong oiled muslin, tacked on lath, so that 
they can be rolled up conveniently. These covers will admit the light, shed 
off the rain, and be cheaper in the end than other covering, and BufSciently 
warm except in extremely cold weather, when straw or some warm covering 
should be thrown over them. Trampled straw, or mats made of rye straw, 
answer in the absence of better covering. 

" The beds should be watered in the evening with a suitable watering-pot^ 
to keep the earth in a good gi'owing condition. If spring or well water is 
used, it should stand in the sun or be warmed before using. After the plants 
are up, they should, if the weather is warm, be kept tolerably moist, to en- 
courage the growth of good strong roots, and light warm showers would be 
better than watering, but cold and heavy rains must be guarded against, as 
they would soak into the beds and ruin them. 

" Ditches should be formed around the beds, and the earth thrown up to 
keep the water from running under and chilling them. 

" "When the plants are three inches high, and well rooted, they are ready 
to pull, which is performed by taking liold of the plants with the thumb 
and forefinger of one hand, while tlie potato is held firmly in its place with 
the other. Careless drawing, by inexperienced persons, frequently destroys 
half the profits of their beds. 



498 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



"When plants are to Le sent a distance, they should be set in shallow- 
boxes, with tlieir roots in wet earth or moss, but they must not be packed in 
wet weather, nor have tlieir leaves wet, or tliey will rot immediately. 
Plants may be taken oif tlie beds and preserved in a cave or cellar for a 
week or more, with their roots packed in damp moss or earth, if not packed 
too close. 

" K by bedding too early, or crowding, the plants should grow long and 
slender, they may be cut down to two or three inches in length ; but this 
should bo avoided by giving plenty of room and air, and by working the 
earth in among the roots with the fingers as it is lifted up by the plants, and 
settling it by watering." 

The best ground to grow a crop of sweet potatoes upon is sand, enriched 
with very well-rotted manure, leaf-mold, fine compost, guano, or superphos- 
phate. The hills are rounded up like mounds, a foot or more high. All 
who live upon sandy land, south of latitude 41 degrees, can grow a few 
sweet potatoes in the garden, if not as a field crop. They are best preserved 
by packing in cut straw, in barrels, set in a stove-heated room, where the 
thermometer never will sink below 40 degrees, and rarely rise above 60 de- 
grees. See 438. 

566. Hot Water for Seeds. — There arc many seeds which may be greatly 
quickened in their vegetating powers by the use of hot water. Onion-seed, 
for instance, may be made to sprout upon the instant by pouring boiling 
water upon it. You need not fear killing it. Put some in a saucer, and 
pour on water from a tea-kettle, and after a half minute pour it off again, 
and you may see the sprouts shooting out the next minute ; and if then 
planted, while hot and moist, in jjulverulent earth, closely packed upon 
them, you will get them forward two or three weeks earlier. The same ef- 
fect will be produced upon all black, hard-shelled seed, such as onion, 
asparagus, sunflower, water-melon, apple, and many others. Locust-seed 
sliould be thoroughly scalded in boiling-hot lye, or several repetitions of hot 
water. 

567. Cranberries ia the GardeUi — Cranberries have been so long looked 
upon as wild plants of swamps, that it is diflicult for people to realize that 
they can be grown in gardens as well as strawberries, which arc naturally a 
wild field growth. 

Cranberries do naturally grow in swamps, but they may be made to grow 
artificially in good loamy garden soil, or that which is naturally a little 
mucky, such as is the most suitable for potatoes, if deeply worked. The 
l)est soil, however, for cranberries, is almost pure sand, witli water naturally 
standing, or percolating through it, within less than two feet of the surface. 
A bed occupying one rod and two fifths, in the garden of Charles B. Phelps, 
Colebrook, Conn., planted in June, 1857, yielded three bushels in 1860. 
The vines were taken from a natural bed, and set in small tufts, one foot 
apart in the rows, which were two feet apart, and these were kept clear of 
weeds until the whole ground became matted with vines. The bed then 



Sko. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 499 



■will continue longer in bearing than any bed of strawberries, without en- 
riching the soil. 

The cranberry is a seini-aqualic slender evergreen, content to occupy that 
part of a farm which is too low and too wet to be used for any other pur- 
pose, and is satisfied to feed on water, and the slightly alluvial deposits 
aiforded by the adjacent highlands, and does not, like some overgrown 
annual plants, make heavy drafts upon the soil. 

For Held culture of cranberries, all that wo have said here will be almost 
equally applicable, but tlie subject is treated more at large in No. 700. 

5GS. Number of Trefs, riaiits, or Rows to au Acre.— The following tables 
will aid any one in determining how many trees or plants he can grow 
upon one acre, which contains 43,560 superficial feet : 



No. of feet aparL No. of Plants. 

1 43,500 

U 19,300 

1!" 10,890 

2J 6,809 

3' 4,840 

4 2,722 

5 1,742 

1,210 



No. of feet apart. No. of Plants. 

9 537 

12 362 

15 193 

18 134 

21 98 

24 75 

27 59 

30 48 



The following table shows the number of rows, of different widths, in a 
square acre, and number of plants an acre contains : 

No. of feet apart No. of rows. . Plants in a row.- 



12 in. apart, 15 in. apart. IS in. apart. 24 in. apart. 

2 105 22,050 17,040 14,700 Il,0:i5 

2i 85 17,850 14,280 11.900 8,925 

3' 70 14,700 11,760 9,800 7,350 

3J 60 12,000 10,080 8,400 6,300 

4 52 10,920 8,736 7.280 5,460 

4J 46 9,660 7,728 6,440 4,830 

5 42 8,820 7,0.i6 6,880 4,410 

5i 38 7.980 6,384 5,320 3,990 

6 35 7.3.50 5,880 4,900 3,675 

7 30 6,300 5,040 4,200 3,150 

8 26 5,460 4,368 3,640 2,730 

9 23 4,830 3,864 3,220 2,415 

10 21 4,410 3,528 2,940 2,205 

It is a common practice to measure an acre thirteen rods each way ; that 
gives au e.\eeso of nine rods. At the South, it is common to measure seventy 
yards each way for an acre, which is an excess of 540 yards. In calculating 
the number of plants per acre, set four feet apart — for instance, cabbages — 
it is common to say ten thousand j^er acre. This allows nearly nine hundred 
missing plants. In garden work these rules will always be useful. 



500 



THE GAKDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 




SECTION XXXI.-THE FLOWER-GARDEN-VARIETIES AND CULTIVA- 
TION OF FLOWERS. 

-I EST, let us talk a little about the moral 
influence of flower culture. We are just as 
■well satisfied of the beneficial moral eflfects of 
flower cultivation, as we are that the effects of tlieir 
beauty upon the senses of nearly all beholders is 
pleasing. A mother who loves flowers is apt to infuse 
the same feeling into her children. A love of flowers is 
a love of the beautiful ; a love of the beautiful is a love 
of the good ; and so step by step the child walks in the 
pleasant paths of love, till its mind becomes thoroughly 
imbued with all the sentiments of moral goodness. There 
is no spot on the farm that grows such a " paying crop" 
as the little parterre near the dwelling, devoted to the 
cultivation of flowers. If it does not pay in golden coin, 
it does in all that makes life worth staying here for. "What golden hours 
of joy are spent by the family in the flower-garden ! What blessed influ- 
ences such hours have upon the character of children ! If you doubt the 
moral influence of flowers, look about you, and study the character of those 
who cultivate them in contrast with those who do not. We have long since 
settled the question of the beneficial influences of flowers upon all families, 
and therefore devote a little space to give, upon this subject, some very use- 
ful information. 

569. Suitable Soil for a Flower-Garden.— Upon the subject of soil, we 
copy from the catalogue of Benjamin K. Bliss, of Springfield, Mass., one of 
the most successful cultivators and sellers of flower-seeds in the United 
States, the following sensible observations : 

"The soil best adapted to flowering-plants generally is a light friable 
loam, containing a moderate amount of vegetable matter, and sufficient 
sand to render it porous ; but as it rarely liappens that the amateur has 
much choice of soil, it is fortunate that most of them will succeed in any 
but such as is of an extremely dry, sandy, or calcareous nature, or of a stiff, 
heavy, retentive character. In the former, the plants arc sure to be starved, 
and in tlie latter, if they ever fairly take root, there is generally an undue 
development of the foliage at the expense of the flowers. In soils of this 
description much may be done by thoroughly breaking up the superficial 
crust, or, as it is technically termed, ' trenching' it at least one spade deep, 
digging in sharp sand or road-scrapings, and if the operation be performed 
in autumn, so that the loosened soil is thoroughly exposed during the winter 
to the disintegrating influences of frost and other atmospheric agencies, the 
advantage will be greatly increased. 



Seo. 31.] 



THE FLOWER-GARDEIT. 



501 



" In soil of an opposite character, i. e., sandy or calcareous, the remedy 
will obviously consist in the addition of loam, in conjunction with decayed 
leaves or old rotten manure; or where expense is no object, the surface may 
be entirely removed to tiie depth of eight or ten inches, and its place sup- 
plied with the best loamy compost at hand. The use of strong crude manure 
of an animal nature should be avoided. In ordinarily good soil an annual 
liglit dressing of leaf-mold, decayed turf, or thoroughly rotten manure, in 
quantities proportioned to the requirements of the soil, dug to the depth of 
a few inches, will be all that is requisite. These should be applied in spring, 
only just previous to sowing the seeds, or much of the benefit resulting from 
their application will be lost, though a single digging may be advantageously 
given in autumn. In preparing the beds, care must be taken that they are 
so arranged that the ground may be a little elevated in the middle, that the 
water may run oft' and the plants show to a better advantage. 

"It is particularly requisite that seeds should not be sown too deep, 
whence arises most of the failures of inexperienced gardeners. The depth 
at which seeds arc sown will vary with their size ; large seeds, sucli as those 
of the Lupins, Sweet Pea, or Marvel of Peru, may be three quarters of an 
i.nch deep ; other varieties from an eighth to a half-inch deep, according to 
the size or nature of the seed. Some that are very small require to be sown 
on the actual surface, a slight pressure being then sufficient to imbed them to 
a proper depth. For the majority of the seeds a very thin covei'ing suffices ; 
if soM-ed too deep, they are longer in germinating, and the small ones are 
liable to decay. It sometimes insures a more even distribution of very small 
seeds, such as those of Campanula, Digitalis, etc., if they are intimately 
mixed before sowing with a little fine, dry soil, the mixture being sown iu 
the same way as the seeds. Woolly seeds, which adhere to each other, like 
the Globe Amaranthus, etc., should be rubbed with a little fine sand, which 
wiH generally separate them. In all cases, the more thinly the seeds are 
strewn the better ; when too thickly sown, the seedlings become elon- 
gated and sickly, an evil which no subsequent thinning out will entirely 
remedy. 

" K the soil be dry and the weather sunny, it will be necessary to water 
the seeds slightly from a very fine rose watering-pot. Kain-water is prefer- 
able. In the absence of rain, this application must be repeated every day 
or two, for it is important to observe that, when once the seeds have begun 
to swell, they are peculiarly susceptible to injury from drouth, and will speed- 
ily perish unless tlie soil be maintained in a moist condition ; to a neglect 
of this important precaution, many failures are solely attributable. On the 
other hand, an excess of moisture previous to germination will often cause 
the seed to decay, especially in cold seasons ; early in the spring, therefore, 
the water-pot must be used with judgment, and never late iu the day, when 
frosts threaten." 

We have found the practice of warming water in the sun or by fire-heat 
very much preferable to the use of cold water. As it requires the very finest 



502 THE GARDEN" AND ITS FRUITS. [CniP. V. 

preparation of soil, we recommend all who sow the most delicate fiowcr- 
seeds to sift the earth through a sieve fine enough for corn-meal. 

570. How to Make a Flower-Bed. — The following extract, from a paper 
read before the Farmers' Clnb, tells how the author made a flower-bed upon 
a very hard, rough spot . 

"I do not expect to tell a professed gardener, nor an amateur who already 
knows how, anything new ; but I wish to tell some who do not hnow, liow 
to make a flower-bed. At least I will tell how I make one. and leave it to 
others to follow suit or not, just as they can afford. I received. May 10th, a 
package of choice flower-seeds, and a dozen bulbs of Gladiolus. As the old 
flower-beds had already been appropriated, new ones must be made ; and as 
there is always a right place relative to the house and other things, the right 
place in the present instance fell in a very bad place — on a spot of sod just 
beneath the window that gives light to my writing-desk and book-case. 
Here I marked out the forms of my beds in shapes to suit the ground, and 
not like any diagram laid down in the books. I first took out a spading, as 
deep as I could drive the spading-fork, breaking up the tnrf and the remains 
of a mortar-bed left last autumn by the masons. This first spading and the 
loose earth left I threw one side, and the next spade- deep the other side. 
Then I took out another spadc-dcep and carted it away, and all the stones, and 
that not a few, and then broke up another course still deeper, and tlien threw 
back the second spading, and then the first, forking it all over loose and 
mellow. Next I put in a heavy charge of rich manure, and over that 
garden-mold and leaf-mold, mixing all up and raking fine. Next I put a 
coat of sand, and then rich garden-mold, old rotted sods, and leaf-mold, 
mixed and sifted. Now tlie bed was ready for the seeds, and after being 
marked off to suit the fancy of her who does the planting, they were covered 
by sifting earth over them, and watered. It is true this was a laborious job, 
but once done, it is done forever. Here is a bed of earth, rich and mellow 
as an ash-heap, more than thirty inches deep, with a subsoil of coarse sand, 
gravel, and decayed granite rock, that gives good drainage. It will reqiiire 
only an annual dressing of compost, and a light forking and raking, to keep 
it in order to produce the most lovely ornament that ever added beauty to a 
farm-house — a beautiful bed of flowers. Early this spring— almost as soon 
as the snow was away — there came, first the little crocuses, and these were 
followed by the hyacinths, and tulips, and dielytra spectabilis— beauty 
upon beauty, enough to pay richly for all the labor of making a flower- 
bed. 

" What man with a head a whit better than a pumpkin or a cabbage-head 
•would devote his whole soul to food vegetables, and refuse his family the 
gratification and cheap happiness of a flower-bed ? 

" "What woman with a soul above soft-soap and scrubbing-brushes, that 
would live in a country home and not insist upon ' woman's right' to have 
a flower-bed — ah ! to have her house surrounded with flowers, blooming from 
spring till snow comes again ?" 



Sec. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 503 



571. Cultivation of Hardy Annuals.— Hardy annuals are ihose plants that 
flower and ripen their fruits and perish in one season, but many of them 
may he sown in autumn to flower early the next year. Hardy annuals 
fjrow without artifieial heat, and come to perfection in the open grounds ; 
hut what are known as half hardy plants need pushing a little, except in 
very favorable localities. Tender and small seeded varieties sometimes fail, 
not on account of the had growing properties of the seeds, but solely from 
had management. Delicate seeds, like the Calceolaria, or Chinese primrose, 
must not be sown in the open ground. One party complained tiiat some 
fine seeds failed to grow which were sown from one to two inches deep — 
literally buried. The most inexperienced in gardening matters can sow sweet 
peas, but it requires a practiced hand to look after such delicate seeds as 
Calceolaria, Cineraria, Fuchsia, and such like. 

Many persons think that when they make a hole in the soil with a trowel, 
and throw in such small seed as Mignonette, that it should be sure to grow ; 
and if it does not, they lay the blame upon the seed, when in nine cases out 
of ten the fault is in sowing too deep. The proper depth for planting flower 
seeds is but little more than their diameter, though Lupine and Sweet Peas 
may be planted one inch deep ; but such small seeds as Portulaca and Mig- 
nonette require to bo sown almost upon the surface of the soil. Some seed 
are difficult to germinate. Cypress seed require to be soaked in warm wa- 
ter about one hour. The seeds of the Globe Amaranthus are covered witii 
a thick woolly substance, which greatly retards germination, and if planted 
without soaking, few, if any, will come up. The most convenient method 
of sowing annuals is to take a round-pointed stick, with which draw a circle 
six or eight inches in diameter, and from an eighth of an inch to an inch 
deep, according to the size of the seed to be sown, placing a label with the 
name in the center. The labels ought to be five or six inches long, painted 
white, and marked with a lead pencil before the paint gets dry ; in this way 
the name will last a long time. Larksjjurs, and many of the hardy annuals, 
when sown late in autumn, lie dormant all winter, thereby making much 
stronger plants, and flowering earlier than those sown in spring. The 
dw.arf Kocket Larkspurs, when sown on the edges of the borders, present a 
beautiful sight with their various colors ; the seed requires to be sown in 
October, and protected by a slight covering of straw during winter. Phlox 
Drummondii are of all shades and colors ; they delight in a moist and 
shaded situation ; seed sown one eighth of an inch deep in May, blooms from 
June until October. 

572. List of Choice Annuals.— Tlie following choice list of hardy annuals 
was made by Thomas Cavanach, a practical, sensible floriculturist in Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. It is worthy of the attention of all who desire to beautify their 
homestead. 

Nemophila Insignis, or Blue Love Grove. — Seed sown in May, blooms 
in July ; likes a rich soil and moist situation ; suitable for vases. 

Abraiiia Omhellata. — A very pretty annual, with long trailing stems, 



504 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

bearing beautiful lilac and white flowers ; very fragrant suitable for vases ; 
seed may be sown early in April, flowering in June. 

Aster Chinensis, or China Aster. — This beautiful annual comprises over 
twenty-five different varieties. Truffaut's, for general cultivation, is the best, 
on account of the beauty of its flowers and variety of their colors ; seeds 
sown in tlie open ground in May, in rich soil. All single or semi-double 
flowers should be pulled up and thrown away. 

Calliojysls, or Coreopsis. — This is a very showy annual — fourteen diflerent 
varieties ; flowers, bright yellow, mottled with a rich velvety crimson, 
highly ornamental ; seed may be sown in October or early in April ; easily 
transplanted. 

Balsam, or Lady''s Slijpper. — A well-known tender annual. The ca- 
melia-flowered contains twelve varieties, of all shades and colors, variously 
striped and mottled. Seed sown in the open ground in the latter part of 
May. To have them early, seed should be sown in pots in the house in 
April, and transplanted to the garden when four inches high. Plant singly, 
pulling up all semi-double or single flowers. 

Cuphea Platycentra. — A very pretty annual or green-house perennial, 
witli scarlet and purple flowers, suitable for vases; flowering all summer, 
and in winter, if taken up in autumn and kept in the house ; sown in pots 
in the house in April. Plants may be procured from any florist for a trifle. 

Cypress Vine. — A splendid running vine, delicate foliage, bright crimson 
flowers, of a star shape ; Alba, pure white. Seed sown in the latter part 
of May ; likes a rich soil. A very ornamental pyramid may be made by 
setting a straight pole in the ground six or eight feet high, surrounded by a 
hoop three or four feet in diameter, fastened to the ground with three pegs; 
run strings from the top of the pole to the lioop. Sow the seed outside of 
the hoop. It may also be trained over arches or vases. 

Lathyi'us Odoratus, or Sweet Pea. — One of the prettiest and most fragrant 
of the popular annuals which ornament the flower-garden. The sweet pea 
grows four or five feet high in rich soil. The plants should be tied to a stake 
or an old tree. Sow the seed in April ; flowers in July. 

Ageratum Ilexicanum. — A half hardy annual, with light blue flowers. 
Seed sown in May ; flowers in July, blooming profusely until killed by the 
frost. 

Alyssvm Maritimum, or Sweet Alyssum. — This is a hardy annual, growing 
one foot high ; flowers white ; very fragrant. Seed may be sown in autumn 
or early in spring. 

Cacalia, or Scarlet Tassel Flower.— K very pretty annual, with scarlet 
and orange tassel-shaped flowers. Seed sown first of May ; blooms from 
July until October. 

Eschscholtzia California, or California Oold Flower. — Flowers bright 
yellow, very shoM-y. This, with slight protection during winter, will flower 
the second season ; blooms from June until October. 

Clarkia Ftega7is. — A hardy annual, very showy. Seed sown in Septem- 



Sec. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 505 

ber flowers much better than when sown in spring. For spring sowing, 
plant early in April, in poor soil. 

Mirabilis Jalapa — commonly called Four-o'clock, from its habit of 
opening its flowers about that time in the afternoon. Mirabilis \& a Latin 
word for wonderful. The roots of this plant, when dried, form the principal 
constituent of the jalap of druggists. It is generally considered an annual ; 
it has a large tuberous root which, if taken up in October, and stored in a 
dry cellar, will flower the second season. Seed sown in April ; flowers 
in Juno. 

Scahiosa, or Mourning Bride. — A variety of colors, from a jet black to a 
deep lilac. Seed sown in May ; blooms in the latter part of June. 

Zinnia Elegans. — One of the most showy annuals in cultivation ; flowers, 
brilliant scarlet, white, orange, and light purple. The new double-flowered 
Zinnia forms a beautiful addition to this class of annual flowers. The flowers 
resemble the double French marigold ; they will bear transplanting. Seed 
sown in May ; blooms in July. 

Clintonia Elegans. — A beautiful, tender annual, covered with deep-blue 
flowers ; grows about six inches high. Seed sown in May, in light, rich soil ; 
blooms in July and August. 

Oomphrena Globosa, or Globe Amaranthus. — Five difierent colors ; the 
seeds are rather ditficult to vegetate ; they require to be soaked in warm 
water. The flowers, if gathered and kept in a dry place, will retain their 
color for several years. Seed sown in May. 

Mignonette is«one of the sweetest of the annuals. Thousands of pots of it 
are sold annually in the markets of Paris and London. It has been found 
growing ujjon the walls of ruins near Paris, springing from every crevice 
where the seed could germinate, and scenting the air with its fragrance. 
The mignonette is of very easy culture ; in rich soil it grows luxuriantly, but 
with poor flowers, that have little or no fragrance ; but in poor soil the flow- 
ers will be large and very fragrant. When once the seeds are planted, it 
will retain possession of the soil, springing up year after year. Seed sown 
in May almost upon the surface of the soil. 

Among the curious annuals is the Mimosa, or Sensitive Plant. Seed 
sown in the open ground in May, in rich soil. This singular plant, at the 
slightest touch, closes its leaves. 

" Weak with nice sense the chaste mimosa stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her tender hands." 

2fesembryanthe7nu77i, or Ice Plant. — This curious plant has thick leaves, 
which have the appearance of being covered with ice ; very ornamental for 
vases. Seed sown in May. 

Loasa Acanthifolia. — A running vine, covered with curious yellow flow- 
ers ; the stem and leaves arc covered with hairs or small bristles, which, 
upon being touched, leave a stinging sensation similar to nettles. Seed 
sown in May. 

Coix jMchi^yma, or JoVs Tears. — A kind of ornamental grass. It is called 



506 THE GARDEN AKD ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

Job's' tears on account of its shining, pearly seed, which, by a considerable 
stretch of tlie imagination, may be likened to a falling tear. Seed sown in 
May half au inch deep. 

The Avena, or Animated Oat,is a curiosity. "When the seeds have fallen 
oif, their strong beard is so sensitive to the various changes of the atmo- 
sphere, that they are continually in motion, like some insect crawling on the 
ground. Seed sown in April. 

AiiagaUis, or Pimpernel.— A. dwarf-trailing plant, with blue and pink 
flowers. Tlie anagallis has been termed the Poor Man's Barometer. Not 
the pimpernel alone closes its flowers when exposed to damp air, but many 
other plants are equally sensitive. Stellaria Media, or Chickweed, and many 
others, shut their flowers upon the approach of rain. 

Another gardener gives the following list as a choice selection for a small 
garden : 

Alyssum Maritiynum — Sweet AJysswn. — A very desirable dwarf annual, 
with small, white, honey-scented flowers in great profusion, blooms for a 
long time. 

Asters. — Showy, hardy annuals. Tlie fine German and French asters aro 
certainly among the finest flowers we have. 

Balsams. — Tlie camelia-flowered. balsams are most beautiful, and very 
desirable. * 

Cacalia, or Tassel Flower. 

Calliopsis, or Coreopsis. — Very showy and rich. 

Candytuft. — A large quantity should be grown of this plant for bouquets. 

Clarkia. • 

Eschscholtzia. — Very showy and handsome. 

Everlasting Flower. — Fine for winter bouquets. 

Four-6' clocks. — A well-known plant, desirable in large gardens. 

Globe Amaranthus. — Excellent for winter bouquets. 

Jacohea, or Senecio. — Veiw pretty. 

Marigold. — The dwarf varieties are pretty. 

Mignonette. — Sow plenty of this for bouquets. 

Nasturtiums. — The dwarf varieties much resemble Tom Tliumb gera- 
niums, and are very desirable. 

Nemophila, or Love Grove. — Plants with very small but pretty flowers, 
Dwarf. 

Petunias. — Among the very best plants ; of easy culture, and flowering 
profusely tlie whole season. 

Phlox IXrummondii. — The very best annual ; of long duration in bloom, 
rich in color, excellent for bouquets ; unequaled in all respects, in my esti- 
mation. 

Poppies.— Very showy, and great variety. 

Portulaca. — One of the best annuals. 

Scahiosa, or Mourning Bride. — Showy. 

Stocks. — Many annual varieties are cultivated, and are reiy desirable. 

Siceet Sultan. — Quite pretty. 
Whitlavia. — A very beautiful blue flowering annual. 

Zinnia. — Very showy, free flowering plants. 

573. Uardy Floweriug Herbaceous Plants. — The following list gives a good 



Sec. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 507 

assortment of some of the most desirable hardy flowering plants, some of 
which grow and bloom in beauty every year with almost no care. Of 
course the list can be greatly extended, or selections can be made from this 
and others to suit each taste. To many who do not know what to select, 
these lists will be useful guides. We will briefly notice some of the most 
desirable sorts. 

AchiUca Ptarmica. — Of the double-flowering variety, dwarf, continues in 
bloom a long time, good for bouquets, flowers small, of a pure wiiite. 

^coMjfe.— Monkshood, mostly with blue flowers; various higiits. 

Althea Rosea. — Hollyhock, double varieties, very beautiful, all colors ; 
six or seven feet high. 

Anemone t/r//)omc'a.— Japanese "Wind-flower, purplish red flowers, double; 
about two feet in liight. 

Baptisia Australis. — False Indigo, fine blue flowers ; two to three feet 
high. 

Campanula. — Bell-flower, many varieties, with white and blue flowers; 
various higlits, all pretty. 

Delphinium. — Larkspui', one of the best herbaceous plants, with fine blue 
or white flowers. D.formosum and grandijiorum are the best. 

Diciamnuis Fraxinulla, or Gas plant. 

Dielytra, or Dicentra Spedahilis. — The very finest herbaceous plant. 

Funkia, or Day lily, many varieties ; all desirable. 

Iris, or fleur de lis (flower de luce). 

Lychnis Chalccdvnica. — ^The double variety has splendid scarlet flowers. 

Phloxes. — A splendid class of plants, all beautiful, without any exception. 

Pyrethrum. — Feverfew, double white flowers, very neat and pretty. 

Spirca. — Meadow Sweet, many varieties, all desirable. 

Tradescantia. — Spiderwort, with white, blue, or red flowers, very pretty. 

Valerian. — A tall-growing plant, with fragrant white flowers. 

Viola Odorata. — Sweet Violet, very fragrant. 

Chrysanthemum.— l^lncli improved of late years, and in several varieties, 
is one of the most desirable of hardy flowering plants, and is very much 
loved wherever known. It is one of the very last to flower and cheer us 
with its many-headed blossoms for the last three months of the departing 
year, when most other plants have gone their way. Then, again, it is one 
of the very best window plants. It not only flourishes, but luxuriates in- 
doors, if properly cared for. As floral ornaments, for the green-house and 
conservatory, they are unsurpassed. 

To get early flowers from chr^'santhemum seed-plants, you must sow tlie 
seed early in April in pots in the house, and transplant, or else sow seed in 
a very nicely prepared warm bed in May. Be careful to thin out, so as to 
give ample room for the plants to branch out. 

574. Bulbous Flowering Plants. — The earliest flowers of the garden come 
from bulbs planted in autumn. In a well-prepared bed, nicely sheltered 
with a coat of leaves, the crocuses begin to bloom almost as soon as the 



508 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



covering is removed, after the frost is out of the ground. All tender bulbs 
and perennials under a coating of leaves will keep sound till spring. It is 
necessary to lay brush or something else over the leaves, to hinder their 
blowing away by the winds. Leaves make the best kind of covering for all 
tender things. Frost rarely penetrates through a thick coating of them, as 
may be seen during our most severe weather ; by removing a bed of leaves 
the ground will be found unfrozen. 

There is no sight more striking to the eye than the effect produced in early 
spring, when delicate snowdrops and the modest, many-colored crocuses 
enamel the lawn, or make the garden lovely with their stainless purity, and 
with the brilliancy of their colors. Coming, as they do, before the swallow, 
these firstlings of the season have a special claim to the popular regard. 
They are the harbingers of buds and blossoms, of leafy trees and unbound 
waters, of sunshine and of singing birds, and when their tender green spears 
begin to push themselves through the soil, we know that nature is awaken- 
ing from her winter slumbers, and that more genial weather is at hand. 
These little pilgrims that come to us with glad tidings, and that put on for 
our delight the gayest robes, and silently, yet eloquently, assure us that we 
are entering upon a new cycle of soft sunshine, and bland airs, and fragrant 
odors, deserve to be more cherished than they usually are by all country- 
women. Of all the flowers that bloom, those that come to us earliest are 
entitled to receive the most cordial welcome, and it is for this that we appeal 
in belialf of the more general culture of bulbous flowers. 

We appeal to all farmers' wives and daughters for a more general cultiva- 
tion of flower gardens and parterres around the house, because we believe 
in their humanizing influences ; in the lessons they teach, and the sympa- 
thies to which they appeal. We believe every family who has ground 
should cultivate Hyacinths, Tulips, Jonquils, Crocus, Crown Imperials, 
Iris, Snowdrops, Polyanthus, Narcissus, Double JVarcissus, lilies, GUulio- 
lus, and Dahlias. To these add Peonies, Dielytra {Dicentra) Spectahilis, 
and many other hardy herbaceous plants, such as Hollyhocks aud the 
Phloxes, Yucca filamentosa, etc. 

Of all the bulbous flowering plants, the gladiolus takes the lead, accord- 
ing to pur fancy. The varieties of G. gandavensis are numerous, robust, 
stately, with beautiful taper leaves of bright green, and long racemes of ex- 
quisitely beautiful lily-shaped flowers, comprising every variety of shade 
of colors, which can be kept up by timely planting from July to October in 
the open air; and then, before hard frosts come, if stalks with undeveloped 
buds are cut and set in water in the house, they will continue to bloom some 
time longer. The bulbs must be taken up' for winter, aud need about the 
same protection as onions. 

Several bulbs, hyacinths in particular, may be grown in any room where 
water will not freeze, in glasses adapted to the purpose, so that the bulb 
rests in the mouth of the glass, and sends its roots down into the water. 
Dark-colored glasses are preferable to white 'glass. The water should not 



Sko. 31.] TOE FLOWER-aARDEN". 509 



be allowed to rise more than to touch the bottom of the bulb ; otherwise 
they will rot. When first put in glasses, they should be stored away in a 
dark, cool place, till the roots are about an inch long. If the roots do not 
grow vigorousl}-, give two or three drops of hartshorn in each fresh supply 
of water, and put in the glass a small lump of charcoal. The water should 
be changed every fortnight, or three weeks at farthest ; but to do this the 
plant must not be taken out, but the glass held horizontally, and the water 
poured oft'. Soft or rain-water should always be used. By this mode of 
treatmetit, and not keeping them in too warm or close a place, they will 
bloom beautifully. 

They may also be grown in the house in pots, in the open light and air. 
The bottom of the pot should have plenty of broken tiles in it to ullow of 
perfect drainage, and be frequently, but moderately, supplied with water. 
Do not stand the pots in saucers of water. 

575. The Uollyhock is a fine flower to grow in clumps about a lawn, and 
may be made perennial by not allowing the stalks to ripen seeds. As there 
have been great improvements made in these flowers, we annex the names 
that two dozen fine sorts are known by among seedsmen. 

576. Select List of UollyhockSt — 1. AnaJc (Bircham). — Crimson ; flowers of 
a fine form and full. 

2. Black Prince (Gibbon). — Flowers large and very double ; black. 

3. Srennus (Bircham). — Light crimson ; a fine, showy variety. 

4. CharUs Baron (Chater). — Flowers very large and full; color pink, 
shaded with salmon. 

5. Beauty of Chestnut (Paul). — Flowers of a very fine form ; spike -ong, 
and beautifully furnished with flowers of a beautiful bright rosy red ; a very 
fine variety. 

6. Charles Turner (Black). — Spike very close ; flowers of fine form, large, 
and of good substance ; color deep crimson ; extra tine. 

7. Commander-in-Chief (Barou).^Flowers large and showy; dark-red. 

8. Eva (Roake). — Flowers large, shape very fine ; color peach. 

9. Emperor (Roake). — Form quite first-rate ; color a beautiful pink ; one 
of the finest. 

10. Felicia (Bircham). — Flowers and spike of excellent form and sub- 
stance ; color amethyst ; extra. 

11. General Bern (Veitch). — Spike very fine, flowers full size: color 
bright red. 

12. JIo7i. Mrs. Ashley (Roake). — Flowers medium-sized, of great depth, 
and very double ; color a delicate peach. 

13. Lilac Model (Chater). — Flowers medium-sized, full, and of good sub- 
stance. 

14. Mrs. Foster (Turner). — A noble spike ; flowers large, of first-rate form ; 
color beautiful light rose. 

15. Miss Parsons (Parsons). — Spike full ; flowers medium aud close ; 
color pinkish salmon ; tine. 

16. Magnum Bonwn {QnTon). — Flowers very large ; guard petals broad, 
but not quite substance enough ; very showy. 

17. Margaret Ann (Black). — Spike very fine; flowers good form, very 
compact ; color bright rose. 



510 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRTJITS. [Chap. V. 

18. Model of Perfection (Baron). — Many better models at the present 
day ; color creamy white. 

19. Susannah (Ye\ic\\). — Flowers medium-sized and moderately smooth ; 
color creamy white. 

20. Pyramid (Parsons). — Flower medium-sized ; spike close and good ; 
color buii'. 

21. Poupre de Tyre (Bircham). — A noble spike ; flowers large and free ; 
color rich dark-purple ; a first-rate variety. 

22. Penelope (Bircham). — A very showy and beautiful variety; color fine 
rose. 

23. Walden Gem (Chater). — Spike very fine ; flowers large and of fine 
form ; color deep crimson. 

24. Minnie Gray (Loring). — Size medium, form good ; color white. 

As these have all been produced by planting seeds, and saving none but 
the finest flowering plants, we i-ecommend a continuance of the practice by 
all who grow hollyhocks. 

577. The Verbena is an almost indispensable plant in lawns, it is so pretty 
to fill up cut figures in the sward. The name, verbena, is an unmeaning 
one, being derived from the Latin herha^ which means any low, spreading 
plant. This plant has been very long in cultivation, and it was used in 
ancient times in some of the sacred ceremonies, the altars and priests' heads 
being wreathed with verbenas. Celsus speaks of the use of verbenas as a 
febrifuge in sickness, but it is doubtful whether it was the same plant known 
now by this name. The verbena is indigenous in the country of Buenos 
Ayres, and was taken from there to England in 1825, and to this country 
ten years later, by Hobert Buist, of Philadelphia. ]S^ow it is known every- 
where and is everywhere a favorite, as its cultivation is simple, and its low- 
creeping habit and pretty flowers will keep it in favor until some new rival 
comes to take its place. It flourishes best in sandy, rich loam, in garden- 
beds, and blooms from midsummer till late in autumn, and if potted, con- 
tmues iu bloom through the winter. Verbenas do not require frequent 
watering ; they will grow upon very dry ground, and wet in excess mildews 
and injures them. For pots, take half-and-half leaf-mold and good loam, 
and add sand enough to give a preponderance of sand in the whole mixture. 
As it is naturally a running plant, it must be cultivated in that way, and 
not, as we have seen it, with stifi", upright stems. Nothing is more easy 
than producing new varieties of colors iu verbenas. We have only to grow 
seedlings and select the best and cast away the remainder. All colors, ex- 
cept light-blue and yellow, have been obtained. The following are the 
names of a few of the latest new varieties, with their characteristics an- 
nexed : 

Giant of Battles. — Flower and truss large, habit good, foliage large; color 
dark-scarlet, with purplish eye; a new imported variety. 

Dred. — Flower medium, habit weak, a good bloomer, but of a dull, pur- 
plish, lake color ; pretty for variety. 

Admiral Pimdas.— Foliage and habit good ; color velvety scarlet ; fine. 

Celestial. — A strong, rapidly growing variety, the leaves often two inches 



Sec. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 511 



across ; truss large, elongated, forming a fine head ; color pink, with darker 
cje ; desirable for its size and color. 

3Irs. Abbott. — Habit and foliage good, truss small ; color very dark, 
velvety purple, light eye; fine. 

Evening Star. — Color dark-crimson, with well-defined whitish-pink eye ; 
growth small ; a decided novelty, and a very striking flower. 

liosy Gem. — A lovely verbena, foliage and flower of medium size ; color 
rosy lake, with light eye; extra tine. 

For an ordinary purpose, however, some that have been long in use, that 
can be bought for a tenth or a hundredth jjart of the price of these new 
sorts, might give equal satisfaction, for the varieties have been so multiplied 
that it is difficult (o tell which are tlie favorites. 

57S. Flowers Grown as a Farm Crop. — Tliere are many persons in Franco 
who grow flowers as an exclusive crop. It is their sole dependence. "The 
growing of flowers, for tlio production of fine essential oils and for medicinal 
purposes, is confined mainly to the southern portion of tlie department of 
Var, lying on the Mediterranean, adjoining the late Italian, but now French, 
province of Nice. There are extensive factories in Nismes, Montpelier, 
Nice, and in Algeria, but the great center of tliis brancli of industry is the 
town of Grasse, lying some few miles inland, and its sea-port, Cannes, the 
winter residence of Lord Brougham. 

"It would be impossible to state, even approximately, the product of the 
llower-fields of this interesting region, There are no less than sixty factories 
in Grasse, giving employment, in the various departments of field and in-door 
labor, to 5,000 persons. Many manufacturers grow their own flowers, others 
buy them in the open market daily, and still others are supplied by con- 
tracts. The latter system prevails among the leading hoases. Contracts 
are made at a fixed price for a term of years for the total product of a farm, 
at rates varying from 8 to 10 cents per kilogramme (2} lbs.) of rose leaves, 
up to $1 for tuberose leaves, and even higher rates for violet leaves, which 
last are mainly grown at Nice. The average prices arc about as follows : 



Itose leaves 8 to 1 cents the kilogramme. 

Jessamine 40 to 50 " " 

Orange 40 " " 



Acacia 60 to 80 cents the kilogramme. 

Tuberose 100 

Violet 80 to 1 30 



" These are the leading garden flowers used in Grasse ; only small quanti- 
ties of the jonquil, narcissus, mignonette, etc., are cultivated. A great 
breadth of land is devoted to lavender, rosemary, thyme, and other medic- 
inal plants, which are sold at much lower rates tlian the above. 

" The preparation of all these plants divides itself mainly into four classes : 
essential oils, distilled waters, pomades and oils, and dried flowers. The 
great bulk of essential oils produced consists of lavendei', rosemary, sage, 
tliyme, spikenard, and others of a terebinthiue nature ; the most valuable 
oils produced in any quantity are those of Neroli and Petits Grains. The 
former is the result of the distillation of orange-flower water from the petals 
of the flowers of the Bigarade, or bitter orange (the sweet or Portugal or- 
ange yielding an inferior product), and tlic latter is obtained from the green 



512 THE GARDEN A2ID ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

leaves of the same tree. The price of Neroli varies, with the seasons, from 
$30 to $i5 the pound, and of Pctits Grains from $8 to $12. These two oils 
are extensively used in the composition of Cologne water, and in combina- 
tion with bergaraot, give it its distinctive character. The orange-flower 
water is consumed in immense quantities in France, in the ' can sucree,' so 
imiversally drank in the hot season. This, by the way, is the only shape in 
which a Frenchman will drink water at all. The Bigarade orange-tree re- 
quires ten years to mature and twenty to obtain perfection, and yields an 
average of seveuteeu pounds of flowers per annum. 

"Kose water is also distilled in largo quantities. A result of its distillation 
is an exceedingly small quantity of otto of rose of the very highest quality ; 
it appears in small supernatant grains or drops, which are carefull}' skimmed 
ofi" and rectified. It is superior to the famous Kizaulik, or Turkish otto, 
and congeals, at ordinary temperatures, in beautiful, transparent crystals. 
The ' Rose de Mai,' or double May rose, is the one universally grown. 

" Another very costly article, of which less than one ounce had been pro- 
duced in 1855, is the essential oil of jessamine. Up to that period its exist- 
ence in the plant was stoutly denied by the distillers, although to what other 
principle the fine odor of the plant was due, they failed to prove. In that 
year an Algerian chemist obtained a minute quantity, which cost him, as 
Ave were informed, at the rate of 17,000 francs the kilogramme, or $90 the 
ounce. It has, since then, been produced at a cheaper rate, but still toe 
dear for commercial purposes. The wild Arabian jessamine is grafted on 
the cultivated plant of the same species, acclimated, and bears for many 
years, if not winter killed, yielding 90 to 150 lbs. of flowers per thousand 
plants. It is closely trimmed in spring, and deeply covered in winter. The 
caterpillar is its most formidable enemy. 

" A most important branch, and one in which great rivalry exists, is the 
preparation of perfumed j^omades and otto, wliich have a two-fold use : first, 
as bases for the finer kind of pomatums and hair oils ; and next, as a me- 
dium for obtaining spirituous extracts for the toilet, such as Lubin's well- 
known extracts for the handkerchief. Their preparation is the most in- 
teresting and curious feature of the Grasse establishments, and merits a word 
of description. For the oils, the inodorous virgin olive oil is used, expressed 
from olives just before their maturity. 

" The pomade ' body,' which is prepared in winter, is composed of one 
part of beef suet and two parts of leaf lard, thoroughly hashed, washed in 
several waters, and among the best manufacturers it is washed several times 
in rose water to deprive it of all unpleasant odor, and then carefully melted 
and stored away in huge tin cans in airy, cool vaults, for use in the sea- 
son of flowers. The busy operations of the year commence with the rose 
season. 

" There are two processes for impregnating the pomade body and the oils 
with the floral odors — one .by infusion, the other by ' enfleurage.' The 
first is employed for the strong, less volatile odors of the rose, orange, and 



XV 




^■iJ(5VV;^- IBi- ^\ Ji'aRMKk'S '•Vi*'*! 



FACTS FOR FAEMERS; 

ALSO JOB, 

THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 

A COMPOST OF RICH MATERIALS FOR ALL LAND-OWNERS, 

ABOUT 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 

FARM BUILDINGS; 



FARM CROPS, TOOLS. FENCES, FEUTILIZATION, DRAINING, AND IRRIGATION. 



WITn AK APPENDIX ON THB 



DISEASES AND CURES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

Illttstrattlr lmt\ ^M ^ngrabings. 



EDITED BY 

SOLON ROBINSON, 

AOKICULTCEAL EDITOB OF THE NBW TORK "TIIIBUNE," AND AUTHOa OF SEVERAL PCPULAB WCEKS. 

VOLUIVIE n. 

NEW TORK: 
PUBLISHED BY A. J. JOHNSON, 

113 FULTON STREET. 

CLEVELAND, OfflO : 

F. G. AND A. 0. ROWE, 

S66 SUPERIOR STREET. 
1867. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

, A. J. JOHNSON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New York. 



DAVIES & KENT, 

183 William Street, N. T. 



[FRONTISPIECE.] 
PLATE XV. 

(Page 50a) 

This picture is placed here for the same purpose as No. XIV. in 
its place. That to indicate the vegetable garden — this to mark the 
entrance among the flowers. What woman looking upon this lovely 
vase will not feel a desire to be a producer of such beautiful things ? 
Feeling that desire, she wiU be inclined to read what the author 
says of " The Flower Garden." Reading of flowers, she will never 
be content until she possesses them. And they will mark her 
elevation to a higher order of civilization as distinctly as this plate 
marks the entrance to the portion of this book devoted to a good 
purpose. It is for this that the picture was designed — to entice her 
to enter upon a path that leads to pleasant groves, to peace and 
happiness. 



SKa 31.] 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



513 



acacia ; the latter for the sensitive, ethereal perfumes of the jessamine, tube- 
rose, jonquil, and all the bulbous tribe, which will not endure the applica- 
tion of cveu a moderate degree of heat. 

" And first, by infusion ; about 100 kilogrammes of the pomade body are 
put into a tin-planished copper water-bath, melted at a low temperature, and 
charged, at daybreak, with a certain quantity of the freslily gathered flow- 
ers, which are stirred constantly during the day and night, the mass being 
kept only warm enough to maiutaim a semi-fluid state. About midnight it 
is removed from the fire, put into strong bags made of fish-cord, and sub- 
jected to heavy pressure in large, perforated, vertical iron cylinders, stand- 
ing on marble bed-plates, which are gently warmed to prevent the conge- 
lation of the exuding mass. Next morning fresh leaves are added, and the 
process repeated daily untH the desired strength of perfume is obtained, 
when the pomade is put into cylindrical tin boxes and sealed up for ship- 
ment. The oils are treated in like manner, but are filtered instead of pressed. 

"In preparing the oils, coarse, heavy, spongy cotton cloths, made especially 
for this purpose at Marseilles, are saturated with oil and spread upon the 
netted frames ; flowers are then strewn thickly upon them, and they are 
piled up in like manner as the pomades. When sufficiently charged with 
odor, the oil is expressed from the cloths by powerful levers. 

" Many hundred-weight of flowers and herbs are dried annually, and are 
variously used in the healing art, and in the composition of scent-bags, 
cachous, fuming pastils for the sick chamber, and kindred compounds of tho 
perfumer's art. 

" The Parmezan, or double violet, is grown under the shade of trees, and 
yields a delicate and delightful perfume. It was the favorite odor of the 
Athenians under Pericles, and is now the fashionable scent of the Parisian 
beau monde. 

"Tlie flower farms receive the highest culture; under-draining is not 
practiced, but great attention is paid to irrigation. Some fields have a com- 
plete network of irrigating tubes substantially laid in cement. A constant 
warfare is waged upon insects, each plant having, as with us, its pet borer, 
grub, or bug, and ' eternal vigilance is the price' of success. The heat in 
summer is intense, though tempered by the sea breeze, and the winter is at 
times as rigorous as in Washington or Richmond. 

" Labor costs, per day, 35 to 40 cents for males, and 15 cents for females." 

Tliere is no other reason than that contained in the last sentence why flower 
farms can not be established in this country as well as France. The ques- 
tion rests entirely upon the cost of labor. 

579. Soil for Flowers— Compost for Potting— Protecting from Insects.— All 
flowers require a deep, rich, well-drained soil, and that should be annually 
fertilized with a fine compost, in which wood's earth or leaf-mold predom- . 
inates. The following directions of a practical gardener, though given 
mostly in reference to potting plants, will be found useful, the same soil 
being good for flower-beds, particularly for an annual dressing. 



514 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



" To have suitable compost for plants, the different soils should be mixed 
for some time before they are wanted. In making composts, the following ■ 
soils should be obtained: First, soil and turf from an old pasture ; second, 
decomposed horse or cow manure; third, peat soil or leaf-mold from the 
woods ; fourth, white sand ; iifth, coarse sand or gravel ; sixth, charcoal and 
broken pots. The charcoal and broken pots arc for drainage. A suitable 
compost for fuchsias, roses, and geraniums consists of one part white sand, 
one of leaf-mold, and one of decomposed manure and turf-mold. These 
should be well mixed together and sifted before using. A compost for cac- 
tus is made of sand, leaf, and turf-mold, with a good drainage of charcoal 
and broken pots. All bulbous roots require a very rich soil composed of 
equal parts of sea sand, rotten cow manure, peat soil, and good turf-mold. 

" In taking plants out of pots, all that is necessary is to put the hand on 
top of the dirt and then turn the pot bottom up, and hit a gentle rap, and 
the ball of earth will slip out. Most people water plants too little. Two or 
three times a week is necessary, or oftener in a dry stove room. 

" To grow flowers in the greatest perfection, gardeners often cover them 
and take great pains to preserve them free from contact of insects or the 
pollen of other flowers. 

" The thing of most importance in potting is suitable soil. Many persons 
imagine that all that is requisite is earth, be it good or bad. We have seen 
plants potted in common street manure, the owners laboring under the im- 
pression that it was the very best kind because it was black. 

" Unsuitable soil and large pots generally given to small, weak plants for 
the purpose of causing them to grow, is, in nine cases out of ten, the cause 
of their death. 

" Giving small pots to weak plants encourages the growth of the roots 
toward the side of the pot in search of air and moisture. In potting plants, 
glazed pots should never bo used, as they prevent the evaporation of all im- 
purities through the sides of the pot. 

" Of all the insects which infest house plants, the green fly, red spider, 
and mealy bug are the most difficult to get rid of. They are easily de- 
stroyed in the green-house by tobacco smoke. For parlor plants, take a 
pail of soft M-ater, invert the plant over the pail, cover the surface of the pot 
with a piece of paper to prevent the soil from falling out, and brash the 
leaves downward with a dust brush, dipping the plant in the water several 
times. The mealy bug may be found in the axils of the leaves of orange- 
trees, camelias, passion flowers, and various other plants. They look like 
small specks of cotton, and are only to be got rid of by picking them off". 
If plants should happen to get frozen, they should be syringed with cold 
water and screened from the rays of the sun. Thus plants are frequently 
saved that would otherwise be destroyed." 



Sko. 32.] 



LAWNS. 



515 




SECTIOX XXXII.-LAWNS-HOW TO MAKE AND HOW TO KEEP THEM.- 
TREES AND PLANTS SUITABLE FOR LAWNS. 

COUNTRY house without a lawn ! it is a liouse 
in a desert ! It is not a structure in the midst of 
beauty. There is nothing — not even expensive 
statuary, flowers, and shrubbery — that adds so 
much to the surrounding embellishments of a 
farm-house or suburban residence as green grass upon 
well-kept lawn, and it is a beauty that is permanent 
and inexpensive. If the ground is well under-drained 
id the grass well dressed in the fall, it will start fresh 
soon as the snow is off, and often earlier, and it 
keeps green through the most severe droutli upon 
round that has been well prepared. With here and 
lere a shade, what a lovely sight it is to see children 
playing upon a smooth lawn ! With what glee they 
run from tree to tree, the old dog joining with great 
satisfaction in the sport! In spring, in summer, in autumn the lawn is lieau- 
tiful, and even in winter it speaks of refinement of the resident occupants. 
It tells, too, of art and industry in man, since lawns are seldom, if ever, found 
in a natural state. Tlie sea of grass upon the Western prairies is only beau- 
tiful when seen at a distance. It does not bear close inspection like the vel- 
vety sod of a lawn. 

Wiienever we see a lawn turning brown in summer, we know that it was 
neither trenched with the spade nor subsoil plowed, without which manuring 
will not always preserve its perpetual green. 

Those who build country houses are too apt to expend their means upon 
a grand mansion, expensive out-buildings, ornamental fences, fine carriages 
and horses, and sometimes gaudy, inappropriate furniture, which is all un- 
satisfactory to visitors of refined tastes, if the grand house is not embowered 
in trees, and has no grassy lawn. 

580. How to Set a Lawn in Grass. — A small lawn may be covered with 
sods; a large one must have the sod formed upon it. Two quarts of white 
clover seed, mixed with a bushel of the chafiy seed of red-top, and sown 
evenly upon the third of an acre of well-iJrepared ground, will form a fine 
lawn turf. Some add a little seed of the vernal or sweet-scented grass that 
is so fragrant in new-mown hay. To make the ground perfectly level and 
smooth, if tlie space is small, rake it carefully ; if it is large, use the roller. 
If you intend to use sod, prepare the ground as smooth as possible after 
having worked it deep and finely pulverized, and then go with your bar- 
row, if the distance is short, to the spot where you will cut your turf. If 



516 HOW TO KEEP A LAWN. [Chap. V. 



far distant, of course a cart must be used to liaul liome the load. If less 
distant, an ox-sled will be found more convenient. In cutting sods, do 
not take them up by the spadeful, but stretch a line and cut through the sod 
with a sharp spade. If much is to be cut, it would be better to do it with a 
plow-coulter, ground sharp, and set in a beam with handles, and guaged to 
the right depth. An implement could be made witli but little expense that 
would cut the edges and bottom all at once. If cut with a spade, line off 
the courses exactly a foot wide, and cut the sods evenly one and a half 
inches thick and roll uj) a course upon a handspike as big as two men can 
carry to the vehicle that is to transport it, and carry the roll in the same 
way to the ground prepared for your lawn and nnroll just as you would a 
carpet. Afterward use the roller or something to compact the sods down 
firmly in place. 

5S1. Clipping Che Lawn. — More persons fail in the care of than in the 
making of a lawn. They can not see the necessity of the frequent clip- 
pings, without which they can not have a good lawn turf. One has only to 
look at the sod of a once-a-year clipped mowing field and compare that with 
a closely-grazed pasture or roadside sod, and see which is preferable for a 
lawn. Let it be set down as a rule, that a lawn can not be clipped too often, 
and that it must be clipped twice a month, and that it will improve the sod 
to roll it as frequently. If there is grass enough, so they would not wear it 
out, a troop of playful children upon the lawn every day would make the 
sod grow thick and firm and the grass fine and soft. It is a good thing for 
a lawn to go over it every spring in a rainy day and scatter grass seed 
wherever there is the least show of bare ground. 

582. Watering and Manuring the Lawn.— If you have a hydrant, have a 
long hose with a showering nozzle, and use it often in dry weather ; other- 
wise you nmst, if you desire to see your grass always green, water by hand 
or with a watering cart or garden engine. It will greatly add to tiie ad- 
vantage of Avatering if you will dissolve some fertilizing substance in the 
water — a few pounds to a hogshead-full. You may use guano, salt, niter, 
lime, potash, soda, and several other ingredients. If there are grubs in the 
sod, salt them to death. Carbonate, phosphate, or sulphate of lime may all 
be used at times to advantage on a lawn, sowed on in moderate quantity. 
A dressing of well-decomposed compost is the only manure that should be 
applied, and that in the fall or early spring. 

583. Cause of Grass Dying Out upon Lawns. — Many persons who have 
taken much trouble to make small grass-plats or lawns around their dwell- 
ings have found the grass dying out without being able to account for it. 
Ruth Lynde, a practical woman of New Bedford, Mass., gives the following 
as the cause. The cure will be readily suggested by reading what she says. 

" I have had the grass destroyed in two different places where I have 
resided, and found the same cause productive of the same result at each. 

"During the winter and spring the servant girls were in the habit of 
throwing soap-suds, after washing clothes or dishes, upon the grass-plat^ and 



Sko. 32.] LAWNS. 517 

I noticed invariably that tlie plantain and sorrel came up instead of the 
grass. Hero, at my mother's, I have a bit of a garden, and there is a grass- 
plat also, and since I urged upon her notice the ill effects of soap-suds upon 
the grass, and she commanded its discontinuance, the grass has come in 
again, and much white clover with it. Most houses in the country have a 
patcii of plantain around the kitchen doors, and the same habit of throwing 
out soap-suds is the cause of its growth." 

Although this effect is produced by deluging grass with soap-suds at the 
wrong season of the J'ear, there is no better fertilizer than it for grass, if di- 
luted and put on with a sprinkler. 

584. A New Lawn Grass, or Evergreen Plant. — Within a few years, a new 
plant has been introduced into cultivation to a considerable extent in En- 
gland, and to a limited extent in this countr}-. It is more successful in the 
moist climate of that country than it is in the drier climate of this, but it is 
still worthy of notice. It is thus described : 

" The new plant is called ' Spergula filifera^ and is a neat-growing dwarf, 
hardy, perennial-tufted Alpine plant, forming close, compact, wiry, grass-like 
stems, from a quarter to half an inch in hight — at first erect, afterward decum- 
bent, clothed with closely set green bristle-like leaves, which, by permanent 
growth and occasional rolling, form an unbroken, level, velvet-like surface 
of the richest conceivable verdure, remaining uninjured in severe drouth or 
intense cold, and assuming the same beautiful verdurous tint during the 
winter months as in summer. The seedling plant of this highly interesting 
object starts into growth with a single unbranched, perpendicular radicle or 
root, and afterward manifests a remarkable power of extension in its rami- 
fying hair-like roots, penetrating to the depth of one to two feet ; a fact 
quite sufficient to account for its enduring the ojiposite extremes of severe 
heat and cold. In addition to its hardiness, under the vicissitudes of an 
English climate, its value is considerably enhanced in its adaptation to all 
the varieties of common garden soil, requiring but a thin firm surface- 
stratum of one-inch ordinary sifted or broken loam. Maintaining its ver- 
dant freshness alike beneath storm and sunshine, it combines every needful 
feature of adaptation with economy, and a uniform aspect of neatness with 
the least possible care or attention. Its fertility in bloom during the month 
of July is equally beautiful, being at that period studded over with myriads 
of low, compact, salver-shaped snow-white blossoms, appearing not as in 
fancy, but in reality the living picture of an emerald-green velvet earjiet, 
spangled with innumerable stars. From the preceding remarks it will be 
seen that the established growth of this plant maintains a dwarf close web 
of green verdure, and entirely dispenses with the extra toil and expense of 
mowing; its numerous small brittle fiower-scapes being removed by the 
gentlest movement of a wing or brush over the surface of the lawn, either 
while in bloom or afterward, and these constitute the only surface-growth or 
tokens of its beauty, which require this operation but once a j'ear. For 
small or medium-sized lawns, terraces, verges, mounds, etc., this remark- 



518 ORNAMENTING LAWNS. [Chap. V. 

ably interesting and beautiful little plant offers an object of great interest to 
every lover of gardening pursuits, and every lady amateur cultivator may 
superintend and personally manage the slight attentions required to pre- 
serve the terrace margins or velvet lawn in tlie highest condition. The 
permanent and uniform condition of dense growth, with the penetrative 
power of its roots, preserves it from all risks of being parched by extreme 
exposure in sultry weather, and the progressive accumulation of its moss- 
like growth gives an elastic pressure to the foot, much softer than the finest 
Turkey carpet. The seed may be sown either in or out of pots, in the usual 
method observed for fine seeds, witli a slight but uniform covering of soil, 
and placed within either a frame, cool pit, or green-house, using the usual 
precaution of shading the seed-pans from intense sunlight daily for a few 
hours, until well germinated, after which it may either be re-planted in 
stores of ten to fifty plants M'ithin dishes or largo pots, or otherwise planted 
out in rather a shady border of the open ground for a few weeks, and ulti- 
mately transplanted upon the prepared lawn-surtace in two or three plants, 
within one inch or more of each other, and such little plant-groups may be 
formed at a distance of six, nine, or twelve inches apart. In sncli positions 
the growths will progressively meet and form the rich and beautiful suiface 
now described. It is also admirably adapted for picturesque green tufts 
and edgings on avenue lines and borders, for grouping the front spaces of 
massive rock-work, and surfaciTig partially raised mounds around classic 
'fountains and basins or artistic columns, where grass is unavailable for 
mowing, and equally telling for cultivation in larger vases in alterna.te effect 
with the silvery sheen of the beautiful Cerastium tomentosum on terrace 
verges and architectural approaches." 

Another account says : " Plats established four years since, have grown 
into a close sod, and give promise of a continual healthy endurance." 

555. Ornamentiug LawuSi — More ornamental than statuary, expensive 
rock-work, or any other structures, are well-arranged beds of flowers, and 
groups of flowering plants and shrubs. These may be provided for in lay- 
ing dbwn a lawn, or the sod may afterward bo cut out in forms to suit the 
fancy, for flower-beds. This kind of ornamentation should be attended to 
by the mistress of the house, and if she have daughtere, let them always be 
advised or instructed in the plans, and in carrying them into execution. 
Select n«at plans for cutting the sod for flower-beds. In this follow nature. 
Sometimes the form of a maple-leaf may be adopted. In other places, use 
a grape-leaf, or a grapevine with several leaves, for the form of your bed. 
Again, take the crooked branch and limbs of a tree for a pattern. 

556. How a Woman Made aiid Oruamcutcd a Lawu.— The following letter 
from a " Housewife" of Colchester, Yt., is worthy of a place here, as en- 
couragement to all other housewives to persevere in the same way, until they 
also compel husbands to acknowledge their success. Our correspondent says : 

"The cultivation of flowers, and beautifying the surroundings of home, 
should be attended to as well as in-door work, lest that love of the beau- 



Sec. ,32.] LAWNS. 519 

til'iil, which is implanted in every heart, should perish through neglect. 
Many housewives arc so entirely clcvotcd to cooking, house-cleaning, and 
sewing, that they can not have a minute's time even tor reading, except on 
Sundays, and then they ' are so tired, they had rather rest than road.' 

" I hereby advise them not to cook so much, not to scrub so much, and 
sew with a machine. Others will say they have so many human flowers to 
attend to, that they can not cultivate any others, and these will let their 
door-yards run to waste and weeds instead of having them seeded down, and 
flower-beds cut in the rich, green turf. 

" I have cultivated a few of ,the common kinds of flowers ever since I was 
a child, but have lost the delight of seeing some new, strange flower expand 
its beauties to my view, because I knew not how nor where to procure an 
assortment of choice, rare seeds. Last spring, I accidentally looked over a 
flower-seed catalogue M'ith much interest, because it was the first of the kind 
I had ever seen. I found I could have new and lovely flowers at a very 
trifling expense. My ambition was fired ; I gave my husband no peace 
until he had the kitchen-garden removed to the rear of the house, and re- 
moved the fence which separated the old kitchen-garden and the door-yard, 
thus making a fine little lawn. I got a man to help me — not a gardener — 
we have no professed gardeners within ten miles. I drew the plan of my 
flower-beds myself, and had the man cut them out of the turf in the desired 
forms. 

*' Previous to this, I persuaded three or four housewives — all mothers of 
families, with plenty to do — to join me in sending for flower-seeds and roots. 
These we exchanged with each other, thus obtaining a fine variety at a small 
expense. We followed the directions given in the catalogue, and were very 
successful with the most delicate seeds. My lawn was beautiful ; indeed, so 
ricii and varied were the eS"ects of French and German asters, German 
balsams, German stocks, English pansies, phloxes, verbenas, and dahlias, 
from seed the first season, that my husband, who had at first ridiculed my 
flower venture, was obliged to acknowledge its success. 

" Last fall I sent for a few hyacinth, crocus, and early tulip bulbs, and 
had a fine display of flowers in our living-room during the dreary winter 
months. My room is even now filled with the exquisite fragrance of hya- 
cinths, which still continue in bloom. I hope this article will attract the at- 
tention of my toil-worn sisters; they can have no idea what a source of 
purest enjoyment the cultivation of flowers will be to them. Its in- 
fluence has been very beneficial to my little ones, who watch the expan- 
sion of the delicate and wonderful buds with an interest fully equal to my 
own." 

5S7. Plautiug Lawn Trees. — We beg of you not to plant in rows, nor any 
form of mathematical precision. Follow nature ; go to the woods for a pat- 
tern, or rather to some natural park, like the bur-oak groves of Michigan and 
Indiana. Keep in view " what for ?" every time you set a tree. The object 
is either ornament or shade ; it is not to fill up. Keep also in view the fact, 



520 TREES IN LAWNS. [Chap. V. 

that the tree you are planting is to gro^v;. It reqxiires a combination of skill, 
taste, judgment, forethought, that few jjersons possess, to plant the trees in a 
lawn, great or small — from a door-yard to a royal park. 

Tlie groat thing to remember is tJiis : a short green grass and compact sod 
is the leading beauty of a lawn or park, and trees and flowers are only 
thrown in to fill up or hide ugly spots, or break the uniformity, or furnish 
agreeable shade. Make everything — grass, trees, flowers, rocks, water, 
walls, fences — to look as natural, and just as little artificial, as possible, 
and j-our lawn will excite admiration in strangers and satisfaction in 
yourself. 

You need not entirely exclude fruit-trees, shrubs, and vines from the lawn. 
In some places an apple-tree may be entirely siiitable. In others a 
grapevine' to climb a blank wall or dead tree. A quince-tree at the 
north, and an orange-tree at the south, would be ornamental in a park or 
large lawn. Study fitness of things, and thus obtain beauty and utility com- 
bined. 

588. Botanical Names of Trees and Plants. — We do not know of a more 
appropriate paragraph for this section than the following, which gives a 
long list of names of trees suitable for planting in a lawn and other places, 
for ornament and shade, with their proper botanical names, as well as 
those by which they are most commonly known. 

It is so important for farmers, and particularly farmers' children, to learn 
the botanical names of trees and plants, so as to be able to identify them by 
the names common to the same trees in different localities, and the means 
of obtaining such information in the country not being easy, we employed 
Andrew S. Fuller, a horticulturist of Brooklyn, who has been all his life in 
the nursery business, to make out such a list as will be most useful. In 
proof of the necessity of using botanical names, look at the variety of names 
in a single family; for instance, the oaks, and so of the maples or the 
birches. 

If a person speaks of a " birch-tree," what do we understand ? For several 
years a paragraph has been floating through the press, recommending a de- 
coction of " walnut leaves" with which to wash horses in fly-time, as a cer- 
tain preventive of annoyance from these pests of the horse and his rider ; 
but M'e have never been able to find an individual that could tell for a cer- 
tainty Avhat the writer of that article meant by " walnut leaves." In New 
England the term walnut is almost universally applied to the hickory 
{Carya) family, not even distinguishing between the five varieties of this 
class of trees, all of which are spoken of in that section under the general 
term of walnuts. At the South and West nothing is known by the name 
of walnut but the Jiujlans nigra (" black walnut"), and Juglans cinerea, 
the butternut of New England, known at the West as the " white walnut." 
Now, with such a confusion of, names, who can tell what a writer means 
■when he talks about "walnut leaves?" Let him add the botanical name, 
and we can then understand. 



Sec. 32.] 



LAWNS. 



521 



Trees ludigenoiis to the United States : 

Botanic Names. 



589. 

Common Names. Botanic Names. 

Silver Maple Acer dasycarpum. 

Great-leaved Maple Acer macrophyllum. 

Eed Maple Acer rubrum. 

Sugar Maple Acer saccharinum. 

Black Maple Acer nigrum. 

Striped Maple Acer striatum. 

Horse Chestnut, or Buck- 

■ eye iEsculus Ohioensis. 

Red-flowering Chestnut . Pavia rubra. 
Yellow-flowering Chest- 
nut iEsculus glabra._ 

White Birch Betula populifolia. 

Yellow Birch Betula excelsa. 

lied Birch Betula rubra. 

Canoe Birch Betula papyracia. 

Black Birch Betula lenta. 

White-heart Hickory. . .Carya tomentesa. 

Shagbark Hickory Carya alba. 

Shellbark Hickory Carya sulcata. 

Bitternut Hickory Carya amara. 

Pignut Hickory Carya porcina 

Pecan-nut Hickory Carya oliviformie. 

American Chestnut Castanea vescii. 

Chinquapin Chestnut. . .Castanea puinila. 

Catalpa Catalpa syringa-folia. 

Nettle-tree Celtis occidentalis. 

Hagberry-tree Celtis crassifolia. 

Smooth-leat-tree Celtis integrifolia. 

Wild Cherry Cerasus Virginiana. 

Choke Cherry Cerasus serotina. 

Judas-tree, or Ked-bud- 

tree Cercis Canadensis. 

White Fringe-tree Chionanthus Virginica. 

White-flowering Dog- 
wood Comus Florida. 

Eed-flowering Dog wood. Corn us Sanguinea. 

Persimmon Diospyros Virginiana 

Red Beech Fagus ferruginea. 

White Beech Fagus Americana. 

Black Ash Fraxinus sambucifolia. 

White Ash Fraxinus acuminata. 

Walnut-leaf Ash Fraxinus j uglandifolia. 

Broad-leaf Ash Fraxinus latifolia. 

Long-leaf Ash Fraxinus longifolia. 

Blue Ash Fia.xinus quadrangu- 

lata. 

Red Asb Fraxinus pubescens. 

Honey Locust Gleditschia triacanthus. 

Thornless Locust Gleditschia inermis. 

Kentucky Coffee- tree. . .Gymnocladus Canaden- 
sis. 

Black Walnut Juglans nigra. 

Butternut Juglans cinerea. 

American Larch Larix microcarpa. 

Sassafras Laurus sassafras. 

Sweet Gum Liquidambar styraciflua. 

Tulip-tree Liriodendron tulipifera. 

Osage Orange Madura aurantiaca. 

Cucumber-tree Magnolia acuminata. 



Common Names. - in 
Great-leaved Magnolia.. Magnolia maerophylla. 
Umbrella-leaved Mag- 
nolia Magnolia tripetela. 

Broad-leaved Magnolia. Magnolia latifolia. 

Florida Bread-tree Malia azederach. 

Ash- leaved Maple Negundo aceroides. 

California Negunda Negundo Californicu 

Pepperidge-tree Nyssa multiflora. 

Sour Gum-tree Nyssa aquatica. 

Iron Wood Ostrya Virginica. 

Button Wood Platanus occidentalis. 

California Plane-tree . . . Platanus Californica. 

American Aspen Populus tremuloides. 

Great Dentate Poplar. . . Populus grandideutata. 

Weeping Poplar Populus pendula. 

Birch-leaf Poplar Populus betulifolia. 

Cottonwood Populus Canadensis. 

Balsam Poplar Populus balsamifera. 

Cotton-tree Populus argentea. 

Variou.s-leaved Poplar. .Populus heterophylla. 

Custard Apple Percelia triloba. 

Wild Plum Prunus Americana. 

Chickasaw Plum Prunus Chicasa. 

Mountain Ash Pyrus Americanus. 

Crab Apple Pyrus coronaria. 

Willow Oak Quercus phellos. 

Laurel Oak Quercus imbricaria. 

Downy Black Oak Quercus tribola. 

Water Oak Quercus aquatica. 

Quercitron Oak Quercus tinctoria. 

Black Jack Oak Quercus nigra. 

Scarlet Oak Quercus coccmea. 

Grey Oak Quercus ambigua. 

Red Oak Quercus rubra. 

Pin Oak Quercus palustris. 

Shrub Oak Quercus ilicifolia. 

Post Oak Quercus obtusiloba. 

Over-cup Oak Quercus macrocarpa. 

Mossy-cup Oak Quercus oliviformis. 

White Oak Quercus alba. 

Chestnut Oak Quercus prinus. 

Yellow Oak Quercus c«stanea. 

Swamp White Oak Quercus bicolor. 

Rock Oak Quercus montana. 

Stag's- horn Sumach Rhus typhina. 

Smooth Sumach Rhus glabra. 

Mountain Sumach Rhus copallina. 

Poison Sumach Rhus venusta. 

Yellow Locust Robinia pseudacacia. 

Gum Locust Robinia viscosa. 

Cypress Taxodium distichum. 

American Linden Tilia Americana. 

White Linden Tilia alba. 

Paper Linden Tilia heterophylla. 

American Elm Ulmus Americana. 

Slippery Elm Ulmus fulva. 

River Elm Ulmus nemralla. 

Wahoo Elm Ulmus slata. 

Yellow Wood Virgilia lutea. 



Yellow Magnolia Jlagnolia cordata. 

.590. Evergreen-Trees Indigenous to the United States and Territories: 

Common Names. Botanic Names. Common Names. Botanic Name8._ 

White Spruce Abies alba. Menzies Spruce Abies menziessu. 

Hemlock Spruce Abies Canadensis. Mexican Spruce Abies Mexicaua. 

California Spruce Abies amabilis. 

Douglass Spruce Abies Douglassii. 



Black Spruce Abies nigra. 

Red Spruce Abies rubra. 































522 


PROPER NAJSrES OF TREES. 


[CnAp. V. 


Common Names, 


Botanic Names. 


Common Names. 


Botanic Names. 






Sabiue's California 


Jersey Pine 


.Pinus inops. 








Spruce 


. Abies Sabini. 


Scrub Pine 


.Pinus banksiana. 








White Cedar 


.Cupressus thuyoides. 


Pitch Pine 


. Pinus rigida. 








Lambert's Cypress 


. Cupressus Lambertiana. 


Long-leaved Pine 


. Pinus palustris. 








Great Coned Cypress.. . 
Mexican Cypress 


.Cupressus macrocarpa. 
.Cupressus Mexicana. 












Mountain I'ine 


. Pinus jjungens. 








lied Cedar 


.Juniperus Virginiana. 


Loblolly Pine 


. Pinus ta^da. 








Great Flowered Magnc 


- 


Lambert's Californian. 


. Pinus Lambertiana. 








lis 


. Magnolia grandiflora. 


American Arbor Vita;. . 


. Thuya occidentalis. 








Balsam Fir 


. Picea balsamca. 


Giant Arbor Vita; 


.Thuya gigantea. 








California Noble Fir. . . 


. Picea noblis. 


California Torreya 


. Torreya Californica. 








White Pine 


. Pinus strobus. 
. Pinus raitis. 


Great Californian-tree . 


. Sequoia gigantea. 




Yellow Pine 






591. Foreisfii Evergreen-Trees, comnjoii in the nurseries 


of this country: 








Common Nnmcs. 


Botanic Names. 


Common Names. 


Botanic Names. 








Silver Spruce 

Dwarf Alpine Spruce. . 














.Abies crunoniana. 


Juniper, Cracow 


.Juniperus Cracovla. 








Blue Spruce 


.Abies cerulea. 


Juniper, Himalaya 


. Juniperus excelsa. 








Norway Spruce 


. Abies excelsa. 


Juniper, Irish Spiral.. , 


.Juniperus Hibemica. 








Spruce, Himalaya 


. Abies morinda. 


Juniper, Hudson's 


.Juniperus Hudsonii. 








Spruce, Mucronate .... 


. Abies mucronata. 


Juniper, Japan 


. Juniperus Japonica. 








Spruce, New Holland. . 


. Abies Nova; Hollandiffi. 


Juniper, Phenician. . . . 


.Juniperus Phcenicia, or 








Spruce, Yew-leaved. . . 


. Abies taxifolia. 




Lycia. 








Spruce, Narrow-leaved. 
Chili Pine 














. Araucaria imbricata. 


Juniper, Swedish 


.Juniperus Suecica. 








Chinese Lance-leaved 


Juniper, Spanish In- 








Pine 


.Araucaria lanceolata. 
.Araucaria Braziliciisis. 


cense Juniperus thurifera. 

Fir. or Spruce, European 




Brazil Pine 






Billwill's Pine 


.Araucaria Bidwillii. 


Silver 


. Picea pectinata. 








Morcton Pine 


.Araucaria Cunning- 
hamii. 


Fir, Weeping Silver. . . 
Fir, Kumaon Pindrow . 


. Picea pectinata pendula. 
. Picea pindrow. 








Norfolk Island Pine . . . 


. Araucaria excelsa. 


Fir, Altaic 


. Picea pichta — Sibirica. 








Graceful Pine 


. Araucaria gracilis vel 


Fir, Mount Atlas 


. Picea pinsapo. 










ek'gana. 


Fir, Nepal purple-coned. Picea Webbiana. | 








Cedar, African Green. . 


.Cedrus Africanus viri- 
dis. 


Pine, Austrian Black . . 
Pine, Calabrian 


Picea Austriaca. 
. Pinus Calabiiensis. 








Cedar, Deodar, silvei 


y 


Pine, Siberian Cembran 


.Pinus cembra. 








foliage 


.Cedrus deodara. 


Pine, Nepal short-leavedPinus Gerardiana. | 








Cedar, Green Deodar. . 


.Cedrus deodara viridis. 


Pine, Haguenea 


.Piuus Haguensis. 








Cedar of Lebanon 


.Cedrus Libani. 


Pine, Aleppo 


. Pinus Halepensis. 








Mount Atlas SilveryCedrus Libani argentea. 


Pine, Dwarf mountain. 


.Pinus mughus, or pu- 








Cedar 






milio. 








Japan Dark-green Yew 


Cephalotaxus adpressus. 


Pine, Italian stone 


. Pinus pines. 








Fortune's Chinese Yew 


.Cephalotaxus Fortune!. 


Pine, Scotch Pine, or | 








Mountain Yew 


.Cephalotaxus montana. 


Fir 


.Pinus Sylvestris. 








Chinese Yew 


.Cephalotaxus Chinensis. 


Yew, English 


.Taxus baccata. 








Japan Weeping Cypress 


.Cryptomeria Japonica. 


Yew, Silver-striped... 


. Taxus baccata argenteis. 








Japan Dwarf Cypress. . 


.Cryptomeria nana. 


Yew, AVeeping 


.Taxus Dovastonli pen- 








Cypress, Australian... 


. Cupressus Austraus. 




dula. 








Cypress, Spreading 


.Cupressus expansa. 


Yew, Irish Spiral 


.Taxus Hibernica fasti- 








Cypress, Chinese 


. Cupressus f unebris. 




giata. 








Cypress, Graceful 


. Cupressus gracilis. 


Arbor Vit;e, Fern 


- 








Cypress, Weeping 


.Cupressus pendula. 


leaved 


.Thuya asplenifolia. 








Cypress, Pyramidal . . . 


. Cupressus pvramidalis. 


Arbqf VitiB, .Australian 


.Thuya Australius. 








Cvpress, Sacred 


.Cupressus religiosa. 


Arbor Vitas, Japan. . . . 


.Thuya Japonica. 








Juniper, Silver-leaved. 


.Juniperus argentea. 


Arbor Vit.-e, Nepaul, or | 








Juniper, Berry-bearini? 


.Juniperus bacciformis. 


Tartarian 


.Thuya Nepalensis. 








Juniper, Bermudas Ce- 


Arbor VitEB, Chinese.. 


.Thuya Orientalis. 








dar 


. Jimiperus Bcmiudiana. 


Arbor Vita;, Siberian . . 


. Thuya Sibirica. 








Juniper, Chinese 


.Juniperus Chinensis. 












593. Our Native Trcepcrs.— Three j 


)rincipal varieties of our native creep- 








iiig plants, that is 


, climbing hy rootlet 


3 or suckers, are generally confused in 








the minds of the 


people, and all go h) 


'■ the name of Poison Oak. This mis- 










ect of several highly ornamental creep- 



























Sec. 32.] LAWNS. 523 

ing vines, under the impression that they were poisonous. A brief descrip- 
tion ot" tiie three varieties referred to is lierc given, so tluit any common 
observer may readily Iciiow tliem. 

J-'ois'on Oak, Poison Ivy {Rhus Toxicodendron). — Climbing by rootlets 
over rocks, etc., or ascending trees ; leaflets three, rhombic-ovate, mostly 
pointed, and rather downy beneath, variously notched or cut lobed, or entire. 
Common in thickets. Flowers greenish-white or yellowish. Jane. Poi- 
sonous to the touch to some persons. 

Virginia Creeper {Ampelopsis Qmnqucfolia). — A common woody vine 
growing in low rich grounds, climbing extensively, the tendrils fixing them- 
selves by dilated, sucker-like discs at their tips ; blossoming in July, ripen- 
ing its small blackisli berries in October. Also called American Ivy. 
Leaves digitate, with five oblong lanceolate leaflets; turning bright crimson 
in aiitumn. 

Trumpet Floioer, Truvipet Creeper {Tecoma liadicans). — Climbing by 
rootlets ; leaves pinnate ; leaflets from five to eleven, ovate, pointed, toothed ; 
flowers, trumpet-shajjed, or tubular tunnel form, from two to three inches 
long. 

The last two are not poisonous, and may therefore be safely grown to 
climb around piazzas or any other part of the house. The first is very 
pretty to climb old park trees or rocks, and being the most hardy, may well 
be grown for such purposes. It should have a label,- giving its name and 
notice that it is poison. 

593. Roses and their Enemies, and Flowers for the Lawn.— There are but 
few farm-houses destitute of roses of the hardy and most common sorts 
which can be grown without labor or care. Many persons would have 
more and better ones if they knew what to get and how to get tliem, and 
that a beautiful assortment of a dozen could be bought for three or four 
dollars. The moss roses are beautiful, and some of them quite hardy. 
Bourbon roses flower in lat. 41° and 42° from June to October. These re- 
quire winter protection. China roses are perpetual bloomers, and also 
require protection. Tea roses are exceedingly fragrant, and fine for potting. 
Boursault rotes of difi"erent varieties keep up a succession of blooms. 
Prairie roses are hardy climbers. One called the Queen of the Prairies, and 
the Baltimore Belle, are very showy. Fortune's yellow rose is a climber, 
but not hardy. Noisette Augusta is a very fragrant climber, but too tender 
for winter in the Northern States, Noisette Cloth of Gold is a very large, 
beautiful rose that may be grown here in sheltered situations. Noisette 
Solfatere is a good rose to train to a pillar; it is sulphur yellow. La 
Morgue rose is very large and creamy white, good for training, and blooms 
abundantly. "We could go on a long time naming roses, but that is not the 
object — it is to urge more attention to their cultivation, and more knowl- 
edge and better taste in making a selection. 

In Mississippi, and other Southern States, there is a rose largely used for 
hedges, called the Cherokee rose, which, although only a small single 



524 



HOT-BEDS, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM. 



[Chap. V. 



flower, is very fragrant, and makes a beautiful show upon a long line of 
roadside hedge, as it is white, with a yellow center, and the foliage a ricli 
green, and the vines often twenty feet long, and the hedge often ten or twelve 
feet high and equally wide, so covered with white flowers as to show at a 
distance like a long bank of snow. 

594. Rose-Slugs and Rose-Bugs are tlie great enemies that have to be con- 
tended with, and in some localities they are so bad that many persons have 
abandoned growing fine roses. There does not appear to be any effectual 
remedy for these pests. In some cases, air slaked lime scattered over the 
bushes and under them seems to have the desired effect. In other cases it 
failed entirely. Occasionally, a writer states that he saved his roses by 
syringing the bashes with whale-oil soap. Then some one else states that 
he used it to no purpose. The successful man replies : " You used it 
too weak." Another one answers : " I used it strong, and killed all the 
leaves and buds on my rose-bushes." Again we are told that a decoction 
of ailanthus leaves will keep off the rose-destroyers, if sprinkled upon the 
bushes. As this is a cheap remedy, let it be tried ; we have some faith in 
its value. 

Eose-bushes in clusters are lovely ornaments of a lawnj and should not be 
neglected any more than evergreens. 



SECTION XXXIII.-HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 

.AEMERS, in general, look upon each of the 
things named as the title of this section as be- 
longing rather to market gardeners than farm- 
ers. Tlicy see them on what are usually denominated 
" gentlemen's places," and look upon them rather as a 
luxury than a necessity. In this they are quite mis- 
taken. A hot-bed can be made upon any farm by any 
man after reading this section, and once made, it will be 
found such a comfortable addition to the garden that it 
•will not soon be dispensed with. 

595. Conversation of Gardeners about Hot-Beds.— The 
following conversation upon this subject at one of the 
meetings of the American Institute Farmers' Club, gives 
the necessary information, with the names of the speak- 
ers for authority : 

Mr. QuiNN, farmer and gardener upon Prof. Mapes' farm, said : The 
earth for hot-beds should be gathered from woods, or rich mold, and com- 
posted in summer, and well worked over, and in the fall covered with dung 




Sec. 33.] HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS.. 525 



manure, so as not to freeze. This is so as to have it in order for sifting 
when it is wanted. The manure is very carefully prepared — one part of it 
so as to heat, and one part not. The cold manure is first spread eight inches 
thick, and tiien a layer of hot manure, and then a layer of cold, and then 
covered with the prepared earth. The frame is made so that the sash will 
slied rain and set on the bed, and the earth and manure filled in all around, 
and then the sash is covered witli mats, and seed not sowed for four days. 
The ground being carefully prepared, and seeds sown, the sash is kept close 
one day, and the second day opened. Some seeds start mnch easier than 
others. Cabbage seed would spoil before egg-plant seed would begin to 
germinate. We transplant from the seed-beds to other beds, and we qre 
careful to give tiie plants air, but it must be done with care, because the 
new plants tyo so tender that they are easily killed by too much air at 
first- AVe prefer a southeastern exposure for our hot-beds. Tlie size of 
each may be from three and a half by five feet to five by eight feet. 
The former wo make eighteen inches high in front and thirty inches in 
the rear. Our frames are four by six feet, and the mats five by eiglit feet, 
so as to lap over the edges to keep the beds warm. "We generally sow the 
diflerent varieties of seeds in separate beds, as the plants require diftereut 
treatment. 

"We sow the seed for cold frames in September, and transplant in October 
into tiie cold frames, setting from 500 to SOO plants under a light of glass. 
The glass is covered in winter with boards, and air is given in mild days ; 
and we sometimes set the plants out in the field so early that snow covers 
them, yet without injury. 

R. G. Pardee — -A neighbor of mine at Palmyra used to sow seed in open 
ground, and before freezing covered the plants with mats, and before winter 
he puts over a frame covered with boards, and on them eartli, leaving one 
end open for air as long as he dared to, and then closed up both ends, and 
occasionally ventilated the bed during winter. He said that he had used 
oiled cotton cloth as a substitute for glass, with good success. 

Mr. Cavenach, gardener, of Brooklyn, stated that he had successfully 
grown cabbage plants in a similar way to the above, using salt hay for a 
covering. 

Mr. Fuller showed an improved form of glass for hot-beds, rounding on 
the lower edge. This tends to keep the flow of water in the center. 

Mr. "Wheeler, of "Wayne County, thinks this an important question for 
the country, if farmers can be taught so as to make cheap hot-beds for 
family use. 

"Wm. S. Carpenter — My plan for a hot-bed for family use is to prepare 
my ground in the fall by digging out the earth two and a half feet deep, 
and leave the sash on over that hole till March, when I put in the manure 
and eartli prepared for the seed, and sow it. I plant com and other vege- 
tables in pieces of inverted sods, so as to take up the pieces of sods with 
the plants rooted in them. I have thus been able to get green corn the first 



526 



THE GARDEN. 



[Chap. V. 



of July. My hot-bed lettuce I do not pull up, but cut off, and the root 
sprouts out successive crops. 

Mr. "WRiGnx, of Poughkeepsie, said that he used half turnips, in jilace of 
sods, for corn. lie inserts the seeds in the turnip, and that rots, and tho 
corn grows rapidly. Melons may be grown in the same way. 

John G. Bkegen — Any farmer may put down a hot-bed about March 
1st, and fill in two feet deep of manure and dirt, and if he has no mats to 
cover with, he may cover with boards. One of the most important things 
about growing hot-bed plants is giving them air judiciously. The cabbage 
plants of the Long Island market gardens for early plants are grown from 
seed sown in the fall, and the plants preserved in cold frames. These cab- 
bage plants are set early in spring, in frames like hot-beds, but without heat, 
and there grow under glass, large enough to set, by the time the field is 
ready. Then the plants of the late cabbage are from seed sown in the open 
ground in April, May, or June. The ground for cabbage plants should al- 
ways be ver}' rich. 

596. l!ot-B«(Is on the Surface RecommeiMledi — A letter to the author from 
a practical gardener gives his reasons for not excavating the soil for a hot- 
bed. He says: "For the reception of the bed, a trench is often dug of its 
determined length and breadth, and sixteen inclies deep, if the soil is wet, 
or eighteen, or more, if it is dry. In a dry soil and climate this can not be 
productive of much injury, but otherwise it almost always chills the bed ; 
at the same time it is to be observed, that it is never productive of benefit, 
further than not being so high, it is easier of access, but gives much addi- 
tional trouble, both at the time of founding and afterward, when linings are 
to be applied." 

And another says : " The bed of dung may be placed either wholly on 
the surface of the ground or in a shallow trench of from six to twelve inches 
deep and four or five feet wide, according to the frame ; but if made en- 
tirelj' on the surface, it aflfords an opportunity for renewing the linings when 
the heat has declined ; in a trench, the wet settling about the bottom of the 
bed, chills the dung, and causes the heat soon to decline. 

" Now, from the 1st of January to the 31st of March, in the Northern 
States, neither soil nor climate are dry, strictly so ; and it is plain to see 
that in the most favorable soil the shed of rain from tlio sash is directed at 
once upon the dung in the front of the trench, which in tiic case of the sur- 
face-bed is all thrown off by the, as it were, thatched slope of the linings. 
I should think it could hardly be denied that the decline of heat in the 
buried mass of dung in the one case would be very much greater and more 
rapid than from the action of cold winds npon the linings of a surfoce 
hot-bed. 

" Beds of dung for hot-beds are more frequently made about eighteen 
inches or two feet in entire depth than three or four feet ; there are many 
small gardeners who have not sufficient dung to form beds of greater depth, 
and it is important that they should have the most enduring heat possible to 



Sko. 33.] HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 527 

be got from this scant supply, and as more dung accumulates, to have the 
means of renewing the linings to keep up a protracted -warmth inside. By 
building on the surface, both can be secured with less trouble and more 
chance of success." 

597. What a Hot-Bed is for, — " A hot-bed is not a mere make-shift, nor a 
cold frame, nor a pit, but a bed of dung for forcing purposes — one in which 
it is not the mere object to start seeds and guard the young plant from 
changes of weather, but to force things to grow out of season by giving the 
plants the most uniform and prolonged heat practicable, until they can be 
safely transferred to the open garden or into special frames, with an extraor- 
dinary advancement in growth. Yet with all of the well-known advantages 
to be derived from hotbeds, but few comparatively possess one. Surely the 
farmer deserves the first fruits of the season, and he may have them if he 
will. Lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower, melons, etc., may 
be upon his table from four to six weeks earlier than usual, by a little pains- 
taking, at a season when the time to do this work can be easily spared from 
other occupations." 

■ 598. How to Make a Hot-Bed. — " The first thing to be done is to deter- 
mine the size of the bed wanted. If it is only for family use, and to supply 
a few friends with early plants, twelve feet long and six feet wide will be 
ample. To make the frame, take two-inch planks, cut them into suitable 
lengths, and nail or hook them to cedar posts, set at the four comers. If 
hooks are used, the planks are more easily taken apart and stored away after 
the season is over. These posts should be three or four inches square. Tlie 
frame has, of course, no bottom. The back should be about throe feet high, 
the front a foot and a half, and the ends made with a regular slope from 
back to front. So made, the rain will be carried oft' from the sash, and the 
light will reach all the plants within. The sash may be made like a common 
window sash, except that there are no cross-bars, and the panes of glass 
overlap each other a quarter of an inch at the bottom, so as to shed rain 
like the shingles of a roof. The sash should be made of good seasoned pine, 
one and a half to two inches thick, and painted three good coats. Small 
panes, say CxS, are less liable to breakage than larger; and in glazing, 
they should be bedded in soft putty. For the sash to rest and slide upon, 
strong strips should be placed across the frame, and morticed in at each end. 
Choose a good situation for a bed, with a dry bottom, and sheltered, if possi- 
ble, on the north and west sides. Determine the size you need, and then drive 
stakes at each corner. Kow, wheel on the manure. The litter and strono- 
manure from the horse stable is the best; but in lack of this, tanner's bark 
may be used, or leaves; oak-leaves are best. If dung is to be had, lay 1^ a 
bed of it, six inches to a foot wider on all sides than the frame which is to 
rest upon it, pressing it down gently and equally throughout. The average 
hight of such beds is from two to three feet. If, as some persons prefer, the 
bed is sunk a foot or more in the ground, the manure need not rise more 
thaa two feet above the surface. Having set the frame and sash upon the 



528 THE GARDEN". [Chap. V. 

dung-bed, with the lower side toward the south, let the whole lie a few days, 
until the most violent fermentation has passed off; then put on about six 
inches of the garden-mold. The part devoted to radishes and lettuce may 
have a foot of soil. lu a few days the seed may be sown, which should be 
done about six weeks before the usual time for transplanting to open 
grounds. Examine the bed daily, and if the heat becomes excessive, run a 
stake or crowbar down into the manure to let the steam escape ; the sashes, 
also, may be raised a little. If the ground becomes dry, water occasionally 
with tepid water ; if the heat declines, keep it up by the addition of fresh 
manure piled up around the side of the bed. In cold nights, cover the beds 
with matting or straw. The only danger is from the generation of too vio- 
lent heat and the prevalence of steam from the fermenting materials. Tan 
bark has been successfully used to cover with, as this keeps the steam from 
rising." See 565. 

599. Cold FrameSt — The use of cold frames among market gardeners is 
very important. The plants are started in the open ground in autumn, and 
taken up and set very close in the frames, or else the seed is sown in them 
and started Avitli glass, and afterward covered with boards and mats, or 
straw and dirt, and the plants thus kept in a sort of torpid state till spring. 
Such plants are more hardy for open culture than hot-bed plants. 

GOO. Protection of Plants. — Many plants, called hardy, require winter 
protection in our climate. The best covering is leaves, and the more you 
let remain in the s]>ring to rot the better, because they furnish the best of 
all manurial substances. The earth-covering needs to be but slight. Some 
tender shrubs should be bent down, and slightly covered. Coarse manure 
should be used where leaves are not at liand. Clean straw will answer to 
protect the roots. Evergreen boughs answer a very good purpose, and so 
they do to tie around shrubs. Tea-roses are sometimes sheltered by a little 
roof of boards, covered with dirt. 

Protecting plants from the sun is sometimes as necessary as protecting 
them from frost. The following easy plan of making these protectors of 
garden plants, upon a cheap scale, is recommended : 

Take three pieces of boards, about a foot wide and fifteen inches long, and 
nail them together so as to form three sides of a box. Small braces at each 
corner will add to their strength. If they are made with the closed end 
narrower tlian the other, they can be packed into each other when stored 
away. The i:>urposc of these boxes is the protection of plants from the sun 
or cold wind. By sotting them on edge, so as to surround a plant on three 
sides, when the spring winds blow raw and chill, the advantage will soon be 
perceptible in the improved condition of the plants over tliose that are un- 
protected. If there is danger of a frosty night, a loose bit of board may be 
laid over the top of the box. A hill of melons, cucumbers, early beans, 
peppers, or any other te.nder vegetables, or a dozen or two hills of early 
corn, may be protected for a week or two with these cheap plant protectors. 
When they have been on during the day as a screen from wind, and there is 



Seo. 33.] nOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 529 



no danger of a frosty night, they may be removed to give the dew full 
power upon the plants. In transplanting cabbage and other plants, these 
boxes, set up on their ends, make good shades, and they serve a good pur- 
pose when the soil is dry and plants or seeds need moisture, after the ground 
Jias been well watered. They serve also to protect melon-vines from bugs. 
This is done by setting a loose piece of board against the open side, so as to 
form a box and fence in tlie plants. The bugs will rarely get over this 
fence. 

If you wish to transplant your cabbages, or anything in your flower- 
garden, do not wait for a season, but do it any day, just at night, in fresh- 
dug soil, giving the roots a good watering. Cover them daily with the pro- 
tectors, taking them off at night, that tlicy may be freshened M'ith the dew. 
After a couple of days it will be sufficient to stand the protectors on edge on 
the south side of the plants to keep ofl" the mid-day sun. In three or four 
days the roots will be established. Another use for them is when the wea- 
ther is so dry that hills of melons, squashes, etc., will not come up. Water 
the hills with a fine rose watering-pot, and lay the protectors over the hills, 
and the young seedlings will soon make their appearance. "When above 
ground, take off the protectors and let the dew fall upon them at night, and 
in a day or two dispense with it entirely. Tliey are excellent, also, to cover 
over the patches of newly-planted flower-seeds, causing them to come up 
much sooner. Remove them when necessary to admit mild rains, and en- 
tirely when the plants appear. Try a few of them, and you will find they 
are far better than flower-pots, which are generally used for these purposes, 
excelling in cheapness, convenience, and utility. 

Another cheap kind of sun-shades for plants is made in the following 
way: 

Take a piece of stout hardware paper — say a foot square — and make a 
fold like the tuck of a woman's dress, half an inch wide through the center 
each way, and drive a tack through the crossing of the folds into the top of 
a stick, long enough to set one end in the ground and support the paper like 
an umbrella over the plant you wish to shade. Such papers will stand a 
good deal of wetting and recover again, though it is better to take them 
under shelter in a storm. Shades can be also made of large, dry leaves, 
tacked to a stick, or of coarse plats of straw. The lining of a tea-chest, cut 
up and tacked upon standards, the lead side up, makes good shades, durable, 
and cheap ; and of whatever material, such shades often pay their cost in 
once using. 

In some places it will be convenient to get branches of evergreens for 
shades, which are better than nothing, but are not so good as the three-sided 
wooden box, with a loose piece of board to form the other side or lay across 
the top. These are very convenient. Frames coVered with cotton cloth are 
recomTuended as sun-shades. They may be made six feet long and three 
feet wide, and if needed to be thicker than the cloth, may be whitewashed 
with the mixture recommended in No. 361. 

84 



530 



THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V- 



The following preparation for painting cloth, to be used for shading 
plants or for other out- door purposes, is recommended as cheap and durable 
by H. Carl Green, of AVarren County, Pennsylvania. It is easily tried. 

" Mix a pint of powdered lime with water till it is of the consistency of 
thick cream, and add this to a quart of boiled linseed-oil, and heat and stir; 
and then beat separately the whites and yelks of eighteen eggs, and stir all 
together, being careful not to heat hot enough to cook the eggs. Ajpply the 
mixture at once as you would other paint." 



sort 



SECTION XXXIV.-SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. 

)S a general thing there is nothing about the far- 
mer's home more neglected than small garden- 
fruits. Many do not have the least pretension to 
a strawberry-bed ; and others who have one, do 
not seem to appreciate that there is as much dif- 
irence in strawberries as in corn or potatoes, and that 
is important to have a variety. Sometimes one 
rt will produce well one year and sometimes another ; 
id one sort comes early and another late, in straw- 
berries, raspberries, etc., just as it is with the varieties 
corn. Currants, too, are not all alike ; neitlier will 
the farmer receive the greatest profit from their 
rowth when suffered to grow up like a neglected 
Tiedge along the garden wall. To induce a more ex- 
tensive growth of these small fruits, we intend to give 
some pages to the subject, filled with practical information, and sucii hints 
upon the use of fruit, in a hygienic point of view, as will stir up the farmers, 
or certainly their wives and children, if it does not them, to increase the growth 
of this health-giving food. In families where garden-fruits are used the most 
extensively, you will always find the greatest degree of healfli. Instead of 
producing summer-complaints in the bowels, they are the very best pre- 
ventives. ' Besides having some of them upon the table every meal while in 
season, you should preserve such quantities iu sealed bottles or jars that you 
can have them without stint all winter, and until strawberries are ripe in 
June. 

601. Currants — Varieties and Cultivationi — The currant is one of the most 
valuable of our small fruits — not as delicious as the strawberry and nisp- 
berry, but keeping much fonger, and applicable to a greater variety of pur- 
poses, which makes it of more value in the family. As soon as the berries 
are well formed, and before they begin to ripen, they are used by many for 
pies and sauces. At maturity there is nothing better for either of these 




Sec. 34.] CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 631 



purposes, while for preserving and bottling, none of our fruits keep as well, 
and few are better for winter use; for jams and jellies, every housekeeper 
knows the currant has no superior. It also makes a wholesome domestic 
wine. For a dessert or table fruit it has been considered too small, too acid, 
and lacking in flavor, but this is not so with the finest varieties — the White 
Grape and La Versailles, for instance, witli bunches five or six inches in 
length, and berries one and a half inches in circumference. The poor 
varieties, as usually grown, are certainly unfit for the table, as they are 
small, sour, and almost entirely filled with hard, woody seeds. 

We consider the currant a most valuable fruit for every man who has a 
spare foot of ground. In cultivation it has been sadly neglected, receiving 
no pruning, or pinching, or training, or mulching, such as are lavished on 
its more favored neighbors. Not only lias the currant been neglected by 
farmers, but by those who have given special attention to the raising of new 
varieties of small fruits, yet no variety has more valuable qualities. It is 
in perfection in the New York market the first part of July. 

A writer in the Indiana I'''ar7ncr speaks of currant bu'shes seven feet high, 
and of his success in growing the fruit, which lie attributes to the fertiliza- 
tion of urine and soap-suds, applied during summer about the roots. 

The " Cherry currant" averages a good deal more than doixble the size of 
the old-stj'le crimson berries, of good flavor, and great productiveness. We 
are sure the profitableness of such a crop must be greater than any of the 
ordinary farm crops, nearly as ten to one, yet very few persons are engaged 
in the business, and but few who are not will believe we are serious in rec- 
ommending growing currants in fields as large as their present fields of rye, 
corn, or grass. There is no danger of glutting the market any more than 
there is with ten-acre fields of strawberries, raspberries, pie-plant, or aspara- 
gus. The more there are grown the more the demand will increase, as it has 
for other fruits. Let us have a great increase in the production of currants, 
particularly while they sell fresh from the bushes at from four to ten cents a 
pound. 

It is said that the Cherry currant does not bear pruning like the old sort — 
that the limbs should be tied up to short stakes. The best Dutch currants 
are obtained by careful trimming, cutting in the ends of the limbs early in 
the spring, and cutting away all . three-year-old wood, and by hoemg very 
often. 

One of the great faults about growing currants is picking theirf before 
they are ripe. Color does not indicate ripeness, as some are red lono- 
before they are mature. The Yersailles should hang a long time after 
they arc red ; so should the Cherry currant^ which is naturally strongly 
acid, and unfit to eat unless fully ripe. One of the peculiar characteristics 
of La Versailles is, that the fruit upon young bushes is generally small, and 
leads persons unacquainted with it to doubt its good quality. The Cherry 
currant grows about as large as ever the first time the bushes produce, and 
plants also grow vigorously from the firet, while La Versailles is a feeble 



532 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

grower when young, but very strong when aged. Although some of these 
currants are good, we want something better. We want a currant of as vigor- 
ous a habit as the cherry, and as productive, with berries as large, combin- 
ing all the good qualities of La Versailles, White Grape, Imperial, and 
Cherry, and sweeter than any of them. We need not despair of yet obtain- 
ing such a great desideratum. It is very easy to grow seedlings. Take the 
seeds of the best sorts out of the berries when ripe, by washing and mixing 
with sand, and putting in a box with earth, which should be placed on the 
north side of a building or wall, and kept till all danger of thawing and 
freezing is past, when the seed should be sown in drills in very rich ground, 
where the sprouts will grow four inches high the first year. Next spring 
transplant in rows where they can be cultivated. Cut off half the length 
of the plants when transplanted. The seed may be kept a long time in 
dried currants. Tlie currant has a wide extent of growth, and one variety 
is a native of this country. 

C02. Descriptive List of CurrantSi — The following list of currants is given 
by Andrew S. Fuller, with their names in their order of excellence ; 

1. La Yer sallies. — Large red. 

2. ^yhite Grape. — Large transparent white. 

3. Y^hite TZoZtenf?.— Identical with No. 2. 

4. ^Yllite Provence. — Much like No. 2. 

5. Yellow Imperial. — Large white, slightly tinged yellow. 

6. The True Bed Butch. 

7. The Cherry. — Large red, a little more acid than No. 1, and thicker skin. 

8. The Yictm'ia. — A late variety. 

9. La Hative. — Ked, early. 

10. La Fertile. — Ked, medium size. 

11. 7'he Champagne. — Pale red. 

12. TTA/te Dutch. — Not large, but excellent. 

13. Imperial. — Red, similar to No. 1 in quality; not so large. 

14. Anglers. — Eed, similar to No. 13. 

15. Med Provence. — Late, and not worth cultivating. 

16. Gloire de Sablons. — A new, worthless variety, striped. 

17. Old Striped.— '^iimls.v to No. 16. 

18. Old White. — A small, sweet variety. 

The following short description of different sorts of currants will show 
how they vary, and enable persons uijacquainted with them to make suil> 
able selections. 

Ylctorla is a late variety ; light, bright-red ; berries medium size to large, 
and bunches very long. A productive and beautiful variety. 

Prince Albert is also a late variety ; similar in color or a little lighter than 
Victoria ; berries larger. V«ry productive. 

The White Dutch, like the Red Dutch, is a good currant, but as a gen- 
eral thing has been so badly neglected that its true character is little known. 
It is a high-flavored fruit ; berries larger and bunches rather shorter than 
Red Dutch ; of a yellowish white, and very transparent skin. Very pro- 
ductive. 



Sta 84.] CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 533 

The W/u'ti' Grape is now tlic favorite white currant. This and the Cherry 
liave been for some years the most popular sorts. Bunches long ; berries 
very large, whitish yellow, sweet and good. Very productive. 

Transparent is a new French currant; very productive, and similar to 
White Dutch. The White Clinton is very similar to White Dutch, and 
probably the same. White Antwerp, very large, white, sweet ; bunches 
rather long, and productive. Neither of these, we think, is sufSciently 
distinct from the White Dutch and White Grape to justify their dissem- 
ination. 

The Black English is the common, well-known black currant. With 
good cultivation and plenty of manure, it produces a good crop of fine fruit. 
It has a bad liabit of dropping its berries at the time they get about ripe, so 
that the bunches when gathered have but few berries remaining. 

The Black Naples is larger and better than the Black English, and is the 
best of the black currants. Bunches rather short, but berries very large. 
This is now about the only black currant planted, and is a most desirable 
variety. 

The Bangup is an English black variety, with short, heavy bunches, 
shouldered. The berries hang on the bunches well, and bids fair to be a 
very valuable sort. 

The roots of the black currant are short and fibrous, and consequently it 
has a small space in which to gather food. It is also a great feeder, and 
therefore requires a liberal supply of manure. The taste for the black cur- 
rant, like that of the tomato, must be acquired, and then becomes a neces- 
sary luxury. Those who make wine should try the black currant for that 
purpose. In England it is preferred to all others for jams, jellies^ and tarts, 
and black currant jam or jelly is there considered an almost infallible rem- 
edy for colds and sort throat, and invaluable in cases of fever. The good 
English housewife would hardly feel safe to pass through a winter without a 
good store. 

Eed Dutch is an old and well-known sort, with fair-sized bunches and 
berries. It is a good bearer and a free grower, and a much better currant 
than most people suppose, as any one can ascertain by giving it good culture. 

Long-Bunched Red is very much like the above, but a larger berry and 
larger bunches, and we think a little more acid. 

Short-Bunched Red has short, heavy, compact bunches. The berries, not 
quite as large as Red Dutch, hang on the stems well, and we think will 
make an excellent market fruit. It is the favorite sort of the growers for 
market around London. 

The Cherry is, perhaps, the largest red currant, having berries of extraor- 
dinary dimensions. It is not a distinct species of the genus Rihes — only a 
new variety of Rihes ruhrum, of which the Red and AVhite Dutch and many 
others are also varieties. It is therefore just as hardy as the common cur- 
rant. The distinguishing properties of the Cherry currant are : strong, ro- 
bust growth of the bush, the shoots being stouter, the leaves larger, and of a 



534 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

darker green than tlie conimon sort. The blossom of tlie Cherry cui-raiit is 
easily distinguished from the greenish yellow blossom of the Eed and White 
Dutch by its darker brownish color. But the greatest and most valuable 
distinction of the Cherry cui-rant consists in the uniformly great size of the 
berries. They measure from half an inch to iive eighths of an inch in diam- 
eter, all the berries of a bunch being generally of nearly one size, while the 
bunches of the common currant taper down to a very small berry at the 
end. Besides this, the berries are also distinguishable by their dark-red 
color. Another and very striking feature of the Cherry currant consists in 
the manner the bunches are distributed over the branches ; while with the 
common currant the fruit is rather thinly^ — at least, by comparison — scat- 
tered over the branches, the Cherry" currants hang in massive clusters so 
tight that the steins of the fruit-strings can scarcely be seen. Branches of 
the bush of from one to three feet in length are often unbroken clustei-s of 
luscious fruit, which give the bushes a charming rich appearance. 

603. How to Grow CurrantSi — The following directions are given by 
Charles F. Erhard, a German gardener, Ravenswood, N. Y., a grower of 
Cherry currants : 

" Many farmers and market gardeners seem to think that these good qual- 
ities can only be brought out by very high culture, such as the amateur 
gardener only can bestow on a few pet bushes. This is an error. I would 
say : Manure, plow, and hoe them as you do your Indian corn, and you will 
have them in as great perfection as the nurseryman. 

" As the bushes grow very strong, they should be planted not less than 
4x4 feet, or, perhaps, 4x5 feet apart, which will give 2,178 plants per 
acre. I prefer the latter method, and would plow only one way between 
them, allowing the branches to spread in the direction of the rows, so as to 
form something like a hedge. These rows should run north and south, to 
shield the bushes from the hottest mid-day sun. Shade to the fruit is indis- 
pensable to bring it to perfection ; if too much exposed to the hot rays of 
the sun, the berries ripen prematurely before they attain their full size. 
Now, all the shade necessary to protect the fruit is furnished by the bush 
itself, if you do not disable it to do so by pruning and cutting away what 
was evidently intended for that purpose; and this brings me to the shape in 
which currant bushes should be pruned. I am aware that there exists a 
great difference of opinion among cultivators as to this point. Many be- 
lieve that the tree-shaped is decidedly the best ; others think the bush form, 
with several branches springing directly from the root, the better and most 
natural shape. I have tried both ways, but prefer the latter method 
greatly. The great advantage of the bush form, it seems to me, consists in 
the system of renewal which should be combined with it. 

" Suppose you plant young bushes with two prongs or branches. Plant 
them deep and allow the first year two shoots to gi'ow up from under the 
ground. These shoots will at the same time send out their own roots and 
g)-ow luxuriantly. If you allow, then, every year two more shoots to spring 



Seo. 34.] CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 535 



xip from the root, you will, in the summer of the fourth year, have two 
branches each of live, four, three, two, and one year's growth. Six of these 
branches, tliat is, the iive, four, and three-year-old ones, will be loaded with 
fruit, the two-years' growth may have some berries, and those of this year's 
growth will only bo straight shoots. The bushes will now be as large as 
they should be, and the two five-year-old branches may be cut out as soon 
as the fruit is picked ; and henceforth, by allowing still two new shoots to 
come up every year, and by cutting out the two oldest branches after the 
gathering of the fruit, the bushes will be kept young and bear fine fruit for 
many years more. Of course this is on\j meant to elucidate the general 
principle. The practical cultivator will know how to modify the above rule 
for every individual bush." 

60i. Productiveness of Cherry Currants.—" In calculating the profits of a 
crop, great caution must be used, and casualties must not be forgotten. Al- 
though I have seen four-year-old bushes that bore nine pounds of berries to 
each bush, I would not think it safe to put down the average yield of a full- 
grown five-year-old bush, trimmed as above, at more than six pounds. 
This would amount to 13,068 lbs. to an acre. The price of common cur- 
rants in the New York market, generally very small, sour little things, 
varies from four to seven cents per pound at wholesale, which certainly 
justifies the anticipation of six cents per pound for Cherry currants for many 
years to come, and this would make the value of the crop, per acre, equal 
to $784:." 

605. Expenses of Cultivatins: and Gathering; Currants. — " Half a day of 
plowing and three days of lioeing by one man will clean and stir the 
ground of one acre most effectually, which, at ordinary wages of man and 
horse, will cost $3 50, which makes four plowings and hoeings cost Sli. 
Picking 13,068 lbs., at one third cent per pound (about 15 cents per bushel), 
will be $43. If we allow $27 for manure every year, the whole expenses 
per acre would sum up to $Si, leaving $700 clear, of which only the cost of 
bringing them to market would have to bo deducted." 

The above, although it is the statement of an interested nurseryman, is 
nevertheless the truth, Bot exaggerated. The fruit can be grown for two 
cents a pound, and every family can eat it as a condiment with their bread 
and meat every day in the year, and can afford to drink a delicious, whole- 
some wine — currant wine — instead of getting drunk and dying as they do 
now from poisoned stuff called beverages. We have no need of sending to 
Zante for currants, Madeira for grapes, or France for wine, nor should the 
tolly be any longer tolerated of importing currant jelly. It is our duty, as 
American farmers, to grow this fruit, for we contend that if religion consists 
in doing good to our fellow-creatures, it is a religious duty to encourage 
the cultivation, the imjirovemcnt, and jjropagation of all the fruits that a 
good Power has made the earth produce for man's sustenance and allevia- 
tion of human* diseases. 

The healthiness of currants is conceded bj all physicians. Currant jelly is 



536 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V- 

a most tootlisome sub-acid condiment for convalescents, particularly those re- 
covering from fever. It has been much sought for of late in army hospitals. 

COG. Black Currauts— How Grown for Wine in France.— It is about twenty 
years since the manufacture of wine from black currants was commenced in 
the Department Cote-d'Or, France, upon a scale large enough to furnish a 
wine of commerce, since which the manufacture has increased very exten- 
sively ; three houses at Dijon produced in 1860 about 88,000 gallons. Near 
Lyons, black currants are grown to sell to the Dijon wine-makers. There 
are other establishments at Beaune, and other small towns, and the manu- 
facture is now so well established that landowners are cropping their land 
with black currants alone, the number of plants introduced into vineyards 
being also on the increase. Tlie rage, indeed, for planting was so great 
in 1857, that rooted plants sold as high as $16, and even $24 per thou- 
sand. Now, however, price has found its usual level, that of $-1: to $6 
per thousand. Tiie exact number of plants cultivated around Dijon does 
not seem to be ascertainable, the proprietors themselves not knowing how 
many they have planted. It is, however, probable that to estimate the 
number near'Dijon at 1,500,000 would be greatly below rather than above 
the mark. 

" In the Department of the Cote-d'Or, the center of currant cultivation 
exactly coincides with that of the vine. In fact, it may be said to extend 
from Chagny to Dijon in a narrow zone skirting the eastern slope of the 
mountain chain of the Cote-d'Or, eighteen to twenty-five miles in length, 
and from one to three miles in breadth. Within these narrow limits are to 
be found all the great growths of Burgundy wine, connected by vineyards 
only producing vin ordinaire. It is among these, and in land of a similar 
nature, that the black currant is cultivated. Many of the villages pro- 
ducing large quantities of the latter, are noted for the excellence of their 
wines, as, for example : Yolnay, Beaune, Aloxe, Savigny, Premeaux, Nuits, 
Vougcot, Chambollo, Vosne, Morey, Gevrey-Chambertin, Brochon, Fixin, 
Marsannay, Talant, Fontaine. Leaving this center, the currant follows the 
vine in the valleys that traverse the mountain range toward the west. 
There are extensive plantations at Nolay, Plombieres, Malain, Laumes, and 
Montbard, and others occur occasionally in the large and fertile plain which 
extends from the foot of the Cote-d'Or chain to the Saono, and in which the 
vine is not cultivated. Finally, they are to be found in the Department of 
the Saone-et-Loire, particularly in that part of it which adjoins the Cote- 
d'Or. Rather considerable plantations also occur near Autun and Chalon- 
6ur-Sa6ne. 

" Contrary to what might have been expected in fruit with so strong a 
flavor, there exist great diflerences in the quality of the currants from differ- 
ent localities. The French liqueur-makers easily distinguish them, and 
carefully reserve currants of superior quality for first-class liqueur, which 
sells as high as 66 cents per quart, wholesale. In general, indeed, wherever 
wine is good, the currant is also good. By this is not meant the choice 



Sec. 3-1.] STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 537 



ijrowths but vins ordinaircs, the vines producing which are frequently grown 
along with currants. 

"The currants are planted about four feet apart, and the after-culture 
consists in hoeing the ground deeply in the spring, and two or three hoeings 
during the summer to keep down the weeds. Pruning is done in the spring 
at the same time with the vines. As to soils, chalk or limestone, with a 
little clay in its composition, such as prevails in French wine districts, suits 
very well. 

" In regard to amount of fruit, and the price that can be obtained for it, 
Dr. Maillard estimates that every bush that has been planted five years, 
when the land is wholly occupied with the currants, will yield 34 lbs. of 
fruit. The yield on bushes growing singly among the grapevines is much 
greater. Estimating the average yield at only 2} lbs. to a bush, and 2,2i0 
bushes on an acre, we have 4,928 lbs. as the produce per acre. The average 
price of the fruit in former years was — in 1841, 80 cents per cwt. ; in 1842 
and '43, $1; 1844 and '45, $2 ; 1856 and '57, $4; 1858, $7 50; and in 1859, 
from $5 to $7. It appears that some of the most important houses in Dijon 
have contracted with growers to take all their crops for ten or twelve years 
to come at $3 per cwt. This would give $147 per acre as the price of the 
fruit. The trouble of growing black currants is very little, and they make 
a delicious and healthy wine, far superior to what is usually sold under the 
uame of Port." 

It must be seen from this statement that black currants could be profitably 
grown in this country for the same purpose. Indeed, they have been, to a 
limited extent. 

607. Strawberries— Profitable and Healthy # — "We suppose we need not oflTer 
argument to any one who has ever grown strawberries in the garden, to prove 
that no other fruit or vegetable can be grown with greater profit, whether 
for sale or use. Equally profitable for use as for sale, because promotive 
of health in an extreme degree ; afi'ording, too, a degree of satisfaction to 
the family not realized by anything else grown in the garden. This is owing 
in some measure to the circumstance of its being the earliest garden fruit, 
when nature craves just such sub-acid food as the strawberry alone fur- 
nishes, and if produced in such an abundance, of the most choice varieties, 
that all the family, hirelings included, can eat to their heart's content, we 
are willing to warrant that for the time being there will be a happy fam- 
ily ; and while strawberries are in season, we will guarantee that the fiimily 
has very little occasion for calling in the doctor. There is no fruit that can 
be indulged in to excess with so much impunity as strawberries. There- 
fore, for the promotion of health, wealth, and happiness, we urge farmers to 
pay more attention to their cultivation ; and to enable them to do so judi- 
ciously, we will give them some valuable facts about how to make a good 

lection, and how to make them productive. 

60S. The Best Sorts of Strawberries.— It is just as important to grow the 
best sorts of strawberries as it is to grow the best varieties of corn and 



538 THE GARDEN' Al^D ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V 

potatoes. Tlie trouble is to know which are the best sorts. Every locality 
lias its favorite, and many individuals hold fast to the kind always grown in 
the family, and will not inquire whether there is a better one. 

To enable those wlio wish to improve to do so, and to assist those who 
would like to make a selection of the best, we give the following opinions 
of competent persons. 

During the strawberry season of 1859 the strawberry question was ably 
discussed before the American Institute Farmers' Club, and a committee 
was appointed to name six strawberries most worthy of general cultivation, 
in the order of their value. That committee reported the following, which 
was approved by a full meeting : 

"1. Wilsoii's Albany. — Its promising good qualities are productiveness, 
size, and firm, juicy flesh. It is, hov.ever, too acid for the taste of many. 

"2. LoiKjwortK's Prolijic.—i.2iv\j, large, and of excellent flavor; only 
moderately productive ; sometimes running too much to leaf. 

"3. Ilook-er. — Good size, of a rich, sweet flavor; moderately productive. 

"4. MacAvoifs Superior. — Productive, large, and of excellent flavor; 
berries often defective in form. 

'' 5. Iloveifs Seedling. — This variety is too well known to need any de- 
scription. Its only defect is dryness and want of high flavor. 

" 6. Burros New Pine. — Of exquisite flavor, medium size, only moder- 
ately productive ; plants M'ant vigor and hardiness." 

At Boston, the same season, the question was discussed by the Horticultu- 
ral Society, and a ballot taken as to the best six varieties for market, which 
resulted as follows : Early Scarlet, 19 votes ; "Wilson's Albany, 19 ; Hooker, 
11 ; Ilovey, 10 ; Triomphe de Gand, 8 ; Burr's New Pine, 6 ; other varieties, 
1 to 4 votes each. 

Another ballot was taken for the best six varieties for amateurs, which 
resulted in the following list: Early Scarlet, Hooker, Burr's New Pine, 
Hovey's Seedling, Wilson's Albany, and Triomphe de Gand. 

The same season E. G. Pardee, of New York, author of a book on straw- 
berry culture, made a report to the Farmers' Club, naming six sorts most 
profitable for cultivation for market purposes, including Early Scarlet, Wil- 
son's, Longworth's, Hovey's. 

At the same time Dr. Ward, a successful cultivator near Newark, N. J., 
exhibited twenty-three varieties, and made the following statement : 

"I will only speak briefly of some of the most prominent. The one 
much cultivated at Cincinnati, called the Iowa, is only good because it is 
very early. The Genesee seedling is without an equal for its beauty, and it 
is of a pleasant flavor. 

" The MacAvoy's Superior is too soft for marketing and apt to rot, though 
fine-looking. 

" Longworth's Prolific, which can be grown thirty-two to the pound, is a 
remarkably fine variety. 

"The Wilson Seedling has one objection for field-culture — its heavy ber- 
ries beat down to the earth and injure, unless the land is well mulched. It 



Seo. 34.] STRAWBERRIES. • 539 

is a vigorous grower, and the most prolific of all, aud is a good berry for 
transportation, as well as prolific. 

"The Virginia Scarlet is the earliest of all varieties, but it is good only 
for a very early ci'op. 

"The Monroe Scarlet grows in clusters, and is easily separated from the 
stalk, and good on that account. 

"The Wyllie is much like the Monroe, but not easily separated. 

" The Walker is an excellent berry, but too soft for market. Yet it is 
very rich when picked and eaten in the garden, and well worthy the atten- 
tion of private families. It is an honest berry. 

"The Crimson Cone is a great market berry, but too soft for transportation 
without injury. 

" Burr's New Pine is the richest berry that we have. It bears rather 
shyly. It is not productive enough for a market-gardener's fruit, but should 
be in every garden. 

"The Hovey Seedling is one that I can not dispense with; it is always 
satisfactory. The average is not very large, but very good, and bears car- 
riage pretty well. 

"The Boston Pine should always be grown by the side of the Hovey, both 
for a fertilizer and for its fruit. 

" The Moyamensing Pine is a good late berry ; valuable for preserving as 
sweetmeats. 

"Young's Seedling, from Philadelphia, is nothing but a Hovey Seedling. 

" A nameless berry, that originated on my place, has many good points ; 
but I must not say too much about it. The excellence of the berry is, that 
in itself it is all that we want ; it does not need sugar, has a fine aroma, is of 
good size, and is very hardy ; the foot-stalk stands up well, so the fruit does 
not get dirty. 

"The Pcabody Seedling is not quite all that many expected by the eclat 
given to it by the original propagator, though a pretty good berry. 

" For productiveness, or best pecuniarily, the strawberry for me is the 
Iowa; yet it is the least valuable fruit. I have never marketed Wilson's, 
but I think it will prove at least one of six most prolific of returns to the 
cultivator, if not quite the best. Longworth's Prolific and Hovey's are 
among the six. The seedling I have shown bids fair to be more profitable 
than anything that I have grown. It is my business to grow strawberries 
and other fruits to make money, and I can get three times as much for equal 
measure of Hovey's Seedlings as for the common market sorts." 

As to productiveness and value of varieties. Dr. Ward said : 

" The most productive strawberries that I grow are staminatcs or her- 
maphrodites, and I think that is the opinion of others. 

" The following four varieties, in their order, are likely to prove most profit- 
able to the market gardener : Wilson's Seedling ; Iowa Strawberry ; Early 
Scarlet, Virginia Scarlet or Scotch Runner; and Longworth's Prolific. 
These are what are called hermaphrodite, or staminates, aud they are all 



540 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

great producers, and more so than any pistillatcs or any other that I ever 
gre«-. 

"The "Wilson Seedling has a perfect blossom, and is one of the most pro- 
ductive strawberries known ; the fruit is pretty strongly acid. Many of the 
flowers of the wild strawberry are barren for want of other plants near them 
to furnisli impregnating pollen, and that is the reason why we see such a 
show of blossoms some seasons in the fields, and so little fruit. 

" Hovey's Seedling must have fertilizing plants set with it. Wilson's 
Seedling is a perfect plant, and fertilizes itself." 

Mr. Iviio.x, a large cultivator of strawberries near Pittsburg, after a trial 
of three years, previous to 1860, places at the head of the list of strawber- 
ries the Triomjihe de Gand. He says : 

"But little has yet been said about this variety, and it has not been 
generally cultivated, but as soon as well known it will be the most popular 
strawberry in the country. There is no known excellence which it does not 
possess. The plants are thrifty, hardy, and vigorous growers, bearing their 
fruit well up, which renders it easy to be kept clean. They are also wonder- 
fully productive, and the fruit is not only usuallj^ of very large size, but uni- 
formly so and throughout the season, which is longer with it than with most 
other varieties. The flavor is everything which could be desired. It is of 
a very beautiful crimson color, glossy, and altogether lovely. It keeps well 
after being picked, retaining its beautiful color and firmness, and carries 
better than any other variety." 

He regards the Wilson's Albany as a very valuable and profitable 
variety, and has shown liis faith in it by planting fifteen acres. In addition 
to its many other excellences, it has proved a superior berry for canning or 
preserving. Its weight, size, solidity, flavor, and color render it poj)ular for 
this use. 

Scott's Seedling is remarkably mild, combining a pleasant peach and 
strawberry taste, nmch liked, except by those who prefer very acid fruit. 
It is a conical, bright crimson berry, of fair size, with, generally, a cavity 
in the center — hermaphrodite. 

" The true Bishop's Orange will be good for a late ripening crop, and 
is remarkable for its beautiful orange-scarlet color, and for its productive- 
ness. 

The Jenny Lind is very early, a good bearer, double the size of Early 
Scarlet, fine color, well flavored, productive, and a favorite in New En- 
gland. 

Peabody's Seedling is a very shy bearer, and is nowhere a favorite at the 
North. 

Prince's Scarlet Magnate is a beautiful sort, and a rampant grower. 

The Bartlett, said to be a new seedling, originating in Brooklyn, N. Y., is 
an excellent strawberry. 

The pleasantest flavored strawberry grown is Burr's New Pine, and Swain- 
stone's the richest, but these are not productive sorts. 



Seo. 34.] STRAWBERRIES. 541 

The following is a description of the Austin, a seedling originated by the 
"Watervliut Shakers: 

Fruit large, roundish to conical, sometimes flat, occasionally necked, and 
uniformly with a large core ; color light scarlet ; seed brown, slightly im- 
bedded; flesh white, i-ather soft and dry, acid, and somewhat deficient in 
flavor; calyx large, many-parted, and persistent; stem stout and erect; 
flowers staminate. It is said to be very productive, but the fruit is too soft 
for long transportation. 

The Boyden Seedling is noted for its mild character, which is such that 
the most delicate invalids may use it with impunity. It grows to a large 
size, is a very delicious berry, but rather a shy bearer. 

The White Alpine may be cultivated for variety and late fruit, but the 
berries are small, and the vines not productive. 

We have made the following selection for our own use, all of which have 
their points of excellence, as grown in our garden for family use, to wit: 

Wilson's Albany Seedling, the most prolific, and when its largo berries 
are well ripened, not too acid. The trouble is, that servants will pick them 
before ripe, because they are red. They are so a full day before they are 
ripe. 

Hooker's Seedling grows vigorously, and is productive, and fruit excel- 
lent ; large size, and handsomer than the Wilson, which is very dark. This 
is one of the best for family use. It was oi'iginated in 1850 by II. E. Hooker, 
of Rochester. 

The Bartlett, we believe will prove equal to either of the above for family 
use. 

The Austin Seedling is likely to prove valuable for family use, because it 
is a later ripening sort than the others. 

The Ilovey is a very shy bearer in our gai-den. The Jenny Lind is not so 
promising as it is said to be in Massachusetts. MacAvoy's Superior is good 
for family use, but too tender for marketing, and so is Burr's New Pine, but 
is of high flavor, and requires high culture. 

Prince's Eclipse, Scarlet Magnate, and Climax are all handsome sorts, and 
wonderfully vigorous growers. 

The Boston Pine produces an excellent berry, round, deep crimson ; very 
handsome. 

The Genesee is a good-sized, long-necked berry, very mild, but not very 
excellent. 

The British Queen is a high-flavored strawberry in England, where it is 
considered the standard of perfection. Fruit irregular shaped. 

Longworth's Prolific, originated by the celebrated Nicholas Longworth, 
of Cincinnati, is an excellent family berry. 

The Peabody strawberry, originated by Chas. A. Peabody, of Columbus, 
Ga., and sold by him at a high price, is not worth as much for cultivation 
with us as several other sorts. 

Rivers' Eliza, an English sort, has the highest reputation of the imported 



542 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 



varieties. Tlie fruit is large, rich, and juicy, but the plants do not stand our 
hot dry weather very well. 

The Eed Alpine, a native of the Alps, will produce an autumn crop if the 
spring blossoms are cut oS. 

Scott's Seedling grows one of the handsomest strawberries of the fam- 
ily ; it is very bright crimson, large, conical form, and pretty ; high 
flavored. 

Besides these, we have one called Chili, which we can give a high recom- 
mendation. These make up a fine assortment, but we can not advise farmers 
generally to try to cultivate more than three or four good sorts, embracing 
an early, medium, and late ripening kind. 

COO. Seedling StrawberrieSi — Seeing what wonderful improvements have 
been made within a few years, every one who can devote attention to it 
should continue the effort to obtain a still better seedling than has yet been 
produced. We shall hope on till some enthusiast gets a seedling as large 
and prolific as the "Wilson, and as high flavored as the Swainstone, British 
Queen, Kivers' Eliza, Boston Pine, or any other. In 1861, Andrew S. 
Fuller, a skillful horticulturist of Brooklyn, jST. Y., and an enthusiast in 
pursuit of seedlings, had over a hundred new ones, all of which were good, 
grown from the seed of the Wilson, Hovey, Peabody, and some other large 
sorts, and twenty-seven of them were selected by a committee of horticul- 
turists as fully worthy of further trial on account of their many excellent 
qualities. 

In 1862 the same committee made repeated examinations of these seed- 
lings while in bearing, and finally selected three sorts, which Ve believe, and 
so do many persons who tested them and saw their growth and productive- 
ness, make up as good an assortment as it is possible to obtain for family 
use. All are hermaphrodite plants; rank growers; very prolific ; berries 
of large size and good color ; one of them remarkably handsome. One 
ripens early, one late, and one between, so as to give ripe fruit throughont 
several weeks. 

These new seedlings will become universally known as the Tribune Peizk 
Stkawbeueies, having been purchased by the New York Tribune Association 
for $3,000, with the design to send plants to all of its subscribers. They 
will probalily be known hereafter as the " Colonel Ellsworth," which is the 
earliest ; the Monitor or Tribune Mammoth, which is the next ripe ; and 
the Brooklyn Scarlet, which is one of the handsomest strawberries ever 
produced. 

This great sale of seedlings should encourage others to produce them. 
Take ripe berries and mash them with sand, and thoroughly mix and sow 
the sand and seed in carefully prepared beds. The seed-bed must be made 
in a shady spot, and kept well watered. When the plants are large 
enough, they are transplanted to the bearing-beds, and the runners care- 
fully cut ofl". ' When the plants fruit, if one is promising, remove it to the 
trial bed, where it can remain fruiting two or three years. 



Sko. 84.] STRAWBERRIES. 54:3 



Mr. Fuller carefully hybridized by hand all the blossoms of the plants 
from ■which he obtained his seedlings. 

GIO. Product of 'Strawberries per Acre.— The following statement (1861) 
from a strawberry-grower in Delaware tells how many berries were produced 
as a first crop, and shows that what has been done may be done again, not 
bv one, but by many who will pursue the same course. He says : 

" The soil is sandy loam, with a subsoil composed of clay and sand in 
nearly equal parts. In January, 1859, the ground was plowed to the depth 
of eight or ten inches, turning under a timothy sod three years old, and sub- 
soiled ten or twelve inches deeper, so that every part of the soil and subsoil 
■was loosened to the depth of eighteen to twenty inches. In April, 1859, I 
plowed under a heavy dressing of stable manure, harrowed and raked the 
ground until it was well pulverized, removed all the grass, and after giving 
a top dressing of twelve bushels of unleached ashes, set out Wilson's Albany 
Seedling strawberry plants in rows three feet apart and one foot between 
the plants in the row. The bed had two hoeings before the runners com- 
menced to grow, and afterward was kept free from weeds by the hand. 
This constitutes the great expense of cultivating strawberries upon an ex- 
tensive scale, as it is essential to the production of large crops for successive 
years that the plants shall not be smothered nor the ground exhausted by 
the production of weeds. Xo protection was furnished to the bed during 
the winter. This spring the ground was almost entirely covered with plants, 
and permitted to remain undisturbed, with the exception of the necessary 
weeding. The bod blossomed early and very freely. On May 27 the tirst 
quart of berries was picked, and the bed continued to yield until June 16. 
Every care has been taken to keep an accurate account of the quantity 
gathered, and the yield has been 880 plants, making 9,050 quarts, or 282 
bushels to the acre. The number of berries growing and manuring upon 
single plants was frequently over 2d0, and in several instances 300 were 
counted upon a plant. The berries were large and fine looking, those first 
sent to Wilmington selling for 25 cents a quart at a time when the common 
variety was bringing only 10 cents. Having other beds for my own con- 
sumption, all the berries from this bed were sold for $116 ll, froni which, 
deducting $21 98 for commission, freight, and picking, leaves $94 16 as the 
net return from less than one tentii of one acre of ground. This variety 
possesses all the requisites of a market berry, being large, handsome, and 
very firm, meeting with a ready sale, and yielding, under equal circum- 
stances, as great a number of bushels to the acre as can be obtained from 
the cultivation of the potato. I am confident that a greater yield can be 
obtained by cutting paths one foot in width between the rows, as originally 
planted, thus dividing the plantation into beds two feet in -width, so that the 
vjnes can receive more air and light, and the berries be gathered without 
trampling upon the plants." 

611. Stamiuate, Pistillate, and Hermaphrodite Blossoms.— It appears to be 
a settled question that there are three distinct forms among the blossoms of 



544 SMALL FKDITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

strawberries, and that two of them will not produce fruit except by impreg- 
nation one with the other. These are called male and female flowers, the 
male flower growing stamens without pistils, and the female flower pistils 
without stamens. The other, called hermaphrodite, is furnished with both, 
and has the power of self-fertilization in each blossom. Tiio female, or 
pistillate flower, has a golden center, the pistils covering it like short stiff 
hairs. Tlie male, or stamiuatc flower, lias a dark center, from which grow 
a dozen or more stamens, which arc little stems with knobs on the ends, 
which bear the pollen that must come in contact with the pistils to 
fructify them, or else the plants will be barren of fruit. Some plants 
bear all staminate and some all pistillate flowers, and where that is the 
case, unless tlie two sorts grow in uroximity, both will be nearly destitute 
of berries. 

It is often observed that strawberry blossoms are abundant in the fields, 
and fruit scarce. This is owing to the sexuality of flowers, and the lack of 
favorable circumstances to produce impregnation. The great scarcity of 
bees in many of the old States cuts off" the agencies by which nature carries 
on the work of fecundation of flowers. 

Some varieties of strawberries always produce hermaphrodite flowers, the 
center of which is like the pistillate, with stamens growing out of it, as they 
do from the center of the staminate flower. This kind of blossoms will pro- 
duce fruit if there should be no other sort growing near. 

Although a pistillate variety will not produce without the aid of stamin- 
ates, if the two kinds are set together the staminates soon outgrow the others, 
and so take possession of the ground, that in three or four years the bed 
aflords but a meagre supply of fruit. Great care, therefore, must be used in 
cultivating strawberries not to let the barren, rapid-growing, male plants 
overpower the female ones, which are the true fruit-bearers. 

613. Soil— Preparation and Cultivation for Strawberries.— The best soil is that 
lately in forest, of a gravelly-loam cliaracter, situated on a gentle southeast- 
ern slope, and should be underdrained, spade-trenched, or deeply subsoiled, 
and made rich and mellow before setting the plants. If underdrained 
thoroughly it will soon pay the cost in extra productiveness. If possible, 
protect the north and west sides by high fences or hedge. Tiie best manure 
is woods-mold, and unlcached ashes, and what is known as the " lime and 
salt mixture" — that is, a bushel of salt in just water enough to dissolve it, 
and that used to slake three bushels of lime ; shell-lime is best. If land is 
parched with drouth, without artificial watering the fruit will be deficient, 
though all other requisites are complete. All the fertilizers should be 
mixed in the soil before the plants are set. Twenty or thirty bushels of 
ashes, three bushels of salt, and nine of lime may be used up on an acre, 
and the more the soil is stirred in its preparation the better ; and it should 
be as free of weeds and grass as possible. 

When ready to set your plants, rake the bed smooth and mark off" the 
rows, and procure strong-rooted plants, and dip the roots as you proceed in 



Sec. 84.] STRAWBERRIES. 545 

water, tliick with rich earth or compost, and set them no deeper than they 
naturally stood, being careful to cover with line eartli well pressed. 

If you intend your bed to cover all the earth, set the plants a foot apart 
each way. If to be kept in hills, two feet apart. If in rows, make them 
three feet apart, and the plants eight to twelve inches apart in the rows. 

There is no 'wrong season, when the plants are not bearing, to transplant 
strawberries. Perhaps the best time is after the old 7-oots send out runners, 
and the first of them get well rooted. Then cut the connection with the old 
stool, and keep the new root from sending out runners until it becomes a 
strong root, and then, if your new bed is to be made in the same locality, 
take up the plants with a transplanting-trowel, with all the dirt that will 
adhere, and lay them on boards and carry right to the spot where they are 
to be set, and put them in suitable holes scooped out with the trowel or 
hand, and they will keep on growing almost as freely as though they had 
not been removed. Keep the ground free of weeds, and frequently stirred 
between the plants, till winter, and then cover with forest leaves, held in 
place by brush or a little dirt scattered over. In the spring, rake the leaves 
off the plants, and leave them as a mulch between. After fruiting, the run- 
ners begin to put out. If your plan is to keep distinct hills, cut oif all run- 
ners every week. If your plan is for rows, keep working between the rows, 
and turn the runners so as to form a growth of plants a foot wide, leaving a 
space for working two feet wide between. This is the best plan for field- 
culture, working the beds by horse-hoe. When the rows get grassy, and 
need changing, run the subsoil-plow deeply and repeatedly through the rows, 
and work in the necessary fertilizers, and prepare a new row of plants by 
setting or training runners to the right spots, and let them set themselves, 
cutting away all the surplus ones. Then, late in the fall, the old row is to 
be completely turned under by the spade or plow, and so this renewal sys- 
tem may be continued, turning down a portion of the old bed each year, 
and thus having vigorous plants always in full bearing. 

Where the plants are set with the design of covering all the surface, the 
runners are permitted to spread where they will the first year, and the 
second year the poorest plants, old or young, should be cut out, so as not to 
allow the bed to become matted. When it begins to fail, from being over- 
run with weeds or grass, or from the plants becoming feeble from age or 
want of room, divide it into strips two feet wide, and turn under alternate 
ones, and fertilize the ground for a new setting of plants to spread over it 
from runners ; and when they are well established, turn over the other strips 
in the same way, and so continue. At every new preparation of the bed 
add ashes if you can, or bone-dust, or superphosphate of lime, or fine com- 
post, in which rotted sods, leaves, and woods-mold hold the greatest share, 
and then no other manuring will be necessary while the plants are in bear- 
ing except the mulching of leaves, straw, or salt hay, that you siiould give 
every winter. Where it can be had conveniently, always get spent tan-bark 
for mulching. Turners' chips are a very good substitute, and so ai'c leather 



54:6 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

shavings. "When any fine material is iised for mulching, be careful not to 
smother the plants. Sawdust, and also scrapings from the wood-pile, may 
be used if care is had about smothering. 

Covering the ground permanently with saw-log slabs has been practiced 
with pleasing success. The plants were set in well-prepared soil, in straight 
rows one foot apart, and then slabs notched on the edge about three inches 
deep were fitted to the plants, so that they grew in bunches in holes about six 
inches wide, and of course free from weeds and grass. By this plan no new 
plants are made from runners ; so, if such are desired, a bed must be kept for 
that purpose. The old stools of strawberry plants, after a few years, grow so 
much above the surface that they are not productive. Hence the necessity 
of frequent renewals. 

Some Long Island market gardeners set the plants so as to work between 
the rows with a horse cultivator the first season, keeping the ground clean 
until the runners begin to take root. Next season the field produces one 
heavy crop, when the weeds are allowed to grow a few weeks, and vines and 
all are then plowed under, and a new plantation started. 

Never set the plants any deeper than they originally stood. Although 
we should always prefer new plants, yet it may be remembered that the act 
of transplanting old roots, even those that have become barren, causes them 
to send out new bearing crowns, and so become fruitful again. It is also 
recommended, by those who liave proved its value, to hill up old stools with 
fresh earth, which has the effect to make them fruitful again. 

Watering in a dry time is highly important. It will keep the plants in 
bearing twice as long as without it. Charles A. Peabody, near Columbus, 
Ga., has certaiidy been one of the most successful strawberry culturists 
in this country. He has carried berries to market more than six months of 
the year, and he obtained them by copious watering with a movable pump 
— a garden engine. He planted his beds upon sandy land, newly cleared 
of pine and oak timber, choosing a flat near a little brook, on account of con- 
venience of water. He used no other fertilizer at first than what was obtained 
by burning the timber and brush and scattering the ashes, and afterward by 
mulching with forest leaves. After the fruit season, his practice was for a 
hand to go through with a hoe and cut up the poorest-looking plants, so as 
to keep them from getting too thick, and then the mulch being put on, pre- 
vents the runners from setting, and they are afterward cut away. He is 
careful to have all the vines cut off left on the ground, considering them the 
best kind of fertilizers. _ This is true in regard to all kinds of plants ; the 
ashes are the best kind of manure for the same kind growing 

613. Raspberries. — This delicious fruit has not yet reached the perfection 
that strawberries have. We regard the strawberry as the chief of the small 
fruits, from its being the earliest fruit to come into bearing after planting, 
its cosmopolitan character, its enormous productiveness, ease of culture and 
reliability, and last, though not least, its delicious qualities ; and we regard 
the best of our cultivated raspberries nearly equal, but unfortunately the 



Seo. 34:.] 



RASPBEBRFES. 



547 



plants are not hardy. It is perplexing to a farmer, and so it is to any one 
but a professional gardener, to have to look after tlic raspberry plants, and 
carefully cover them before winter sets in. We need a new raspberry, as 
delicious as Fastolf or Brinckle's Orange, and hardy as the Black Cap, or wild 
red sort M-liich produces so abundantly in Vermont and Canada. To thiij 
end we must undoubtedly look to the native seedlings principally to obtain 
the hardiness and vigor of constitution necessary to enable tlic canes to with- 
stand our winters, if possible, without injury. 

Many seedlings have been introduced, but they are mostly direct descend- 
ants of European kinds, and have not generally proved much hardier than 
their parents ; and like them in that and some other respects, have not grown 
generally pojnilar or given entire satisfaction. We do not despair of seeing 
a new raspberry that will have all the good qualities desired. 

E. C. Clark, of New Haven, has shown specimens of a new seedling 
raspberry which promises to be an acquisition of considerable value to 
fruit-growers. It is stated as being hardy for out-door culture, red color, 
and certainly a very good flavor and fair size, and sufliciently hard to bear 
transportation. 

Lewis F. Allen, of Black Kock, N. Y., has distributed a raspberry that 
promises good results, and by some is very highly approved. 

II. II. Doolittle, of Oak''s Corners, Ontario County, N. Y., thinks he has 
improved the Black Cap raspberry' so as to get the good qualities we have 
mentioned. He says the bushes are as hardy as the wild sort, and he is 
well backed by certificates of good men that they bear abundanth', and that 
the fruit is rich, and that it bears transportation perfectlj'. 

The Catawissa raspberry is called an ever-bearing sort, but is not more so 
than the Belle de Fontenay, though it may be a little more hardy. It is 
objected to by those who wish to increase the plants, that it does not throw 
oif sufficient offshoots. 

The Kirtland raspberry has received some high commendations in Ohio, 
ripening its fruit in June, and continuing to produce rich red berries abun- 
dantly for three weeks. 

K. G. Pardee, in sjje.aking of this variety of fruit, says: "Most of the 
plants sold for pure Antwerp raspberries are poor things, and, in fact, we 
have but very few sorts of raspberries worthy of cultivation that are hardy. 
Brinckle's Orange is about the best light-colored sort cultivated, but that 
is not quite hardy. The Belle de Fontenay is highly esteemed, but that 
nor no other can be truly called ' ever-bearing.' The only way to get a full 
crop in autumn is to cut away all the canes in May ; tliat throws the 
strength of the whole root into the new canes. The Belle and the Four 
Seasons, and perhaps some other of the ever-bearing sorts, will produce a 
good fall crop with this treatment. I believe the Fastolf the best family 
raspberry that we have." 

614. Blackberries. — There is but one variety of blackberries extensively 
cultivated, and that is known as the "Lawton," or "New Eochelle Black- 



548 



SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. 



[Chap. V. 



lierry;" and it is truly a most magnificent fruit, and productive beyond 
belief. We arc fully satisfied that it is as liardy with us as the native black- 
berry, the thermometer having been several times below zero, our unpro- 
tected vines liave sustained no injury. Its universal productiveness is 
undoubted by all who have seen mature plants in full bearing. The size of 
the fruit exceeds any other sort, and when suffered to remain on the vines 
till fully ripe, it is not too acid, which is the only fault we ever heard 
charged against it. Tliese berries often appear fully ripe to an unpracticed 
eye, yet are really unfit to eat. When perfectly ripe, the berries lose the 
shining appearance, and if tickled a little will fall into the hand. 

The New Rochelle blackberry originated in the town which it is named 
after, about twenty miles northeast of New York city. It is either an ac- 
cidental seedling of the wild variety, or else a sort brought there by the 
French Huguenots, who settled that ])lace. It was discovered growing wild 
by a Mr. Secor, from whom William Lawton, who lived in the village of 
New Rochelle, obtained his first plants, and began their propagation, though 
slowly, because he lacked the skill of a professed nurseryman. 

George Seymour & Co., of Norwalk, Ct., nurserymen, obtained some 
plants about the same time, and went to work skillfully to increase their 
stock before advertising the wonders of the new berry to the world. In the 
mean time Mr. Lawton made a show of the fruit, and the enormously thrifty 
growth of the plant, before the American Institute Farmers' Club, which 
was given to understand, from his statement, that it was a seedling originated 
by him, and thereupon it M'as named the "Lawton Blackberry." Others, 
knowing that he did not originate it, have insisted that he was not entitled 
to the name, and call it the "New Rochelle Blackberry." By either name 
the fruit is the same, and is well worthy of cultivation. The bush is one of 
the rankest-growing ones of the ruhus family, and bears eiiormdiis crops. 
We have counted over a thousand berries on a single cane, and know that a 
hundred bushels have often been picked from an acre. The berries are in per- 
fection the middle of August, and the common selling price in New York for 
some years was twenty-five cents a quart, and when the wholesale price fell 
to ten or twelve cents, some of the largest growers would not sell them, pre- 
ferring to squeeze out the juice and convert it into wine or cordial. 

The quality of the berries is that of a very juicy pulp, much larger in 
proportion to the seed and hard core than in the very best wild sorts, and 
the berries grow to nearly double the size, of roundish form, about an inch 
long, more resembling the running variety than any of the berries of the 
wild high vines. 

The plants endure the coldest weather without any protection, and will 
grow upon any rich soil and bear any amount of manure. 

C15. How to Plant and Cultivate the Lawton Blackberries.— If the plants 
are taken from the ground and planted wliile the roots are fresh, they will 
all live. If suS'ered to get dry, the most of them will die. Even one hour 
of exposure to the sun or drying wind is apt to prove tatal. If they are 



Sbo. 84.] BLACKBERRIES. 549 

put up by nurserymen in good order, they will bear transportation well. 
When the i)aekiige is opened, bury tlie roots immediately in fresh earth, and 
draw them out only when ready to set immediately iu their places. Under 
no circumstances must the roots be exposed long enough to get dry, nor 
drenched with frequent waterings after being set, nor must you expect them 
to grow iu poor soil without manure. Tlio whole ruhus family are gross 
feeders, and none more so than tlie Lawtou blackberry. 

For a garden plat, lay out a bed from four to six feet wide, near a fence 
or any other convenient place ; spade the ground from sixteen to twenty 
inches deep ; if the subsoil is gravel, throw it out and put good soil in its 
place. Distance should be from six to eight feet apart. Tlie stems of the 
plants should be cut down to six inches. Plant the roots about three to six 
inches deep ; wiieu planted in autumn, cover with straw, mulch, or litter, 
which remove in the spring. 

Allow but two canes to grow from each root the first summer; these will 
pi'oduce fruit the second summer. At the same time other shoots will make 
their appearance, preparatory to bearing the ensuing season, and but two of 
these should be allowed to grow — consequently there will be two growing 
and two bearing canes to each root every season — the latter will die in the 
fall and should then be removed. 

It is no trifling job to trim up a lot of these plants as they should be, and 
no one should attempt it without being suitably dressed with stout cloth — a 
kind of duck, such as sailors wear, is the best — and leather mittens. 

If you wish to set out a field of blackberries, manure the ground as you 
would for a crop of corn, plow deep and harrow well, then run furrows eight 
feet apart ; cross-mark same distance apart with a chain or other instrument, 
giving eight feet each way between the plants — some cultivators recom- 
mend ten feet each way — set about six inches deep, and only one plant to 
the hill. 

The vines or canes will, the first year, take rather a low or trailing 
form ; these should be shortened in a little in the spring ; then cover 
the ground with old straw or litter under them, after putting the ground 
in order, letting the fruit rest ujion the mulch, which keeps it clean from the 
ground. 

The next, or second year, the plant takes an uju-ight form, throwing up 
two, three, and sometimes four large shoots. 

Plow and cultivate freely but shallow, using plow and cultivator two or 
three times the fore part of the season, keeping down all weeds and the 
ground in fine tilth, after which mulcliing with salt-hay, straw, seaweed, 
or anything that can be got hold of, will be found of special value, keeping 
the ground moist and friable, and the fruit clean. 

When about four and a half feet high, prune by pinching out or cutting 
off the buds of the leading shoots, which will cause the side-shoots to start 
and make stouter and better bearing plants. 

After pruning, stake the plants, tying them in an inclined position, be- 



550 THK GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 



cause if trained upright tlie side-branclies are apt to break down from tlie 
weiglit of tlie fruit. 

The above are the directions given by Mr. Seymour, who had five acres 
in full bearing when we saw and made a carefnl examination of thcra some 
years ago. On the first lialf acre planted we found ten rows, of thirty-two 
bunches each, making 320 roots as originally set upon the half acre. The 
lowest estimate of any of the gentlemen present was five quarts of berries 
to a bunch of roots. That would make five bushels to the row, and fifty 
bushels to the half acre. Knowing that it takes only an average of 120 
berries to a quart, from rough calculation of numbers we are satisfied the 
average will be eight quarts to the bunch. But let us take the lowest 
estimate, one hundred bushels per acre, and we have a crop worth eight 
hundred dollars, at the then wholesale price of twenty-five cents a quart. 
And even at only one fourth that price the crop would be a good one. Mr. 
Lawton's method of pruning his plants consists in carefully heading back all 
the branches to the fully-ripened wood. In some cases half of the length of 
the plant is cut away — generally about one third of the length. Then all 
the fruit comes in perfection. Commence to head back with the plants the 
fii-st year of bearing, when 200 to 250 berries may be expected Irom each 
plant, as it branches out very full of bearing limbs. 

CIC. The Dorchester Blackberries. — Since the successful introduction of 
the New Tiochelle blackberry, several attempts have been made to bring 
others, possessing some peculiarity, into notice. Among these the best and 
most successful is one called the Dorchester blackberry, originating in the 
town of that name in Massachusetts, and first brought into notice by Capt. 
Lovet, of Beverly ; it is a sweet, excellent fruit, and by many persons in 
that State is much more pireferred than the Lawton, which does not ripen as 
Avell in the vicinity of Boston as it does at New York. 

617. The Thornless Blackberry originated, or at least was brought into 
notice by Jonas Newman, in Ulster County, N. Y., where it is said to be 
remarkably prolific. If so, it loses its character whenever removed far from 
its original locality. The fruit is sweeter than the New Kochelle variety, 
and it is much easier gathered on account of the partially thornless charac- 
ter of the plants ; but they are very shy bearers in every locality where we 
have seen or heard of their cultivation east of the Hudson. 

C18. White Blackberries, if such a misnomer may be allowed, are among 
the novelties of the day, or rather among the old things Avhich are every 
now and then brought forward as novelties. The berries are of a dirty 
white color, of an insipid sweet taste, having no distinct character either 
sweet or sour. "We would not, even for the novelty, give them garden- 
room. 

619. The Parsley-Leafed Blackberry is an old variety, which is every now 
and then brought forward as sometliing new\ It is unlike the Lawton in 
this particular, that it does not bear pruning, and its long, climbing vines 
must be trained upon trellis-work to produce well. It is valuable to iise as 



Sec. 84. 1 BLACKBERRIES. 551 

a covering of unsightly walls or rocks, and may be grown on a trellis or 
rock-work to good advantage, as its foliage is very ornamental and the fruit 
delicious. 

620. The Cut-Leaf Blackberry, we think, is the same as the Parsley-leaf 
variety, being called differently in diflferent places. 

There are two sorts known as " Double White- Blossomed" and " Double 
Pink-Blossomed," used for ornamental purposes, and for that are really 
pretty adjuncts to landscape-gardening. But the most ornamental black- 
berry that we have ever seen, is a new variety which we first saw in the 
garden of Andrew S. Fuller, Brooklyn. The whole stem is of delicate pale- 
green color, and the foliage is very pretty. 

C21. The Running or Trailing Blackberry has been lately cultivated with 
great success, and as much improved in quality, size, and productive- 
ness as any other wild fruit by cultivation and rich manuring. It will 
grow upon very poor land if manured, and particularly delights in old 
stone walls, rocks, stumps, or fence rows, and might be made particularly 
useful upon many places where rocks abound, as they do in New England, 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. On Long Island, the running 
blackberry is one of the most valuable crops that many farms produce. 
The business of picking and sending to market has baen systematized by 
Joseph French, whose name is worthy of mention as a benefactor to that 
region. Much of the land from which Long Island blackberries are gathered 
is very sandy, and almost barren, having been turned out to common as too 
poor for longer cultivation. But since picking blackberries has become a 
business, some farmers have allowed cornfields to grow up along the rows, 
and continued plowing between, and in some cases using manure, which has 
made the berries double the size of wild ones. 

"VYe recommend growing a plot of running blackberries in every farm gar- 
den where this variety grows naturally. 

622. Value of Blackberries for Wine. — Besides the object of raising black- 
berries for the fruit to cat or sell, there is another of equal importance. A 
very palatable wine or cordial can be made, which, if sold at the usual rates, 
will make the crop a very profitable one; for the juice of 80 quarts of Law- 
ton blackberries, with 90 pounds of double-refined sugar, will make a barrel 
of wine, such as has commanded $2 a gallon, for several years, in New York. 
Now if we count tlie wine at a wholesale price of only $1 a gallon, and re- 
duce the price of berries, the following would be something like the items 
ot cost of wine: 2i bushels (80 quarts) of berries, for a barrel, at 6i cents, 
$5 ; 90 pounds of sugar, at Hi cents, $10 35 ; crushing and mixing, 65 
cents; cost per barrel, $16. 

The product of wine per acre, yielding 100 bushels of berries, would be 
40 barrels, costing, exclusive of berries, $11 a barrel, and selling, at $1 per 
gallon, for $1,200. Upon this calculation, will the market ever be glutted, 
or will the crop, which costs no more than a crop of corn, exclusive of the 
picking, ever cease to be remunerating ? 



552 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 



Tliere is another thing in this connection. We have, we do, we shall send 
Ohio whisky to France, to be run through the stills upon the lees of the 
wine-press, which we buy back at a high price under the name of brandy. 
From blackberry wine we can make a very superior brandy at less cost and 
far more fit for medicinal purposes. We can also make blackberry sirup, if 
we have the fruit in abundance, that will cure all the summer complaints in 
the community, and save the lives of an army of children every year. 

For sirup, no water is added to the juice and sugar ; for wine, after the 
sugar is well dissolved by frequent shaking of the barrel, it is filled up with 
water and allowed to ferment, and then treated as all domestic wine should 
be. [See 469 to 476.] 

623. Gooseberries. — Tlicre are about a dozen sorts of gooseberries in com- 
mon use, the most of tiiem English ; and however much they may be pre- 
ferred, we have to s.ay that the English varieties of the gooseberry have never 
succeeded in this country, only in a few localities, and we doubt if they ever 
will. Indeed, there is no place on the Eastern Continent where the goose- 
berry has been brought to the perfection that it has in England. In Italy, 
where it is found in its wild state, it has never received extensive cultivation, 
or thought worthy of it. In Spain it is scarcely known ; in France it is but 
little esteemed ; an4 in no country does it thrive so well as in the humid at- 
mosphere of England. And it is to this perfect adaptation of the climate to 
the plant that the great improvement of this fruit is owing more than to the 
skill of the cultivator. In Holland and some parts of Germany it is culti- 
vated with success, having a climate milder than that of England, with much 
of its humidity. To succeed here with gooseberries, we must plant them 
upon soil that is cool and moist, on the north side of a hill, or a cool and 
half-shady place, and then keep the bushes properly pruned ; for under such, 
circumstances we have seen abundant and regular crops for years in succes- 
sion. If cultivators would take indigenous varieties, of which there are some 
twenty, and many of them superior to the native European variety, and sow 
the seed, and by so doing improve the fruit, we should soon have varieties 
that would be equal, if not superior, to any imported variety. Besides 
being native, they would be exempt from those diseases which we have to 
contend with in the cultivation of the foreign kinds. 

The Shakers of New Lebanon, N. Y., have a gooseberry, called the 
" Mountain Seedling," that is very hardy, and of fair size and quality, that 
was found growing wild in that vicinity. 

You must not entertain the idea that yon will get an improved vari- 
ety of fruit by purchasing sorts which have given remarkable results from 
very high cultivation. The currant will grow and produce fruit in almost 
any locality, badly neglected ; but the gooseberry will not grow in that way. 
We know that the English gooseberry has failed in most places under ordi- 
nary cultivation. But we have some very good native gooseberries that are 
perfectly hardy, and some of these have been greatly improved ; and we 
hope others will be, until we have a native gooseberry as hardy as tlie wild 



Seo. 84.] QUINCES. 553 

one, and as good as the best English ones, which are all seedlings from wild 
sorts, common in Piedmont and France. The Houghton Seedling appears 
to be the favorite sort at present. 

The Houghton is a large, fine berry for marketing, but is not so delicate 
in texture nor excellent in flavor as some of the English sorts. We have 
seen a seedling variety that originated on Staten Island, that had grown sev- 
eral years free from mildew, and appeared very promising. Some jtersons 
think the most delicate kinds can be grown upon " the renewal system" — 
that is, never suffer old wood to remain. Others say that if grown upon a 
clay soil, and no heating manures ever used, and the ground mulched with 
salt-hay or its equivalent, all the English varieties of the gooseberry can be 
grown in our climate as well as in England. Perhaps. As a general rule, 
the red varieties appear the most hardj'. 

We believe that good cultivation and care will enable any one in almost 
any locality to grow good gooseberries free from mildew. But we do not be- 
lieve that farmers in general will bestow that care. It' any one will, it is not 
necessary, perhaps, for us to resort to the native sorts, but Ave may at once 
procure the very choicest English varieties, like some of the beautiful speci- 
mens exhibited at every fruit show. 

We will give the names of a few of the leading sorts of gooseberries culti- 
vated by gardeners and amateurs: Sheba Queen, Champagne Red, Cham- 
pagne Yellow, Whitesmith, Golden Drop, Keen Seedling, Green Gage, 
Crown Bob ; the first and last of the list are the most popular. The '• Mount- 
ain Seedling" should be added to the list. 

624:. QiiinceSi — Although quinces can not properly be ranked among the 
" small fruits of the garden," we will introduce them here because they more 
properly belong to the garden than to the orchard. They should belong to 
every garden, because they are excellent fruit, always acceptable for family 
Tise, or salable at a liberal price in market. The tree is very hardy, and 
grows from four to twenty feet higli while in good beai'ing condition. We 
have known them set by the side of a garden wall and stand tliere neglected 
for thirty years, producing a crop every year. They ■will, however, pay for 
better treatment. If set in clumps in a lawn and kindly cared for, the3' ar^ 
highly ornamental. The main stem of a yonng quince bush should be cut 
back at a year old, and then it will form several branches, with curious 
crooked limbs, and it may be trimmed to form a bushy head of almost any 
shape. The form, foliage, flowers, and fruit are all ornamental. Tiiis plant 
is a bush rather than a tree, and comes to us from Cydon, in Crete, its bo- 
tanical name being Cydonia vulgaris. It grows best in moist, or rather 
mucky soil, by the side of rivulets, or streams, or ponds ; but it should not 
be neglected as it is generally, unless knotty, miserable, bitter, sour fruit is 
preferred to the fair, smooth, high-flavored fruit produced by cultivation. 
No tree or shrub pays better for manuring than tiie quince. It is true, after 
its form is once established, it needs but little care in the way of pruning, 
and if located in a favorable situation, does really flourish without care. 



554 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

But we are sure that a quince orchard -would pay for care as well as one 
of peaches. The vai'iety called the Apple quince is very productive, and 
the fruit, though it is unfit to eat out of hand like pears, apples, peaches, is 
always salable, for it is universally esteemed for sweetmeats, jellies, marma- 
lade, etc., and for adding piquancy and a delicious flavor and aroma to apple 
tarts, pastry, and stewed fruit. The quince can be easily dried either raw 
or cooked, and is then excellent to add to other fruit. In England, wine 
.has been made of quinces, and it is esteemed a valuable medicine by asth- 
matics. 

It is very easy to extend the cultivation of quinces to any desirable point, 
and the plants are generally true to the seed, and if not, seldom produce a 
worthless sort. They also grow from cuttings set early in the spring in a 
rich shaded border, where they may be put in as thick as hair until roots 
start, and then set in a nursery bed. The poorer stocks can also be budded 
with good sorts, and they have frequently been grown by budding upon 
thorns. Quince stocks for the propagators of dwai-f pears, are indispensable. 

625. Varif lies of Quinces> — In purchasing quinces, do not suppose that there 
is a large variety of sorts because you find a great number of names in the 
nursery catalogues. There are just three distinct varieties : the Apple- 
shaped, or Orange quince ; the Pear-shaped, or oblong quince ; and the 
Portugal quince. The fruit of the last is considered superior to cook, and 
it is occasionally mild enough to eat out of hand. The leaf is larger and 
broader than the common sort, and the tree grows strong and bears large 
fruit of oblong shape, of rather light-colored skin, but the flesh, when cooked, 
turns to a fine purple. This variety would bo more esteemed if it was not 
such a shy bearer. 

Pea's Seedling is the name given to one of the quince family, the fruit 
growing very large and handsome in color, shape, and general appearance 
like the Orange quince. 

626. Oruaineutal Quinces^— The Japan quince is more for ornament than 
use. The blossoms are handsome, of bright scarlet color, and the fruit green, 
hard, and useless. 

The Chinese quince is of the same character as the Japan, an ornamental 
shrub — nothing more. 

In conclusion, we will say of the quince in general terms, it. is one of the 
v(*ry best fruit« for preserves, marmalades, sauces, sirups, jellies, either alone 
or with otlrer fruits, to which it imparts its fine flavor. The liquid, after 
washing the mashed fruit with water, and standing for twenty-four hours, 
makes a good wine with sugar. Medicinally, the quince is strengthening, 
giving tone to the stomach. Baked with sugar, they are superior to apples, 
and dried quinces are frequently mixed with apples, in making pies, to im- 
prove their flavor 



PLATE XVI. 

(Page 655.) 

This is a fitting frontispiece to this important chapter upon the 
orchard. It is indeed " a dessert fit for a fai-mer." It is placed 
here as a sign of something good in the following pages. It is made 
tempting in its appearance to tempt you to taste of what is said 
of fruit culture. The basket is a s}Tiibol of what every farm 
should be— overflowing with its abundance of choice, rich, luscious 
fruits. Its place by the side of the wall is suggestive. Fruit needs 
protection. The view of water behind the wall is symbolical. A 
situation near water, if the soil is dry, is favorable for fruit-growing. 
The scene beyond is that of the quiet country home, where sis days 
of labor and one of rest and thanksgiving in the viUage church shall 
bring a store of just such fruits as are here exhibited. Reader, look 
at this picture ! study its lessons, thank God, and enjoy the fruits 
of the orchard. 




£< 







CHAPTER YI. 

THE ORCHARD. 

SECTION XXXV.-l'ROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF 

TREES. 

. T M-ill not be expected that we sliall give a complete 
l^ ti-eatise upon so important a subject as the title of this 
section indicates in the space allotted to each subject in 
this work. We only aim to brief hints, just enough to 
awaken attention and induce farmers to procure and study 
some of the many valuable works easily attainable, such as 
" Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees of America," " Kenrick's 
New American Orchardist," now somewhat old, but full of 
useful information ; also " Cole's Fruit-Book," a pocket edi- 
tion ; "Manning's JSTew England Fruit-Book;" "Elliott's 
American Fruit-Growers' Guide ;" " Barry's Fruit-Garden ;" 
" Waring's Fruit-Growers' Hand-Book ;" and " Tiiomas' 
American Fruit Culturist." All are modern and standard 
works, of small size and cost, having a great mass of val- 
uable information condensed into such brief space that the busiest man can 
find time to read them, and to study carefully such parts as are directly 
adapted to the particular case in hand. Many of the nurserymen give val- 
uable information in their annual catalogues. This is particularly tiie case 
with Dr. Grant's catalogue of grapevines. It gives the most information 
about grape culture of any work we are acquainted with. Some of the 
agrieulnii;il av.d horticultural papers, which are published so very cheap 
that every farmer can afford to have one or more always upon his sitting- 
room table, often contain single items about fruit culture worth ten times the 
cost of annual subscription. 

The, annual reports of transactions by the American Pomological Society, 
as well as those of other societies, should be in the hands of all persons who 
have any interest in fruit growing. Then to such as can afford the cost or 
time of study, the publications of London and Paris will give a world of in- 
formation upon this subject. Some of them have most expensive colored 
plates, such as no American puljlisher has dared to rival, though we have 
had a few feeble imitations. " Field's Pear Culturist," with colored fruit, 
though inferior to Paris works, yet contains some valuable information. 
Those who are able should possess " Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and 
Kitchen Garden," which, although published thirty years ago, and adapted 



556 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

to Englanr], contains much valuable information for American farmers, and 
also all of Lindley & Loudon's works ; and many others, both English and 
American ; and we hope that this chapter will contain a little, if but a little, 
that will be valuable. 

One of the most thrifty orchards we know of was planted by an old sea- 
captain, who took reason rather than practice for his guide. He made but 
one error — he used trees too large, such as fail nine times in ten. He first 
plowed and subsoiled his orchard ground nearly two feet deep ; then lie dug 
lioles eiglit feet across, two and a half feet deep, and filled them all with sur- 
face soil, scattering that dug. from the bottom in place of that taken from 
the surface between the rows. Then he went to the nursery and dug his 
own trees, or at least directed every stroke, and brought them home in liis 
own wagon and planted them with his own hands, straightening out and 
carefully bedding all the roots just as deep as they originally grew, and 
then mulched, and kept mulched for two years, the whole space occupied 
by the roots. In si.K years he had a productive orchard of apples, pears, 
and peaches, and in eight years it was one of great notoriety for its vigor 
and fruitfulness. 

The following-named trees are transplantable in the order in which they 
stand, as to the success attending their removal, viz. : plums, quinces, ap- 
ples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries. Yet we have successfully 
removed choice cherry-trees of six inches diameter. 

Make it a rule never to occupy the ground of an old orchard with new 
trees. In the first jjlace, you can not properly plow the ground, on account 
of roots ; and secondly, if you could, the trees will not grow as thriftily. 

The aspect of land for an orchard in a hilly country is a matter of some 
importance. The most natural one for the growth of trees appears to be 
a hillside, facing the southeast; but it has been found that some trees, liable 
to injury from spring frosts, are more apt to be affected upon such an aspect, 
because tlie morning sun strikes tlie trees earlier than upon other aspects ; so, 
many farmers, of late, have planted trees on the side of a hill facing tlie 
north. But there is then danger from the extreme cold of winter, as it has 
been pretty well ascertained that a sudden turn from mild winter weather 
to twenty degrees below zero is fatal to peach-buds, and dangerous to buds 
of other fruit-trees ; and there is sometimes danger that a northern ex- 
posure will not perfectly ripen the fruit of some trees. Upon the whole, 
we would compromise the matter by selecting a hillside with a southwestern 
aspect. South of New York, northerly slopes may be more safely selected, 
and as far south as Washington would be generally preferable ; and by the 
same rule, as far north as the middle of Vermont, the southei'n slopes will 
always be found the safest. 

627. Roots— Their Function, and the Effect of Soil.— The function of the 
roots of a tree are not merely, as some persons suppose, to give it a hold 
upon the ground, to support it in its place, but to feed it as really as an ani- 
mal is fed. The many spongioles at the extremity of the fibrous roots are its 



Sec. 35.] PHOPAGATIOJf, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 557 

montlis. These, as the name indicates, are little sponges that suck np and 
carry into the circulation any substance that presents itself in a licpud form ; 
and manure, until it assumes that form, is as useless to plants as sticks or 
stones, and it can not become liquid until it is thoroughly decomposed ; hence 
the value of composting all coarse manurial substances before applying them 
as fertilizers. Hence, too, the advantage of deep tilth, that these spnngioles 
may go in search of food. Let it be remembered, when we think al)out the 
flinty character of the outside coat of stalks of wheat, rye, corn, and some 
of the "sickle-odge'' grasses, that this all comes from quartz held in solu- 
tion, having been dissolved by alkaline substances furnished by the decom- 
position of vegetable matter that atibrds i)otash, or from some other source, 
and that this liquid flint has been sucked up through these little rootlets and 
carried in the sap to the outer coat of tlie stalks, and de])osited there to dry 
and harden in the sun, to give strength, which enables the slender stalk to 
support tlie fruitful head. 

Let us also remember that every variety of soil grows its own particular 
variety of plants, and that it is useless to attempt to grow those naturally 
adapted to one kind of soil upon another. As a swamp is drained and made 
dry, the vegetation naturally changes. The ^gilops, a wild grass of Italy, 
cultivated careful!}' upon rich soils, has become wheat. And if we would 
produce the finest fruit, we must not only plant the right kind of trees, but 
we must plant them in the right kind of soil, and give them proper cultiva- 
tion. Soil that will grow apples may not produce peaches ; and careful cul- 
tivation may produce almost as great a change in all fruit as growing wheat 
from ^gilops. 

G28. Propas;atioii by Cuttings and Layers.— Some kinds of fruit are much 
easier propagated by cuttings than grafts or buds. Cuttings of last year's 
growth of currants, gooseberries, quince, tigs, mulberries, antl hardy grape- 
vines, with two buds, one planted below and one above the surface, in good, 
moist soil, will send out roots and branches, and soon form thiifty plants. 
The cuttings must be taken oft' in autumn, and phiced in dry soil, about one 
third out, or in boxes of sand in the cellar, to winter, or else they must be 
cut ver}' early in the spring, before the buds swell. 

Some prefer to have the cuttings a foot long, and plant two thirds of the 
length below the surface, and that is a safer plan than short cuts, with persons 
not well skilled in tlie business. Scientific propagators, with the aid of hot- 
houses, fine soil, and moisture, in pots, will propagate from a single leaf bud. 
Propagating by layers is done by cutting a branch half oft" on the under 
side, and laying it down under the soil, staked down, with the end turned 
up, so as to be supported in its growth by the parent stock, while roots start 
out from the cut, by which a rooted plant is obtained by cutting oft" the 
branch beyond the new roots. The limb should be layered in spring, and 
may be transplanted in autumn, or nest spring. 

Cherries and some other fruits may be propagated from suckers, where 
the sort you wish to multiply comes from the root. 



558 



THE ORCHARD. 



[CUAP. VI. 



As a general rule, suckers of any fruit-tree should not be used for graft- 
ing. If other stocks can not be obtained, select your suckers from trees 
wliicli do not naturally produce them in abundance; because the rule holds 
good, that like produces like, and if the tree originates from one given to a 
continual production of suckers, your new tree will be likely to do the same, 
eithei' Irom roots, body, or branches. An apple-tree covered with suckers 
lias an unsightly appearance. "We have just sent a man through the orchard, 
ill June, to clear it ofthese useless sprouts, which absorb a great deal of the 
sustenance of trees, and give nothing in return. 

G29. When and Uow to Plant Fruit-Treesi— This is still a mooted question, 
which we can not settle to the satisfaction of any of the advocates who con- 
tend, upon one side, that autumn is the very best time ; and on the other 
side, others contend that trees never should be planted at any other time 
than spring. Is this so ? Much the largest portion of the trees planted 
have been removed from the nursery to the orchard in the spring, often to 
the inconvenience of the farmer, because he was impressed with the idea 
that that was the only safe time to dig up, remove, and re-plant them. Yet, 
in nine cases in ten, where the trees are ordered from a professional nursery- 
man, he dug them up in the fall, and kept them heeled in, ready for sale in 
the spring. Now if it is a good practice to dig them up, and bury the roots 
so as to have them handy to pack up when ordered, why would it not be a 
better practice to put them at once where they are to grow ? 

630. Shall wc Plant Trees in Spring or Autumn?— Andrew S. Fuller, an ex- 
perienced horticulturist, of Brooklyn, N. Y., says: 

"Twenty years ago, the cry was that the country would soon be over- 
stocked with nurseries and nursery trees. But that much-looked-for day has 
not yet dawned upon a fruit-loving community, and we fear it never will. 

"There are at least ten millions of fruit-trees for sale in New York State 
to-day ? Will they all be sold ? Most assuredly. "Will they all live and 
bear fruit? No, not one half of them. There are several reasons why they 
will not, among which we may mention that many are unsuited to the cli- 
mate ; others are grafted or budded upon stocks that have not sufBcient affin- 
ity for the graft to make a permanent and perfect union ; many will die in 
being transported from the nursery to the place where they are to be plant- 
ed, owing to improper packing. 

" But the great destroyei', and the one who thinks everybody and every- 
thing to blame — soil and climate included — is the planter himself; while the 
nurseryman, as well as others who are careful in such matters, will take trees 
that have been boxed up on board of a vessel from two to four months, and 
plant them, and not lose one in a thousand. Another person will take trees 
fresh from the ground, and plant them again within the hour, and yet he 
will not make one half grow. Why this wholesale destruction ? Simply 
because the planter is ignorant of the first principles of vegetable physiol- 
ogy, or he is wofuUy negligent. 

" We are obliged to confess that we, as a nation, are very ignorant in re- 



Sec. 33.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 559 



gard to many things that pertain to the garden. Most of the European 
nations are in advance of ns in this branch of industry. Besides, we have 
no jiatience — when we undertake to plant trees, we liurry through the job. 
If it is well done, so be it ; if poorly done, we blame somebody — generally 
the nurseryman, but never ourselves. 

"Is the fall of the year the best time to plant trees? We answer. Yes, 
for some kinds, but not for all. We would never plant evergreen trees in 
the fall, but always late in the spring, just at the time they commence to 
grow. 

"Apples, pears, hardy ornamental trees and shrubs we would plant in the 
fall, provided our soil was well drained either naturally or artificially. 

" If trees are planted in wet, heavy soil in the fall, the roots are very likely 
to rot or be very much injured before spring. 

"When trees are planted in the fall, in suitable soil, the wounds that are 
made on the roots while being transplanted become healed over ; a callosity 
is formed, from which, or near which, the new roots put forth. 

" It is a disputed point among vegetable physiologists whether the cal- 
lous which is formed on the root is indispensable in the formation of new 
roots. 

" We know it seems natural for plants to form this callous before they 
emit new roots. 

" We make cuttings of hardy trees and shrubs in the fall, for we have 
found that cuttings made at this time root much more readily than if de- 
ferred until spring. 

"This is evidently owing to two causes: first, they are not exposed to the 
cold, by which they lose much of their vitality and power of emitting roots from 
the alburnum or inner bark, Avhich is always more or less injured by severe 
cold ; second, when cut and put away in a dark place, where the frost does 
not reach them, they are placed in a position to commence the change from 



branches to roots, which they must undergo if they live. Now it takes time 
for a plant to make this change, and it is evident that we had better give 
plenty of time than too little. Further, roots will form at a much lower 
temperature than that at which leaves are produced ; and, owing to this fact, 
we can have our, plants rooted and ready to furnish nourishment to the leaves 
as soon as they put forth. 

" Trees transplanted in the fall, and the roots properly prepared, cutting 
off all broken parts, and smoothing the ends with a sharp knife, will com- 
mence the formation of roots in the spring, long before the leaves are pro- 
duced. Yet most persons will succeed better with spring planting than with 
fall planting, because trees require much care to keep them in a proper 
position through the winter, when they have lost a portion of their roots. 

" In transplanting trees either in the fall or spring, they should always 
have a portion of their branches pruned ; no matter how carefully the 
operation may be performed, the roots will surely receive a check, and some 
of taem may be lost ; therefore, to establish an equilibrium between root 



560 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



and top, a portion of the latter should be cut away. . We always shorten the 
branches at least one third when we transplant any deciduous tree. 

" If we receive trees that have become dry and shriveled by long ex- 
posure, we bury them, root and branch, in the ground, and let them remain 
there until they have swelled out to their original condition ; then lift the 
top branches first; then, in a few days, lift a portion more, and so on, until 
the whole stem is exposed. Then take it out and prune it severel}' and plant 
it. A tree that has become so dry that it would never show a sign of life if 
planted immediately, will often make a vigorous growth the first season if 
treated as we have described. 

" One fatal error into which many fall is in buying large old trees instead 
of small, young, and thrifty ones. The old adage, 'Haste is not always 
speed,' is wonderfull}' true in this case. 

"What we strive to get by fixll-planting is to get the trees in a condition 
to grow at the earliest possible day in the spring. The roots of a fall-planted 
tree will heal and begin to grow in the fall, if properly planted, and not too late. 
That is why I advocate fall-planting. I transplanted some peach-trees in the 
middle of summer by cutting off all the limbs, and the trees lived, and are 
now growing finely. 

" Pear-trees may be transplanted at almost any age or size, but as a 
general thing two or three years' old are the most convenient size. In 
planting dwarf pears, we want all the quince stock to be covered ; the 
junction to be one or two inches below the surface. If the root is too long, 
and there is danger of the lower roots becoming injured by being buried too 
deeply, cut oS a portion of the lower end. If your soil is as deep as it 
should be, and well drained, then the quince root will remain perfectly 
healthy one foot below the surface ; if it is not, then you had better defer 
planting dwarf pears until you can properly prepare the ground for their 
reception. 

" There is no danger of planting dwarf-trees upon land that is dug two feet 
deep. The quince stock should always be buried so as to throw out roots, 
but if the root is too long, be sure to cut it off. Trees should never be 
grown in the nursery with deep roots. Care should be had in cutting back 
the first year's growth of a tree, to cut it at a bud opposite the side budded, 
so that the main limb will balance the tree. Cut off all the ends of long 
roots and most of the fibrous roots, and all that are broken or bruised, when 
you transplant a tree." 

"In Great Britain," says Hovcifs Magazuic, "planting is continued from 
autumn until spring, the weather usually being sufficiently mild to permit 
of this ; besides this, the latter season is dull and moist compared with our 
own, and there is no heat of summer to disorganize and set at naught all 
that has been accomplished. No cloudless skies and torrid blasts of weeks' 
duration disturb the fears of the planter or blight his hopes. Whether 
done at one season or the other, though there may be some preference even 
in that climate, there is little or no danger that any fatality worthy of con- 



Sbo. 35.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 561 

sideration will attend the labors of the cultivator, and he may await cou- 
tentedly the result. 

" But all is changed here. Spring arrives with its cold storms, making 
tlio ground as the frost leaves it, a cold, clammy, sodden earth, too wet to 
dig or plant, until so late in the season tliat the trees have already begun to 
swell their buds and put forth their blossoms. Yet, so rapid is vegetation, 
tliat the work must proceed with haste, or the opportunity be lost till another 
year. Even under these disadvantages, all would be well enough but for 
the summer heat and drouth. Tliese set in at once, before the tree has bad 
time to recover, and following so close, e.\haust the sap, shrivel the wood, 
and if they do not kill the tree, enfeeble it more or less, so that at least one 
year is lost in the work of recovery. If these are the effects that follow in 
our climate, •which we think will not be denied, then, at least, it must be 
acknowledged that climate must be taken into consideration in transplant- 
ing; for however advantageously the operatiou may be performed in a cool, 
damp climate, like that of Great Britain, it will not do here. 

" There arc few springs, unless late iu May, when the soil is in such a 
loose, dry, and friable condition as it is in the latter part of October and 
November. Besides, it has not yet jjarted witli its warmth, which is of more 
importance than is generally supposed ; for the roots,_yet active, continue 
their growth when not checked by cold and wet. Experiments have been 
accurately made by careful planters, who have found fresh roots from trees, 
transplajited in October, in a growing condition during the winter. Tiie 
opportunity to prepare the soil, its better condition at the time of removal, 
and its greater warmth, are all in favor of autumn planting. 

" As a general rule, do not have manure, unless perfectly decayed, applied 
in immediate connection with the roots, particularly in spring planting, for 
it acts as a stimulus when the delicate fibers are not in any condition to ab- 
sorb it, and the effect is to cause their decay rather than their growth and 
extension. Especially is this the case when the summer is dry and hot. 
But in autumn planting there is not so much danger of injury, even with 
fresh manure. The soil, cooling down as winter approaches, prevents any 
heating effects from the manure, while its mechanical operation is to lightet 
the earth when it would too rapidly become compact by winter rains. In 
autumn planting, manure is best applied upon the surfiice of the soil, by the 
application of a bushel or two immediately around the tree. This not only 
protects the earth from deep and penetrating frosts, but all the entire 
strength and virtue of the manure is carried into the soil." 

631. Simple Rules about Tree-Plantinjr. — A great many other experienced 
persons just as earnestly advocate spring planting. Our opinion is, that 
both are right, under certain circumstances. Upon a well-drained or 
naturally dry soil we should prefer to plant in the spring, if it could be 
done early. If farmers will prepare the orchard ground by deep plowing 
and subsoiling in the fall, and by digging large holes, leaving them open, 
and the dirt thrown out in a pile, to be pulverized by the action of freezing 



562 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



and thawing, and then set their trees early in the spring, there will be no 
doubt about their growing. As tree-planting is generally done in the hurry 
of spring work, we are sure it is not as likely to produce good results as 
autumn planting. But whether planted in spring or autumn, it is of the 
utmost importance that the tree has not been spoiled in taking it up. There 
is where most trees get their death-blow. Adopt these few simple rules, 
whether you plant in spring or autumn. 

First, have plenty of roots to your trees. Second, dig large holes and 
make the ground mellow at the bottom. Third, do not set your stocks too 
deep. Fourth, fill the earth carefully around them, and trample it solid. 
Fifth, raise the earth slightly, so the water can not stand in a puddle around 
the tree. Then cover the ground, four or five feet each way from the tree, 
with some kind of mulching, and depend upon it you will not complain of 
trees dying. There is one thing more for you to do. Keep your horses, 
cattle, sheep, and goats out of your orchard. 

The best form of setting apple-trees is that called qxdncunx. Set four 
trees two rods apart in a square, and a fifth one exactly in the center. 

" No tree should be planted in a hole less than four feet square and two 
feet deep. The bottom of the hole should be well loosened, and a compost 
of leaf-mold and manure mixed with it. In planting, care should be taken 
to cut off all bruised or broken roots. In filling, the soil should be finely 
pulverized and worked in among the roots, and the tree gently shaken up, 
so that the soil may reach every root. 

"A tree should never be moved backward and forward, as every pull you 
give it draws the roots out of their places, and causes them to become 
doubled up, thus defeating the very object you had in view when you spread 
the roots. Great care should be taken in treading in the soil, for if not prop- 
erly filled in, the roots are very apt to be broken off. 

" Avoid deep planting ; more trees are lost every year from this cause than 
any other. No tree should be planted more than a couple of inches deeper 
than it was before. 

" Mulching trees after transplanting is a very useful practice ; in winter 
it helps to exclude frost, and in summer prevents evaporation of moisture, 
and prevents the roots from suffering from drouth. 

" In pruning the heads of trees before transplanting, much will depend 
upon the size of the tree ; large trees reqixire more pruning than small ones. 
It needs but little judgment to enable the planter to ascertain how much 
of the top it is necessary to prune, in order that the loss may be equalized 
between the branches and the roots. The poor success attending the trans- 
planting of the large trees in the Central Park of this city may be attributed 
to the fact of their not having been pruned ; if one third of their tops had 
been taken off, the result would have been different. 

"In transplanting, two very important things are to be considered: first, 
preservation of the spongioles of the roots ; second, the prevention of evap- 
oration. The next important part is to choose that season when the tree or 



Sec. 35.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 563 

plant, according to its kind, is eitlier losing its sap in a state of repose, 
or j list before sap commences to start for another season ; each has its advo- 
cates ; every tree, even of the same species, will not admit of transplant- 
ing at tlio same time, and it will therefore depend much upon the judg- 
ment of the planter. The majority are in favor of early autumn planting, 
but this has reference to the state of the plant as well as the state of the 
season." 

Although largo trees may be transplanted by following the advice given, 
it- by no means follows that it is advisable to buy large nursery trees, be- 
cause both theory and practice indicate that it is more economical to trans- 
plant small trees, that is, from three to seven feet high. Tiie impatience 
of those who are about to establish new orchards is very apt to prompt 
them, whether buying trees, or moving them from their own nursery, to 
select trees too large for successful transplanting. Young, vigorous trees, 
of the size of a man's thumb, three feet high, will generally produce a bear- 
ing orchard sooner than trees four times that size, and not one tenth as 
likely to die at iirst as the large ones are, and the mature trees will last 
much longer, because they need not lose much top or roots in transplanting, 
and the vigor of m-owtli will scarcelv be checked. 

Whenever it is possible, go yourself to the nursery and select your trees 
and see them dug, choosing always good stocky plants, rather than large 
sizes. The" sooner you get them home and in their places the better ; but if 
you can not move them home at once, see that they are carefully heeled in 
to await your order; and when they arrive at your place, if you are not 
read}^ to plant them, have them heeled in where water will not stand about 
the roots ; and in so doing, let the trees rest easy at an angle of about forty- 
five degrees, with dirt well sifted among the roots, and if to remain over 
winter, you may cover the ground over the roots with mulching, but do not 
cover the bodies of hardy trees, lest you make a harbor for mice. If possi- 
ble, have your orchard ground, and the holes for trees, all ready before you 
go to the nursery. 

G32. How (0 Move Large Trees. — If you desire to move a large tree, 
whether an apple or any other kind of fruit, or a forest-tree, you must com- 
mence the year before, or at least the autumn previous, by digging a trench' 
around and cutting ofi' the roots, leaving a ball of earth with the tree in the 
earth. If the tree is very large, it is best to remove it while the ball is 
frozen, and this can be done with a pair of timber-wheels, lifting and keep- 
ing the tree upright. It can also be done with au ox-cart, by tipping it up 
and fastening the tree to it, and then tipping it down, witli the root hanging 
off beliind. It will generally be necessary to load stone on the forward end 
of the cart, or else have three or four men jump on to make it balance. The 
tree may be loaded on a wagon, witliout any box, by Iiaeking up to it and 
pulling tiie top down, so as to have the roots hang behind the hind axle. 
The tree may also be pulled over and rolled upon a sled, or set upright on a 
stone boat. If you move any tree with a large top, you must also move a 



564: THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



large root. Thetrimining of the tops aud roots should correspoud. It is a 
good practice to prepare trees of large size for moving two yeare in ad- 
vance, by digging and cutting all the roots around the center ball of earth, 
and then filling the trench and leaving the tree over one summer to throw 
out new roots, and heal the wounds of the ones cut off, and also the wounds 
of the limbs. By this process a very large apple, pear, cherry, or otlior tree 
can be safely moved. 

We have known a farmer to defer building a new house, year after 
year, because he could not build without destroying some favorite tree, and 
did not know how to move it. We have often known a new road fought 
against for years because it Avould cut through some man's orchard, tlio 
owner of which finally had to yield to the necessity of the case, and see his 
valuable trees sacrificed, perhaps just as they were large enough to com- 
mence bearing, because he did not know how easily he could move them. 
It is our opinion that, as a general rule, trees from four to ten inches di- 
ameter can be moved at an expense not larger, per tree, than a dollar for 
each incli the tree is in diameter. 

An orchard, with half tlie trees prostrated by a gale, the trees of which 
would average eight inches in diameter, we have seen righted at an expense 
of not over a dollar a tree. The broken roots were carefully cut away, and 
the earth behind properly excavated, and about half of the top cut away, 
and a tackle attached from a standing tree to the fallen one, when two men 
would set it up in five minutes and brace it fast with two poles. The 
second year after, these trees bore as good a crop as they ever did before. 

Thomas Cavenach, an experienced and observing gardener of Brooklyn, 
furnishes us some good rules about moving trees. He says : 

"Large trees and shrubs can not be removed without injury to tlieir roots 
and at their ends, the very parts of most im2:)ortance to them, because there 
the spongioles are situated, and these, if once destroyed, must be reproduced 
before the plant can derive any nourishment for its future support. Trees 
removed in the fall will have these organs the soonest produced, and in the 
spring the latest, if at all in the later case ; the trees are left without support 
at the very time they most need it, and in consequence the leaves wither, 
the tree dies, or becomes greatly injured. The state of the weatlier has 
much to do with the successful removal of all trees. Dr}', windy, and frosty 
weather, as well as very warm sunshine, is the most unfavorable of all ; 
evaporation goes on more rapidly in such states of the weatlier tlian at any 
other time. A mild, damp day is the most fitting for the operation of 
transplanting, and this will be greatly enhanced if mild showers fall during 
the night. 

" Small trees and plants may be moved with less chance of failure than 
large ones, because their fibers are less liable to injury than others. Ever- 
greens should always be removed when in a growing state, because the 
moisture surrounding the roots is absorbed, and at once assimilated as food 
for the plants. The wounds where the roots have been injured quickly heal 



Sec. 35.] PROPAGATIOX, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION' OF TUEE<. 060 



over, and new roots are formed ; but if removed in winter, when the ground 
is frozen and the tree in a dormant state, the moisture which surrounds the 
roots has a tendency to rot the portion of the roots wliere they have been 
severed. 

" Forest and fruit trees may generally bo most advantageously moved in 
autumn, because the wounds made in llieir roots will commence to cicatrize 
and tiirow out granulous matter, and sometimes even spongioles imme- 
diately, so that by the time spring arrives the tree will grow with almost as 
much vigor as if it had not l)ecu transplanted. 

" Preparation of the ground is tlie most important matter connected with 
moving trees. I have known many who could not in otlicr matters be called 
ignorant persons, plant trees much in tlie same way as we would set up a 
post in the ground, under the mistaken idea that a tree, when it is placed in 
the soil, will grow xmder any circumstances. 

633. Preparation Necessary for Trec-P!antiug.—Tiie greatest cause of fail- 
ure of success in growing trees is in the preparation of the soil. Let it be re- 
membered that the soil for a tree nursery should be as good and well worked 
as a well-cultivated kitchen garden. Manure, and particularly that made of 
leaves or ashes, is valuable for tree nurseries, whether fruit or forest trees. 
Weeds must be exterminated, or they will destroy the nursery. Care must 
be taken in selecting soils. No wet soil, nor a ferruginous one, should be 
chosen. The young trees, too, must be carefully guarded against the depre- 
dations of cattle, as all farm-stock are fond of young shoots of most fruit or 
forest trees. 

Do not plant trees on a retentive soil in wet weather. It is almost as 
necessary to keep a new plantation of forest-trees or an orchard clear of weeds 
for two or three years, as it is to keep the nursery clean. 

In all cases farmers should be much more careful in preparing the soil 
and planting trees. The want of success in growing fruits is to be traced to 
negligence in this department, because a tree is a vitalized body, possessed 
of delicate organs, by means of which the tree is enabled to build itself up 
from the food to be found in the soil and the air — also to perfect its fruit. 
Study the habits of your trees, and give them all they require. Eut of one 
thing do not lose sight : all frui^-trees of value require a loose, deep soil, free 
from excessive quantities of water, and well supjilied with mineral food. 
If your soil is wet, drain it deeply; if compact, loosen it with a plow as 
deeply as possible, and follow in the bottom of the furrow with the lifting 
subsoil plow, if in a field ; and if in a garden, trench the soil deeply through- 
out the whole plat. Supply no manures but those well decomposed, such 
as woods-mold, muck, chip dirt, rich road scrapings, composted with ashes, 
or salt and lime, or both, some weeks before applying them to the soil, mixing 
m the compost a small quantity of ti.ne barn-yard manure. 

When the soil has been thus prepared, place the tree no deeper than it 
grew in the nursery, unless it be a pear on a quince stock, when it should be 
left so as to entirely cover the quince with soil. None but the best soil 



666 



THE ORCUARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



should be put under or about the roots. No plaster, ashes, phosphates, or 
guano should touch them. No fomenting manures of any kind should be 
allowed under the tree to injure its roots by the escape of gases. Sjirinkle 
fine soil on the roots while the tree is held still, regulating it as necessary 
to secure the natural position. In all but heavy clay soils pour a pail of 
water over the loose earth and allow it to settle away before sotting the 
tree. Do not churn the tree up and down in the hole. Do not trample on 
the earth with your feet, leaving great spaces in which no soil finds its way. 
Do not throw in clumps of earth or stones. Fill up the hole carefully, 
keeping away grass and sods. Cover a wide space around the tree with 
coarse litter, leaves, salt-hay, sawdust, tan bark, or stones loosely piled 
around. These will shade the soil, keep in moisture, and enable you to 
water the tree without forming a thick crust on the top of the soil, or pack- 
ing it down too closely. 

Should you be unable to subsoil or ti-ench all your land, dig wide and 
deep holes, leaving out all the sul)soil, returning nothing but surface soil, 
and proceeding as before. For large trees, use strong, limber stakes, to 
which they should be attached by soft ties of willow or straw. Trees thus 
carefully set will grow and reward the planter. 

6M. Uow to Winter Young Apple-Trces. — A new beginner in the nursery 
business, in Wisconsin, wants information. He says : " I planted, last fall, 
about three acres of ground to apple-seeds, and have now some fifty thousand 
fine-looking plants. Now will it be the best way to take them up and house 
them in a cellar the first winter, or leave them standing, and shall I cover 
them or not ? If taken up, could I graft them successfully during the win- 
ter ? Which is best — to graft them in the root or stock V 

It is the safest plan to take tliem up and store them in a dry cellar, or else 
heel them down in furrows in the nursery grounds where they grew. They 
may be grafted, when of the size of one fourth to one half inch in diameter, 
inserting the graft in the stalk close down to the crown of the root. On ac- 
count of grafting, it is better to put all that are large enough in the cellar, 
where they can be got at to work upon in winter. If left standing and cov- 
ered, the trees are sometimes half cut off by mice. 

L. M. Parsons, of Waukau, Wis., speaking of the benefits of snow, 
says : 

" The virtue of perennial life is due to processes which can only be carried 
on in conditions which exclude the light, like that of snow, rubbish, or shade. 
Indeed, the tannin increment is almost limited to snow-clad districts ; and 
perennials are the most abundantly supplied with it where the concealment 
of snow in winter is continued through the summer by the agency of moss, 
leaves, and shade. Hence it would seem, that to perpetuate an old orchard, 
it should either be supplied with the perennial increment in solution, or 
that the ground should be so concealed from light as to secure a perpetual 
elaboration of that element. 

" This view is supj^orted by the dwarfed appearance of perennial plants 



Sko. 35.] PROPAGATIOX, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 5G7 



throughout the prairie region of the "West, where autumnal fires, from time 
unmeasured, have robbed the soil of every concealing object, thereby limit- 
ing the time of perennial gestation to the short period of shade afforded by 
cereal plants, and the quantity of perennial food to the simple want of such 
plants, wherewith to embalm their seeds. Hence young orchards, on our 
richest cereal soils, like our scattered forest trees, are weak in fiber, false in 
heart, and early show the marks of dotage, and on them the undying para- 
site makes his pre-emption before his time. Nothing is more fatal to jirairie 
orchards than open culture, or blighting than the plow, and nothing more 
beneficial tlian straw, boards, or anything to make concealment. The soil 
of old orchards, however well supplied with the embalming element, in its 
virgin state, becomes exhausted by open culture, naked grazing, and usually 
dejjrived of shade by the unsocial distance of the trees, so that in the run of 
time the soil of Eastern orchards, like Western prairies, fails to do perennial 
service. 

" Six years ago I put out some nursery trees of three j'cars' growth, on 
prairie sod, digging the pits only three inches deep, with a drain, and cov- 
ered the roots with soil from an old cultivated field, and having scattered 
potatoes over tlie ground, covered them with straw fifteen inches deep, putting 
a little dirt on the top to pack the straw, and some sawdust around each tree 
to protect it against mice. I had a good yield of potatoes, all the trees lived, 
and now have the spread of an old orcliard, and give a good yield of fruit. 
One tree was set where there had been a hog-pen ; that tree has borne, for 
five years, the finest of fruit (though a seedling) to such extent that it has 
been necessary to support every limb, and it now measures fifteen inches 
around its body a foot above the ground. None of these trees have a blight 
upon them, while trees near by, treated in the usual way of open culture, 
have not over one third the growth, and already show the mark of dotage, 
the yellow leaf, and the worm of time." 

Snow sometimes proves detrimental to trees, by aflFording the mice an op- 
portunity to gnaw them. The following is given as a remedy by Andrew 
Kerns, of Grundy County, 111. lie says : 

" Last winter, the first we knew, ten or fifteen young apple-trees were 
completely stripped of their bark — some of them from the ground eight or 
nine inches upward. Upon examination, we found a number of mice-roads 
through the frozen ground and grass. We mixed two ounces cayenne pepper 
in a pan of soft-soap, and gave all the trees — about one hundred — a good 
coat of this wash with a brush, and not a mouse has touched them since. 
We shall repeat the dose next winter." 

635. Winter Protection— Fruit-Trees on the Prairies. — We advocated the 
plan, twenty-five years ago, of planting orchard trees on the surface, hauling 
up a sutficient quantity of earth to cover and support the roots, instead of 
putting them below the natural level of the earth, where, in many sites that 
we have seen orchards planted upon, the water would stand for weeks, so as 
to completely cover every fiber of roots. This is not alone the case upon flat 



568 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

prairies, but frequently where it is quite rolling, the soil being of such a na- 
ture that it retained water almost as well as a sponge. 

Had the plan been generally followed by those who have planted orchards 
upon rich, loamy, prairie soil, there would have been now many more thou- 
sands of apple-trees alive in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Mis- 
souri, in all of which States we have annual moanings over winter-killed 
fruit-trees. If all orchards were planted and tended like the one mentioned 
in the following extract from a letter in the Prairie Farmer, we should 
cease to hear anything about winter killing. We advise all prairie orchard 
owners to put the plow at work. The letter alluded to says : 

"I visited, not long since, the successful orchard of 75 acres owned by 
Mr. James Wakeniaii, of Cottage Hill, Dii Page County. One of the lead- 
ing features of this orchard is, that the trees have the appearance of being 
planted on ridg-es, which has been caused by annually plowing toward the 
trees. He commences plowing next to the rows of trees, and this leaves a deep 
furrow in the center between the rows, M-hich acts as a partial drain — a very 
efficient surface drain in winter. For when the snow is thawed by the influ- 
ence of the sun, the ground being frozen, it runs into the hollows, as it can 
not penetrate the soil, and if the slope is completed to the dead furrow, it flows 
there. But if there is a hollow immediately about the body of the tree, 
water settles in it. I have seen it stated recently that the expansion or lift- 
ing power of ice is nearly equal to twice the lifting power of gunpowder. 
Hence the efl'ect of a body of ice immediately about the bole of a ti'ec — 
hence, too, the importance and benefits of banking up with earth, in the fall, 
so as to shed off water. I have had trees destroyed in winter by ice form- 
ing about the collar, and I have seen hardy grapes ruined in the same way. 
Scores of trees, whose bodies are otherwise protected from freezing, are killed 
at the collar by this lifting ice. It is a good plan, I think, to bank up about 
trees in the fall, and especially to plow orchards as above described." 

It is a good plan — there is no doubt of it — to plow every orchard upon 
retentive soil, in the manner indicated ; and the advice, like the almanac, is 
suited to all places in this latitude. 

It is true the best plan is under-draining ; for there is not one acre in ten 
in all the West that will grow an orchard successfully until it has been 
thoroughly drained ; and even then, we believe ridging the ground before 
planting the trees would be advantageous. Some kind of winter protection 
is also much needed, particularly for nurseries. 

When an exposed situation is unavoidable, then the very fii-st step should 
be to provide shelter in the speediest possible manner. For this purpose, 
belts of rapid-growing trees — say double rows — should be planted so as to 
intersect the ground at intervals, and ward off the prevailing and most inju- 
rious winds of the particular locality. In the culture of dwarf trees, flowers, 
vegetables, and all crops of low growth, common hedge-rows of buckthorn, 
privet, Osage orange, or any rapid-growing shrub, will be of great service 
as a protection from cold winds, though some of them exhaust the soil. 



Seo. 35.] PROPAGATION', PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 560 



The value of woodland for a printer protection of orchards is not suf- 
ficiently appreciated. The prairies have never been wooded. The land is 
now just in the natural condilion of the bottom of a lake, from which the 
water has receded and the land dried up, and which first produces weeds, 
then grass, and afterward trees, as the prairie land now readily produces 
them where fires are kept out ; and one of the wisest things for any one who 
would grow an orchard or nursery of choice fruit upon such open grounds, 
is to begin with a belt of forest trees. The locust, Roh'mia pseudacacia, will 
grow in five jears so as to form quite a shelter. 

A correspondent gives us a detailed account of his observations upon a 
piece of wheat in Delaware, about five acres of which, alongside a grove, 
made a good crop, and seventy acres exposed to the full blast of an almost 
Siberian -winter was not worth cutting. He says also of the effect of wood- 
land in Michigan upon fruit-trees : 

" Our orchards here did very well when the country was new and the 
clearings were small. But as our forests recede from the orchard, the bark 
on the west side of many a fine fruit-tree is killed by the piercing west wind. 
Some of our neighbors have very considerately preserved belts of timber 
and clusters of shell-bark, black walnut, and butternut; while others, like 
time, have cut down all, and are now gathering the fruits of their folly in- 
stead of their orchards." 

The winter protection of snow is one of the causes of health in many trees. 
Without it they would perish. 

636. Cheap Labels for Fruit-Trees. — Take two pieces of wood, and hinge 
them together Avith a leaden wire, and write the name between the two. 
The lead wire is preferable to all other metals, because it is always flexible 
and readily adjusted. The name being written on the inner side, is shielded 
from the action of the weather, which soon effaces the name when exposed. 
The cost is not over fifty cents a hundred. Zinc labels, written over with a 
lead pencil, are also durable. If written upon with any acid ink, it will eat 
the name into the zinc. 

The fallowing recipe for making ink that is indelible, used on zinc labels, 
is recommended: Take one drachm of powdered verdigris (acetate of cop- 
jier), one drachm of powdered sal ammoniac (muriate of ammonia), half a 
drachm of lampblack, and ten drachms of water. Mix the ingredients to- 
gether in a two-ounce vial, and shake it every time before using it afresh, and 
from time to time while using it. It is ready for use as soon as the verdigris 
and sal ammoniac are dissolved. In using the indelible ink there is one 
secret to be attended to, it is this — that the zinc label should, just previously 
to being written upon, have been rubbed bright witli some fine glass-paper. 
A steel pen is far better than a quill for writing on zinc. 

The best form of tree-labels we ever saw or used is made of a slip of zinc, 
seven or eight inches long, three quarters of an inch broad at one end, 
tapering regularly to a point at the other, with a quarter-inch hole in the big 
end. On these labels a number or name may be stamped, or the name of 



570 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



the fruit -written with ink prepared as above, or with a soft lead pencil, 
wliich latter is I'emarkably permanent, though not very conspicuous. Tlic 
danger of cutting trees by attaching labels by wires is so great that it 
should be guarded against; the label is broken off, or forgotten, or unnoticed, 
and by the growth of the stem or limb it is nearly cut off by the wire. 
"With these labels that difficulty is obviated. The zinc strip i.s bent around 
a limb, loosely, and the pointed end tucked through the hole and clinched. 




SECTION XXXVI.-THE ART OF TRUNING, GRAFTIXG, AND BUDDING. 

RAFTING, budding, pruning, are all arts that 
must be acquired, like any other art or work of 
skill. A pruner must understand why he prunes, 
and never cut a limb without first being fidly aware 
of the effect. Yet pruning is mostly done at random — 
a limb here and a limb there is cut away, the top 
lessened, and that is all. The fruitfulness of the tree is 
not improved, and its looks as a systematic work, such 
as nature builds, most decidedly injured. It is idle 
for any man of common sense to employ an itinerant 
pruner. They are often ignorant of the first principles 
of the art, and generally do more harm than good. 
If you doubt it, ask this question of one when he is 
about to cut off a limb : " What for ?" If he can an- 
swer that to your satisfaction, he possibly nnderstands his business, provided 
you can answer the question yourself. This is the true law of pruning. 
Never suffer a tree to go unpruned that needs it, and never cut away a limb 
without first asking and answering that question — what for ? 

If you understand the art, you may have a tree of any desired form, and 
always of handsome shape. The great feature of this was cutting back very 
short the first year's growth. Never plant a tree with a full top. Pruning 
in autumn makes the strongest trees or vines. Spring pruning produces the 
most fruit. A weak-growing tree should always be trimmed in autumn. 

637. The Right Time for Pniningi — The right time is in the growing season 
— the time when wounds heal the most readily. Tiie time to begin is the 
first year of growth in the nursery ; not to trim up sprouts to grow whip- 
stalks, but to shape the trees just as nature intended the particular species to 
grow. If an apple-tree, a short bole with a round, symmetrical head ; if a 
pear-tree, a somewhat longer bole, with a top shaped like a well-formed, 
slim haystack. A peach-tree may be grown with a single short bole and 
a very open-branching top, or it may be branched from the ground by cut- 



Sec. 36.] THE ART OF PRUNING, GRiVTTING, AND BUDDING. 571 



ting away the top of tlio young shoot the first year — a plan that wc prefer. 
A quincc-biish sliould always 1)0 grown in that way, branching from the 
root ; and it always looks to lis like forcing nature to prune a currant-hush 
into the form of a tree. A dwarf p.ear-tree should be pruned from the start 
to form a pyramid or sharp cone. Look at the extinguisher of your candle 
for a pattern. Cherry-trees do not need nor bear much pruning, except to 
cut away the winter-killed ends of limbs, and that should be done to all trees. 
As a general rule in pruning, study symmetry ; it is the first law of beauty ; 
if you can not see it otherwise, try it upon yourself. Lop off a right car, a 
left eye, a right hand, and so on, just as some pruners do the symmetrical 
beauties of a tree. In pruning all sorts of fruit-trees, keep "What for?" 
constantly before your ej-es. The answer is, to increase their jiroductive- 
ncss. This can not be done by cutting away many healthy limbs, but by 
disentangling them, so as to let in the light and an- to the center of the 
branches. 

63S. Over-Priining. — There is a tendency to over-prune among all amateur 
fruit-growers, and more particularly among all who are just beginning to 
grow ornamental shrubs and trees. There is no practice that needs reform 
more than this one. There is no quicker way of spoiling such trees than 
this injudicious over-pruning. There is not one forest-tree in ten that will 
bear the eternal clipping to which some are subjected. Autumn appears to 
be the most favorite time for this sort of vandalism. There is nothing like 
the let-alone system, and above all for all sorts of evergreen-trees. "With 
very little assistance, nature will do all the pruning that is required. Use 
the knife and shears only to assist nature, when trees are brought into un- 
natural situations. Of evergreens, do not cut away the lower limbs till you 
make your tree look like a big broom ■with the handle stuck in the ground. 
In all pruning of fruit or ornamental trees, or shrub or vines, do not make a 
cut till jow think what for, with what object, and what will be the effect. 
This is always necessary to prevent over-pruning. 

639. Objections to Spring Pruningi — ^There never was a more certain truth 
uttered than tiie following words of the editor of the JVew £ngland Farmer, 
who is not only a practical farmer, but one who never does a thing without 
first answering the question, " "What for ?" to the satisfaction of his own 
reason, and therefore is more entitled to attention than a mere utterer of dog- 
matisms, lie says : 

" Never prune an apple-tree in the months of March, April, or May. All 
the borers in the world do not commit half the havoc in our orchards that 
the pruning-knife and saw do, applied at the wrong season of the year. In 
the spring the sap is abundant, thin, and active, and where limbs arc taken 
off, it passes through the pores of the wood to the surface, and coming in 
contact with the atmos]ihere, becomes bitter and acrid, runs down the bark 
and poisons it, so that it is often killed quite into the wood. This is what 
causes most of the black lines so often seen upon apple-trees, which fre- 
quently causes their death." 



572 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



640. Objections to late Autumn Pruningo — "William S. Carpenter, of "West- 
chester County, N. Y., has devoted much attention to the cultivation of 
fruit, and he says: "There is no time so good as midsummer to prune all 
sorts of fruit-trees, and no worse time than late in autumn. That is rather 
worse than early spring. I am an advocate for pruning young trees in sum- 
mer with the thumb and finger, or a pocket-knife, so constantly and regu- 
larly that they will never require the saw. If that must be used, let it be 
applied in midsummer. AVith me that course is the most successful. In 
planting trees, apple or pear, I dig two feet deep and six feet M-ide, and fill 
the hole with good soil, and set the tree nearly level with the surface, and 
never use manure. I make the earth very fine, and am careful in setting 
them. In budding pears upon quince, set them on very short stalks. A 
dwarf pear set upon a quince stalk a foot high is almost worthless. It will 
be quite so if not carefully pruned." 

Another practical fruit- cultiirist gives the following: 

Gil. Practical Directions about Pruningt — "Trimming is now reduced to a 
system. By dwarfing various kinds of trees, such as the pear on the quince 
stock, we are enabled to train it and keep it within oiir reach, and make it 
l>oth ornamental and useful. The most approved form is the pyramidal. In 
order to form a perfect pyramid, we should encourage the tree to branch 
near the ground, and train the side branches so that they will be regularly 
distributed along the body. To eflfect this, summer pruning or pinching 
must be resorted to. Having as many side branches as we desire, we 
may coutinne its shape by pinching off the laterals from the side branches 
when they have grown to about three inches in length, taking care to leave 
these laterals about one inch long after you have pinched them ; these will 
again push and grow, and must be treated as before. This method of sum- 
mer pruning will check its woody growth and force it to expend its energies 
in fruit-bearing, and at the same time increase the size and quality of the 
fruit. For standard or orchard trees, a difi'crent treatment must be prac- 
ticed. For these, but little pruning is necessary, beginning when the trees 
are young, and annually going over the orchard. Cutting out all suckers 
and crowded branches, you avoid the necessity of cutting ofl' large limbs 
ill after years — a jiractice that should always be avoided. I have seen 
whole orchards nearly destroyed by this injudicious pruning. A limb should 
never be cut from a tree when more than two inches in diameter. Pruning 
should never be done except late in the spring or in midsummer. I would 
never prune a tree in winter. A limb cut off when full of frost will cause 
the wound to crack and split, thereby admitting the air into its wound, 
which will soon cause it to decay. It is to be regretted that so little atten- 
tion is paid to the orchard. It is quite common to see suckers growing 
around the bodies of trees until they are nearly hid from view, their 
branches covered with moss, and putting on altogether a stunted* and 
neglected appearance. You come to the conclusion that the owner of such 
an orchard does not think that fruit-growing is profitable. The wonder is 



Seo. 36.] THE ART OF PRUKING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 573 

tliat euch trees bear at all. But thej will make an effort, as it is natural 
for all fruit-trees to reproduce, but the specimens will be miserably small 
and deficient in flavor. If we desire good fruit, an orchard that will pay, 
trees that will deliglit us and our friends, we must do something for them. 
We must clear away all suckers, scrape off all the old rough bark and moss 
that have been the safe abiding-places for the destructive insect, and then 
with a solution of potash and water wash the trunks and limbs of the trees. 
If the orchard is yet young, plow it and put on a good top dressing of ma- 
nure, and then cultivate a crop of potatoes, or corn, or any other crop that 
will require thorough tillage ; follow this practice for a few years, and you 
will find it will most eflectually renovate your orchard, and you will be 
made to acknowledge that fruit-growing is profitable, and that your orchard 
is your dependence and delight, and you will be found encouraging your 
neighbors to plant, and thus extend this delightfid branch of industry." 

04:^. Root-Pruniug. — Root-pruning is apt to induce fruitfulness where the 
tree is making a too rapid growth, and pruning during the growing season 
in June will accomplish a similar result. Putting a wire around a branch 
of the grapevine so as to obstruct the flow of sap, will improve the quality. 
Eoot-pruning is to check the too rapid growth of wood. The result of ring- 
ing the vine is the same, and that enlarges the fruit. 

Various methods have been proposed for making fruit-trees bear early. 
As a general thing, it is not best to force trees into early fruitfulness, as it is 
necessary that they should have time to make a good and substantial growth, 
and obtain a projjer form to bear, in after years, the strong demand made 
upon the vitality of the tree by successive crops. Eoot-pruning tends to in- 
duce a slower growth and more solid ripe wood, and checks the tendency to 
over-bearing, which always injures the young tree. 

Gio. Graftiug and Budding. — It is easy for any one to learn to graft, but 
to be a skillful grafter or buddcr requires a steady hand and a good deal 
of practice. No farmer — indeed, no person having an interest in a garden 
spot — should neglect to leani how to perform both operations skillfully, 
because it is the true way of propagating almost all choice fruits. It 
is an art which women can practice as well as men. It has been practiced 
from a very remote time, as we have accounts of it in the earliest printed 
books. 

The proper time of grafting fruit-trees is in the spring, as soon as the sea- 
son is warm enough to put the sap in motion. This period conies earlier 
with the cherry and plum than it does with the apple and pear. In this 
vicinity apple-grafting often continues till the last of May in backward sea- 
sons. The best time is when April showers are prevalent, but the scions 
must have been previously cut. They may be cut and buried in autumn, 
or stored in a dry, cool cellar, with the lower ends in sand or dry soil. For 
scions, cut the thrifty wood of the last season's growth from bearing limbs — 
not water sprouts. Those shoots found near the top or center of the head of 
an old tree are preferred by grafters. Never cut scions from sickly trees or 



574 THE ORCHARD. [Chap VI. 

branches. Scions from young trees are apt to grow most vigorously, and 
we prefer them from the upright branches. 

Stocks for grafting, if not grown on the spot, should be transplanted to the 
nursery at least a year jjrevious to being used, as there is not usually vigor 
enough in a tree to recuperate its own powers and grow a graft the same 
season it is transplanted. 

644:. Grafting an Old Orchard, ■with the design of giving trees entire new 
heads, is practiced as follows : Commence the summer previous to cut away 
the old tops freely. oSText spring set the grafts, cutting away all that is 
necessary to give them room,'and free sunlight and aii\ Next spring, go 
over the trees about the first of June, and pull off all the suckers, particu- 
larly around the grafts, and cut oS' any limbs that interfere with their 
growth. We advise a side branch left upon each limb that has a graft in 
its end, to aid in keeping up a healthy circulation. Indeed, branching 
limbs should always be selected in grafting an old tree. AVatch the growth 
of the grafts during the second summer, which is sometimes very rapid, 
and may reach overhanging limbs ; in which case, cut them away. In June 
or July, after the grafts are two years old, nearly or quite all the old top 
may be removed, and, if necessary, the grafts trimmed slightly, to put the 
top into the right course of forming a new, handsomely shaped top. 

645. Cleft Grafting is the mode practiced in putting a new top to an old 
tree. That is, a largo limb, or oue perhaps two or three inches diameter, is 
split by driving a strong knife or chisel in the end just sawed off, and the 
cleft held open by a wooden wedge, driven in the center, while the scions 
are sharpened and inserted in the edges of the cleft, so that the bark of graft 
and stock exactly tit, and then the wedge is withdrawn, and the end of the 
limb covered with grafting-wax. 

646. Splice Grafting is practiced when the stock and graft are of equal 
size, by cutting the stock M'ith a sharp knife scarfing upward, and the scion 
downward, so that tlie two will fit an inch or two together, the edges of the 
bark exactly corresponding, and then tlie two are tied together with bass 
matting, or woolen yarn, if the former can not be had, and covered over 
with grafting-wax, or grafting clay, which by some is preferred. Some 
grafters spread their wax on strips of cotton cloth, and wind that around, 
and stick fast the end or tie it. Watch must be kept after the graft is grow- 
ing vigorously', that whatever is tied around does not get too tight before it 
is cut off". 

647. Tongue Grafting is much like splice grafting, except that a shoulder 
or sort of cleft is cut at the bottom of the scarf on the stock, and the point 
of the scion cut to fit in it, or else the notch is cut in the upper end of tlie 
scarf, and the scion shaped to fit. By this mode small grafts can be set 
upon large stocks, or four can be set upon a stock so as to form a four- 
branched head, if all grow. All that is necessary is to see that there is some 
point of contact of scion and stock, and that tiie inner bark of one exactly 
fits the other; the more the better, but the graft may live with a very 



a 



Sko. 36.] THE ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 575 

small point in connection, if carefully fastened and covered. Tiie covering 
should be removed about the middle of July. If clay is used, remove the 
ball after a rainy day. 

Care should be used, m cutting a scion, to have a bud come close down to 
the top of the stock. 

GiS. Root Graftiug is much practiced by nurserymen, the scions and roots 
both being stored in autumn, and the ■work done in winter, by splitting the 
end of a root and inserting the scion, and laying these away in a cellar till 
spring, when they are planted out ; the joint being entirely covered, no wax 
is used. Farmers may do the same. Sometimes roots are grafted while 
attached to the tree, by digging them up and cutting off an end and insert- 
ing the graft, and then putting the root back, Avith the end of the graft out 
of the ground. When it is a year old, a section of the root is dug up and 
transplanted. 

6i0. Saddle Grafting, which is done by cutting the stock to a wedge, and 
splitting the scion, is particularly recommended for cherry-trees, because it 
gives a larger surface of union. Sometimes one leg of the scion is fitted so 
as to insert between the bark and wood of tiie stock, while the other leg is 
brought down and fitted upon a scarf on that side of the stock. 

650. New Method of Grafting.— Horace Everett, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
■writes us about a method of grafting common in Tennessee, that may be 
worth knowing in other localities, and which he saj-s is not described in any 
fruit-book that he has read. The following are the directions : 

"A long, smooth shoot or litnb is selected, cut from the tree, and a sharp 
iron wedge driven through the limb, every four or five inches. Upon with- 
drawing the wedge, the graft is inserted, allowing the shaved end to extend 
an inch or so through, so that when a graft had been inserted in every split, 
the limb looked like a^ long stick, with the grafts extending from it at right 
angles, a shoot of four feet having about twelve grafts. This stick or limb 
was then buried in the ground, the top of the grafts only being allowed to 
come above the surface. During the year the grafts took root, and grew 
from twelve to thirty-six inches. The next i'all the limb was taken up and 
sawed apart between the grafts, thus leaving every graft with a portion of 
the limb adhering to it in the shape of a cross. I planted these grafts, and 
the trees grew and throve well. It is certainly a very cheap and economical 
stock for grafting." 

651. Natural Grafting. — We give the following reported fact for the 
encouragement of farmers who may happen to entertain any doubts upon 
the practicability of grafting ; 

" There is a white oak tree, of fine healthy growth, standing near Eobin- 
Bon's Coal-Oil Works, in Perry County, Ohio, on which, at fifty-five feet 
from the ground, is engrafted a black oak top of lofty and vigorous growth. 
It is about two feet in diameter at the usual hight of cutting trees, and the 
body stock is fourteen inches at the grafted portion, and the black oak imme- 
diately above it at once enlarges to twenty-two inches." 



576 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



The joining is perfect, and both above and below the limbs are true to 
tlie stock from which they spring. What freak nature performed in setting 
tlie graft is only to be imagined ; its condition should admonisli every one 
wlio owns fruit-trees to set grafts. 

C52. Antiquity of Grafting. — There is a style of grafting called the Aristotle 
graft, and also the Pliny graft. Tliis shows the great antiquity of grafting. 
The Tschuda graft is another curious style of grafting, and by the process 
tomatoes are grafted upon potato vines, selecting stalks of the same size, and 
cutting both with a knife as sharp as a razor — sharper, if possible — the join- 
ing being bound together with a ligature, and the plant shaded until the 
two unite. It will then grow tomatoes above and potatoes below. An 
ancient writer speaks of grafting cultivated grapevines upon wild ones with 
success. 

653. Grafting flay and Wax. — Clay used to cover grafts is made by mix- 
ing one part of pure horse-dung with two parts of clay and a little plaster- 
ers' hair. It must be very thorougldy worked several daj's before required 
and made very plastic when used, by heating and tempering. 

Grafting-wax, which is made of three parts of beeswax, tliree parts of 
rosin, and two parts of tallow, melted together, and worked while warm 
by the hands in water, is much neater, and more convenient, and not 
much more expensive than clay, where only a little work is to be done. 
Where large limbs or wounds are to be covered, of course clay will be the 
cheapest. 

Grafting-wax is sometimes composed of six parts rosin, one part beeswax, 
and one part tallow ; but this, we should think, would be too hard for cool 
weather. 

French grafting-wax is made of half a pound of pitch, half a pound of 
beeswax, a pound of cow-dung, boiled together, and spread on the graft, 
while hot, with a brush. Another sort is made of equal parts of beeswax, 
rosin, and turpentine (crude pitch), and spread on cloth or paper, to be used 
in strips wrapped about tlie graft. 

The most conmion American grafting-wax, and the cheapest, and easiest 
remembered and made, is composed of rosin, tallow, and beeswax, in equal 
parts, melted, and worked in water ; if it is needed of a softer texture, it is 
made so by increasing the proportion of tallow. 

Prof. Mapes gives the following formula for making grafting-wax : Take 
Canada balsam one pound, clean beeswax one pound, and boil together and 
knead into a putty consistency, or keep in a kettle, to be warmed as wanted 
for use, and put on with a brush. It is very convenient, when spread thin 
upon cloth or paper, to be cut in strips for use, and its great advantage over 
any other material is tliat it will adhere to a wet surface. This is sometimes 
of great advantage, as the composition may be used to cover wounds in va- 
rious plants. 

654. Preservation of Grafts.— Grafts packed in pure sawdust of any sweet 
wood, it is said, will keep tiftuea months. Moss for packing should be put 



Seo. 36.] THE ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 577 

up sliijlitly damp. Grafts sot in crab-apple stocks, thorn stocks, or any otlier 
wild shrubs, generally produce one result — lost labor. The greatest advan- 
tage -we ever found in setting grafts in such stocks was in preserving them 
over one season, in a new country, where apple stocks ordered failed to ar- 
rive in time to set the grafts. 

C55. What Influence has Ihe Stock on the Graft ?— Perhaps the only answer 
needed to this question is, "None whatever." And this. is true, if the stock 
is of a character suited to grow the scion engrafted into it. An apple should 
be engrafted into a stock of similar texture to the scion to form a good tree. 
That is, a scion from a free growing tree engrafted upon a wild crab-apple 
may live, but it never will do well, because the graft outgrows the stock, but 
it has no influence upon the fruit. So it is with pears engrafted upon 
quince, which dwarfs the growth of the tree, but does not affect the fruit 
vither in size or flavor, though the productiveness is increased ; but that is 
jwing to the obstruction in the descending sap when it reaches the stock, 
thus forcing more into the fruit-buds and limbs bearing fruit. 

Another influence that a stock has upon a graft is to enable us to produce 
fruit from a semi-tender plant, by engrafting it upon a hardy native; as the 
peach upon plum or almond, the pear upon quince or mountain ash, or fine 
plums upon wild stocks, or foreign grapes upon native vines. 

Make it a rule never to engraft anything upon a diseased stock ; not that 
it is likely to influence the fruit, except so far as it will afl'ect the scion and 
make it unhealthy. 

It is asserted that a diseased graft will communicate the same malady to 
the stock, so that a shoot springing from the stock below the union will show 
the same symptoms that affect the graft. 

65(3. Budding is a mode of engrafting which can be practiced after the 
season for grafting is past. Tiie budding season does not commence until 
after the leaves have grown and the bark will slip. Then a bud of the pres- 
ent season's growth is neatly cut from a thrifty shoot, avoiding double buds, 
which are fruit-buds, and the leaves being cut off, leaving half an inch of 
the foot-stalk to hold the bud by, it is set in a slit made in the liark of the 
stock, by a T-shaped cut, and loosening up the edges with the flat bone 
handle of the budding-knife. Some persons remove the wood cut from the 
stick with the bud, and some insert it. After pressing the bud as far down 
in the slit as you can, cut off the upper end even with the cross-cut of the 
slit, and tie strips of soaked bass matting around to keep all snug. If the 
bud lives, it will look plump two weeks after it is set, and in four weeks will 
need to have the bandage loosened, or perhaps removed. Late buds may 
not have to be loosened till spring, and at tnat time the limb of the stock 
budded must be cut away, and the bud goes on to form a new limb, or the 
whole tree, if a single stock was budded. ^ 

Some trees do not grow buds as readily as others, and such may be tied 
with a band above and one below. The latter being first removed, allows 
the bud to grow, while the upper one checks the flow of sap up the stock 



87 



578 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



two or three weeks longer. All buds must be watched and untied at the 
proper time. 

Another method of budding is called annular budding, and consists in 
cutting two rings around the stock, and taking oif a ring of bark, a qnartei 
or half inch wide, and filling its place by a strip taken from a budding shoot 
containing a bud, whicli'will grow if the bark adiieres, which it is likely to 
do if carefully tied and the joints covered with wax or clay. This mode is 
sometimes practiced to save mice-eaten trees. 

Many other kinds of trees and shrubs are propagated by budding, as well 
as fruit-trees. 

657. Use of Bass Matting in Budding. — Bass matting is imported and used 
extensively in place of our native stock, we suj)pose, because people do not 
generally know how easy it is to prepare the bark for use. It is simply to 
take the whole baik of the bass-wood, or linden-tree, as it peels from the trees 
when the sap flows freely, say about June in tliis latitude, and sink it under 
water until the liber (inner bark) will peel and separate easily from the 
coarse bark. This soft, tough substance is then dried and stored away for 
future use, and the purposes to which it can be applied are almost num- 
berless. 

In budding it is almost indispensable, being one of the very best and 
cheapest articles for tying the buds in the stock. 

60S. Uses of Shellac and Collodion in Graftiiig.— Gum-shellac, or seedlae, 
dissolved in alcohol, is kept constantly on hand by some orchardists, and 
used to seal the ends of cuttings or accidental wounds in trees, or to cover 
the stumps of large limbs pruned oft' at a time when they are liable to 
decay. The following method of jDreparing shellac is recommended as 
superior to that dissolved in alcohol, which will sometimes peel off. 

Take an ordinary glue-pot, which is in a water-bath, and put therein one 
part of spirits of ammonia (hartshorn) and eight parts of water ; bring them 
to nearly tlie boiling-point; put in shellac gradually, until the whole is 
about the consistency of varnish, stirring all the while ; when entirely dis- 
solved, take it from the fire, and continue stirring until it is cool ; then bottle, 
and keep for use. Tliis makes an entirely waterproof coating, and in sum- 
mer pruning may be applied to the ends of the limbs with decided advantage. 

For all trees that exude gum, like the cherry, peach, plum, and many 
forest and ornamental trees, it is extremely useful wIjcu applied to all wounds 
and cuts, as it keeps out tlie water and allows tiie wood to heal quickly. 

Shellac can not be dissolved in water alone. The ammonia in the mixture 
dissolves it, and afterward evaporates, leaving notliing but shellac and water, 
which can not in any way be injurious. Seed-lac is about as good ; it is 
certainly cheaper. 

The above mixture forms an elastic covering, which is much better than 
shellac dissolved in alcohol. It must not be made in an iron kettle ; it will 
not mix well. Use copper, zinc, or tin. 

It is said that shellac may be dissolved in alcohol; then add water and 



Sec. 87.] 



APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 



579 



boil till the alcohol is evaporated, :iud it will make a coating that will not 
peel otY; but a solution of anmioiiia is undoubtedly best, and should be used 
whenever procurable. 

Some persons paint the wound or cut witli white lead in oil, which, if 
thickl}' applied, answers very well. So M-ould a coat of tallow, or covering 
of clay. A coating of dissolved shellac is sometimes used in cleft-grafting 
large limbs, instead of wax or clay. 

Collodion is made by dissolving gun-cotton in ether. It is sometimes 
called " liquid cuticle," as it may be spread over an abrasion of the skin and 
form a substitute, perfectly impervious to air and water. 

Tliis substance is excellent for all wounds, particularly slight burns, to 
shut out the air, and is invaluable and perfectly efficacious to prevent pits 
from small-jiox. 

In England it has been applied to the purpose of preserving cuttings of 
plants, by dipping the end in the solution, which completely shuts up the 
moisture in tlie wood, so that they are more than twice as likely to live as 
when left unprotected. It is an excellent thing to apply to wounds in deli- 
cate plants, is not very expensive, and is sold by druggists generally. 

The Imperial Journal of Horticulture, Paris, gives an article upon a new 
mode of grafting ur budding. This method may be employed at anj' time 
of the year, provided the buds are cut at the right season and preserved. 
A little piece of wood is taken off when the bark will not peel, and the bud 
fitted and sealed over immediately with collodion. None but large, strong 
buds should be used. 



SECTION XXXVIl.- APPLE AND PEACH TREES ; THEIR GENERAL 
MANAGEMENT-CHOICE KINDS OF APPLES. 

HAT apples shall we cultivate? is a question of 
much importance. Tlie short answer to this ques- 
tion, for farmers who grow them principally for 
their own use, and with a view to sell the surplus 
to their neighbors or nearest village, without mak- 
ing a regular business of putting uj) apples for 
market, is this : you should select such as will give 
you a succession of fruit, from the very earliest 
summer apple to such as will keep sound till July. 

We can not give you a list that will suit all sec- 
tions, but for the vicinity of New York the follow- 
ing short list has been recommended by a committee 
of gentlemen who gave the subject careful consid- 
eration, and who say : 
"The chief object in making this selection has been to guard the inex- 




580 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



perienced cultivator against tlie errors so- often made when the lists of the 
nurserymen are the only guide. Many young orchardists buy everything 
recommended in the fruit-books and catalogues, and find, after years of 
careful cultivation, that a large portion of their trees are worthless, and the 
fruit of the remainder of but little value. Some fruits of the first considera- 
tion in one locality are worthless in another, and some trees arc productive 
on one soil and barren on another. 

"This frequently involves the necessity of regrafting, causing years of 
delay and labor without reward, until in many cases patience becomes 
exhausted. As an instance, the Virgalieu pear, in western New York and 
most of the Western States, is probal^ly without a superior ; wliile here and 
on the sea-coast generally, it is only an incumbrance to the ground. The 
same may be said of many other though less known varieties. 

" In making this selection, we do not wish to be understood to discourage 
amateurs from planting any, or even all, the old varieties that the catalogues 
pronounce good, neither do we wish to discourage efforts to originate new 
kinds ; but we do say, from our own e.xperience, that, in this locality, we 
believe the list here i-ecommended will prove satisfactory — that all these 
sorts, with proper cultivation, will be productive, and that none will require 
regrafting. 

" Many persons will probably think, on reading this report, that better 
sorts have been omitted, and some of the committee will concur in this 
opinion ; but they beg leave to say that wliile they have left out such fine 
varieties of apples as the Northern Spy, the Swaar, Pennock's Red, Newtown 
Pippin, Vandevere, Pearmain, Smith's Eeauty of Newark, Ilubbardstown 
Nonsuch, etc., all could not be included without making too long a list, and 
that some of tliem are only superior in their native localities. Some have 
been proved infei'ior here, and others have not yet been proved at all. The 
same may be said also of all lists of pears, plums, and other fruits." 

659. Select List of Apples. — The following is their list of apples : 

Summer Apj)les. —'Early Bough (sweet). Early Harvest (acid), American 
Summer Pearmain, Summer Rose, Strawberry. 

Autumn. — Autumn Bough, Gravenstein, Hawley, Fall Pippin, Porter, 
Jersey Sweeting. 

IViiiter. — Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Jonathan, Monmouth Pippin, 
Spitzenberg (Esopus), Tallman's Sweeting, King of Tompkins County, 
Englisli Russet. 

The lied Astramn apple we consider one of the very best early varieties. 
Tlie Strawberry apple is also a very choice one, and the most fragrant of all. 
Its peculiar aromatic quality and its beauty should commend it, even 
though it were not, as it is, an apple of most excellent flavor. We believe 
it is rather a shy bearer. The Jersey Sweeting we think one of the best 
sweet apples ever grown. 

The Vandevere ajiple is a groat favorite with some farmers. William 
Lawton, of New Roelielle, has a tree tliat is over lUU yeare old, perhaps 150 



Sbc. 37.] APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 581 



years, which bore, in 1860, at least twenty bushels of apples. The tree is 
still very healthy, and several feet in diameter. The branches have spread 
very wide and high. lie also has a tree of the same age, very large, sound, 
and healthy, called the Grandfather apple. 

The Kin<j of Tompkins County we suppose has been or caii bo over- 
praised, but it is a very good apple, large, fair, and of a mild, pleasant acid 
flavor. It is larger, more mellow, but less pungent than the Spitzenherg, 
which is our " king" apple. The tree is said to be a free bearer, and to 
liavc many other good qualities which wo are acquainted with at second 
hand only. The apple is very showy, of a color shaded l)etween red and 
yellow, and is said to have sold in New York at $6 to §7 per barrel. It 
will not supplant the estalilislied favorites, but we think it may wisely be 
tried along with them by those who niay now or hereafter be putting out 
an orchard. 

The Nofthcrn Spy is a very highly praised apple, and one that usually com- 
mands the highest price, but in this vicinity it proves a very shy bearer; 
so much so that we can not recommend it for general cultivation, though a 
most valuable apple, particularly in spring. It originated as a seedling in 
East Bloomfield, N. Y. The trees grow slowly, and only bear well when 
full}^ matured. They grow best upon clayey loam. The Norton Melon is an- 
other remarkably fine apple, which originated in the same locality. There 
is a great want of attention to the difference in soil in planting trees. What 
will succeed in one location utterly fails in others. 

John Buckholder, of Adams County, Pa., sent ns some specimens of an 
excellent apple, common in that section of the State, which is not known 
here. It is a medium-sized, red streak, roundish form, very white flesh, 
and delicious flavor, and is a good autumn apple, and keeps well in 
winter. 

The Gifford apple ripens in harvest-time, and is of fine size and excellent 
quality. It is a variety not well known, but one highly recommended. 

Tlie following early apples are recommended by R. Peters, of Atlanta, 
Ga., as very well suited to that region : 

Yellow May. — Size small, I'pc the last of May; valuable for its being 
the earliest known variety. It is extensively grown in southern Virginia 
for shipment to the New \ork market. Ti-ee a slow grower, btit ]jroductive. 

Red Astracan. — Size, medium to large ; ripe early in June ; an apple of * 
great beauty and fair quality ; valuable for market purposes, its crimson 
color and rich bloom making it very attractive. Tree, a good grower and 
productive. 

Early Harvest. — Size, above medium ; ripe early in June ; one of our 
best early apples, of fine quality; valuable for tiie table and for cooking. 
Tree, rather a jioor grower, but an abundant bearer. ♦ 

lied June. — Size, over medium ; lipe the middle of June ; a well-known 
and truly popular Southern apple, valuable for all purposes. Tree, a fair 
grower, and a regular bearer. 

Yellow June. — Size large ; ripe from the middle to last of June. 



582 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



Tbe following are the names of Indian seedling apples which flourish at 
the South : 

Tillaquah. — The original tree of this magnificent fruit is still growing 
some four miles from Franklin, N. C It is so great a favorite with all who 
pass tlie road, that but few remain on the tree to thoroughly ripen. Its name 
signifies "big fruit." 

Toccoa. — Tiiis apple was found in the orchard of Jeremiah Taylor, an old 
Revolutionary soldier living near the celebrated Toccoa Falls, in Habersham 
County, 6a. It ripens in August ; is a very delicious, high-flavored fruit. 
Toccoa, when rendered in the English language, means " beautiful." 

Cullasaga. — Is a seedling from the Horse-apple, raised by Miss Ann Bry- 
son, who resides ou the bank of the Cullasaga, or Sugartown fork of the 
Tennessee River, in Macon County, N. C. ; is a very aromatic, early winter 
apple. Its name signifies " sweet water," or " sugar water," and is pro- 
nounced cnllasajah. 

Yahoola. — Was found growing on the banks of an old gold-pit near Ya- 
hoola Creek, a large stream in Lumpkin County, Ga., and was brought into 
notice by Wm. Martin, Esq., of Dahlonega, who informs us it is a desirable 
winter variety. The meaning of its name we do not know. 

Chcstoa.- — Takes its name from its resemblance to a rabbit's head, being 
conical oblong in form, with one side near the calyx, jutting over the other 
like a rabbit's nose. 

The Bdleficur in some localities is a very favorite apple, and in New 
York it always sells well. 

The Newtown Pippin is one of the most favorite sorts grown by those 
who make a business of growing apples as a regular farm crop. It has been 
stated that Robert L. Pell, of Ulster Coimty, N. Y., has 20,000 Newtown 
Pippin apple-trees. We have heard him say that some of his early ship- 
ments to England sold at $20 a barrel, and in New York frequently at $7. 

Downing, in speaking of this apple, says : " The Newtown Pippin stands 
at the head of all apples, and is, when in perfection, acknowledged to be 
unrivaled in all the qualities which constitute a high-flavored dessert apple, 
to which it combines the quality of long keeping without the least shrivel- 
ing, retaining its high flavor to the last. It is very largely raised in New 
York and New Jersey for exporation, and commands the highest price in 
Covent Garden Market, London. This variety is a native of Newtown, 
Long Island, and it requires a pretty strong, deep, warm soil to attain its 
full perfection, aud in the orchard it should be well manured every two or 
three years. For this reason, while it is planted by acres in orchards in 
New York and the Middle States, it is rarely raised in large quantities or 
witli much success in New England. On the Hudson, thousands of barrels 
of the fairest and richest Newtown Pippins are constantly produced. The 
tree is of rather slender and slow growth, and even while young is always 
remarkable for its rough bark. 

" Fruit of medium size, roundish, a little irregular in its outline, caused 
by two' or three obscure ribs on the sides, and broadest at the base, next the 
stalk ; about three inches in diameter, and two and a half deep. 



Sec. 37.] 



APPLE AND PEACn TREES, ETC. 



583 



"Skin dull green, becoming olive green when ripe, with a faint, dull 
brownish blush on one side, dotted with small gray specks and with delicate 
russet rays around the stalk. Calyx quite small and closed, set in a narrow 
and shallow basin. Stalk half an inch long, rather slender, deeply sunk in a 
wide funnel-shaped cavity. Flesh greenish-white, very juicy, crisp, with a 
fine aroma and an exceedingly delicious flavor. When the fruit is not 
grown on healthy trees, it is liable to be spotted with black spots. This is 
one of the finest keeping apples, and is in eating from December to May, 
but is in the finest perfection in March. 

"The Yellow Newtown Pippin strongly resembles the foregoing, and it is 
diflicult to say which is the superior fruit. The Yellow is handsomer, and 
has a higher perfume than the Green, and its flesh is rather firmer and 
equally high flavored ; while the Green is more juicy, crisp, and tender. 
The Yellow Newtown Pippin is rather flatter, measuring only about two 
inches deep, and it is always quite oblique, projecting more on one side of 
the stalk than the other. When fully ripe, it is yellow, with a rather lively 
red cheek, or a smooth skin, and few or none of the spots on the Green variety, 
but with the same russet marks at the stalk. It is also more highly fragrant 
before and after it is cut than the Green. The flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, 
and with a very rich and high flavor. Both the Newtown Pippins grow 
alike, and they are both excellent bearers. This variety is rather hardier, 
and succeeds best in the Eastern States. We have kept the fruit until the 
■ith of July." 

Excellent, however, as this variety is, we would not recommend a farmer 
to plant a large orchard of Pippins unless he was so situated that he could 
ship the fruit to New York, because other sorts are more popular in other 
cities — the Baldwin, for instance, in Boston. Care must be taken, too, in 
buying trees, to get real Newtown Pippins, if that is the object, as there 
are about a dozen kinds of that name, one variety being strictly an autumn 
apple. 

Probably the best plan to adopt in making a selection for a now orchard 
is to examine carefully what sorts succeed best in that vicinity', if there are 
any orchards of improved fruit — of various sorts — in the neighborhood, and 
if not, go where there are such upon similar soil to your own, similarly 
located as to hight, exposure, distance from water, salt or fresh, in great 
bodies, and all other circumstances calculated to influence the growth of the 
trees and ripening of the fruit, since it is a certain fact that kinds which 
succeed admirably in one place, utterly fail in others. We have seen some 
of the " Indian Apples," as the native sorts are called, growing finely in 
several of the Southern States, while those from the North failed entirely. 
As a general rule, in planting an orchard upon the rich soils of the prairies, 
we would select sorts of trees of the slowest growth. 

An idea of the varieties of apples known may be gathered from the 
statement that the London Horticultural Society have nearly l,.50O, and this 
of course does not include many of the seedlings of this country, where new 



584 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 



sorts are constantly springing up, some of which flourish many years in the 
neighborhood where they originated without heing known anywhere else. 
This is the case with the Kirtland apple, one of the best keeping apples of 
good flavor known to orchardists. It originated about the beginning oi" this 
century in Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y. The Baker apple is another in 
the same category ; a large, handsome, red apple, of excellent quality, 
originating and known many years in Ridgefield, Conn., before it was heard 
of anywhere else. Indeed, there are numbers of such cases all over the 
country, besides the known varieties, whicli are so numerous that we can 
not say definitely what sorts shall be cultivated most jjrofitably. 

660. The Fse of Apples— Apples for Stock. — The use of apples for food is 
hardly sufliciently appreciated. "In sliort, no farmer can aftbrd to do with- 
out an orchard that will furnisli his family, including all his laborers, all that 
they can eat, because nothing tliat grows upon the farm aftbrds such cheap 
food, nor anything that M'ill keep his family in better health. Six months of 
the year we usually have baked apples upon our table every day, and almost 
every meal. Apples carefully dried and well cooked aftbrd an excellent 
condiment for all meals, and apples cooked in almost any form really aftbrd 
very liearty food. And who that was born upon, or even lived upon, a New 
England farm, in the ^" good old olden time," can forget the winter store of 
" ajjple-sauce," made of boiled sweet apple-cider, and partly sweet and 
partly mild, sour apples cooked in the cider, with quinces enough to give 
tlieir peculiar flavor ? 

Apples for stock are not sufliciently appreciated. There is no feed that 
will make fatting pigs grow so fast as sweet apples or cooked sour ones, and 
if corn is fed a short time before killing, there will be no complaint about 
the pork not being hard. 

In Westchester County, in 1860, the apple crop was very large ; and as it 
had not been so before for many years, there was a scarcity of cider-mills, 
so tliat all the apples could not be ground up for that purpose, and many 
people fed them to cattle, and those who kept cows for milk-dairies found 
that apples increased the quantity very largely. It is probable that they 
would not much increase the product of butter. A milch cow will consume 
a bushel a day. 

Farmers certainly do not consult their own interest while neglecting so 
important a source of profit and comfort as a good orchard. If your old one 
is not good, employ a grafter. If that is not convenient, graft them your- 
selves. You can do it, and by that means make that portion of land 
covered with fruit-trees a source of more profit, with less expense, than any 
other portion. You must keep trees sufliciently pruned, and now and then 
draw manure to the roots of the trees ; and if they are not in a thriving con- 
dition, scrape the bark with a sharp hoe, and wash them with solution of 
potash or caustic soda, and do all that is necessary, and then it is easier to 
grow apples than wheat and corn. Let the hogs root around the trees ; it 
will do them good, and is better than plowing, and it is much easier to feed 



Sec. 37.J APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 585 

your piijs upon apples than it is upon grain, wliich you can only grow by 
liai-d toil. Try it. Try also the value of apples fed to other stock. Even 
poultry will thrive finely upon boiled apples, with a very small quantity of 
grain or meal mixed with them. Try to get better sorts in your old o;-- 
chards for eating or for selling. Even for feeding stock, it costs no more to 
grow good apples than it does poor ones. 

661. How (0 Grow Large Fruit. — A friend in Illinois writes ns that he 
grows apples of twenty ounces weight each. One man near Alton averages 
$1,500 a year, net income, from his orchards. Apples in that State generally 
grow much larger than the same sorts do in the Eastern States, and vre have 
seen specimens from Oregon and California which show more than double 
the size of the originals. As this increase of growth is owing to the great 
richness of soil, it behooves us here to consider whether it would not be 
profitable to make the soil of our orchards better. 

A correspondent of the Gardener' s Gazette says fruits may be raised about 
one third larger than usual, of improved quality, by supporting them so 
they shall not hang their whole weight upon the stock, or twist about in the 
wind. When fruit is allowed to hang naturally, the increasing weight 
strains the stem and lessens the quantity of nutritious food flowing to the 
fruit. It may be supported either by tying to a branch with a piece of 
string, or by inclosing it in a small net. Flowers, such as dahlias or peonies, 
may also be rendered much larger by this system. 

"\Ve do not suppose any one is going to adopt this plan upon a large scale, 
but he may do so very well with a few choice specimens for curiosity, if 
nothing more, and just to show how fruit can be made to attain a greater 
size. 

662. The Natural Form of Various Apple-Trees.— The following state- 
ment about the natural forms of apple-trees comes from a committee of the 
Cincinnati Horticultural Society, which says : 

"In ascertaining the habits of growth of various trees of the several 
popular varieties of apples that are largely cultivated in the neighborhood 
of Cincinnati, we have taken our own experience as a starting-point, and 
then added to this such additii^nal information as we have been able to 
obtain from other members of this Society. The result of our labors is the 
followinor classification : 

" Of an Upright Conical Groiotli. — Benoni, Early Strawberry, Golden 
Russet, Early Sweet Bough, Lady Apple, Pryor's Eed, Northern Sjiy, Tal- 
man's Sweeting. 

" Of an ZTjxrigJit GroiotJi, hut witli a Bound TIcad. — Red Astracan, "White 
Pippin, Alexander Kaighn's Spitzenberg, Michael Henry Pippin, Drap d'Or, 
Bohannan, Belmont, Raules' Janette, Fall "Wine, Rambo, Rome Beauty, 
Summer Rose, High Top Sweet, Myer's Nonpareil, Fall Pippin, and 
Porter. 

" ^Y^th Spreading Limls and Round Head. — Smith's Cider, Maiden Blush, 
Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Newtown Pippin, Tulpehockeu, "Winesap, Broad- 



586 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



well's Sweet, Gi'avenstein, Jersey Sweeting, Hubbardstown Nonsuch, Bel- 
mont, Vandevcre. 

" Of a Drooping^ Pendent Form — Ilcad Symmetrical. — Yellow Belle- 
fleiir, Pennock, Rhode Island Greening, Newark Pippin, and Fall Pippin. 

" Of a Pendent, Drooping Form — Head Loose, or Straggling and Open. 
— Ortley, White Winter Pearmain, and Newtown Spitzenberg. 

'■ Of the above, we would particularly refer to Smith's Cider, Yellow Belle- 
fleur, Wiiite Pippin, Home Beauty, and Rallies' Janette, as trees of a 
marked vigorous growth and healthy, hearty habit. The Benoni, AVinesap, 
and Summer Rose are of only moderate growth, but appear perfectly 
hardy. 

"The Early Sweet Bough, Newtown Pippin, and Ortley (or White Belle- 
flcur) appear to possess a less vigorous and a somewhat unhealthy con- 
stitution." 

This valuable information sliould be remembered by all prnners. 

663. Dwarf Apple-Trees. — When scions of the common apple are engrafted 
on what are called Paradise-stocks, the trees become dwarfisli in growth. 
They thus form, wlien in a l>earing state, very pretty objects in the garden, 
and they oftentimes bear more apples, in proportion to their size, than com- 
mon trees of the same variety. As they are small, they can not of course 
produce a Ijirge crop, but are fine garden ornaments, combining both beauty 
and utility in a small compass, and will bear full, upon perfect trees not 
over two feet high, if the land is very rich, and rather moister than is suit- 
able for apples. These dwarfs are made by grafting the crab scion in a 
shrub known as chokeberry. We would suggest, in addition to this, that 
the common thorn-bush, which grows about our pastures, would make a 
good stock to engraft the apple upon for dwarfing. The pear will grow well 
ujjon it, and the apple will also probably do pretty well. But the best way 
to get dwarf trees is to order them from an experienced nurseryman, unless 
you are a skillful grafter and would like to try your hand to see what you 
can produce for your own use. 

(j'i-k. Pfach-Troes— How to Plant and Troat Them.— Peach-trees of one year 
old are the only ones that should be planted. Shorten their side branches to 
two or three buds, and the main stem one third ; wash the roots clean and 
examine them carefully ; see that you do not plant a peach-worm with the 
tree. Trim the roots and tlien dust tliem over with ashes. After the ti-ee is 
planted, put a handful of ashes or lime around tlic stem on the surface of the 
soil ; this will almost invariably prevent the peach-worm attacking the tree 
the first year ; next year, put a little more lime or ashes around them, close 
to the bole, keeping the ground clear of weeds with the hoe or cultivator 
during the entire season. This is indispensable, and must not be neglected. 
Nectarines and apricots should be treated in the same way. 

It requires more care than is generally bestowed upon the planting of 
peach-trees to insure success. Prof. Mapes says: 

" In taking a tree from the nursery, I cut off all the limbs and set the tree 



Sko. 37.] APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 58T 



e 



an inch liiglier in its new place than it; stood heforc. I shorten in all tli 
limbs next year two thirds tliQ lengtli by cutting off always at a leaf-bud, 
and not a fruit-bud ; and I let the trees branch from near the ground. 
Natural seedlings arc longer lived than budded trees. It is positively neces- 
sary to distui'b the ground as early as possible in the spring. All peach 
limbs should bo shortened in so as not to be pendent. No organic matter 
will answer for peach-trees. Barn-yard manure will kill them. Nothing 
but inorganic manures M'ill answer. Trees should be trimmed early in the 
spring, as soon as the weather is warm enough to make the limbs supple." 

605. Soda-Wash for Peach-Worms. — These are frequently destroyed, or, 
rather, prevented, by using the caustic soda-wash — an application accident- 
ally discovered by a New Jersey gardener, a few years ago, to be the best 
thing ever applied to kill insects and make smooth bark. 

"This soda-wash is made as follows: Take common sal soda and put 
it in any old iron pot or other vessel, and heat it red-hot, and then put it 
hot into water — one pound to one gallon — and let it stand till cool, and use 
it with a brush or swab to the body or limbs of the trees you wish to clean, 
and it kills all insects it comes in contact with, and makes the bark assume 
a smooth, polished appearance. It will not injure any growing plants." 

666. Cutting out Worms from Pcach-Trees is a remedy somewhat like the 
Frenchman's flea-powder. The only easy remedy is boiling water. Put a 
cloth around the tree and pour boiling hot water on, and the steam will kill 
the worms. There is no difficulty in killing peach-worms in trees with hot 
water. It would not hurt the tree to apply a jet of steam direct to the 
worm-affected part, but it will hurt the worm. It would be impossible to 
pick out the worms in an orchard, such as some in Jersey, of 80,000 trees. 
The best cure for the yellows is to give the trees as vigorous a growth as 
possible, by the use of inorganic fertilizers. 

667. Winter-Killed Pcach-Trees. — ^The severity of some of the past winters 
has entirely destroj'ed all peach-orchards, even of twenty years' growth, far 
south of the center of Illinois, and committed great havoc in the apple- 
orchards. The same, or some other course, has produced a similar effect, 
we believe, generally, throughout the country. In the face of these in- 
clement winters, trials have been successfully made to pi'oduce fruit-trees in 
Minnesota under otherwise unfavorable circumstances. Ought those of a 
milder climate to be discouraged on account of partial failure ? 

Let us notice some facts that favor the opposite opinion. 

As far as the hardier and more valuable fruits are concerned, they are 
easily produced in central New England and New York, where the climate 
is colder and not so uniform, and the soil less friable than it is in many 
places two or three degrees farther south. 

The Lake Ontario slope of western New York produced peaches abund- 
antly before the country was laid open by the removal of the primeval 
forests, and is now one of the best fruit-producing i-egions on the continent, 
as it respects the really valuable fruits. 



588 THE OEOHAPvD. [Chap. VI. 

The cold snap of the winter of 1859-60 killed a great deal of fruit in the 
State of New York, but that should not prevent further trials. 

C. Olney, of Pittsford, Monroe Countj^, writes under date of Jan. 21, 1860 : 

"The peach crop in this vicinity bids fair to be almost an entire failure 
the coming season. I find more living buds upon trees that stand in the 
corners of the fences than upon those where the land was cultivated last 
season. On some of tliem nearly all are alive ; on others, not more than ten 
feet distant, every one examined is dead. I am unable to say whether any 
])articular variety escapes more than another, for I have only owned my 
present premises one year, and last season there was no fruit on the trees by 
which I could tell the varieties. My thermometer has only indicated four 
degrees below zero. Who can tell the causes of destruction, if it is true, as 
it has often been asserted, that it requires a degree of cold 18 degrees below 
zero to kill peach-buds?" 

668. Seedling VS. Budded Peach-Trees. — A general impression prevails that 
seedling peaches are more hardy than those propagated by budding. This 
is true, though not in the sense in which it is generally received. The pro- 
cess of budding in no way changes the character of the variety budded, 
either for hardiness or otherwise. The fruit is no more liable to be killed 
by frost than the original seedlings from which the budded trees have de- 
scended. 

All varieties were once seedlings, and it is said are improved from the 
bitter almond. Tliis improvement is the result of cultivation, crossing, and 
hybridization. Tiie pulp is merely the envelop or covering nature has pro- 
vided for the protection of the seed. Hence the vital force is directed to 
this end, and the seed is consequently fully developed, and the product is 
hardy, and those varieties that are least removed from the original type are 
the most hardy. ,The improvement is the result of art, and so far as im- 
proved or removed from the state of nature, just in that proportion is it at 
the expense of the hardiness of the variety. 

This fact holds good throughout all the departments of animated nature 
as well as in the vegetable kingdom. Compare the native Indian M^ith tlie 
present cultivated races of mankind, also our races of domestic animals with 
those in the state of nature — how different is their character for hardiness ! 
One characteristic of the peach is, the power of the different varieties to 
withstand the effects of cold according to the character of the blossoms. 
Some — and this is generally true with seedlings — have large blossoms, the 
petals of which afford a thicker covering to the embryo fruit ; hence this class 
is generally most hardy, while those kinds with smaller blossoms are more 
tender, and others are still more so where the petals stand out, or the blos- 
som is the least cupped. 

It is only the improved kinds that are found most desirable to perpetuate 
by budding ; these have become tender because they are improved and far- 
ther removed from the state of nature, not because they have been propa- 
gated by the artificial process of budding. 



Seo. 37.] APPLE AND PEAOII TREES, ETC. 589 

In our extremely variable climate the propagation of seedling peaches 
should be practiced to a greater extent than it is, but with more care and 
calculation. In selecting seed to plant, choose from the best of those kinds 
tiiat have largo blossoms, as well as others most hardy with smaller cupped 
Ijlossoms. Tiie yellow-tleshed peaches can be depended on with more cer- 
tainty to produce their kind than the white-fleshed peaches. In some in- 
stances the seedlings may be superior to the parent ; in more, they ma}' be 
of equal quality, while a large proportion may be inferior ; but as the infe- 
rior peaches are most hardy, these may afford us a crop, while the others or 
budded varieties entirely fail ; so that where land is cheap or in favorable 
situations, we advise that calculations should be made to produce seedling 
peach-trees every year of the seed of the most improved varieties. 

669. Peacli-Trees for Fuel. — Peach-trees should be grown npon the prairies 
for fuel. No tree grows more rapidly, and no seed is more sure of germi- 
nating than the peach. The stones should be planted in the nursery, and 
the first summer's growth cut off two or three buds above the ground before 
autumn, or in time for the wound to heal and new shoots to start. The 
young trees may then be taken np and planted out ten feet apart in or- 
chards. This mode of cutting back gives two to five trunks instead of one, 
which make more wood, and are less likely to be winter-killed. If the shoot 
is not cut back until the next spring, let the root remain another season in 
the nursery. 

Another good way is to plant the stones in drills, ten feet apart, in the 
orchard, the ground to be well prepared, and the rows kept free from weeds 
by the plow. In the fall, turn a good furrojv from each side against the 
rows, and level them, if necessary, with a hoe, and then mow off the shoots 
even with the ridge. Draw out, for planting the next summer in other 
places, the weakest of the plants, and let the others grow, heading back 
each j'ear. In three years the trees will begin to bear, and those which do 
not promise good fruit may be used for fuel. Of course, the fruit is a sec- 
ondary object, and all that is got is clear gain — as the trees are grown that 
fuel may be had at less cost and trouble than to haul it from a grove four or 
five miles distant. 

670. Manuring Fruit-Trees — Use of Hogs. — Tliere is no better manure for 
an orchard than swamp muck, composted with lime and salt — that is, lime 
slaked by a solution of salt. Wood ashes, leached or unl cached, are also 
good, and we doubt not coal ashes are beneficial. If the land is in grass, it 
should be thoroughly harrowed in the spring, and again after mowing. Use 
tiic orchard in the fore part of the season as a sheep pasture, and graze close. 
When the apples begin to fall, turn in the pigs and let them eat the wind- 
falls. Valuable trees, or those of delicate nature, will be highly benefited 
by mulching, both summer and winter. 

The use of hogs in an orchard we have never seen so clearly demonstrated 
before as we did in the summer of 1S62. The Shaker Society at New Leb- 
anon discarded the use of pork and quit keeping hogs about 1860. From 



590 THE ORCUARD. [Chap. VI. 

that time, an orchard that had been used as a hog pasture, declined in vi"or 
and fruitfiilncss, and as the land could not be very well cultivated, it was 
determined to try the hogs again, and a number were purchased and set to 
work. In a few weeks, in pursuit of the worms, they had thoroughly rooted 
up the turf, and the effect upon the apple-trees was so visible as to be readily 
remarked by every one acquainted with their previous condition. 

Autumn or early winter is a good time to manure fruit-trees, provided 
you do not use such as will harbor mice, for that will be likely to injure 
young trees more than the manure will benefit them. Ashes and rotten 
wood and leaf-mold are particularly good for trees, and so is any well-rotted 
compost. Spread it over as much ground as the top covers, and do not bo 
afraid of putting on too much. A heavy-bearing tree, or one that you want 
to make bear plenty of good fruit, must have some food to produce it from ; 
and a young tree needs as much cultivation every year as a hill of coni, and 
should have, in proportion to its size, about the same manuring. And 
there is no crop that will pay better for manure and cultivation than fruit 
of all kinds. It is the secret of peach-raising in New Jersey and Del- 
aware. 

C71. Lime for Trees. — We have seen a statement that lime has been most 
successfully used in England in transplanting tree-s by mixing a small quan- 
tity — a quart or two — with the earth in which the tree-roots are planted. It 
serves a double ])urpose — assisting to keep the earth moist, and converting 
vegetaljle substances into food for the tree. The statement looks so reason- 
able that we advise its trial. The English papers say that every tree in a 
large plantation served in this-way flourished finely. 

"We object to applying lime to trees in the form of whitewash upon tlie 
boles, but in no other way, whether liquid or powder. 

Hon. John A. Clayton, late of Delaware, assured us that half a bushel of 
powdered lime applied close about each peach-tree was tiie best thing that 
he ever tried to promote health and increase growth. Whitewashing trees 
is not a good practice. Indeed, we know of nothing that can be said in its 
favor. Water, saturated with lime, used as a caustic wash, would be bene- 
ficial, while the lime itself, plastered upon the tree in the form of thick 
whitewash, would be injurious. It would be of far more use to the tree 
spread over the ground ; there it would add to the nourisliment of the tree. 

Another benefit derived from the use of lime around fruit-trees, is the fact 
of its seriously affecting more or less all kinds of worms and insects that 
infest the ajtple-tree. Most of the vermin that annoy fruit-trees in the sum- 
mer remain in the ground during the winter. A quantity of lime spaded in 
around the roots of the tree will have a good effect toward destroying tlio 
canker-worm, if a])plied in season, and a small mound of lime around the 
collar of the tree will prevent the ravages of the borer, which almost always 
enters the tree in the tender bark near the ground. It is beneficial on all 
soils, except, perhaps, calcareous ones ; it will greatly assist in destroying 
all vermin that liarbor in the ground under the tree ; it is always injurious 



Sec. 37.] 



RENOVATING ORCKARDS. 



591 



■wlien applied to the bark, as it stops the pores and impairs the Iiealth of the 
wliole tree. 

672. How to Renovate an Old Orcbardi — It may not always be practicable 
to renovate an old orchard with swine, as practiced by the Shakers, as men- 
tioned in 670, therefore the following account of what a woman did is valuable. 

Euth II. Lynde writes ns from New Bedford, Mass., as follows: "Some 
years ago I lived on a small farm in New York State, and one of the in- 
dvicements held out for hiring it was, that there was a tine apple orchard of 
choice grafted fruit. This decided — but the trees were in a miserably sickly 
condition, and the fruit scanty and mean, knotty and wormy. In the fall, a 
circle was dug around every apple-tree nearly two feet from the crown and 
over a foot and a half in depth. Dressing from the hog-pen was put into 
each hole until within half a foot of the top, and anthracite coal-ashes spread 
over up to the crown. In the spring the trees were pruned, the orchard 
plowed, oats sown, and the crop of oats was fiiir; the trees bloomed more, 
but the fruit was scarce and still pooi*. That fall, after the leaves had fallen, 
the trees were scraped — the trunks, branches, and boughs — and the grubs 
scraped off that were in the loose bark sufficed to feed for two days a hun- 
dred fowls, consisting of turkeys, hens, and guinea-fowls. The fowls gen- 
erally were in an inclosed place, and corn kept in a trough for their daily 
use; as the corn was untouched and the fowls healthy, my statement can be 
relied on. Next spring the orchard was a mass of blossoms, and so beau- 
tiful, I never wearied looking at it. The trees were so laden with fruit that 
two of them split in the fork, and a person could not walk upright under 
them. "I never saw such quantities of fruit, and fine fruit, too — Bell Flow- 
ers, Fall Pippins, Seek-no-Furthers, Summer Pie-apples, etc." 

The subject of renovating old orchards has been discussed several times 
by the American Institute Farmers' Club, and here are some of the facts 
elicited. We give them with the names of the authors for what they are 
worth, as they are all men of experience in fruit-growing. 

Prof. Mapes — There was an old orchard on my place that had ceased 
bearing, which I fully renovated and afterward cut down, because I can not 
afford the shade. The land is too valuable to grow large trees upon. I can 
produce fruit upon dwarfs more economically. All old apple-orchards are 
deficient in lime, but the lime must be properlj'^ prepared to be of use. The 
caustic soda-wash, spoken of last week, will clear them of insects and fungi, 
I subsoiled the old orchard, which was in grass, and applied lime. I recom- 
mend ten bushels j)er acre, sowed in a caustic state on the surface. Lime is 
only soluble in large quantities of water. The next spring I applied phos- 
phate of lime. This orchard was then in vigorous bearing, and had not 
before borne for years. The grass crop was also more than doubled. Run 
the subsoil plow up and down hill and it will serve to drain the land. I 
only run the subsoil lifter furrows some four feet apart, without disturlnng 
the soil. Lime and manure should not be applied at the same lime to 
orchards. Tlie plowing is an important part of the treatment. 



592 THE ORCHAED. [Cuap. VI. 



Mr. Vkeedee, of Albany, said : A German, working for me, practices re- 
movinf^ the earth from the apple-tree roots in the fall, and that has com- 
pletely renovated an old tree on my farm. I have great faith in the value 
of cutting off the long runners of tree roots. 1 know one apple-tree that 
bore, two years ago, in Schenectady County, seventy barrels of apples. 

Adkian G. Bergen said — I wish I could make the apple-trees on Long 
island produce as they did thirty years ago. The trees have generally 
failed. I believe trees are failing all over the land. It is not all owing to 
want of lime. There is sometliing besides this that affects apple-trees. 

Andrew S. Fdllee — I recommend renovating old trees to find how far out 
tlie roots extend, and would dig so as to cut otf three or four feet of tlie out 
ends of all the roots by a ditch three feet deep and three feet wide, which I 
would fill with good soil and manure. It will almost always renovate them. 
If trees are mossy, scrape them with a hoe. 

Tnos. "W. Field — I agree with Mr. Fuller in this recommendation. 

Wm. p. Gates, of Windham, Ct., wants to know how to treat the soil in 
an old orchard, or where trees liave been planted ten years. Plowing cuts 
and bruises the roots, and, he thinks, must injure the trees. How, then, 
shall the soil be loosened ? 

Judge French, of New Hampshire — "We generally keep onr orchards 
plowed two thirds of the time, and work the land at first as deep as possible. 
We do not think it good policy to ripen grain in an orchard. Sow witli oats 
and cut them for green fodder. Plant with corn, and cut green. Potatoes 
are the best hoed crop for an orchard, old or young. 

Thos. W. Fief.d— I have been trying to answer this question a long time. 
Some orchards on Long Island that are plowed often, have (;eased to bear, 
while trees in the hedges and walls continue to bear fruit abundantly. Some 
pomologists contend that orchards should not be disturbed by the plow. 
Trees derive very little nourishment from deep soil ; it nearly all comes from 
the fibrous roots near the surface. If we can keep the surface loose, it will 
be useful; but plowing I believe injurious. 

Prof. Nash, of Amherst, Mass. — I concur generally with Mr. Field in 
this ; but for naturally drained land, I have no doubt it is the best practice 
to let the land lie in grass. No general rule can be given, but it must be 
adapted to the situation and circumstances of each orchard. 

Eocekt L. Pell — My experience is, that all orchards require plowing. 
I have found roots in my orchards as large as my arm, extending fourteen 
feet deep. Eye will kill an orchard quicker than anything else. I never 
stop to inquire whether my plow is cutting the apple roots or not. It does 
not injure them. 

Solon Robinson— I hold to the Scriptural injunction to renovate an old 
tree; it was: "Dig about and dung it." Success attends the same method 
now. Dig about certainly as far as the branches extend, but do not dig too 
deep or injure the roots unnecessarily. Stirring the surface soil frequently 
is what they want. Try that, and you will be amazed at the renovation you 



Skc. 37.] RENOVATING ORCHAEDS. 693 

work in an old apple-tree. Mulcliing, or cultivating -with a hoe to keep 
down weeds and let in air and moisture, answers the same purjjose. 

To clear suckers from orchard trees they should not be cut oft', for new 
shoots will spring from every stub left. The right way is to keep the ground 
smooth, mellow, and clean ; and then about the middle season of growth, or 
during the first half of summer, put on thick cowhide boots and stout buck- 
skin mittens, seize one sucker at a time, placing the boot upon it close to the 
tree, give a sudden jerk with the hands, and it will be torn out root and 
branch, leaving no stump. An occasional repetition of this process will 
keep the orchard clear. Suckers always give a slovenly appearance to an 
orchard, and favor the depredations of the borer. 

Trees growing on mucky soil sometimes make wood so fast that they ap- 
pear to have no power to produce fruit. In such cases we recommend 
heavy dressings of lime, salt, and bone-dust, and if convenient, sand and 
clay. The debris of an old charcoal-pit or a brick-kiln would be beneficial. 

When old pear-trees fail to bear, or, rather, to perfect their fruit, we would 
invariably dig about them and add all the above ingredients, and afterward 
stable manure spread on the surface as far around as the limbs extend, or f\ir- 
ther, after having dug up the surface thoroughly. A caustic soda-wash, or a 
wash made of weak lye, or of a solution of two pounds of potash to eight quarts 
of water, and rubbed on the stems of the tree, will prove more beneficial and 
far less injurious than whitewash. There is probably no substance that can 
be applied at so small a cost as lime that will do so much toward the renovation 
of an old orchard. It will promote in an astonishing degree the flowering 
and fruiting of almost all plants, because calcareous salts promote evapora- 
tion and the concentration of the sap. Air-slaked lime is an excellent 
manure for fruit-trees as a top-dressing ; or if spaded in around the tree, it 
will render it much more fruitful where the soil is not too calcareous by 
nature. In the use of lime, do not use it in great quantities, because only a 
small portion can be appropriated by the growing plants. Our opiniov 
favors about ten bushels per acre, though many persons apply thirty bushels 
We believe if that quantity were applied at the rate of six bushels a year for 
five years, it would be more beneficial, and we would always apply it on the 
surface either in autumn or spring, according to the crop, and not work it 
in. It will find its way down as deep as water can penetrate. The worst 
situation that can be selected for an orchard is a deep valley with a small 
stream of water, for there the frost is much more apt to kill buds than it is 
' upon exposed hill-tops. This is not the case with the bottom lands of large 
streams, nor on the borders of lakes, or ponds of considerable size. Wliere- 
ever fog follows frost, it will save the fruit from injury. 

33 



594 



THE OECHAED. 



[Chap. VI. 




SECTION XXXVIII.-CHERRIES-BEST VARIETIES, SOIL, SITUATION, 
AND CULTIVATION-HISTORY, USE, AND VALUE OF CHERRIES. 



HE clierrj, as one of the fruits of the farm, is not ap- 
preciated as much as its merits warrant. The rea- 
son that farmers do not appreciate it is, simply 
because they do not know it. Not one farmer in a 
thousand, take the wliole country through, ever had 
a tree upon his place that produced cherries of first quality, 
and not one in a hundred ever tasted of the best sorts ; and 
some, we know, do not believe that cherries ever grow of 
such a size that it is necessary to " make two bites of a 
cherry," nor of such lusciousness that a family would sit 
down to eat and enjoy a dish of cherries as they would sweet 
peaches, jjlums, pears, or apples. The reason is, that their 
standard of opinion, of the character of cherries, has been 
formed from such as have been most generally cultivated, such as the 
Kentish, which is the old, common red pic-cherry, sour and bitter until very 
ripe; or the old-style Morello, or Cluster-cherry ; or the old Black Mazzard, 
the Ox-heart, Red-heart, and Remington, etc., none of which are hardly ill 
to eat out of hand ; and with opinions based upon such a standard, it is no 
wonder that cherries are not esteemed by some as worth the time and trouble 
of growing, which, however, is very small, for no kind of fruit is easier 
grown, and none will give a family greater satisfaction. 

If any doubt this, we beg them to seek the opportunity of tasting some 
of the finest sorts in their perfection, a few of which we will name. 

G73. Choice Varieties of Clierries. — The Bigarreau, most generally known 
as Yellow Spanish, is in perfection the last of June, and is a most delicious 
fruit; the flesh firm, pale yellow, juicy, and rich, and grows very large. 
This cherry is often jiicked before fully ripe, and is not then esteemed. The 
tree is a thrifty, though not a large one, but forms a handsome head. 

The Napoleon Bigarreau is also an excellent cherry, ripening later than 
the other, of very large size and firm flesh, so much so as to be urged as 
objectionable. The skin is jsale yellow, or amber, when shaded, dotted with 
red, with a crimson-marbled cheek, ver}' handsome. 

The Black Tartarian is a superb cherry of large size and good flavor, 
and the trees are very productive, and of a remarkably rapid, vigorous 
growth, with crest head. The leaves are large and beautiful, and the tree 
very ornamental whaii full of ripe fruit, which is glossy-black, very rich 
and delicious, half tender, of a purplish color inside, with a very small 
stone, ripening from the middle to the last of June, and a few days after 
Mayduke. 



Sec. 38.] CHERRIES. 595 

Co(^s Transparent is a great favorite Avitli some persons. It is inodiuin 
size, tender, melting flesh, sweet and delicate, ripening a little earlier than 
Black Tartarian. It is too tender for a marketing fruit, but very productive 
and worthy of cultivation for family use. 

Downcr''s Late Cherry is valuable because it is late. It is an excellent 
fruit, and comes after the other good sorts are gone. The color is red, flesh 
sweet, and fruit grows in clusters. 

The Elton, is considered one of the best cherries grown. The trees are 
vigorous, with a singular mark of dark-red foot-stalks to the leaves. The fruit 
is large, with pale yellow thin skin, shaded on the sunny side with red ; the 
flesh firm, and when fully ripo, tender and luscious, ripening middle of 
June 

Tlie Governor Wood is becoming one of the favorites of this country. 
Indeed, it is esteemed by some above all others. The fruit is large, light 
j-ellow, marbled Avith bright i-cd, nearly tender flesh, sweet, juicy, rich, and 
delicious, ripening middle of June. 

The American Heart is a tree of luxuriant growth, producing cherries in 
clusters, of pale red color, half tender flesh, very juicy, and sweet enough 
in dry seasons ; ripens early in June. 

The American Amler ripens the last or June, the tree vigorous and pro- 
ductive, fruit medium size, tender flesh, of a rather sharp flavor ; skin thin, 
light amber color, mottled with red. 

JJownimj's Red Cheeh is a very handsome and very good new cherry, 
oi-iginated by Charles Downing, of Newburg, N. Y. The fruit is largo, 
white skin, witli crimson cheek, or rather side, for more than half is red. 
The flesh is yellowish, sweet, and luscious, and what is termed half 
tender, ripening about the middle of June. It will undoubtedly become a 
favorite. 

The Maydiike Cherry is better known than some of the other good ones 
we have named. It is really the most popular sort known, as it thrives in 
all countries equally well. It is a good cooking fruit before it is fit to eat 
out of hand, and the fruit does not ripen all at once, some parts of the tree 
being several days behind others. The tree grows in a handsome, upright 
form, and fruit in clusters, roundish form, dark-red skin, reddish flesh, tender, 
melting, juicj', and good-flavored when ripe. It is too often picked before 
fully ripe. In favorable seasons it begins to color, about New York, the 
last of May, but is never fully ripe in that month ; nor does it take its 
name from ripening anywhere in May, but from the province in France 
where it originated, named Medoc, which has easily been corrupted into 
May duke. 

The Leite Dale is of the same character, both in tree and fruit, except the 
period of ripening, which is the latter part of July, and the fruit hangs on 
during the first week in August. This is esteemed a very valuable variety, 
both for eating out of hand and for cooking. 

The Archduke is another good sort, of the same general character belong- 



596 THE ORCUARD. [Chap. VI. 



ing to tlie family of Dukes ; the flesh is light red, rich aud juicy, of good 
flavor, ripening the fore part of July. 

VaiVs August Duke, as its name indicates, is a later variety, but much 
like the Mayduke in other respects. The fruit grows large, heart-shaped, 
of regular form, and the tree is naturally prolific. 

Prince's Duke, though large, good fruit, is not much cultivated, because 
the tree is such a shy bearer. 

Jeffi'ey''s Duke is a flne lively red cherry, with amber-colored flesh, rich 
and juicy, growing in thick clusters, the trees being of a slow growth, and 
therefore hardy and lasting. 

The Kentish Cherry is one of the old English sorts, which has been ex- 
tensively grown in this country near market towns on account of several 
good qualities as a marketing fruit. The tree grows pretty large, and is very 
productive. The fruit, though not ripe, is in the New York market from 
New Jersey in May, and continues through June, growing larger and better 
after it has turned quite red ; and when fully ripe is a good acid cherry, of 
medium size, round shape, always growing in pairs. A peculiarity of this 
sort is the adhesion of the pit to the stem, which enables one to pull out the 
pit by the stem in preparing the fruit for cooking or for drying, for which 
purpose it is excellent. 

The Carnation Cherry is much esteemed by those who preserve fruit m 
spirits, making excellent " brandy-cherries," and is also good for sweetmeats. 
The fruit is large and round, and usable when of a yellowish-white color, 
mottled with red, but is not ripe until nearly all red, and is then good for 
eating out of hand. The trees grow low and spreading, and bear well ; the 
fruit hangs on long after it is ripe, which is about July 15.: 

Of the old variety of cherries bearing the appfellation of " Heart," there 
are several worth cultivating, and we will mention one of each color. 

Early White Heart ripens first of June, medium size, skin a dull whitish 
or yellow color, and not good to eat until fully ripe, when it is specked with 
red. 

Tiie Black Heart Cherry is an old variety, long grown in this country as 
a standai-d, on account of its fruitfulness aud the large size and beauty of 
growth, as an ornamental tree. The fruit is glossy purple black when ripen- 
ing, and dead black when fully ripe, of medium size, tender, rich, aud sweet ; 
in perfection the last of June. 

The lied Heart is an old English sort, introduced into this country and 
much grown many years ago. It is dark red, with reddish flesh, half tender, 
and not half as good as many other sorts. 

The Honey Cherry is a small, late variety, well worthy of a place upon 
every farm. It ripens the middle of July, and though small, the fruit is 
much esteemed, particularly by children, who love sweet fruit. One kind, 
called Sparhawke's Honey, is said to be a profuse beai-er, and the tree more 
vigorous than the older sorts ; and the fruit, which is lively red when ma- 
ture, juicy and sweet, ripens in June. 



Sko. 38.] CHERRIES. 597 



The Black Mazzard is the ])areiit of our extensive family of elierries, and 
is still adhered to by many farmers on account of its hardiness. It is the 
wild cherry of Europe, and has become semi-wild here, as it springs up al- 
most spontaneously. The fruit is small, roundish, on long, slender steins, 
flesh soft and melting, but the juice slightly bitter, even when rijie, and 
acid when unripe. It hangs well on the tree till late in July. 

Although we have not mentioned a tithe of the good cherries well worth 
cultivation, to make up a great variety, we have said enough, perhaps, to 
show readers how they can make up a little assortment of this excellent 
fruit, which should find a place upon every farm ; and now we will name a 
few sorts that should find a place in lawns and yards, as ornamental trees. 

67-1. Ornamental €herry-TreeSi — There is a variety of cherry-trees, hearing 
double blossoms, which produce no fruit, l)Ut are very ornamental in lawns 
or grounds about the dwelling. 

The kind known as the Large Double-flowering cherry throws out blossoms 
an inch and a half diameter at the time of blossoming of other cherries, and 
being so showy is quite ornamental, although producing no fruit. The 
foliage is that of the common Mazzard, but the flowers bear greater re- 
semblance to white roses than cherry-blossoms. The tree is a free grower, 
and forms a large head, so it must be allowed sufficient room. There is, 
however, a double-flowering cherry-tree that grows quite dwarfish — more like 
a shrub than tree — which is very pretty, though the flowers ai-e not si> 
large and regular as the Large Double-flowering variety, but it is better 
suited to ornanient small places. There is also another kind, known as 
the Chinese Double-flowering cherry, that is medium between the large 
and dwarf sorts, which bears white flowers, tinged with pink, in fascicles 
and foliage, with cut edges, called serrulate, and is altogether an orna- 
mental tree. 

The Weeping or Ever-flowing cherry is a beautiful, small, ornamental 
tree, with slender hanging branches and myrtle-like foliage. It bears a red, 
acid fruit, which in favorable seasons continues a long time. If grafted on 
a Mazzard stock, five or six feet high, it grows into a sort of parasol-shaped 
top, the branches weeping half way to the ground. 

The native- wild cherries of this country are often grown as ornamental 
trees, but still more often are left to grow naturally about the fields and 
fences because they are ornamental, and form fine shade-trees, and aflbrd a 
good deal of food for birds. The fruit is not much used to eat out of hand, 
but is to a considerable extent for making a poisonous decoction called 
cherry rum ; poisonous, because the pits contain the essential principle of 
prussic acid. The variety known in Kew England as the " Black Cherry," 
which grows to a large tree in old forests, and to botanists as the Cetasus 
serotiua, is the one we allude to. The Cerasus Virginiana is a low-growing 
shrub, which is quite ornamentfil both in blossom and in fruit. We have 
seen bushes only two or three feet high loaded with the shining, reddish 
berries. This variety is called " choke cherry" on account of its astringent 



fe 



L 



598 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

quality, which makes it entirely unfit to eat, while the other, the common 
wild black cherry, may be, when fully ripe, eaten with satisfaction. 

675. Winter CherrieSt — We mention these in this connection simply be- 
cause they have acquired the name of cherries among common people. They 
grow upon an annual plant {Physalis viscord) of the family of Solanacm, 
and of course have no relation to the Ccmsus family. The fruit has obtained 
the name of cherries from its appearance. It is of the same habit as the to- 
mato ; the fruit grows about the size of Mayduke cherries, of a yellowish or 
pale red color, inclosed in husks, or, rather, a thin, loose, skin-like semi- 
transparent covering, and it will keep till late in winter, if put away in its 
husks just as it grew. Some persons are very fond of these "winter cher- 
ries." To us they are sickish sweet, and totally unlike in taste to any true 
cherry. They can be grown wlierever tomatoes can, and in the same way. 

676. Grafting and Budding flierry-Trecs. — An experienced propagator 
gives the following rules for grafting the cherry : 

'' The trees should be taken up early in spring, before the swelling of the 
buds, the branches trimmed off and top cut back to within four or five 
inches of where the head is to be inserted. Tliey are then to be planted in 
orchard or nursery rows, to be grafted as soon as the buds are ready to break 
and until the leaf is half grown, which is the season of grafting. The scions 
should have been cut in the fall or winter and kept in some cool place, so 
that they shall not have materially swelled their buds. If the stock is half 
or three fourths of an inch in diameter, cut it off at an angle of forty-five 
degrees, square off the upper part of the cut, and insert as in cleft-grafting, 
with this difference, that the knife is held at an angle so as to cut instead 
of splitting the bark ; but when the stock is of less size, make the usual splice 
graft, but without the tongue, simply putting them together and winding 
with linen thread. Cut in lengths of sixteen to eighteen inches, and protect 
by melted wax, put on with a brush. So soon as the growth indicates that 
the thread will cut into the bark, it must be cut, and cutting down through 
the thread, even into the wood, will do no harm, but the thread should not 
be removed, as the wax will hold it so as to protect the graft from blowing 
off until it is firmly knit to the stock. 

" Do not prune too much before grafting, nor cut back the branches at the 
time of grafting; they are to be shortened in, as the graft is capable of ab- 
sorbing the sap. Those suitable for splice-grafting can be safely pruned at 
the time. The fault in grafting the cherry has been mainl}"- in doing the 
work before active growth. 

" Grafting the cherry and plum, even after they are in bloom, is safer than 
very early. The caution to be observed in rooted trees, is not to cut away 
too much of tlie top at once ; and in newly transplanted trees, deprived of 
vigor and the growth checked, it is not safe to set the graft until the growth 
is resumed. No buds or sprouts should be rubbed or cut from the tree the 
first season after transplanting." 

Most nurserymen prefer budding to grafting. They plant the common 



& 



Sec. 38.] CHERRIES. 599 



Black Mazzard clierrics to produce stock. The clierries are gathered when 
fully ripe, and allowed to lie in bulk until the pulp will wash off easily, and 
then the pits are planted at once about an incii deep in seed-beds. At a 
year from planting, set the plants in nursery rows a foot apart. The next 
August the plants will be in order for budding. When setting the plants 
in nursery rows, place all of equal sizes together, so that the growth will 
be even. 

677. Soil, Situation, Cultivation, History, and Uses of Cherriesi— Any rich, 
dry soil will grow cherries, but a sandy or gravelly loam or rocky situation 
produces the finest fruits. ■ In wet soils the cherry-tree is apt to decay 
young ; and if the soil is very rich, the young trees are apt not to rij^en the 
wood and therefore winter-kill the ends of the limbs and make scrubby 
trees, or else produce more wood than fruit. It is well to set cherry-trees 
for fruit on northern exposures, wherever they are apt to start very early in 
the spring, as that is often fatal to the crop of fruit. This was almost uni- 
versally the case in the spring of 1861 in the vicinity of New York. 

Pruning cherry-trees should always be done in midsummer, and but little 
of it, only cutting out dead branches, or those that interfere. More harm 
is done than good, as a general thing, by pruning. ,^ 

It is believed that our cultivated varieties of cherries came from Asia, first 
to Italy, and then to all other European countries. The name Cerasus comes 
fiom the name of the place they were brought from into Italy, more than 
half a century before the commencement of the Christian era. Our stock 
came over with the early immigrants from England, Holland, Belgium, and 
France. 

As a dessert fruit, cherries are everywhere esteemed, and are better to 
eat out of hand than in any other way ; that is, the varieties that are not 
only sweet, but lusciously so, rich and delicate, and the peculiar admixture 
of sugar and acid is exceedingly refreshing. Cherries are also excellent for 
culinary purposes, both fresh and dried. Some of the sorts are so particu- 
larly applicable to the purpose that they are called pie cherries. 

In Europe, intoxicating liquor is distilled from cherries. In Germany, a 
veiy fiery stuff, called kirschwassei', is made of Black Mazzard cherries, 
ground, so as to break the pits, and the mass then fermented. 

At Grenoble, France, a peculiar cordial is made of cherries, well known 
by the name of ratafia. 

In Italy, a celebrated liquor called maraschino^ is made by mashing a 
small Mazzard cherry and fermenting it with pulps, pits, and leaves mixed, 
to which honey is added. 

In this country the common wild cherry, both the black and choke va- 
rieties, are used to make " cherry rum," which is done by filling a barrel 
half full of liquor, and then adding whole cherries to fill it, and bunging 
tight to stand a year or more. 

The wood of the cherry is hard and durable, and when this country was first 
settled, and large forest-trees of Cerasus serothia were abundant, the wood 



600 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



was extensively used for furniture and house-joinery. One locality was so 
celebrated for the abundance and size of these trees that the town took the 
name of " Cherry Valley" (N. Y.), by which it will be known long after 
the origin of the name is forgotten. 

The gum of the cherry-tree is much like the gum known in commerce as 
gum-arabic, and is much esteemed by some for its medicinal qualities, and 
is called rich in nutritive matter, though but seldom used for either of these 
purposes. The cherry tree does not exude gum in large quantities wliile it 
is in a healthy condition, find when it does exude copiously, it is generally a 
sign of final decay. It is recommended to cut out gum spots when they 
first make their appearance upon young trees, being careful to injure the 
bark as little as possible. We think it better to keep the bark clean by 
good cultivation and in a healthy state of growth. Trees may be much im- 
proved by washing with soda or potash solution. Sometimes trees are hide- 
bound, and are benefited by slitting the bark in midsummer. The boles of 
cherry-trees sometimes burst by freezing. When this happens, it is a good 
plan to pare the edges of the bark in spring with a sharp knife, and plaster 
the crack over with grafting clay (653). 

Cherries and plums may be safely transplanted when they are two or three 
yeai's old, but we prefer two-year-old trees to any others. 

All of our stone-fruits are liable to produce gum from their wounds, and 
this often prevents them from healing over, and the older the Iree tlie more 
liable it is to become diseased from its wounds. This can be seen by exam- 
ining an old cherry-tree which has had a branch broken ofi"; it takes a long 
time to heal over, if ever, while on a young tree it heals over quickly, 
scarcely leaving a sign of the accident. 

S. N. Coats, in the Gardener''s Monthly, says it is reported on good evi- 
dence that a cultivator of cherries has met with signal success by training 
his trees with low heads, and at the approach of winter bending down the 
lower tier of branches all around and covering them up with soil, having 
the position of the tree so that no water can stand about it. At the ap- 
proach of spring he removes the soil, and the work is done. It is stated 
that not only the branches and fruit-buds covered by the soil, but those 
left exposed to the winter's cold, are perfectly preserved from its effects. 



Seo. 89.] 



VARIETIES OF PEARS. 



601 



SECTION XXXIX.-PEARS- 



-SOIL, SITUATION, CULTIVATION, AND 
VARIETIES. 




"EAES may be named as the favorite fruit of man- 
kind. Though not as universal as apples, nor 
quite as much sought after as peaches in their short 
season, they are everywhere appreciated as the best 
standard fruit we have, and in some of the numerous 
varieties having ahnost as long a soason as the apple. 
The w'onder is that fanners do not pay more attention to 
the production of such a rich fruit — one that is not only uni- 
versally a favorite on account of its pleasant taste, but one 
that really aiibrds a very cheap, healthy food, and can be 
grown near a market town as a profitable crop. At least, 
such is the opinion of a great many pear culturists, though 
some other persons declare that pears, as a general thing, 
can not be grown profitably. "We think they can, and will 
try to tell how. In the first place, select good sorts. For 
a small assortment, suitable for any farmer, the following list has been rec- 
ommended by a competent committee for the vicinity of New York : 

678. Varieties to Grow, and CnltivatioUi — Summer Pears. — Doyenne d'Ete, 
Dearborn's Seedling, Beurrc Giffard, Rostizer, Tyson. 

Autumn. — Bartlett, Seckel, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Superfin, Doyenne 
Boussock, Duchesse d'Angouleme (on quince), Flemish Beauty, Fondante 
d'Automne, Speldon, Urbaniste. 

W'uiter. — Beurre Gris d'Hiver Nouveau, Lawrence, Vicar of "Winkfield. 

Some of the committee were anxious to place the Beurre Bosc high on 
the list of pears, and if it was uniformly ais good with others as it always is 
with Mr. Hayes of New Jersey and some few other cultivators, it could 
w^ith propriety head the list of late fall varieties. "We recommend all ama- 
teurs to try this also, and if they succeed in bringing it to full perfection, 
they will have a pear in size, beauty, and quality inferior to no other. 

In the second place, give your pear-trees deep, generous tillage, by which 
is meant a trenching and manuring of the soil from one and a half to three 
feet deep. In other countries, where labor is cheaper and fruits dearer than 
tliey are here, this work is often extended to a depth of four feet, receiving 
a profitable return even from so small a fruit-bearing plant as the straw- 
berry. It is from a want of such cultivation that the finest pear-trees taken 
from our nurseries often die or come to nothing. They have " no deepness 
of earth," " no root," and, as a natural consequence, they share the fate of 
the wasted seed of the parable. 

The following rules are also important : 

1st. Cultivating or mulching the surface around the trees for a distance 



602 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



equal, at least, to the drip of their branches. But especial care should be 
taken to avoid the slightest bruising of the roots, and the mulch must not 
be so thick and heavy as to smother them. 

2d. Under-drainage, wherever the snbsoil is of a retentive natnre. But 
all covered drains, whether of tiles or stones, should be not less thaa three 
feet deep — no less than six or eight feet distant from the trunks of the 
trees ; for many a fine tree set out directly above a shallow underground 
conduit has been poisoned to death by tiio foul air therein contained. 

3d. Thinning of the fruit, especially of the class of trees known as great 
bearers. 

Pruning may be performed at any season of the year ; but the best time 
is believed to be about the longest days of summer, while the worst effects 
that happen arise from using the saw or knife during the full flow of sap 
in the spring. An exception, however, must be made in cases where it is 
considered necessary to head in a newly planted tree. 

As to the kind of soil, almost any thoroughly drained soil will answer, bi;t 
a dry one is absolutely necessary. A true loam, or sandy one, if enriched, 
will answer a good purpose. A rocky or gravelly soil, fertile for grass and 
other farm-crops, is good for pears. A hillside is generally considered a 
favorable situation ; and in all localities affected by late spring frosts, a 
northerly slope is I'ecommended, on account of keeping back the buds, which 
are apt to start during earlj'' warm days in southern exposures. 

679. Rulfs for Pear Culture. — A cultivator of pears in Missouri gives the 
following as his rules for pear cultivation. He says: 

" In the fruit countries of old Europe, pears are generally more plentiful 
than apples, and easier to raise. They will not do quite so well here, but 
would do a great deal better if the following rules were observed, by fol- 
lowing which I have no difficulty in raising sound trees that bear well, un- 
less, perchance, a late frost or veiy heavy showers of rain injure the 
blossoms. 

" 1st. For position, I prefer the northern slope of a liill, otherwise the 
northern corners of a fence running west and east. 

" 2d. The soil should be rather heavy than light, yet permeable to a depth 
of at least three feet or more ; not altogether wet, but not too dry. 

" 3d. The growth of the pear-tree should be only moderately rank ; by the 
end of June the young shoots ought to cease growing. Do not manure your 
pear-trees nor stimulate their growth by much cultivation of the ground, 
unless they appear to grow too poorly. Do not stir the ground or remove 
the grass during hot and dry weather. 

"4th. The lower the head is formed, the sounder the tree will be. Such 
varieties as the Seckel, growing in the shape of a poplar, might have their 
lower branches one and a half feet from the ground ; others are best at three 
feet. 

" 5th. Bend the lower limbs toward the southwest, to make them fully 
shade the trunk and ground around it. If that can not well be done, cover 



Sec. 39.] GROWING PEARS. C03 

the ground round the trunk with half-rotten straw, and keep the trunk en- 
veloped with straw, rags, or even paper during summer. 

"6th. Do not trim much ; a bearing tree will generally help itself with- 
out much pruning. 

" 7th. In setting out your pear-trees, make a deep and wide hole, fill up 
with ordinarily rich ground, then plant not deeper than the young tree had 
been in the ground before.* 

, " Sth. Urine is good manure for pear-trees when applied in the winter 
time. 

" Fine pears can be profitably raised at a dollar a bushel. Plant Seckel, 
"White Doyenne, Napoleon, Bartlett, Benrre Bosc, etc., all good bearers, 
and yielding delicious fruit. 

" Thus far goes my experience in Missouri." 

Thos. W. Field, of Brooklyn, author of a work on pears, says : " Near New 
York city we can not grow apples to any profit. So it is with every crop ; it 
must be adapted to suitable soil and climate. "Within fifty miles around New 
York the pear grows to perfection, with the exception of a few kinds. The 
pear-tree here has a great longevity. The peach is ephemeral. Apple-trees 
endure in a scraggy form, but unproductive. Cherries and plums are short- 
lived, while pear-trees are found everywhere aliout here of great size and age." 

6S0. Size and ImproTement of Pearsi — The original pear, like the apple, 
was very unlike the improved sorts now known to us. Something like it 
may be seen here and there growing in a semi-wild state, called choke 
pears, a sort only eatable when cooked. 

The pear has been a cultivated fruit a great length of time. It was so among 
the Romans at an earlj'- period — so history tells us ; and it was also known 
to Syria, Egypt, and Greece. Pliny speaks of numerous A-arieties, some of 
M-hicli were, by his description, as delicate and agreeable as they are at the 
present day. There were also early and late pears, some of which were used 
for only baking. Probably the Komans did not better understand the art 
of rijjening pears in a fruit-room than most of our farmers, some of whona 
have no idea that some pears, which are uneatable in autumn can be ripened 
artificially into [)erfect lusciousness. 

"We knew an instance illustrative of this fact. A pear culturist saw a 
farmer in New York market with a couple of bushels of " winter pears," 
which he recotnmended as "good for baking." Our friend saw at a glance 
what these " winter pears" were, and bought the lot at a very low price, 
because, as the owner said, " seems as though nobody wanted baking pears." 
He had, however, met with a customer who did, and who paid him a dollar a 
bushel and took them home and stored them in his fruit-room. In January 
following he brought them to a Broadway fruit-dealer, and sold them by 
count at a price equal to over $20 a bushel. So much for knowing what to 
do with choice fruit. 

Pear-trees do not appear to be native to this country, though flourishing 
well in almost every locality, and sometimes attaining great age. Tiie "old 



604 THE ORCHARD. [Chap VI. 

Stuyvusaiir •iiear-tree," still standing at the corner of Third Avenue and 
Thirteenth Street, New York, has borne several crops of fruit since it attained 
the respectable age of two hundred years, having been planted by the old 
Dutch Governor Stuyvesant upon his farm, then a long way out of New 
York city, or rather the little hamlet that has since attained to its city 
dignity and size, and has absorbed the old governor's farm, and many others 
miles farther from the starting-point at the old Battery. 

There is a remarkable old pear-tree near Yincennes, Indiana, on the other 
side of the Wabash. The trunk girts ten feet above the swell of the roots, 
and more than half that nine feet above the ground, and it has yielded one 
hundred and eighty bushels of pears in a single season, and every year gives 
a great product of early autumn pears of fair quality ; some who never 
tasted better ones think them excellent. If the quality was like the Bart- 
lett, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, or some other choice autumn pears, or Easter 
Bcurre, Doyenne d'Hiver, Lawrence, Winter Nelis, or other choice winter 
pear.-, which often bring $o to $10 a bushel, what an enormous money pro- 
duct this one tree would give its owner! And if other trees would not give 
as much, it is certainly for the encouragement of all farmers to plant pear- 
trees to know how long they will live, and how much they will produce in 
quantity and value. 

In England, France, and Belgium, pears are largely grown for the same 
purpose that cider-apples are here, the fermented juice, called Peny, being 
much used as a beverage. The fruit is also dried, and extensively used as 
an article of food. It is so, to a limited extent, in some parts of this country ; 
and so it is for cooking in various ways, and preserving in air-tight cans, but 
its grea: value is for a dessert fruit, and for this purpose none are suitable 
but tliose sorts having a Soft texture and buttery, melting flesh filled with 
sugary juice and delicious aromatic flavor, of which we consider the Seckel 
the type. 

681. When to Gather aud how to Ripen Pears.— One of the most common 
mistakes with those who grow pears, particularly among farmeis who liave 
not, as a general thing, studied much upon the subject, is in letting the fruit 
hang upon the tree to ripen. With some of the best sorts of winter pears 
this is simply impossible, and with nearly all of the best varieties it is im- 
politic, because the fruit is far better when picked before it is ripe, and 
matured in the house. Of late many people have built fruit- rooms on pur- 
pose to ripen the choicest varieties both of pears and apples. Some pears 
that are almost worthless when allowed to hang upon the tree, are excellent 
when artificially ripened. 

The time to gather pears which are to be ripened in a fruit-room, or in 
default of such a room, in a dry, sweet cellai-, or in a cool upper I'oom, may 
be judged by watching for the ripening of those which have been injured 
by worms and a few prematurely ripening specimens. Then all that appear 
full-grown may be gathered and placed singly on shelves, or on the floor 
of the room where tliey are to ripen. Sometimes the pears show maturity 



Seo. 39.] • WHEN TO GATHER PEARS. 605 



by a change of color, or by a disposition to fall from the twig upon a very 
slight touch. Then, if taken into the house, they will gradually attain their 
proper color, and will possess a richness never attainable on the tree. ?ears 
ripened indoors will mature more gradually than upon the tree, so that you 
will have the fruit in perfection much later. 

There is another important advantage to be gained by this indoor ripening. 
A thief will seldom strip a tree of hard, uneatable pears. He probably does 
not know the art of ripening them, and if he does, has not the conveniences. 
Besides, he has not the opportunity that the owner has to know when is the 
proper time to gather them. The owner may therefore frequently save the 
crop by his superior knowledge and ability to gather it while quite unfit to 
eat, and ripen it in a safe store-room. 

Some of the latest winter pears, like late winter apples, should be allowed 
to hann: as long as the state of the weather will admit. The finest sort for 
the table should be very carefully handled, and wrapped each in a piece of 
soft paper, and packed in barrels, or boxes of smaller dimensions than a 
barrel, and stored in a dry room — not in the cellar — ^just barely warm enough 
not to freeze, where they should remain till about two weeks before the 
time required I'or use, and then ripened in a warm room, keeping them 
covered to prevent shriveling. In this way some pears, that are natu- 
rally tough, become tender and delicious. When brought into a M'arm 
room to finish ripening, the temperature should be kept at about 60 or 70 
degrees. 

There are some pears that may be gathered and treated exactly like winter 
apples, and they will ripen just as well. The one called D'Aremberg is of 
this kind. The Glou Morceau, Columbia, Kedding, Easter Beurre, Char- 
monte, and Vicar of Winkfield grow well near New York, and there is no 
difficulty in any farmer in Westchester County producing fine crops of these 
winter pears as easily as winter apples. 

In sending pears to market, great care should be used in putting them up 
neatly. 

A person who grows pears some distance from this city had a quantity of 
Louise Bonne de Jersey, which is only a second-rate pear, and he put them 
up in such a neat manner, one dozen in a box, that they sold at $5 to $7 a 
hundred. This shows how important it is to know how to put up fruit for 
market. 

6S2. Pears and Poultry. — There appears to be a connection between pears 
and poultry which is worth inquiring about. Messrs. B. & S. Beatty, of 
Aurora, New York, have a very large poultry establishment ; they fatten 
and prepare tuns of poultry for market every year. Of course they liave a 
good deal of the very best manure, the feathers forming no mean portion 
of it. They grow, probably in consequence of using this manure, remark- 
ably fine, large, rich pears ; and the richness of them is not the most re- 
markable thing, for some of the Seckels were the largest we ever saw, and 
were, they said, a fair sample of many grown on two standard trees, standing 



606 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

flear a stone ash-house, which consequently get plenty of alkalies. They are 
also dug around and manured. 

Does tlie keeping of large numbers of fowls have a tendency to lessen the 
ravages of curculio ? That is a question worthy of more attention. 

683. Pear Blight. — That something to increase the production of this 
valuable fruit is worth thinking about is very certain. The greatest difficulty 
appears to be in what is familiarly known as pear Jjlight. This mysterious 
disease of the pear-tree has, so far, baffled all the arts of pear culturists, and 
more than anything else has deterred men from extending their attempts to 
produce larger quantities. 

684. Seedling Pears. — It is thought by some that if we should pay more 
attention to seedlings we should be more free from disease. Independent of 
this, there is great encouragement to grow seedlings, since some of our 
■valuable varieties are such. The Tyson ,pear was found in a hedge near 
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. It is thus described : 

" Fruit small, roundish, pyriform, irregular ; color yellow, shaded red to 
the sun, russeted, and numerous black specks ; stem long, slender, inserted 
without depression ; calyx large, in a shallow basin ; flesh fine-grained, 
sugar}', melting, aromatic ; season, from the middle to tlie end of August. 
Mr. Barry believes it to be a cross between the Madeline and Seckel." 

A remarkably good summer pear, brought into notice within a few years 
by Mr. Charles F. Erhard, of Ilavenswood, opposite this city, on Long 
Island, originated from a small tree found in the woods and transplanted to 
the garden, where it fruited and prov*ed one of the very best early sorts 
known. It is smaller than the Seckel, but nearly as rich, and is a summer 
pear, while that is an autumn one. 

685. fan Farmers Grow Pears as a ProGtable Crop ?— Lewis F. Allen, of 
Black Rock, N. Y., has written a good deal in the Horticulturist and New 
York Tribune to prove the negative of this question. He is a well-known 
farmer, stock-raiser, and agricultural writer, and his opinions are entitled to 
respect. He says : 

" There are some localities in the country where the pear once flourished, 
but now they have all, or nearly all, died out; and newly planted trees are 
refractory, or, if growing for a few years, then dying away, and proving an 
unprofitable object of cultivation. 

" Second, There are certain localities in the United States where pears still 
appear to be successful ; but those localities are limited in number, and no 
one disposed to embark in pear culture should do so unless assured, from a 
limited trial of his own, or the experience of others in that locality, that it 
is favorable to their growth and longevity. 

" Third, The dwarf, or the pear worked on the quince to any extent, is a 
recent introduction in this country ; and although millions of trees have been 
propagated and sold by nurserymen, pears are still scarce and dear fruit in 
market, and not at all abundant on the tables of their cultivators. 

^'■Fourth, Although thousands of both, on their own stocks and on the 



Seo. 39,] IS IT PROFITABLE TO GROW PEARS? 607 

quince, have been planted in my own vicinity, I do not now know of a single 
orchard of any size that has not proved a failure, so far as cither profit or 
general success is concerned. Such is the experience, not only in my own 
neighborhood for many miles around, but in diiferent parts of this and other 
States. 

^'' Fifth, Some ten years ago, partaking of the enthusiasm which pre- 
vailed for dwarf pear culture, 1 planted out an orchard of about six hundred 
trees, together with a few hundred on their own stocks, or standards, on my 
Grand Island farm, situated in tlie Niagara Kiver, and fronting it on the 
east, about four miles from the outlet of Lake Erie. The land has been re- 
cently (about twenty years) cleared from the original forest ; well elevated 
(fifteen to twenty-five feet) above the water, gently declining toward the 
stream ; rich in phosphates, a clayey loam soil, the best possible for both 
quinces and pears, each on their own stocks, and on which I had them, with 
many apple-trees, growing successfully for some years ; the pear, however, 
with the drawbacks ali'eady named. On this pear-orchard site I had pre- 
viously cultivated in succession good crops of corn, oats, barley, wheat, pota- 
toes, sugar-beet, mangel-wurzel, beans, carrots, and parsneps. It was well 
surface-drained, naturally rich, and highly manured with barn-yard dung. 
I obtained my dwarf trees from several difi'erent nurseries — of a celebrated 
Rochester one among others, to the number of one hundred and fifty, cer- 
tain, if not more, good-looking trees. Some of the trees were impromising 
in appearance ; some so-so ; some very good ; but such as they were, with a 
previous preparation of the ground witli a well-cultivated potato crop, I 
planted faithfully and well, under my own immediate eye and hand. The 
trees were properly pruned and cut back, both at root and top, according to 
the authorities. The first year the trees, on an average, grew well, but few 
dying. The next year more died, which I replanted with new trees from 
the nurseries, some of them imported, and said by the venders to be better 
than those of domestic origin and growth. Some of the trees by this time 
bore fruit, fair in appearance and quality ; and although I cultivated them 
well, and according to the books, they still continued to die. The cause of 
their death was an occasional ' fire blight' striking them promiscuously over 
the field, yet often by a sort of bark and leaf blight, or canker, appearing 
in black blotches, diseasing the bark, leaves, and twigs — at all events they 
died, although they were hoed repeatedly, and manure was forked in, and 
the ground turned up for several feet around their roots every year. In that 
orchard, altliough but of six hundred living trees at any*«time, I planted out 
about fifteen hundred while it lasted — that is to say, I replanted nine hun- 
dred to keep the orchard. Some of the trees, of the first planted, grew well, 
bore well, and flourished to the end. In short, they were a mixed-up collec- 
tion of good, bad, and doubtful growth — all of the ' best' varieties in fruit, 
and dying out iu about like proportions of the various qualities, in appear- 
ance of the trees as they came from tiie nurseries. To cut this long story 
short, after about eight years of this point-no-point experience, in the fall of 



608 THE ORCHAED. [Chap. VI. 



1855 the "whole country became infested with myriads of field mice, and 
during the succeeding winter immense havoc was made throughout the 
nurseries and orchards by them, and they cut down nearly all my pear or- 
chard, both dwarf and standard, and thus terminated my hitherto very 
doubtful labors in that line ! 

" Now whether, had the mice let my trees alone, I should have reached 
any final success, I do not know. I do not believe I should, judging by the 
practice and experience of my neighbors since. I sold and marketed a good 
many pears while my orchard existed ; but the price I obtained led me to 
abate very much of my confidence in the public valuation of a good pear. 
Three dfillars a bushel is the highest price I ever knew the best Bartletts to 
sell for. Virgalieus, which, by the way, are apt to crack and spot all over 
the country, are scarcely worth four to five dollars when good ; and Seckels, 
the best of all, though inferior in size and appearance, bring no more, on 
account of their looks ; and no better pears, in their season, thau the above 
three, are grown. 

"I have mentioned the apparent diseases which have killed the dwarf 
pears, both rny own and those which I have observed in other grounds, with 
the exception that many of them blew down, being dislocated at the point 
of junction on the quince stocks. But the ffist of the want of success in the 
culture of the dwarf, in my opinion, is this : 

" Sixth, A want of compatibility in the open-pored, thrifty wood of the 
pear to unite Avith the close-pored, small wood of the quince. The pear, in 
its natural estate, is a large tree, growing, at full maturity, fifty feet high 
and two feet and upward in diameter. Consequently, Avhen the pear is 
worked on tiie quince stock, and growing thriftily, as it does for a few years, 
it tlien demands more sap than the quince root and stock can furnish ; it 
then stops growing at all, or the growth is feeble and sickly ; and it is no 
secret to say that when a young tree of any kind lacks for nutriment, 
although it may, for such lack, go to bearing fruit, yet, if no young wood 
can be formed to still grow on to its natural stature, such tree must, in com- 
pliance with its physical nature, become diseased and die. It is an unnatu- 
ral forced life which has been put upon it. Neither soil, climate, nor .any- 
thing else which man can do, can long perpetuate its existence. And 
although extraordinary efiforts or circumstances may prolong its life for a 
few years on the quince alone, unless it can strike its own roots from above 
the junction of the quince into the soil, so as to give it new expansion and 
support, it must die. The opposite formations and natures of the pear and 
quince refuse to join and become an inter-knitted wood, as the woods of two 
varieties of the same species, as the apple, pear, or quince, sei)ara!ely, 
will do when grafted or budded into each other; and thus the pear and 
quince, so worked, years afterward, in most cases, will be found to be 
only partially joined at the bark and a portion of the sap-wood, the body 
of the difi'erent woods still preserving their own difiercnt form and 
habit. An oceusional exception may be found in the case of a sinall-grow- 



Seo. 39.] CULTURE OF DWARF PEARS. 600 

ing, close-grained pear-wood worked on a very thrifty, open-pored quince, 
but rarely. 

" And this I conceive to be the grand difficulty and cause of disease and 
death in the dwarf pear, and, of course, the want of success in their cultiva- 
tion ; for they have been years cultivated iu ground immediately adjoining 
thrifty growing and bearing pear and quince trees, standing on their own 
roots, with not half the cultivation and pains given to the dwarfs, while the 
latter have become diseased and died. Now, if the quince would grow and 
thrive on its own roots and tops, why not on its own roots with a pear top, 
if my theory is wrong? Analogous to working the pear on the quince is 
the long-exploded practice of grafting or budding the pear on the common 
wild thorn. It used to be practiced in old times, when, for a temporary 
purpose, our farmers wanted a pear in shorter time than it would bear on its 
own stock. But although they succeeded for a few years, they were short- 
lived and unprofitable. The quince, although fibrous rooted and more tena- 
cious of life tlian the thorn, and therefore easier worked and transplanted, 
I consider in the same category when permanent pear-orcharding is the 
object." 

There are others who contend just as strongly that dwarf pears can be 
profitably cultivated ; and one writer, who visited Mr. Allen's farm, insists 
that he failed because the orchard was located upon the bleak eastern shores 
of Grand Island, in the Niagara River, on a level, stiff agricultural clay that 
had never been under-drained, and probably, as it was recently-cleared forest 
land, never deeply plowed, and so full of water that mosses and coarse sedge 
grasses {calex) were found growing in the sod, and lichens upon the young 
trees, and the recently turned-up earth dried in the sun almost as hard as 
sun-dried brick. 

Now let this fact be remembered by all who would grow pears, either as 
dwarfs or standards, that land naturally cold must be warmed ; naturally 
wet, must be drained — not upon the surface, but three or four feet below; 
naturally stiff land must be ameliorated, and made as friable for pears as for 
garden vegetables ; and land naturally poor will not grow pears any more • 
than naturally rich land will that is suffered to grow weeds and grass till the 
life is choked out of the trees, or eaten out in winter by mice. 

And let this other fact also be remembered, that signal failures have 
occurred, upon soil apparently suitable, with no lack of care and cultivation. 

The above facts and arguments in opposition to cultivation of dwarf pears, 
or, rather, both dwarf and standard, may be all facts at Buffalo, and quite 
the reverse at Boston, as the following statement from that vicinity will 
show : 

686. The Weight and Culture of Dwarf Pears.— " "Wlien we come to speak 
of luscious pears weighing from half a pound upward, we are conscious of 
presenting weighty arguments in favor of their culture. The merits of the 
little trees which load themselves with fruit when they have scarcely a 
growth shoulder high, are not appreciated by our farmers. If they were, 

39 



610 THE ORCHAED. [Chap. VI. 

we should not see so many risking all their chances for fruit on standard 
trees that may bear in seven years or seventeen, as the case may be, when 
they could have it in three or four from dwarfs. It will be a novelty to 
most of our farmer friends, we presume, to learn that we have seen pears, 
enumerated in the following list, sold to rich people at one dollar apiece, 
and that it is quite a common thing for them to be sold at 18 to 25 cents 
each. This enormous folly does not result from the extreme tenderness 
and a necessary rarity of dwarf pears, but from the fact that the ease and 
profit of their production are not fairly known. Generally speaking, it is as 
easy to raise dwarf pears as apples ; while their early fruiting, and the 
small garden space they require, commend them to the favorable notice of 
the smallest landholder. It has often been asserted, and as frequently de- 
nied, that dwarf pears weighing above three quarters of a pound are com- 
monly raised. The Worcester (Mass.) Horticultural Society have settled 
the question by the aid of steelyards. They took the fairest specimens of 
several varieties shown at the fairs of 1850 and 1860, and found a marked 
difierence in their weight in the two years. It appears that this year, in 
twenty-four specimens, the aggregate gain since the former year has been 
forty-seven ounces, or about two ounces to the pear. Of course, the remark- 
able increase is in part owing to a very favorable season, but probably 
much more to improved cultivation. 



Weight in 1850. 1860. 

oz. oz. 

Andrews 8J 7J 

Beurre d'Anjou 10 11^ 

Beurre Clairgeau 12J 14i 

Beurre Oris d'Hiver 7| lO" 

Beurre Montgeron 6 6 J 

Beurre Bosc 8 ^ 

Beurre Diel 11 J 15 

Beurre Langelier 5 8J 

Belle Lucrative 8 lOi 

Buffum 5 6i 

Doyenne de Cornice 6J 11 j 

Doyenne BouBSock 9 14 



Weight in 1850. 1860. 

oz. oz. 

Duchesse 12 1.3i 

Easter Beurre 7 10 

Fulton 4 5 

Flemish Beauty 12 13 

Gansel's Bergamot 5 'i 

Glou Morceau 9 12j 

Henry IV 4^ 5' 

Paradise d'Automne 5 6} 

Seckel 3J 4^ 

St. Michael 6 6J 

Urba^iste 9 10 

Winter Nelis 5i 51 



"Three varieties only of acknowledged merit were exhibited in 1860 that 
.were inferior to the specimens of 1850, viz., Duchesse d'Orleans, Sheldon, 
and Zephcrin Gregoire. 

" The following is the weight of a few other leading varieties exhibited 
that year, of which no specimens were shown in 1850 worthy of particular 
notice. Several of them have probably seldom, if ever, been surpassed : 

oz. I oz. 

Bartlett 12 | Lawrence 6,V 

Marie Louise 8j 

Swan's Orange 14} 

SieuUe 9 J 



Beurre Nantais 8J 

Beurrfe Superfin 13J 

Dix 9 

St. Michael Archange 7i 



687. List of Pears for Cultivation! — We copy the following list from 
"Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees," as a guide for persons desirous of 
making up a good assortment, ripening in succession from harvest-time till 
spring, the winter pears, of course, being carefully stored for ripening. 



Sko. 39.] 



LIST OF CHOICE PEARS. 



611 



^^ Pears to Ripen in, Succession from July to April. — Doyenne d'Ete, Made- 
line, Bloodgood, Dearborn's Seedling, Beurre GifFord, Rostizcr, Ott, Bart- 
lett, Tyson, Osbands' Summer, Belle Lucrative, Flemish Beauty, Beurre 
Bosc, Doyenne White, Doyenne Boussock, Beurr(5 d'Anjou, Seckel, llrba- 
niste, Church, Beurre Diel, Dix, Beurre Langelier, Lawrence, Winter Nells, 
Beurre d'Aremberg, Beurre Gris d'lliver, Nouveau, Easter Beurre. 

'■^ Pears for a Cold Climate. — Doyenne d'Ete, Bloodgood, Rostizer, Ful- 
ton, Heathcote, Buffum, Beurre Bosc, Flemish Beauty, Louise Bonne de 
Jersey (on quince). Belle Lucrative, LT^rbaniste, McLaughlin, Dix, Beurre 
Diel, Beurre d'Araanlis, White Doyenne, Lewis, Winter Nelis, Prince's 
St. Germain, Glou Morceau (on quince), Jaminette, Yicar of Wipkfield, 
Doyenne d'Hiver, Nouveau. 

" Pears for Dwarfs on Quince Stocks. — Belle Lucrative, Beurre d'Aman- 
lis, Beurre Diel, Beurre Langelier, Beurre d'Anjou, Duchesse d'Angou- 
leuie. Doyenne d'Ete, Doyenne Boussock, Easter Beurrfi, Figue d'Alen^on, 
Glou Morceau, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Napoleon, Nouveau, Poiteau, Ros- 
tizer, Soldat, Laboureur, St. Michael Archange, Urhaniste, Uvedale's St. 
Germain or Pound (for baking). Vicar of Winktield, White Doyenne." 

A list of pear-trees of fine appearance, of vigorous growth, of a natural 
pyramidal shape (or easily kept in that form), of good bearing disposition, 
with fruit of good or best quality ; in a word, best adapted to a lawn or 
garden walk, wliere ornament and beauty are required, as well as the more 
essential qualities of a pear-tree, given by Louis E. Berckmans : 

Beurre Langelier, Beurre Superfin, Belle Lucrative, Esperine, Fig of 
Angiers, Glou Morceau, Nouveau, Poiteau, St. Michael Archange, Ur- 
baniste, Yicar of Winkfield, Andrews, Buffum, Belle Epine, Duinas, Cap- 
sheaf, Frederika Bremer, Kingsessing, Lawrence, Onondaga, Oswego Beurre, 
Sterling, Walker. 

With the above lists always at hand for reference, no one can be at a loss 
what to select so as to make a good assortment either for family use or to 
grow as a crop for market. If you have room for only one tree, you may 
safely choose tlie Bartlett. For a second sort, take the Seckel. The best 
early pear is the Rostizer, and perhaps next best, DcarI)orn's Seedling. The 
Flemish Beauty is an excellent pear, and the trees hardy, and good bearers. 
Winter pears will not give as general satisfaction to farmers as summer and 
autumn ■ones, because they really require a good deal of skill and experience 
to riDen them to perfection. 



612 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 




SECTION XL-PLUMS, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, MULBERRIES, AND 
OTHER FRUITS-TRANSPORTING FRUIT. 



HE parent of our cultivated plums came from Asia and 
the south of Europe, and as this fruit lias almost ceased to 
pay for cultivation on account of disease and insects 
whicli infest the trees, it is matter of interest to in- 
^ quire whether we should not look to the sorts native 
to American soil and flourishing in a wild state from Maine to 
Florida, and up to the Lakes and over tiie Rocky Mountains. 
There are three principal varieties of wild plums in this 
country, all of which are good, though not as good as the 
improved sorts in cnltivation. They are named and de- 
scribed by Downing as follows : 
■'^^iS^'^ "I. The Chickasaw Plum {Prunus Chieasa, Michaux). 
' ^f^ (\^ Fruit about three foiirths of an inch in diameter, round, and 
red, or yellowish red, of a pleasant, sub-acid flavor ; ripen^ 
pretty early ; skin thin. The branches are thorny, the head rather bushy, 
with narrow lanceolate, serrulate leaves, looking at a little distance some- 
what like those of a peach-tree. It usually grows about twelve or fourteen feet 
high, bxit on the prairies of Arkansas it is only three or four feet high, and 
in tliis form it is also common in Texas. The Dwarf Texas Plum, described 
by Kenrick, is only this species. It is quite ornamental. 

" II. "Wild Eed or Yellow Plum (/*. Americana, Marshall). Fruit round- 
ish oval, skin thick, reddish orange, with a juicy, yellow, sub-acid pulp. 
The leaves are ovate, coarsely serrate, and the old branches rough and some- 
what thorny. Grows in hedges and by the banks of streams from Canada 
to the Gulf of Mexico. Tree from ten to fifteen feet high. Fruit ripens in 
July and August. 

"in. The Beach Plum, or Sand Plum {P. marhima, Wang). A low 
shrub, with stout, straggling branches ; found mostly on the sandy sea-coast 
from Massachusetts to Virginia, and seldom ripening well elsewhere. 
Fruit I'oundish, scarcely an inch in diameter, red or purple ; covered wi^h a 
bloom ; pleasant but somewhat astringent. Leaves oval, finely serrate." 

688. Soil, Ciimatc, and rultivation for Plums.— That the soil and climate are 
well adapted to the growth of cultivated plums is fully proved by the natural 
growth of these wild sorts, and if we could get rid of the enemies of the 
plum, we could raise all that could be eaten fresh, and a great surplus for use 
dry, or for exportation in the form of what are called " prunes" —that is, 
dried plums. 

Unlike pears, plums should be fully ripened on the tree, whether for eat- 



Sko. 40.] CULTIVATION OF PLUMS. 613 

ing out of liaiid, or drying, or making into sweetmeats. For drying, the 
plums are halved, the stone extracted, and the fruit dried in the sun, or in 
slow ovens, or a drying-room. See 349. 

Prunes are largely imported into America, principally from France, the 
best coming from the neighborhood of Tours, made of the St. Catherine 
plum, and Prune d'Agen, and Perdrigon Blanc, the Brignole, and Prune 
d'Ast. The plums are allowed to ripen on the trees until they will fall upon 
being lightly shaken. The plums are laid upon wicker-work forms in the 
sun several days, which softens them, and then shut up in a spent oven 
twenty -four liours, and then taken ^ut and the oven re-heated, and as they are 
now considerably dried they will bear a greater heat, and this is again re- 
peated with increased heat. What is termed " rounding," which gives the 
prunes of commerce their particular form, is done after drying, though while 
still soft, by turning the pit half round by the fingers, without breaking the 
skin, and pressing in the long ends by a pinch between the thumb and 
finger, after which they are dried and packed. 

In picking the finest kind of plums for the table, the French are very 
particular not to touch the fruit. Each one is broken off from the twig by 
the thumb and finger, and laid upon vine-leaves in a broad basket, so as not 
to touch each other. Care is taken to pick them a day or two in advance 
of using, and the early morning hour is selected, so as to preserve the 
bloom. In the fruit-room they grow mellow and attain the highest per- 
fection. 

The propagation of fine varieties is generally rather difficult, except by 
experienced nurserj-men. The pits of wild plums, or those of any free- 
growing sort, are planted while fresh in beds (damsons are not free-grow- 
ing), and the next year the largest plants are transferred to nursery-rooms, 
first reducing tops and the tap-roots. The following July these may be 
budded. Insert the buds on the north side of the stock, and tie light, and 
do not be disappointed if half do not grow. 

Plum-trees require but little pruning, but the fruit is always improved by 
thinning out. 

The l)est soil is rather a heavy loam, and the trees flourish well upon the 
banks of ponds and streams, and some suppose that in such situations the 
fruit escapes the curculio. It is a general opinion that curculios are much 
more troblesome on sandy soils than upon soils of a more compact nature ; 
and it is asserted by some that a close pavement under a plum-tree is the 
best remedy for this pest. 

One of the best manure? for plum-trees is salt-water marsh-mud. In tlie 
absence of such, the nmd of a fresh swamp may be beneficially used, witii 
an addition of salt, at the rate of from half a peck to a peck to each tree. 
This should be applied in winter or early spring. 

Seedling plums of such rare excellence have been so often produced, 
that we recommend every one who succeeds in growing them to plant 
every year a few seeds, and nurse the plants up to a period of fruit-bearing. 



614 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

It is possible you may get a seedling not only of good quality, but one not 
so liable to be destroyed by the little beetle called plum-weevil, or curculio, 
against which no certain remedy has been discovered, though several " in- 
fallible" remedies have been from time to time published, the best of which 
is to spread a sheet under tlie tree, and then by a sudden jar, as by a stroke 
of a mallet, shake down tlie insects, and gather aod burn them. This rem- 
edy, to be efiectual, must be continued every day for at least a month, and 
perhaps all the months of May and June. 

Making the plum-orchard a pig and poultry-yard in the same inclosure is 
recommended as one of the best prevenlives of curculio. 

Covering the ground with a thick coat of clay mortar, and picking up all 
the fallen fruit and destroying it, is highly recommended. 

Lime and sulphur is another remedy. To a barrel of whitewash add 
eighteen double handfuls of sulphur, and apply the liquid with a syringe to 
the trees as soon as the fruit is set, and continue -to apply it every two or 
three days for four or five weeks. 

The black knot, which so disfigures plum-trees, it is pretty well settled, 
arises from this same insect, so that any remedy that will save the fruit will 
also prevent the appearance of the black knot. 

689. Selection of Choice Varieties ©f Plums.— The list of really good plums 
has become so large, that one needs some guide in making a selection. The 
following list is given from good authority (Downing) : 

Elvers' Early Favorite, Green Gage, Imperial Ottoman, Jefferson, 
Lawrence's Favorite, Purple Favorite, Purple Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, 
McLa\ighlin, Imperial Gage, Howard's Favorite, Prince's Yellow Gage, 
Prune d'Agen, Peine Claude de Bevay, Schuyler Gage. 

The most popular, and for substantial reasons, of all tlio list is the Green 
Gage. It is high-flavored, and everywhere esteemed. It is one of the old 
sorts, having been named Queen Claude, in P'rance, in the reign of Francis 
I., say about 1520. It took the name of Green from its color when ripe, and 
Gage from an English family of that name, who introduced it from the 
gardens of the monks of Chartreuse. It afterward acquired the title of the 
" Best Plum in England." The fruit is hardly medium size, round, with a 
yellowish-green skin, often dotted red at full maturity. The suture is 
faintly marked, the stem slender, slightly inserted, less than an inch in 
length. The flesh of the plum is also of a pale-green color, and separates 
freely from the stone, and is juicy, melting, luscious, sprightly, and ripe in 
August. 

There are many seedlings of the Green Gage, none of which are superior 
to the original. 

Some of the other favorites named in the list are larger ; for instance, 
the Golden Drop, which is a very large plum, oval-shaped, and yellow in- 
side and out, and of a rich flavor, ripening here the last of September, and 
not sure to ripen much north of this. 

The Jeflerson plum, which originated with Judge Buel, at Albany, is one 



SEa 40.] 



PLimS AND OTHER FRUITS. 



615 



of very large size, and of such excellent flavor that none but connoisseurs 
would be able to say it was inferior to the Green Gage, and on account of 
its superior size it is always morij attractive. The skin is golden-yellow, 
with purple-red cheek, and llesh deep orango, parting freely from the stone, 
and rich, juicy, luscious. 

690. Grafting Wild StOckSi — This is worth while in many places where 
wild stocks are plenty. In the report of the \Yisconsin Fruit Growers' 
Association, John C. Kanouse gives his experience as follows upon this 
6ul)ject: 

"1. Grafting English plums upon native sorts renders them much more 
hardy and less liable to injury by our severe winters. 

" 2. They will fruit from two to three years earlier than when grafted on 
the English stock. 

" 3. The fruit is less liable to injury ; the crop more certain. 

" This practice has one disadvantage, viz., the tree will be somewhat dwarfed. 
Tliis can be remedied by planting more of them. My method of cultiva- 
tion is as follows — 

" Early in the spring I go out in the forest and take up the native plum, 
about one inch in diameter, being careful to take as much of the root as 
possible uninjured. Cut off the tops, then take the roots home ; then, with 
a tine saw, take off the body about an inch above the roots, insert the scion, 
and then set them out where I intend to have them fruit. The scions should 
be of the present year's growth, and one of the buds miist be imder the 
ground. If the scion dies, still the root is sure to sprout, and then you can 
bud the sprout the next year. If you desire fruit the second year from the 
scion, select large trees, take them up with great care, and graft in the top ; 
but these j'ou will be likely to lose with high winds, etc., and yet this 
practice will abundantly repay any man on a new farm. By staking the 
scion he may have fruit for two or three years, and then his others, grafted 
at the ground, will take their place." 

691. ApricotSi — We do not recommend this fruit for general cultivation by 
farmers, particularly where they fail with peaches and plums ; for there they 
would surely fail with this more delicate fruit. Tlie apricot-tree grows 
handsomely, twenty feet high, flowering very early, and is highly orna- 
mental in flower, foliage, and fruit. It is liardy enough to produce fruit be- 
low 42^, if the insects would allow it. The fruit is smooth-skinned, and 
peculiarly attractive to curculio. The color when ripe, at midsum: -^r, is a 
beautiful ruddy gold. It is quite delicious, of a peach flavor, and, ripening 
between cherries and plums, would be very acceptable. In countries where 
it does flourish it is used for a dessert fruit, and for sweetmeats, and pre- 
served in spirits, and also for drying. 

It is generally propagated by budding on plum stocks, though many good 
eeedlinga arc grown, which appear to be more hardy and productive than 
the finer sorts which have been imported. It bears fruit in the same way as 
the peach, and may be treated in the same way, though it is more commonly 



616 THE OKCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

grown as an espalier, trained upon a trellis or brick wall. It should not be 
exposed to the morning sun, for fear of encouraging the buds to start too 
earlj in spring. Tlie apricot is a very C9mmon fruit in Arabia, China, Ja- 
pan, and otlier Eastern countries, and would be here, if we could get rid of 
the destructive curculio. 

There are about twenty named apricots grown in this country, out of 
which you may select the Large Early, the Breda, Peach, or Moorpaik for 
family use ; or if your situation is pretty far north, take the Red Masculine, 
Koman, and Breda ; but do not think of getting a crop without a continual 
fight for it with insects. 

There is a double-flowering apricot i;sed for an ornamental tree in Europe, 
but not very common in this country. There is another that is grown for 
its ornamental fruit, which resembles a small, yellow plum, growing very 
abundant, in clusters. 

692. The Nectariue, an India fruit, is simply a wild variety of peach, 
growing small and smooth-skinned, of a piquant flavor, exceedingly liable 
to be destroyed by curculio,' but is a very popular dessert fruit, when it can 
be produced, from its beauty, being of such a wax-like appearance. The tree 
grows anywhere that the peach-tree flourishes, and if the fruit is not de- 
stroyed, there is no trouble in getting as certain crops of nectarines as of 
peaches, and the culture is exactly the same. 

The Early Violet, Koman, Boston, New "White, and Ilardvvicke's Seedling 
may be taken as a good assortment for a garden. 

693. Mulberry Fruit. — A new mull>erry has fruited in England, which is 
called the " Synion Sweet White Mulberry," that is very highly spoken of, 
the berries being very sweet, and growing as large as the common black 
mulberry, this being of a pearly white. The foliage of the tree is also said 
to be very beautiful. 

The tree may be beautiful, but if the fruit is better than "Downing's 
Seedlirtg Mulberry," it is remarkable, for that is very richly, worth cultiva- 
tion, being very fruitful, and bearing a long time. The fruit is much richer 
than the fruit of the common purple or wild mulberry, and more than twice 
the size, and it is really a very pleasant fruit to eat out of hand, and it pos- 
sesses excellent qualities for cooking — in a pudding, better than any other 
berry. The tree grows in quite an ornamental form, with rich foliage, and 
when filled with its purple fruit is beautiful. 

694. Pawpaws. — It is a wonder that pawpaws are not cultivated, or at 
least preserved from annihilation, in the great regions of the "West, where 
they were found growing wild in great abundance. The fruit is sometimes 
called the American custard-apple, on account of its resemblance, when per- 
fectly ripe, to a rich custard, as the mellow pulp within a tough skin is 
opened to view. 

Pawpaws are a feature of the St. Louis market; huckster-stalls ^nd fruit- 
shops all having them for sale in abundance. They are nearly, if not quite, 
as good as bananas. Some people prefer them to bananas, or even any other 



Seo. 40.] PACKING AND TRANSPORTING SMALL FRUITS. 617 



fruit. We think they could be grown in any garden soutli of lat. 41^. They 
flourish best in shaded places, upon rich bottom lands of Ohio, Kentucky, 
and other "Western States. The natural growth is about as large as quince 
bushes, usually branching in several shoots from one root, and in appearance 
are not unlike a bunch of young chestnut sprouts around an old stump. 

095. The MaugosteeOi — Tjiis is the name of a tropical fruit that has been 
lately perfected in English hot-houses, and is attracting some attention in 
this country, on account of its very peculiar character, it having a thick, 
succulent rind that is so astringent that it is used as a medicine for dysen- 
tery, and which exudes a yellow gum in wet weather that resembles gam- 
boge. The fruit is of a spherical form, of the size of an orange ; when young 
it is of a reddish green color ; when ripe, of reddish brown ; and when old, 
of a chestnut brown. The pulp has a snowy whiteness, melting in the 
mouth, with a refreshing, delicious flavor. The seed-lobes separate like those 
of an orange. 

696. The Jujube Fruit. — This is another tropical fruit, though it has been 
grown in Georgia, and may become acclimated farther north. The fruit re- 
sembles a plum, and, although not so much prized as a dessert fruit, is con- 
sidered valuable where it grows, because it furnishes the material for the 
well-known jujube paste. 

The seeds were imported from the south of Europe for experiment in the 
Southern States. The tree grows in the form of a shrub of middle size, bear- 
ing a red, oval fruit, about as large as olives, inclosing a stone of the same 
shape. The fruit is sweet, but not eaten among us out of hand. In Algiers 
the fruit ripens in the month of June, and is much sought after by the in- 
habitants, who consume large quantities, both fresh and dried, as well as in 
the form of a delicious paste. 

697. Small Fruits for Field Culture.— What we have said in Section 
XXXIV"., about the cultivation of blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, 
and cranberries, is applicable in a general sense to their more extended cul- 
tivation in large fields, as a farm crop, where the farm is situated within easy 
reach of a market. What the distance must be to bring it within easy 
reach of market depends entirely upon the facilities of transportation. We 
will state a few facts which will enable readers to judge for their i^articular 
cases, whether they can send their fruit to a city market. 

For a number of years previous to the rebellion, the K'ew York mar- 
ket was regularly supplied with strawberries from Norfolk, Va., via Balti- 
more, and by steamers direct. For several years, strawberries have been 
sent to New York from Albany ; and the present year, from Pittsburg, a 
passage of 18 hours by rail. This is the longest transportation of such a 
tender fruit within our knowledge. 

Every year of the last five or six, since people learned that it could be 
ilo,ie, blackberries and raspberries are brought from 50 to 150 miles by rail 
iD ":his market. 
- Grapes, if properly packed, may be transported still greater distances, as 



618 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

peaches, pears, and other perishable fruits are. The greatest difficulty in all 
transportation of fruit is in its preparation. 

In no art are we more deficient than that of packing fruit so that it may 
be carried a long distance without injury. Three fourths of all our summer 
fruits sent to market any considerable distance are more or less injured. 
Indeed, much that is brought to cities by growers only a few miles distant 
is scarcely fit for sale. Occasionally fruits are sent us, with a request to ex- 
hibit them at our horticultural shows, but in most cases the specimens are 
60 injured when received as to be entirely unfit to show. 

698. How to Pack Fruit for Transportation. — As no person can enter into 
the business of field culture of small fruits with any hope of success, unless 
he fully understands the art of transportation, we will give sonfe general 
rules ; and first those adopted by Mr. Kidd, gardener to the Marquis of 
Breadalbane, who sends fruit and flowers from the garden near Hampton 
Court, England, to the Highland residence of the Marquis, subject to 500 
miles' carriage ; yet his method of putting them up insures their safe trans- 
portation and arrival in almost as sound and fresh condition as when first 
gathered. Kipe tomatoes, for instance, which are as difiicult as almost any 
article to transport, arrived in a perfectly sound condition. 

He gives his method of packing fruit as follows : " I have found no better 
method in all my experience, which has extended over a period of twenty 
years, with all kinds of fruit, varying in distance from 50 to 500 miles. It 
simply is — box, soft paper, and sweet bran. A box is chosen, in size, accord- 
ing to the quantity to be sent. A layer of bran is put at the bottom ; then 
each bunch of grapes is held by the hand over the center of a sheet of 
paper ; the four corners of the paper are brought up to the stalk and nicely 
secured; then laid on its side in the box, and so on until the first layer is 
finished ; then fill the whole over with bran, and give the box a gentle shako 
as you proceed. Begin the second layer as the first, and so on until the box 
is completed. Thus, with neat hands, the bloom is preserved, and may be 
sent to any distance ; but witli clumsy hands, quite the contrary, and often 
an entire failure, as the putting in and taking out of the box are the most 
important points to be observed- I have, invariably, packed sixty or eighty 
bunches of grapes and fifty or sixty dozen of peaches or apricots in one 
box, and received letters from employers to say that they have arrived as 
safe as if they had been taken from the trees that morning." 

We commend this plan to all fruit-growers in this country. 

A. fruit-carrier M'as patented a few years ago, which appears to us like a 
useful aid to the transporters of tender fruits. A frame of any given size is 
made to surround the box or crate containing the baskets of fruit, say about 
eight inches larger than the box. In this frame the box is suspended by 
gum-elastic straps, which sustain it in the air, never touching any hard sub- 
stance, bottom, or sides. To illustrate : Take the frame of the lower part of 
a common kitchen chair, without tlie bottom, and a box, the cube of which 
is some inches less than the space within the frame, and suspend that by two 



Sec. 40.] PACKAGES FOK SMALL FKUITS— FICxS. 619 

strings from the top round upon each side, and then attach two other strings 
to each side of the box and the hnver rounds. Now place something in the 
l)0x, and talvc hold of the fiuuie iind shake it, and you will see that the jar 
is far less upon the articles in the box tlian it would be if the shaking was 
applied directly. With such an easy carrier as this, and such packing as 
Mr. Kidd recomiUends, we believe that tlic softest fruits might be as safely 
carried 500 miles as they could one mile in the rough way they are too fre- 
quently brought to market. 

The neatest small fruit basket is one known as Cook's patent, made to hold 
exact pints and quarts. Those of quart size are 3i inches across at bottom, 
and 5i at top, and 5 inches high. One is made of eight pieces of stufi' nearly 
an inch and a quarter wide, and a full sixteenth of an inch thick, cut into 
four strijjs at top and over half the length, so as to allow spreading equally. 
They are fastened to a wooden bottom, which has a hole in its center, by 
tacks driven tlirough a band of tin about one fourth inch wide, and the tops 
are held tirmly in place by a strip of tin put on like binding over the edge 
of clotli, and crimped hard upon the wood, making a smooth, neat finish, 
and baskets cheap and durable. Of course, the work is all done by inge- 
nious machiner}', contrived especially for the purpose, and the baskets are 
put up in convenient-sized crates for transportation ; that is, 56 quarts or 112 
pints in a crate, which, being made with openings at the sides, allows a free 
circulation of air among and tlirough the baskets, which is considered better 
than tight boxes for all kinds of berries. 

The great desideratum, however, is a basket made so cheap that it could 
be sold with a quart of berries for a cent or less, so that it would not be 
necessary to return it. The same plan is now pursued witli lioney, which is 
stored in clieap boxes, which are sold with the contents. 

Such baskets, we believe, can be make of shavings cut just wide enough 
to form one side of a basket, and laid two strips across, when the ends being 
turned up and fastened, would form a square box or basket oi sufiicient 
strength for tlie service required. 

"Wild blaekberrries, which have oecome an extensive article of traffic in 
the New York fruit market, are generally picked in square wooden boxes, 
of the capacity of a quart, and these are packed in the field in crates of one 
to four dozen, which are carried directly to the retailer, so the berries are 
not disturbed until required by the consumer. All berries, however packed, 
should be handled no more than what is barely necessary between the picker 
and consumer. 

Blackberries and whortleberries are frequently brought to market in bulk, 
and are often in a musty condition before they reach the consumer. It is a 
poor way to send any kind of fruit to market. Every kind of berry should 
be put up in just such sized packages as families usually buy, and these 
should go undisturbed to the very tables of the consumers. It is on this 
account that we hope yet to see baskets or boxes made so cheap that the re- 
tailer would not desire to empty them before sending the contents to his 



620 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



customers, knowing, as he generally does, that it is about an even chance 
that a buyer will not return the basket. 

609. Figs — Where and How they Grow. — Figs grow in almost all countries 
with a semi-tropical climate. In the southern portion of all the Southern 
United States thej flourish as well as peaches, and, with moderate winter 
protection, as far north as New York, figs have been ripened year after year, 
but they do not possess the excellence of those grown in a warmer climate. 
Figs are natives of Asia and Africa, where the tree grows in the form of a low 
spreading peach-tree, some twenty feet high. The leaves of a fig-tree are 
rough, deeply lobed, and not unlike those of the sycamore in size, and some- 
what in appearance. The most curious thing about a fig-tree is that it ex- 
hibits to the casual observer no appearance of blossoming. The flower and 
fruit arc united — that is, the former, such as it is, is concealed in a fleshy 
substance which grows at once into fruit, which, in its ripe state, just plucked 
from the tree, is as unlike its dried representative as a dried peach is unlike 
the luscious fruit we eat out of hand in the peach-orchard of choice fruit. 

The fig-tree has become so completely naturalized in the south part of 
Europe, that the cultivation of its fruit forms an important occupation of 
many iidiabitants. It is one of the most popular market fruits in all coun- 
tries where it grows freely, and forms an article of food to a largo extent, 
and has been the longest in cultivation of any fruit known to us. The 
Romans hud some dozen or two varieties ; the first introduction of figs into 
Italy being about the year 1548. It was brought to the United States in 
1790, and spread rapidly, being easily propagated by cuttings taken off in 
spring and jdanted in a mellow soil naturally calcareous, or made so by the 
addition of lime. In the Middle States, fig-trees should be grown in the 
form of low shrubs, easily covered in winter, and kept carefully root- 
pruned to prevent too much growth of wood. It is possible that by pur- 
suing this course, a hardy sort of figs may be acclimated gradually north- 
ward, just as sweet potatoes have been. In truth, the peach was once 
thought to be as much a tropical fruit as the fig is now. Of course, we can 
expect but one crop a year ; in warm climates the tree gives two crops. In 
unfavorable seasons the ripening of figs is hastened by inserting a drop of 
sweet oil in the eye of the growing fig by using a rye straw diooed in oil, 
and thus carrying a drop to the eye of the fruit. 

The best varieties for open culture in this country, except at the extreme 
South, are the Brown Turkey fig. Brown Ischia, "White Iscliia ; the hitter a 
very small sort, growing about one inch in diameter. Loudon says, a fig 
called Nevil is the richest one grown in England. One called Pregussata, 
appears to be the favorite for growing under glass. 

"We recommend all who live in latitudes where figs can be grown easily, 
or by a little extra care, not to neglect trying to produce enough at least 
for family use. One friend assures lis that he can grow figs at ISTew York 
as easily and surely as he can the choice kinds of raspberries. Let us all try. 



Sec. -tl.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 



621 




SECTION XLI.-MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 

_^)S it is a fact that not one familj^ in fifty has a sup- 

■' ply of the most common of the fruits we have 

mentioned, not even those most easily grown, such 

as currants, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, 

cherries, we can hardly say too much to encourage 

their extended cultivation, and therefore, under this 

head, will add several little things that may be useful 

to the searchers after knowledge. 

"Would that we could whisper a word of encourage- 
ment to every land-owner, be it a quarter section or a 
four-by-oight lot, till he resolved to furnish himself 
with an abundance of these little luxuries ere another 
year rolled around. Many plants are so cheaply in- 
creased by division of the roots, and so easily kept in 
order, they may and should be purchased by all with- 
out hindrance. Any man with the facilities for growing a full supply of 
small fruits, who fails to do it, should be doomed to eat sour grapes, wild 
strawberries, and crab-apples as long as he lives. 

Though a class of fruits are termed small, there is, in reality, no excuse 
for their being so inferior in size that they are scarcely worth the gathering. 
Give them good cultivation, thoroughly working the ground with the spade 
and the hoe ; then cover it over with half-rotted manure (chips are best), 
which will be a mulch as well as a source of fertility, and the result will 
probably astonish you. 

700. Cranberries as a Field Crop. — "We have already said that cranberries 
may be grown in the garden, and we now say they may and should be grown 
as a farm crop upon hundreds of farms that have tracts particularly well 
adajitcd to their growth. Upon this subject, Noble Hill, of Caton, Steuben 
County, N. Y., writes as follows : 

" That the cranberry is a favorite luxury, is abundantly proved by the 
high price which a good, and not unfrequently an inferior, article will com- 
mand in the markets. That it is easy of cultivation, and that there is an 
abundance of land now lying waste which is just adapted to its growth, is 
perhaps not so generally known. If the thousands of acres of swamps, of a 
peat soil, within the bounds of the single State of New York, were to be 
converted, as they certainly might be, into cranberry meadows, the fruit 
would never again be quoted at $14 or $15 per barrel in New York city. 
The following is submitted as the result of several years of observation and 
experience in the cultivation of the cranberry. The subject of my experi- 
ment is a swamp of several acres, and of a peat soil. Formerly it was cov- 



622 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 



ered with small brush, moss, grass, and weeds ; no large timber being foimd 
on it, owing to the fact that it was submerged during a great portion of the 
year. On the borders of this swamp a few cranberry vines, indigenous to 
the soil, were to be found. By a series of open ditches leading across it and 
through a bank at its margin, I was enabled to remove the superabundant 
surface water. This done, cranberry vines began to make their appearance 
in different portions of the swamp, but more plentifully in the central por- 
tion, from which they began to spread over the land at a rapid rate. In 
their progress, however, they encountered an enemy in the shape of the 
brusli, which not only retarded their growth and prevented the full develop- 
ment of their prolific qualities, but in some places entirely excluded them. 
Hence it occurred to me that an advantage would be gained by thoroughly 
subduing the soil previous to its occupancy by the cranberry. To this work 
I then addressed myself, accomplishing it with the plow on the borders, 
where the land had become sufficiently dry to render that mode practicable, 
and with a spade in other portions on which a team could not be driven. As 
done by a spade, the work consists in paring off the surface and throwing 
the result into heaps, which, when rotted, answer a good purpose as manure 
for fruit-trees. The clean surface thus exposed should be spaded to the 
depth of two or three inches, when the process of transplanting may be per- 
formed. If, however, the transplanting be deferred until the following 
spring, and the soil be occasionally stirred during summer with a hand- 
harrow, the plants will thrive the more rapidly. They should bo set closely, 
as they will the sooner cover the ground to the exclusion of weeds, from 
which, if kept free for two or three years, they will thenceforth need but 
little, if any, attention. In soil thus prepared, I have transplanted the last 
of May, and have picked fine clusters of berries the ensuing fall. In two or 
three years a fine crop may be expected, and thenceforth, so far as my ex- 
perience goes, will be annually realized. To insure large crops, the soil 
during summer should bo kept well saturated with water, and if flowed in 
the spring, all the better. This I accomplish, as far as possible, by a proper 
adjustment of my drains, opening and closing them according to the varia- 
tions of the weather from wet to dry. As to transplanting, there is no diffi- 
culty whatever. If an equal number of cabbage and of cranberry plants be 
set, more failures would be found among the former than among the latter. 
A cranberry plant a yard long, set in a mellow peat soil in a wet season, will 
take root at every point of full contact with the soil." 

It is a pity that we can not convince all the owners of such swamps as Mr. 
Hill describes that they can grow just as good berries as he does. There 
are many such places M'ithin a few miles of this city that are now pests to 
the owners, that would be profitable ever after if once set in cranberry 
vines. 

The cranberry has been very much improved — as much so as any other 
fruit. I do not know of any fruit that offers greater inducements to experi- 
ment with than the cranberry in seedlings, since it has already shown such 



Seo. 41.] CRANBERRIES— FIELD CULTURE. 623 

good results. If cranberry seed, or any other hard seed, is difiScult to veg- 
etate, it may be scalded with boiling water. 

There is no doubt that cranberries can be grown npon any soil that has 
water a few inches below the surface. Upon tolerably dry upland cranber- 
ries have been grown to advantage, and they will grow in very bare sand if 
either naturally or artificially watered. 

Considering the high price which cranberries always bring in market, and 
the cheap cost at which they can be produced, it is strange that more shrewd 
farmers have not gone into the speculation. A good deal of attention has 
been given to the cultivation of cranberries in Burlington County, New 
Jersey, about 150 acres having been planted in one season. Of this, one 
farmer named Chetwood has set out 25 acres ; another, named G. Gowdy, 
17 acres; and Mr. Allen, 10 acres. 

Upon Cape Cod, where cranberry culture has been carried to the greatest 
extent, swampy land that was a few years ago considered utterly worthless, 
has now a salable value of $800 to $1,200 an acre; and some of the owners 
of sucli land have found it a good investment of time and money to expend 
from $200 to $1,000 upon an acre to bring it into a condition fit to be planted 
with cranberries. 

All over this country there are numerous bogs which might easily be con- 
verted into fruitful cranberry gardens. 

In view of these facts we make this pertinent inquiry of every farmer in 
all the Northern States, where cranberries are found growing wild : " Arc 
there no swamps, or wet valleys, or brook borders upon your farm, now, 
perhaps, unsightly spots — wet swamps in winter, and dry and pestiferous in 
summer ? If you have such, plant them with cranberry-vines, and tend 
them one or two years till the vines get well set, and then they will tend 
themselves, and produce you on an average more bushels of fruit per acre 
than yoii get of potatoes ; and it is not much more work to gather it than it 
is the tubers, and, generally speaking, you can sell a bushel of cranberries for 
the price of five bushels of potatoes." 

Truth, it is said, lies at the bottom of a well. The well that holds the 
truth in relation to cranberry culture and its profitableness upon many of 
the worthless bogs that render farms unsalable, and detract from tiie value 
of the upland, must be a remarkably deep one, or it would have been dug 
out before now, and made to shine in all the rich crimson luster of a field 
of this ripe fruit. 

701. Varieties of Cranberries and How to Grow Them.— The American cran- 
berry {Oxycoccus mac wear pus) is divided by growers and dealers into three 
varieties — the Bell, the Bugle, and the Cherry. It will grow on almost any 
soil where the water is not more than a foot from the surface, yet experience 
has proved that the soil best adapted to them is nothing more nor less than 
the plain beach sand, entirely free from any matter, either animal or vege- 
table; in fact, this berry may be said to live entirely on air and water. 

Peat is found to be well adapted to this berry, but requires some care in 



624 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

preparing, owing to its liability to bake and crack in hot weather; this may 
be obviated, however, by taking off the turf and grass, leaving the surface 
exposed to the action of the weather for a year, after which it becomes light 
and porous, and fit for the reception of the vines. 

Cutting-planting has been adopted by some as the most economical plan, 
and as the plant sends out long runners, sometimes to the length of five or 
six feet, it is self-evident that the first cost of cuttings must be small. The 
cutting should be about six or eight inches long, and should be planted by 
thrusting the middle into the earth with a dibble, permitting a few inches of 
each end to project, so that when it takes root you have two plants instead 
of one. 

Another plan of propagating by cuttings is to cut the vines into pieces of 
about two inches in length, for which purpose a common hay-cutter may be 
used, and sowing them broadcast on ground prepared for them, and then 
harrowing them in as you would wheat or rye. It is preferable to plant tliem 
in drills at such distances as will permit cultivation with the plow for the 
first two years. These small cuttings will soon take root from the point 
where branches join the stem, and will send out runners the second year 
after planting. 

Planting separate vines has been found to be the most effectual plan, and 
although it consumes more time, and is perhaps attended with rather more 
exjjense, yet from the absence of weeds and the fine chance for the vines to 
spread, the cultivator finds himself amply repaid for the increased outlay. 

The distances of planting must be regulated by the nature of the soil ; if 
liable to weeds, you must give yourself room to work among the vines; but 
if you are planting on plain beach sand, the closer your plants are the bet- 
ter, for the great object in forming a cranberry-yard is to have the entire 
surface covered by a thick mat of vines as soon as possible. 

The time of planting generally preferred is in the spring, as in this case 
the roots are not so liable to be thrown out by the winter frosts — say from 
the 15th of April to the 1st of June. 

As a general rule among farmers, they will be able to select some spot of 
meadow land which is low and moist, free from stagnant water, and some- 
what sheltered from storms, as this may be considered the best location. 

A position where the yard can be flooded in winter is very desirable, as 
the vines, when exposed to very severe weather, are liable to be winter- 
killed down as low as the roots, which throws them back in bearing for a 
year; besides which, it is sometimes desirable to flood them during the fruit- 
ing season to prevent the attack of the worm, which in some localities is 
quite destructive. 

An acre of vines, properly cultivated and well matted, will produce at 
least two hundred and fifty bushels of berries ; in some instances a yield of 
four hundred bushels per acre has been obtained, but this is above the aver- 
age, and may not be relied upon. 

Two hundred and fifty bushels of berries, at the low price of three dol- 



Seo. 41.] CRANBERRIES— FIELD CULTURE. 625 

lars per bushel, gives lis seven hundred and fifty dollars as the product of 
one acre. Vines for a new plantation should be procured from meadows 
whicli have borne well, and of good fruit, as the best way of knowing good 
bearers. 

If tlie yard can be flowed, though not absolutely necessary, the water may 
remain on all winter, and be lot off in March. It should be let on about 
tlie 20th to the 25th of May, and again the 1st of June, not exceeding thirty- 
si.x hours. After this it is not needful. Blossoms are injured by the water 
remaining on too long; the object of flooding is to destroy the insects. 
After this second flowing, there is little to fear from them. 

A Cape Cod cranberry grower gives some useful advice to persons dis- 
posed to embark in cranberry culture. He says : 

"Suppose that those who are favored with some of the natural facilities 
desire to do something with cranberries, it would be folly to expend much 
money in clearing up a swamp. The best thing to be done is to study the 
nature of the soil in which the vine is flourishing, and then to prepare a 
small patch — say two or three rods — and plant the vines there, and bestow- 
ing some trifling degree of care upon them, by way of M-eeding occasionally, 
you will see by this experiment whether it will do for you to proceed much 
farther in their cultivation. If you fail, that failure will most likely sug- 
gest to you the remedy. Great mistakes are made in anticipating from 
planting waste lands with cranberry vines, that they are about to realize two 
hundred per cent. It will do very well for an experienced man to make 
large yards, and with certainty of success, but it will not do for a man who 
knows nothing about the cranberry and its culture to go rashly to M'ork. 
You will prevent future expense and galling disappointment by making your 
first trial on rather a small scale. 

" The cranberry vine can be naturalized to those regions of country in 
which it is not indigenous. The Bugle cranberry is generally found to throw 
its runners from the swamp toward the upland. The runner receives its 
moisture from the roots of the vine which rest in the damp soil. Now, if 
you will take these runners and plant them where there is some moisture, 
in an upland soil, and stir it frequently during the hot months of summer, 
they will live through the apparent drouth. Two years hence take the young 
vines and carefully plant them, and you will find that you have done much 
toward naturalizing the vine even to a situation where there can not be any 
overflowing. Many persons have planted on the upland with vines from the 
swamp, and the transition from abundant moisture to a comparatively dry 
situation has been too sudden, and the vines have consequently died. Those 
who try the upland should get the vines which have b§en naturalized to a 
drv soil, or it will require immense trouble and some years to do anytiiino- to 
advantage. It will be well for those who intend to try the cranberry vine on a 
comparatively liigh and dry situation, to remember that the fruit produced 
is not so large, nor yet are the quantities equal to those which are yielded in 
more favorable locations, where there is either peat, beach-sand, or fine 



626 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

gravelly loam, and the ability to flow in winter. I believe that the time 
■will come when the commercial value of the cranberry will be better under- 
stood, and when farmers in all parts of the country will feel it to be their 
interest to cultivate a patch of this fruit, and when its requirements will be 
better under-tood than at present, and when it will be a source of profit to 
those who think it worth their while to raise the berry. 

" A short time since I saw a swamp which was formerly so covered over 
with brakes, huckleberry-bushes, and briers, that it was of no use to the 
owner until he paid some attention to the subject of cranberry cultivation, 
and cleared the swamp, which be found to have a peaty bottom. The ground 
was then planted over with vines, and the property, including clearing, vinos, 
and planting, cost him $300, but I was informed by the proprietor that he had 
muck from the swamp which he valued at §150. The first year he had otf 
this one acre and a half one or two bushels; the second, twelve bushels; 
and the next year, seventy-three bushels, which were sold at §■!: per bushel. 
If the yard cost him $300, he nearly realized in the third year subsequently 
to its being made, the sum of money he first expended upon it." 

Our final advice, to all who desire to plant cranberries to any extent, is to 
hire some experienced person to do the work, and give instructions for the 
future care of the yard, according to the circumstances of its location. 

High bush, or tree-cranberry, is the common name of a berry sometimes 
sold under the recommendation of being equal to the fruit we have been 
describing. It belongs to a very different order of plants fi'oni the cran- 
berry — the real oxycoccus. 

The only use of it is as an ornamental shrub. No housewife will try to use 
it but once in the place of the true cranberry. The fruit is almost wiioUy a 
hard, long seed, scarcely covered with pulp, and when cooked with much 
sugar, though resembling the true cranberry, sadly mocks the taste. 

702. How (0 Cook Crauberries is an important question. They are sour, 
acrid, unpalatable, and unwholesome in a raw state, and but little better as 
they are usually cooked. We have often seen them hastily scalded, sweet- 
ened, and brought to the table floating in their juice, not one half of them 
cooked enough to burst the skin. Bah ! what food ! But how diflerent 
when cooked! Put them, witli only water enough to prevent burning, in a 
tinned sauce-pan, and stew until by stirring the whole becomes a homogene- 
ous mass, with no semblance of whole berries, and then add clarified sirup^ 
previously prepared, aud stir a few minutes while boiling. Wlien cold, you 
have delicious cranberry jelly. 

703. Fruit-Tree Protectors, of an ingenious character, to guard against 
worms that crawl up the bole of a tree, invented by Wm. W. Taylor, w. 
South Dartmouth, Mass, have been considerably used in New l!ngland, and 
found highly efiicacious and satisfactory, being so constructed as to be an 
impassable bar to everything that seeks to go up or down the body of the 
tree. This protector consists of a circular kind of dish that shuts on to tiie 
body of the tree, and is kept filled with some liquid, usually a preparation 



\ 



Seo. 41.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 



627 



of bitter or salt water, entirely offensive and destructive to insect life. Tlie 
top part of the dish constitutes a projecting roof, to prevent flying up from 
the lower ledge, also to exclude rain-water. 

Tiiey are usually made of cast iron and of different sizes, to adapt them to 
different-sized trees. There is a soft packing used to fill a considerable space 
between the collar of the dish and the body of the tree, so as not to interrupt 
growth or free circulation. 

704. Watering Newly Transplanted Trees often does as much injury, or 
more, than it docs good, by forming a hard crust over the ground imme- 
diately over the roots. 

If -water is applied at all, the earth should be first removed from the roots, 
and a copious supply poured on. But this, too, is of little nse. The roots 
are drenched for the moment, and in a short time are as dry as ever. The 
only remedy is a thick, heavy mulching. If of old straw, it should be about 
si.x inches thick, covering several feet in diameter. A young tree will 
scarcely ever die if treated with such a covering, though transplanted in 
midsummer, when without the mulch, death would surely ensue. 

705. Thumb Pruning, that is, pinching off buds, which if let alone would 
grow into useless shoots, is much better than waiting until they are grown, 
when the knife or saw must be used. In large trees, shoots often grow out 
from the upper side of large branches, and in jJi'ocess of time make a thick 
bushy top, where good fruit can not grow nor be easily gathered. Hub 
them off when forming, or leave only such as w-ill improve the tree. 

The same thing should be practiced upon blackberries and raspberries, 
whose new shoots, wiien about four feet high, should be pinched in, that is, 
have the tips nipped off vrith thumb and finger. This will start out side- 
shoots, which should also be pinched in when a foot or so in length. This 
treatment makes stout, compact bushes, that will bear abundantly next 
season ; whereas, if left neglected, the stems will extend in every direction, 
prevent proper cultivation, and scratch and tear every person who comes 
within a yard of them, besides giving a poor crop, and leading the owner to 
conclude they are a humbug. As soon as they have done bearing they 
should have the old bearing canes cut out, and all the new shoots, except 
half a dozen of the best, which will then grow unimpeded, and make fine 
bearers another year. The common practice of allo.wing a mass of canes to 
grow up thickly together, to be thinned out only the following spring, is a 
waste of growth, and weaker canes and smaller crops are the result. 

706. Stirring the Soil about newly planted trees or plants of any kind 
during drouth is one of the best things that can be done, so that care is used 
not to disturb the I'oots, for it increases moisture. Heat, light, and elec- 
tricity are all accelerated in their action as chemical agents by moisture. 
Therefore let it lie kno\m that a vast bed of soil well stirred and mellowed 
is a prodigious laboratory, producing, chemically, all the elements necessary 
for vegetable nutrition. It is owing to this, and not manure, that the peach- 
orchards of Xew Jersey and Delaware have furnished such immense crops; 



628 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

they are frequently plowed, but not ulanted to other crops. The plowing is 
to cultivate the trees. 

707. Tobacco for Worms that infest peach-trees is highly recommended. 
A person who thinks he saved his trees b}' a])plying tobacco, says : "I found 
the gum oozing out plentifully, and just under the earth's surface, in and 
about the roots, numbers of small white worms. I took a mason's trowel 
and a sliarp knife, and scraped all I could away; also the ground from the 
roots, and then purchased a keg of common smoking tobacco, cut fine, cov- 
ered the trunk just above the roots with it, and drew the earth around the 
tree again. This summer the trees have revived and are now in a healthy 
condition." 

70S. Sugar-Dryiug Peaches is one of the methods of preserving this fruit 
that should be known to all who have orchards too far from market towns 
to enable them to sell their fruit direct from the trees. Peaches prepared in 
this way are richer than by any other process, and to our taste far superior 
to figs or raisins to eat out of hand, as they will almost melt in the mouth, 
giving the true peach flavor. To prepare this fruit, pare ricli, ripe peaches, 
and take out the pits, and lay the halves on the back upon plates, filling the 
hollow with fine white sugar. This dissolves and forms with the peach-juice 
a most excellent sirup. The best plan would be to place the peaches on 
perforated covers of shallow dishes, so that the juice would drain down, leav- 
ing the fruit to dry slowly in the sun or a slow oven. A steam-pipe heated 
room would be better. The quantity of sugar required is about one sixth 
of the weiglit of the fruit. The process is very simple and easy, and the 
product both in sirup and fruit very good. See 485. 

The sirup is bottled and used for sauce on puddings, cakes, etc., and for 
flavoring mince-pies. Excellent as this preparation of fruit is, vast quanti- 
ties of peaches go to waste every year, even where they are gathered for 
market, for some become too ripe for transportation, and such are just right 
for sugar-drying, and would nndoubtodly sell higher than figs or raisins. 

709. The Best Apples for Keeping are those grown upon mature trees, 
planted upon dry soil. The most important thing about preserving apples 
for shipf)ing is to pile them under straw on a barn floor and sweat them dry ; 
then put a layer of sand at the bottom of the barrel ; then layers of apples 
and sand, and head up aii'-tight. The latter is very important. Apples may 
be kept through freezing weather in an uj^per room headed up in this way, 
and so they may in linen bags. 

710. Cider-Makiug without Pressing.— It is stated that a man at Parkers- 
burg, Ya., is successful in making cider by the following process : He grinds 
the apples, and fills casks with one end open, the bottom having some 
sticks and straw, like a leach-tub for ashes. On the pomace he pours as 
much Avater as it would yield juice by pressure, and that displaces the juice 
and sends it to tlic bottom, from which, after two days, it is drawn by open- 
ing the faucet, and as the cider is heavier than water, it runs ofi' at first 
pure. The pomace, too, having an atfinity for water, absorbs that, which 



Sko. 41.] jnSCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 629 

displaces the natural juice and leaves the pomace quite tasteless. This 
process may he useful to persons who have a few apples and no cider-press. 

711. The Orchard House is the name given to a glass-roofed structure 
now common in England, and to a small extent used in this country, to 
grow all kinds of fruit, though not by artificial heat. At Newport, 11. I., 
Wm. B. Lawrence has what we see termed an orchard-house, 300 feet long, 
which is heated by hot-water pipes, while real orchard-houses are intended 
to keep an even temperature all the year round ; but since this can not be 
done except by fire heat, owing to our severe climate, the objections are 
many against this mode of growing fruit. Such structures arc nearly as cool 
at night as the temperature outside, while the sun heat by day, without con- 
stant airing, is equivalent to an English vinery. Hence the trees, being un- 
protected, are chilled by frost and excited by heat, either of which, alone, 
would be injurious to the crop, and, in combination, destructive, so that 
orchard-houses, wherever necessarily conducted as mere hot-houses, arc too 
expensive for growing any but high-priced fruits. 

712. Appio-Paring 31achiiics are a necessity in every family that owns an 
orchard, and an equal necessity is to know which of the many that have 
been patented, and offered with wonderful recommendations, it is worth 
while for a farmer to buy and try to use. After spending a goodly sum of 
money, and a good deal of time and patience upon a variety of apple-parcrs, 
we wrote our experience for the benefit of others, wherein wc said of one : 
" As a funny rattle-trap to amuse children, and sell for a good profit, it was 
a very ingenious Yankee invention, but as an ' apple-parer and slicer' it 
was a — humbug." 

Having tlius vented our opinion of apple-parers, we were favored with 
one more of the same family, called by the inventor the "Turn-table Apple- 
parer," and after three years' use, wc are willing to say of it, that it will 
pare aj^ples expeditiously, and it can be operated without the aid of an 
engineer. It makes no pretensions to do anything but pare the apple. 
You put it on with one hand, turning the crank all the time with the 
orlicr, a!id no matter what size or shape tlie apple is, the knife will follow 
tlie surface and take off tiic skin. When the skin is off, the same motion 
of the crank continued, carries lie knife away from the apple and back to 
llic place of starting, where it is to begin upon another. The pared one 
is taken off and another put upon the fork wliile the knife is passing round. 
The whole machine is made of iron, and can be packed in a box eight inches 
v.idc and four inches deep. "When used, it may be attached to any table or 
bench by a thumb-screw. This perfect little machine, which every family 
tliat pares a peck of apples a year sliould liave, is made so cheaply by 
Yankee ingenuity and machinery, that it is sold at retail for a dollar, and it 
is, in oar opinion, the best of the whole family of apple-parers. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE VINEYARD. 




SECTION XLII.-HOW TO TLANT AND CULTIVATE VINES-WHAT SORTS 

TO PLANT. 

,_ F any of our readers expect to find in tin's section the 
(.7 whole art of planting and cultivating a vineyard, and 
manufacturing its fruit into wine, they will be disap- 
pointed. The intention of the author is to produce just 
enough information to whet the appetite for more, and 
induce research into other sources of instruction, from some 
of which we shall draw facts that will ho interesting and 
useful for every one to learn. 

713. History of Varieties of Grapes.— The origin of varie- 
ties is a matter of interest. The most common and best 
known sort is supposed to be a native of South Carolina, 
brought to Brooklyn, N. Y., and distributed from there 
under the name of Isahella, in respect to Mrs. Isabella 
Gibbs, wife .of Capt. Gibbs, who brought the vine home from 
one of his Southern voyages. It is very remarkable that this grape is not 
found now in the State where it is supposed to have originated, except where 
it can be traced back to the Gibbs vine. — 

The Catawba is also a Southern grape, having originated, according to the 
best evidence we have seen, in North Carolina. It is a little singular that 
both the Catawba and Isabella are now well acclimated north of latitude 
42 degrees, and are much more grown in Northern than Southern States. 
The Hcrbemont also does well at the North. 

TVe give some slight descriptions of several of the most common sorts of 
grapes, taken mostly from Dr. Grant's catalogue, which is a pretty good 
treatise upon grape culture. Dr. Grant is the greatest propagator of 
vines, under glass, in the world, having about an acre covered, on an 
island called lona, in the Hudson, near Peekskill, forty-five miles above 
New York. 

The Offcn Grape is the name of a seedling originated at Painesvillo, Ohio, 
a sample of which, sent us by Mrs. Nancy T. Offen, convinces us that she 
had better devote her attention to cultivating one of the dozen other sorts, 
which are far superior to this in all that constitutes a good grape for the 
table, and for raisins or wine. 



Nicholas Longworth says : " I obtained from Vermont a 



hardy 



Sec. 42.] HISTORY OF VARIETIES OF GRAPES. G31 

in that region, called the Lyman, and some others, that I believe will be 
valuable for wine. And the Clinton grape, from the northern part of New 
York, from Mr. James 11. "Watts, of Kochester, I have made wine from. 

" The I'^x grape is readily distinguished. It has a fine aroma and flavor, 
and may be smelled at a distance, but is deficient in sugar and not abundant 
in juice ; skin thick, pulp hard, leaf thick and white on the under side, vine 
more or less covered with hairs." 

Union Village, a standard garden variety, is worthy of general culti- 
vation. 

Lenoir, ripens early, has a great degree of hardiness of wood, and win- 
ters perfectly in very exposed situations farther north than the Isabella. It 
will still be prudent to stop the shoots in August or September of young 
vines, and lay them down for winter. 

AUeii's Ilyhrid. — This shows itself vigorous and hardy, and probably will 
not disappoint the high expectation entertained of its value as a leading 
garden variety, and our best white table grape. 

Taylor, or Bullitt.- — This is a beautiful white grape, of excellent flavor, by 
Judge Ta3'lor, of Jericho, Ky. It is described as remarkable for hardiness 
and productiveness, and is worthy of trial wherever the Isabella will thrive. 

Pauline comes highly recommended from the South, but from actual 
trial, little known at the North. It is very distinct iu its flavor, and adds 
to our variety. 

At the South, especially in Carolina and Georgia, some very excellent 
varieties are grown, of which the Herbemont is a type. It was first intro- 
duced, about the year 1825, by Mr. N. Herbemont, a zealous pioneer in 
wine-making, at Columbia, S. C, where the original Herbemont's Madeira is 
still growing. 

The Delaioare is a small grape of surpassing beauty and most excellent 
flavor. It attracted the attention of Mr. A. Tiiomson, of Delaware, Ohio, 
and was exhibited by him at the county fairs, under the name of Heath 
Grape. A few years later, after becoming fully assured of its great value, 
he introduced it to the public under the name of Delaware. Its great ex- 
cellence proved a hindrance to its dissemination, for it was claimed that no 
such grape could be of American origin. 

The history of the Delaware grape is, that it originated in the garden of 
Mr. Prevost, in Frenchtown, N. J., and is supposed to be a seedling from 
the Catawba, fertilized, perhaps, with some foreign variety. Wherever 
known it is esteemed above all other varieties for its wonderful hardiness as 
well as excellence of fruit. Mr. Longworth, who at first thought the Dela- 
ware and Traminer identical, has now given up all ideas of that kind, and his 
head-gardener stated, a short time since, that he considered the Delaware the 
best grape in this country for general cultivation. 

Persons who have ordered vines have undoubtedly been much imposed 
upon by this Red Traminer grape, sent to them as the genuine Delaware. A 
Kochester grape-grower says the Delaware is the best of all American grapes, 



632 • THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

and is the best that "we have ever seen for oiit-door culture in this latitude, 
because it possesses great hardiness, productiveness, and earliness. 

It has been known to stand uninjured where Isabella, Clinton, and Ca- 
tawba have been killed to the ground. It is a great bearer. The berries 
and bunches increase in size as the well-cultivated vine grows older, and it 
probably will produce more pounds of fruit to the acre than any other sort 
in cultivation, and it ripened at Delaware, Ohio, about the middle of Au- 
gust, and in western New York will ripen early in September, and there is 
no other native grape, nearly as good, that ripens so early. 

Delaware vines are very hardy, and adapted to all situations, ripening both 
wood and fruit in the uplands of Ohio or on the sea-board. It grows finely 
at Hartford, Conn., and New York, Albany, and Newburg, N. Y., in various 
soils and situations. It is more liardy than the Catawba or Isabella at lona, 
where it has been more largely propagated than anj^where else; and Dr. 
Grant is entitled to tlie gratitude of the lovers of good fruit for having done 
more tlian any other man to bring this valuable new grape into notice; for 
the world will appreciate it as soon as it comes to know the value of it, both 
as a table grape and for wine, for which it is the best of any grown in the 
Atlantic States. 

The JIai'ion grape deserves attention as a very early variety. 

The To Kalon grape resembles the Black Hamburg. Dr. Grant speaks 
of it as desirable for a private garden, and says the fruit is exceedingly 
sweet and luscious, has very delicate aroma, and when well ripened is with- 
out toughness or acidity in its flesh. It ripens a week earlier than the 
Isabella. 

The CoJicord is a very vigorous and healthy grower, and bears abundantly, 
although not much disposed to over-bear. It ripens ten days before the Isa- 
bella, and its leaves are much less likely to mildew than that variety. In 
flavor it is very sweet, and will undoubtedly become a valuable market fruit 
in the latitude of New York and farther south. 

The Jiehecca, originated by Mrs. E. M. Peake, and introduced by Mr. 
Brocksbank, of Hudson, N. Y., added another to the list of valuable and 
beautiful grapes. 

The Diana takes its name from Mrs. Diana Crehore. It is a grape of sur- 
passing excellence and beauty. 

The Anna is an early and profuse bearer, and the produce of young vines 
is of very high flavor, but not without a considerable degree of toughness, 
which disappears as the vines acquire age and maturity. 

It ripens quite as early as the Diana, and fully two weeks before the 
Catawba, hangs very late on the vines, and is not injured by severe freezing. 
For late keeping it is unequaled, and its raisins are not surpassed in quality 
by any foreign variety. 

The Hartford Prdijic is hardy, vigorous, and productive. Bunch large, 
shouldered, and rather compact. Berry large, globular. Skin thick, black, 
and covered with a thick bloom. Flesh sweet, moderately juicy, with con- 



Sec. ■12.] VARIETIES OF GRAPES DESCRIBED. 633 



sUlerable toughness and acidity in its pulp, with a good deal of native per- 
fume. Ripe ten days hcfire the Isabella — at New York, September 5tli. 

Our objection to it was its disposition to drop its fruit as fast as it ripens, 
just like the Fox grape in the woods, covering the ground with scattered 
berries. Cultivation has nearly cured this faidt. 

The Yorh Madeira is early, hardy, and when fully ripe very sweet and 
somewhat vinous. There are two or three sub-varieties of larger size, but 
of greatly inferior rpiality to that which has been somewhat extensively dis- 
seminated under that name, and of which Canh/s Augiist appears to be a 
synonym. 

The Ehin(jhur<j is vigorous, hardy, and productive ; ripening early — 
about one week before the Isabella — and is in qualit}'^ best, but its berries 
are small, and its bunches not compact, though generally large. It has no 
toughness or acidity in its pulp, and to give a large, rich mouthful of its 
enjoyment, several berries may bo taken at once. It is worthy of a place in 
every garden. 

The Lo^iisa, a seedling raised by Samuel Miller, of Lebanon, Pa., must be 
considered an acquisition by those who adopt the Isabella as a standard of 
excellence. It is ten days earlier in ripening, and to most tastes a better 
fruit, and appears to be more hardy. 

The Logan is a black grape of medium size, and bears a strong resem- 
lilance, in general character and appearance, to the Marion, which also M^as 
found in the same region. 

714. Dfi Grant upoa the Cultivation of Grapevinesi— Tlie following direc- 
tions were given by Dr. C. AV. Grant in an address upon the subject of grape 
culture. In relation to pruning, he said : 

" Cut off the first year's growth above two buds, and next year cut back 
so as to leave two buds of that year's growth. In nature a vine grows both 
branch and roots to a great length before bearing fruit, as it can bear no 
fruit until its leaves and branches reach the air and sun at the top of the 
tree. In cultivation we must train vines to new habits. We' can not de- 
pend upon any but native varieties. A well-grown vine will reach five or 
six feet the first year, and ten or twelve feet the second year, and its success 
as a bearer will mainly depend upon the manner of training and trimming it 
tlie first years. No untrimmed vine can remain healthy or be productive. 
Fruit-buds grow upon the same branches but once. Ten feet square of 
ground is required for a root, and six or seven times that for the vine. 
Mildew is the great enemy to contend with, and the vine must have air and 
vigorous growth, for that tends to prevent mildew, and it must have room 
so as to expose every leaf to the sun. On the third year two bunches to a 
cane or branch are all that can lie grown to perfection ; all others must be 
plucked off. The leaves naturally develop themselves to the sun, and no 
more leaves must be left than will fill the space. No healthy leaf grows in 
the shade. Vines sufiered to bear too full the third year are ruined ever 
after. 



634 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 



1 



" The fourth year train up four upright canes, and these will each produce 
three bunches, and the horizontal shoots will produce twenty-four bunches 
and hud out new shoots. Only three bunches to a shoot siiould be grown, 
and a bunch never should be exposed to the noonday sun. Training vines 
upon the trellis is best for the vineyard. The arbor gives shade, and may 
give satisfacfion,but the trellis gives the most fruit. Four feet length of 
elevation of canes is as much as will jiroduce perfect fruit. 

" At the end of the seventh year the vino is fully established, with three 
branches on each shoot, which will give six bunches, three on each arm be- 
tween each upright. At the base of each shoot is a bud for the fruit-bear- 
ing shoot next year. The ends of the fruit-bearing branches must be 
stopped at about two feet from the base. It will shoot again and must bo 
stopped again, leaving one leaf. The best thing to tie vines to the trellis 
wires is basket willow. Bulrushes are also good. Hatters' trimmings are 
also recommended. 

" If all the fruit-buds are permitted to grow, the vine will soon be ruined. 
The best bunches always grow nearest the stalk. November is the best 
time to shorten back a vine to the buds that are to be left for bearing. It is 
an object with the young vine to cut back or stop the growth of branches 
to give strength to the root. Pinching the bud of a growing vine is to give 
vigor to the root as well as the buds that are to furnish the canes for fruit 
next year." 

The Doctor exhibited vines one year old six feet long, and two years old 
twelve feet long, grown from two-eyed cuttings of the Diana grape, which is 
considered a slow grower. He said : 

" Long cuttings should never be planted. Two or three eyes are l)etter — 
two eyes are best. A serpentine form given to a young vine makes it grow 
stronger. The best plan to get new vines is by layers. It makes vines that 
will bear earlier. I have seen five bunches upon a Delaware cane of one 
year grow perfect ; but three bunches to a cane generally is as much as can 
be depended upon. A vine must not be made to over-bear or over-produce 
wood. Sparing the knife spoils the yIug. I think in this country that the 
trellis form of growing vines, both for wine and market fruit, will be the 
best plan — better than growing upon stakes. On posts seven or eight feet 
high place five wires, and set the rows ten feet apart, and running north and 
south if convenient. Grapes can be grown to advantage in the city. A 
vigorous vine can be carried up six or eight feet a year without bearing 
until it reaches the top of the house, and there tr.tincd upon a trellis, and 
produce good fruit many years. Vines can also be trained upon brick walls 
or in yards that have four hours of sun a day. It is not necessary that the 
sun shine constantly on the ground where a vine is rooted, so that it reaches 
up to a sunny spot for leaves and fruit. I have trained vines up a house- 
side three stories high. 

" All sides of a house may be used, but on the north side the fruit will 
not ripen well. A northeast exposure on the sea-coast is not a good one for 



Sbo. 42.] PRUNING AND TRAINING. 685 



grapes. One objection to an eastern exposure is bright suns after frosts. 
Summer pruning is indispensable. In tlie angle between the leaves two 
buds start, and if 6ne is not pinched out it will produce a shoot tJiat will 
bear green grapes in the fall. Care must be taken not to cut off tiio 
vines in the hard wood in the summer. The shoot must be stopped in 
the bud by pinching, and not by cutting away hard wood. Vines never 
should be trimmed with ordinary shears, but with a very keen knife, with a 
smooth cut. 

" Tlie bunch next to the inain stem covers the bud of the fruit-bearing 
Ijrancli for next year. In autumn pruning, all of the fruit-bearing arm is 
cut away to one bud. November pruning is better than March, on account 
of the sap exuding. There are many advantages in prunifig in November, 
but if neglected then, it must not be neglected altogether, for upon that, 
and also plucking off all excess of fruit, depends the success of gi'ape- 
growing. 

" Carrots are an excellent crop to grow upon ground prepared for grapes ; 
they will pay all the expense of preparation. 

" Any good corn land, deeply prepared, will grow grapes, but for a suc- 
cessful vineyard the land should be trenched three feet deep and made rich, 
and there is nothing better than swamp muck for this purpose. It should 
be composted with animal manure, and well rotted, and thoroughly mixed 
with the soil. 

Dr. Grant stated that he had imported " every variety of grape, and had 
found none that could withstand our winters, while the Delaware grows in 
every kind of exposure, and never suffers. As for the story about the 
Delaware growing wild in Pennsylvania, I have investigated that matter 
thoroughly, and defy any one to produce an iota of evidence to sustain 
the stoiy. 

" In planting a vine, recollect the above few simple rules, and you will 
have no difficulty in growing them to your satisfaction. 

" Although tliu wants of the vine are few, simple, and easily supplied, yet 
they are imperative, and, as with all the other fruits of our climate, it is only 
to judiciiiu? c.irc that it can yield its richest delight." 

715. Grafting GrapcSi — "Grapes can be and are sometimes grafted when 
it is desired to test a variety in as short time as possible. We understand 
that Mr. Longworth sometimes obtains fruit the same year the grafting is 
performed. This is owing to the fact that the grape bears fruit on the cur- 
rent year's growth, and not on wood of one, two, or three years old, like the 
peach, apple, and others. It is not, however, a profitable metliod of in- 
creasing the grape, being rather a slow job and uncertain in growing. Be- 
sides, the same labor in raising stocks on which to graft might grow a better 
kind of vines from cuttinsrs or roots." 

The late Dr. Togno, who spent much of his life in this country in pro- 
moting the culture of the vine, told us, when establishing his vineyard at 
Wilmington, N. C, that he expected to derive considerable advantage in 



636 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

grafting cuttings of choice grajDes into the wild vines that grew abund- 
antly upon the land, and that only under similar circumstances would 
grafting be of any use. Ilis process of grafting was very simple. In some 
cases we noticed that gimlet-holes were bored, with a small inclination 
downward, into large vines, and the graft sharpened and inserted so as to 
bring the base of a bud in contact with the fresh cut in the old stock ; and 
in others tiie grafts were inserted in a cleft, either in the side of a vine or the 
sawed-off end. 

716. faiitioii about Buying Grape Cuttings. — Do not buy cuttings of Dela- 
ware vines, and others of similar growth, as they can not be depended upon 
to make i-oots under ordinary cultivation. They are not cheap at any price 
to ordinary iarmers, who usually will be obliged to plant them in open 
ground, where they will have but little attention. 

It needs hot-house propagation and very skillful management to grow 
good Delaware grapevines from buds. It has obtained such a wide noto- 
riety for its excellence that great care should be exercised, so as to be sure 
not to get a Red Traminer, or something equally worthless. Buy rooted 
vines of responsible men, and though slow of growth the first years, do not 
be discouraged ; keep your vines well cared for, and you or yours will enjoy 
the fruit. 

717. Proflts of Grape-Growing. — Mr. Andrew Reisinger, a German vine- 
dresser of forty years' experience, settled some years ago in the town of 
Pultney, Steuben County, N. Y., and in 1854 procured from Ohio six 
thousand cuttings of the Catawba grape, which he planted, four feet apart, 
on land well trenched and subsoiled, and in 18-57, from an area of less than 
an acre, pressed three hundred gallons of juice. Next spring he increased 
his area of grape culture by an acre and a half, and from an acre of older 
vines, one eighth only two years planted, pressed six hundred gallons of 
juice, besides keeping four hundred pounds of grapes to show to buyers of 
cuttings the quality of the fruit. lie thinks the grape culture can be made 
decidedly profitable, even on the highest suitable lands in New York ; that 
is, on sandy or gravelly loam having a southern to southeastern exposure. 
Of course the cultivation must be very thorough. 

A Mr. Provost, of Williamsburg, L. I., manures his vines highly, and 
covers the manure with sand. He exhibited a bunch of an Isabella vine 
ten feet long with seventy bunches of grapes. Such a vine must be much 
more profitable than the one mentioned in the next paragraph. 

718. Gigantic Grapevine. — The Jlorticulturist for October, 1858, gives an 
engraved representation and account of a grapevine at West Hill, near Bur- 
lington, N. J., that measures six feet and one inch around the trunk three 
feet above the ground, and three feet around at ten feet high. In extent, it 
is equally enormous, spreading over four large forest trees, one of which is 
a full-sized black oak, the largest tree being ten feet in circumference two 
feet above the ground. This monstrous vine is a male, of the wild grapes 
of the country, and although regarded as a wonder, it had never been known 



Sec. 42.] VINE-GROWING IN CITIES. . 637 

to bear fruit. The diameter of the circle of the ground covered by the 
branches of this vine is over one hundred feet. Vines are recorded of the 
known age of six liundred years. Statues have been carved from grape- 
wood, and pillars made from it; even the large doors of the cathedral of 
Ravenna are made of the grape-ti"ee. In some parts of Italy, says Miller, 
" A vine is considered young at one hundred years, and there aw. plants in 
existence which have been cultivated three liundred years." 

719. How to Grow a Vine in a f ity Lot. — " It so happens sometimes that we 
have an inside walk running near the house — so near tiiat we have not room 
enough to make a border between it and the lifluse on which we wish to 
train our vine. In that case we should take up the walk and enrich the 
ground under it, so the roots can penetrate it, which they will readily do ; 
or we may plant the vine on the outside, and when we have produced a good 
strong cane — say eight or ten feet long — we can take up a narrow strip of 
the walk, make the soil rich, and then lay the vine down, covering it three 
or four inclics with soil, put down the walk again, and bring the vine out on 
the opposite side. Vines treated in this way Avill grow as strong and as well 
as when planted in the open border. 

" The most simple and easiest managed system of training the vine is with 
hiirizontal arms. To grow a vine on tiiis plan, we commence by growing 
one cane on an upright stake, pinching off the little side branches or laterals, 
leaving one leaf; this pinching is to be repeated Avhen the laterals grow 
again, and an additional leaf is left at each successive pinching. 

" If the vine is planted in a lot so shaded that the grapes will not ripen 
near the ground, the vine may be trained up the wall, quite to the top of 
the house, and the fruit-bearing arms formed on a trellis on the roof. By 
skillful training a vine can be grown, and grapes produced in abundance, 
upon any city lot, no matter what the exposure." 



0. Trainill.? Vines Fpon Walls. — This is more practiced in Europe than 
here. There walls are built on purpose and i)ay a proiit, and doubtless might 
be made to do so near cities in this country. The plan is much practiced in 
France. A very thick high wall is found to be so heated in the daytime 
that it retains the heat during night, and this makes the grapes nmch sweeter, 
and saves them from danger of cold weather. 

721. Ringing Grapevines. — This is a process adopted to increase the pro- 
duction of a vine and enlarge the fruit. It is to remove a ring of bark 
about one fourth of an inch, or perhaps half an inch wide, from the bearing 
branch, near the junction with tlie main stem, about the time of the setting 
of tlie t'ruit in spring. The etfect is an increased vigor of growth upon the 
branch so treated, and larger, handsomer — not better — fruit, which in some 
instances has ripened ten to fifteen days earlier than the fruit upon branches 
not rung. But mark, these rung branches will have to be cut away another 
season, as the wound is not likely to heal over so as to make a healthy 
branch next year. So, you see, care must be taken not to ring any bi-aneli 
of a vine that you wish to preserve for training, and it would be advisable 



638 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 



to ring only a portion of the branches you intend to cut away at the next 
pruning. 

72:^. Cirapcs lindcr Glass. — Mr. Charles Butler has demonstrated to the 
suburban residents of l^ew York city what can be done in raising grapes 
under glass. Ilis place is near White Plains, Westchester County, jST. Y. 

Mr. Butler has erected vineries a thousand feet in length, with a tine ex- 
posure, and has introduced the rarest and finest grapes, and in less than three 
years from the time of setting out the vines, he has taken oif about two 
thousand pounds of grapes, of extraordinary size and flavor — the Black 
Hamburg; the Muscat of Alexandria; the Zinfendel, a native of southern 
Italy; the Tokay, the Syrian grape, growing in immense clusters, sometimes 
attaining, in its native clime, the weight of ten or fifteen pounds. These 
are the grapes of Eschol, such as the spies brought on a pole between them 
as samples of what the land of Canaan would yield. 

Beside these, he has the Cannon Hall, Chasselas of Fontainebleau, West 
St. Peters, Lombardy, White Frontignac, Purple Damask, and White l^ice. 
But the most magnificent of all is the Barbarossa, which has rarely been 
fruited in this country. 

723. Ecoiionsical Grape Trellis. — At Westchester, Pa., Mr. Jefi'ries has a 
cheap grape trellis. A cedar-tree, possessing a s^'mmetrical form of branches, 
is selected, and when cut down the branches are carefully preserved, thin- 
ning out the smaller twigs, but leaving the pyramidal shape prominent. 
This is used as a stake, and when covered with vines is highly ornamental, 
as well as forming a superior support for the grape. A row of them, seen 
from a distance, has the appearance of luxuriant forest trees. 

The French, near Fontainebleau, have a cheap way of making very good 
and durable trellises. They set posts of locust, about three or four inches in 
diameter, two feet in the ground and sis out, and about eight or ten feet 
apart. They then tie across the posts strips of white oak or ash, about one 
inch thick and ten or twelve feet long. These strips are split out in the same 
way that we split out hoops for flour barrels^and tied to the posts with an- 
nealed iron wire. 

724:. Delaware and Red Tramiiifr Vines Described.— Andrew S. Fuller 
gives the following directions for distinguishing the Delaware from the Eed 
Traminer. He says: 

"There has been much talk about the Delaware grape being the Red 
Traminer, but it was only by those who did not know either. How any 
person, even a casual observer, could confound the two, is more than we can 
understand, for the difterence between them is so ajjparent that a man, by 
the sense of feeling, could easily tell one from the other. The buds of the 
Traminer, like all the foreign varieties, are very prominent — n)uch larger 
than the Delaware, although the latter has buds quite large for a native. 
The large bud is a marked characteristic of the foreign varieties. The bark 
of the Delaware has the deep striated appearance of all our natives, witii a 
hard silicious covering, perhaps the hardest of all, not excepting the Con- 



Sec. 42.] 



MANAGEMENT OF GRAPEVINES. 



630 



cord, wliicli it resembles ia color. It is nearly destitute of Moom, which is 
always upon the wood of the Trainincr. Toward the end of the shoots, the 
Delaware exhibits the peculiar liairiness which is another characteristic of 
the native vine. The Traminer has a soft wood, with large, light-colored 
spots upon it, especially when grown in the open air, and is quite tender in 
this latitude, killing to the ground unless protected, while the Delaware is as 
hardy as any of the wild fox-grapes. The Traminer has a thin ruffled leaf, 
difficult to prees flat without its lobes overlapping or splitting. The Dela- 
ware is perfectly flat, thick, and leathery, like the Catawba, Diana, Concord, 
and Anna. All of these have thick leaves, and are not liable to sun-scald or 
mildew, while the Isabella, Rebecca, and some others have thin leaves, and 
are subject to this disease unless grown under very favorable circumstances. 
The mildew is not likely to attack a j)erfectly healthy native vine, and it gener- 
ally attacks them at the time of cold, cloudy weather, when the leaves have 
become weak from the M^ant of sun ; therefore it will bo seen that vines, to be 
healthy, must have a full cxj^osure to the sun if you would keep them free 
from this malady. Weak growers are not likely to have well-ripened wood 
and leaves the first year from cuttings, unless assisted by artificial heat, con- 
sequently they have unripened roots. The Traminer does not ripen its wood 
in the open air, while the Delaware does perfectly. It is quite difficult to 
make the Delaware strike roots from cuttings ; the Traminer strikes very 
readily. The mildew that attacks our native vines is quite different from 
that which attacks the foreign. The one that attacks the foreign commences 
on the upper surface, and passes to the peduncle, and thence to the fruit, 
and is of a dark color. The one to which our native varieties are liable ap- 
pears more gross, presenting the appearance of small transparent -bladders 
or minute pearls, that are disposed to attach themselves along the middle of 
the leaf on the under side, consequently they often destroy it before a per- 
son is aware of what is the matter. This native mildew and sun-scald are 
mutually disposed toward each otlier ; that is, if a plant is weakened by sun- 
scald, it is partieularl}' predisposed to be attacked by mildew, and a plant 
upon which mildew fastens is obnoxious to sun-scald, as its life-blood is 
sucked out by this parasitic plant. The fruit of the Traminer does not re- 
semble the Delaware as much as a Baldwin apple does a Spitzenberg, and 
one who can see a dilierence between these, would not find it difficult to dis- 
tinguish the grapes. If you will pick the Delaware before it is quite ripe, 
you will find that the skin jxarts readily from the ficsh like the other natives ; 
the Traminer adheres to the flesh the same as others of its class. If you al- 
low young vines of the Delaware to mature all the fruit that sets, they will 
liave quite a tough pulp, and have that peculiar foxiness which no foreign 
grape ever had." 

725. The Isabella Grape— Is it a Seedling ?— The Catawba.— It is stated that 
the original location of the Isabella grape was Newborn, N. C. It was 
brought to Brooklyn in 1S18, but it is not known whether the grape brought 
from Xorth Carolina was a seedling or the original of the variety. 



6i0 



THE VINEYARD. 



[Chap. VII. 



One of the great difficulties of growing seedlings from any native fruit is 
to get it to vary from the wild sort. There is no difficulty in getting varia- 
tions from those cultivated or improved. When a variation is once obtain- 
ed from any seedling, it is very easy to continue this variation, and produce 
something better. 

Tlie best proof that the genuine Isabella is not an ordinary seedling is its 
high character, so difl'erent from the wild Fox grapes. ■ It is important that 
the country should know if it is a fact that this variety of grapes is failing, 
or diseased so as to be more difficult to grow than other sorts. By many 
persons it is stated as an incontrovertible fact, that the Isabella grape is dis- 
eased, and that it is not worth while for any one to jilant a vineyard of Isa- 
bella vines iu their present imhealthy condition. 

William S. Carpenter states that he has taken much pains to grow them, 
and lias not had a good bunch of Isabellas for five years. lie has tried 
both close pruning and no pruning, and his pruned vines produced quite as 
well as the unpruned, which proved the assertion false, that the failure is 
owing to injury from close pruning. 

Mr. Pardee states that he saw five distinct sorts exhibited at one fair all 
labeled Isabella. Of course these were seedlings, and though like the orig- 
inal, were not the pure sort. With so many grapes called by one name, 
how is any one sure of getting the true Isabella? 

The Catawlja is supposed to be like the Isabella, a native wild grape of the 
Soiithern States, and it is now considerably cultivated in Georgia and the 
Carolinas. It was inti'oduced North about 1830, and since has been our 
principal wine grape. It flourishes best away from the moisture of the sea- 
coast iu the dry climate west of tlio Alleghanies, and at this time thousands 
of acres at the West are devoted to this crop. 

Geo. Hustman, well known as one of the most intelligent grape-growers 
in Missouri, thinks " the Catawba should be struck from the list as unworthy 
of cultivation, because it is superseded by better sorts. The same is cer- 
tainlv true of the Isabella hereabout." 

Ira Smith, of Peoria, 111., under date August IG, 1860, says : 

" I have a hundred Catawba grapevines, which I cultivate on poles the 
usual way. Having all my grapes destroyed last spring by a late frost, and 
being desirous to increase the number of vines to enlarge my vineyard, I 
buried all my last year's wood and allowed an extra vine on each trunk to 
grow from a point near tlie ground, which I have also buried. The side 
branches of the old and new vines are taking root and growing finely, and 
have not at all hindered a heavy growth for next year's fruit of from two 
to three vines climbing up the poles ; but some of my neighbors inform me 
that the side branches, commonly called suckers, will not produce good 
bearing vines." 

This is a mistake. It will not make the least difl^erence whether the 
bearing vines are taken from such suckers as the writer mentions or from 
the main stalks. 



Sko. 42.] CATAWBA AND ISABELLA VINES. 641 



Tlie Isabella grape flourishes finely upon Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie, in 
tlie neigliborhnod of Sandusky, Ohio. In 1860 it ^vas estimated tliat neariy 
one tenth of the land on the island, or 230 acres, had been planted in vines. 
This is in lat. 411°, but the climate is ameliorated by the proximity of the 
water, the land not being elevated much above the lake. As a general 
thing, it is not safe to depend upon tlie Isabella or Catawba as far north as 
lat. 41° for a market fruit crop or for wine. 

The most successful grower of these two varieties in the vicinity of New 
York city is Dr. Underhill, at Crotou Point, thirty-five miles up the Hud- 
son, wlierc the vineyard is almost surrounded by water, and is but slightly 
elevated above it ; the soil a sandy loam, which has been deeply trenched 
and fertilized by immense quantities of muck dug from a marsh that has 
been subject to tide-water overflow. Tlie same thing is true of the vine- 
yard of Dr. Grant, upon lona Island, about ten miles farther up the Hud- 
son. His land lias been made homogeneous by trenching three feet deep, 
and working in muck and manure compost. Upon such land in favorable 
situations, below lat. 41°, the Isabella and Catawba can be grown ; but even 
as far south as Maryland, as appears from the testimony of many persons, 
other sorts are preferred. 

726. How to Grow Grape Cuttings. — The most diflicult thing with those 
who have no experience about grape culture is to get a start from cuttings, 
whicli, they are told, are just as good as rooted vines. So they may be to 
those who know how to use them. The following plan of an amateur grape- 
grower appears to be a good one : 

" Have a box two feet high and about two and a half feet wide — the 
length as you require ; fill half full of well-pulverized soil ; prepare the 
cuttings with three eyes ; cut smooth below the bottom one ; place them in 
a slanting position, with the last bud just above the soil ; nail a thin piece 
of cotton cloth tightly over the box ; give warm soft water freely every 
evening. Place the box in a sunny nook, and in a few weeks it will be 
filled with grapevines ready for potting or planting in borders." 

727. The Hardiness of Varieties of Grapevines in Winleri — The following 
statement, puljlished in 1860 in the Oenesee Farmer, shows how the winter 
affects different kinds of grapevines at Kochester: 

" In the garden of a gentleman in this city there is a long trellis, on whicli 
are grown several vines of Isabella, one of Delaware, one of Rebecca, ona 
of Diana, one of To Kalon, and one of Hartford Prolific — all having the 
same exposure. 

"The vines are pruned early in the winter, and left tied up without any 
protection, and are all from six to eight feet in hight, with laterals. 

" Most of the buds of the Isabella are killed from the tops of tlio vines to a 
line within two feet of the ground. This is particularly the case on young 
wood of last year's growth, and many of these canes, even, are dead. 

"The Diana suffered fully as severely as the Isabella, and shows live buds 
only on the lower part of the vine. 

41 



642 THE VINEYAKD. [Chap. VII. 



"The Rebecca and the Hartford Prolific were killed entirely, buds and 
wood, within a foot of the ground. 

" The Delaware is entirely uninjured ; every inch of wood is perfect to the 
very tips, and all the buds are now bursting. 

"The To Ivalou is iminjured, and is as hardy as the Delaware. 

"This test we consider a very fair one, and it must place the Delaware- 
combining, as it now appears, superior quality with maturity and gi"eat 
hardiness — at the head of all our vai-ieties of native grapes." 

At Utica, a vine obtained by a Mr. Foster from New Jersey, without a 
name, almost as long ago as one of the same sort was taken to Delaware, 
Ohio, proved to be the true Delaware, and stood eighteen years unprotected, 
and never failed to yield him a full crop of most luscious grapes annually, 
and had always ripened l)efore our early frosts. 

728. Five Grapes in their Order of Excellence. — A correspondent of the 
American Fanner, whose experience entitles his opinion to respect, fur- 
nishes the following list of grapes, the merits of which are given in numer- 
ical order : 

" 1. Delaware. — Bunches and berries medium size, round, red ; ripens 
four weeks earlier than the Isabella ; of the highest excellence as to quality, 
hardiness, and productiveness. Its right eminently to the first rank is gen- 
erally conceded by all who have learned its value. 

" 2. Diana. — Bunches large, mostly shouldered ; berries large, rountl, 
red ; vine vigorous and productive ; ripens two weeks later than the Dela- 
ware, and approaches it in excellence, both for table use and for wine. If 
grown in a small space, nmst be root-pruned at the end of the first season, 
and if very vigorous, at the end of the second. 

" 3. Anna. — A white grape of the highest flavor ; bunches and berries 
medium to large ; vine hardy and productive. It begins to ripen as early 
as the Diana, but does not progress so rapidly, but is much earlier than the 
Catawba, and greatly surpassing it in rich vinous flavor. 

" 4. Ilerhemont. — An immense grower, and the most ornamental of all 
our out-door vines ; perfectly hardy south of New York ; its berries are me- 
dium or small in eize ; color deep purple, covered with bloom ; the bunches 
are very large. Its rich, spicy, vinous flavor is very distinct and of the 
greatest excellence. It is fitly described by Downing, who says its berries 
are bags of wine. An admirable variety for the latitude of New York city 
and farther south. In texture and flavor it may stand in comparison with 
the best European varieties. 

" 5. Lenoir. — All that has been said of the Herbemont will apply generally 
to this variety, except that the Lenoir is much earlier, ripening at least two 
weeks before the Isabella. Its fruit is very sweet, rich, spicy, and vinous, 
and has a very high character for wine as well as for table use. 

'■'■ The Rehecca would deserve all commendation for the garden, were it not 
that its leaves, which are not abundant, like those of the Isabella, in most 
localities, are subject to mildew in unfavorable seasons. 



Seo. 42.J 



REMEDY FOR THE ROT IN GRAPES. 



643 



" There are two other varieties that should not be passed without a word, 
since few who have gardens would like to be without them, viz. : 

" Union Village — which originated with the Shakers at a place of that 
name near Cincinnati, Ohio, and was introduced 1>y Mr. Longwortli. In 
appearance it is like a monstrous Isabella, and resembles it in flavor, but is 
richer, and ripens at least one week sooner. In bunch and berry it may be 
represented as twice the size of that variety. 

" The other is the — 

'■^ Elsinyhurg. — This is directly the reverse of the above, having small ber- 
ries, but of the highest flavor, and of a decided European character, but it is 
hardy, earU-,'and productive ; with care, its long shouldered bunches become 
very handsome ; fruit sweet, spicy, and delicious. 

" The skin of the Herbemont, Lenoir, and Elsingburg adheres firmly to 
the flesh, like all of the foreign varieties." 

729. Diseases of Grapes— Remedy for the Rot.— The following remedy for 
the rot, and the reason why it is a remedy, is translated from the Kolnische 
Zeitung : 

"Dr. Franz Vulkan, of Eppan, in the Tyrol, having learned by experience 
that the parasites of vegetables can not exist on animal matter, has discov- 
ered a remed}' for the grape disease. He dissolved two and a half pounds 
of common glue in ten gallons of M'ater by boiling, and then cooled the so- 
lution until it was neither stiff nor yet too watery, but had the apj^earance 
of Ij'e. Diseased grapes were dipped in this solution, and after forty-eight 
hours they assumed a lustrous, dark-green color, like that of those which had 
not been attacked. In September they ripened into the finest fruit. To 
make sure that it was that solution which produced the desired result, he se- 
lected three bunches on the same branch; he dipped the whole of the first, 
half of the second, and the third not at all. The first was entirely un- 
touched, the second as fiir as it had been dipped, the third remained dis- 
eased, and in four weeks burst and rotted. On another vine, where branches, 
leaves, and fruit were infected in the highest degree, a similar experiment 
produced a similar result. In places where large tracts of vines were struck 
with the blight, single clusters were dipped, and these were healthy and 
gave very fine fruit, while all the rest rotted. Perhaps the sprinkling of po- 
tato vines might be equally successful. The cheapness of that remedy com- 
mends it to general use." 

Mr. Bullock Webster, of England, writes from Atliens that the applica- 
tion of sulphur has proved most successful in Greece upon grapes-, pota- 
toes, beans, peas, fruit-trees, roses, etc. The sulphur ought to be applied in 
a very fine powder in tlie early stage of the growth of the plant, as soon as 
any blight shows itself, either by means of a large tin pep[)er-box or small 
bellows, by which a woman can dress an acre of vines per day. Should rain 
fall within five days after the application of the sulphur, the operation has to 
be repeated. 

A French journal recommends removing the grape disease by brushing- 



644 



THE VINEYARD. 



[Chap. Vll. 



off the fungus -with a sole wing of a bird. The bunches appear covered 
with a dust which is easily brushed oif. In the experiments tried, the 
bunches brushed perfected themselves, while those nnbrushed entirely 
failed. 

In this section, a small caterpillar some seasons trims off the bunches of 
grapes. Perhaps it is only a provision of nature to prevent over-bearing. 
Wm. Aldrich, in a letter to tlie Ganlenei'^s Monthly, relates a curious fact 
in relation to the effect of different trees upon the healthiness of vines. He 
says : "A neighbor of mine has an Isabella grape on a Balm of Gilead tree, 
bearing full crops of grapes, while vines on a Black locust generally rotted. 
Another neiglibor had a vine, one branch of which extended from a locust- 
tree to a Balm of Gilead tree, with the same result between the diflereut 
branches of the same vine, though on tlie two respective kinds of trees." 

730. Hints upon Planting, Pruning, Fertilizing, and general (are of Grape- 
viueSi — ^Those who have neither the time nor the taste to carry out any par- 
ticular system need not be fearful of producing plenty of fruit if they follow 
the one cardinal rule, of not allowing any old wood to accumulate, for that 
never bears a second time. This should be ever kept in view, for thougli a 
vine may extend its shoots a hundred feet, or be traind to a four-foot stake, 
it will bear just in proportion to its strength. 

It has been urged that our native grapes were more injured by pruning 
tlian the exotic vines ; but whether this is so or not, remains to be fully 
proved. The rot which attacks the Catawlta and other natives has been 
attributed by some to the French system of pruning, though not many ex- 
periments have been made to prove it. The foreign vine is, as a general 
rule, much more subject to disease here than our native sorts. We have no 
doubt that much in regard to health as well as fruitfulness depends upon 
pruning and proper training. 

The importance of system in the treatment of the vine, both under glass 
and in the open air, is therefore apparent. And independent of those facil- 
ities which attend it, the beauty which comes from method is a powerful 
reason that we should practice it. With the adoption of system, the same 
course of pruning is pursued year after year. When the vine is pruned 
once, it is pruned again widiout much trouble; a fresh exertion of judg- 
ment is not necessary that too much should not be taken away here or there, 
and after all, the result be unsatisfactory. 

The land for grapevines must be deeply disintegrated. It is idle to plant 
them in hard ground, or stick them into holes dug or punched in a stiff soil. 
There is no preparation equal to trenching with a spade three feet deep. 
The next best preparation is by the double plow, reversing the top soil fifteen 
inches, and stirring the subsoil ten or fifteen inches more with the subsoil 
lifter. The very best manure for grapevines is swamp muck, composted 
with animal substances. 

The ground intended for a vineyard should be well manured the previons 
year, either by a coating of lime, where that kind of manuring is proper, or 



Sk^,. 42.] nOAV TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 645 



by gypsum, where it can be had ; or by plowing under some green-sward, 
such as clover ; or, at least, by a good and thorough coat of manure, straw, 
or even leaves. 

Afterward the surface, for the depth of twelve inches, should be turned 
beneath the next twelve inches with the spade, or if stony, with the mat- 
tock. For this purpose a trench is first dug four feet wide, and to the 
depth to which the vineyard-man is going to spade up and trench his vine- 
yard. 

It is far better to have a small, good vineyard, than a large poor one. 

The ground thus spaded up should be permitted to settle well before the 
vines are planted. One or two good rains will generally accomplish this. 
The best method is to trench in the fall and plant in the spring. 

We are all too apt to trust to the virgin richness of our soil, and in our 
confidence are apt to forget that spading up the ground for several feet is 
done for other reasons besides mere fertilizing ; the present surface-soil being 
full of decomposed vegetable matter, is the h(5t-bed of all manner of insects. 

In many parts of Europe they spade up tbe ground to the depth of three 
and four, and even five feet. We never prepare the ground itself during 
the preceding year, while in Europe it is tended in clover with good coat- 
ings of gypsum and manure. 

Some soils ai'c naturally rich and deep, but we would sooner trust to a 
hard, rocky, or gravelly soil that rei[uired digging with a mattock to the 
necessary depth. 

In vineyards along hillsides it is well to use the stones for the purpose of 
erecting walls. Where stones are lacking, you may raise banks by sodding 
them. They are not as good as stone walls, since the green-sward is apt to 
subject t)ie neighboring vines to frost, but the ground must be protected 
from washing even at this risk. 

Some persons suppose that throwing old logs, brusliwood, or stones under- 
neath, promotes the growth of vines. They may not hinder them, it well 
packed with ground, but great care should be had not to leave vacuities, as 
they are sure to impart to the roots an unhealthy state. 

One successful vine-grower throws in a layer of corn stalks or brush, cut 
with the leaves on in summer, at the bottom of the trench. This serves as 
a partial underdrain, and also as a manure. 

George Ilnsman, of Missouri, says: 

"The best situations are generally our hillsides, with an eastern, south- 
eastern, or southern exposure. The freer the location, and the more exposed 
to the draft of our prevalent winds in summer, the better. The slopes ad- 
joining small water-courses should be particularly avoided, as they aic 
peculiarly subject to frosts in winter and spring, and also, generally, to mil- 
dew and rot. 

"Tlie soil best suited for the vine is a dry, calcareous loam, with a ])orous 
subsoil. Any soil retentive of moisture, for example, wet, stiflfclay, or wet, 
spongy laud of any kind, should be avoided, as the grapes are mucli more 



646 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

subject to mildew and rot on such soils, and the vines are apt to make a 
rampant, unhealthy growth. 

" If you intend to make a plantation of cuttings, they should be made of 
sound, well-ripened, young wood, and contain at least four eyes or joints ; 
2ut them off close below the lower eye, and about an inch above the upper ; 
if a heel of the old wood is left attached, so much the better. They should 
be cut in autumn, tied in bundles, and buried in the ground until wanted for 
planting. This refers, of course, only to such varieties as Catawba, Isa- 
bella, and otlier kinds which will grow from cuttings. Many of our most 
valuable kinds, such as Norton's Virginia, Delaware, and others, will not 
grow from cuttings, and must be propagated by layering or grafting. Most 
of those varieties whicli have very firm hard wood and but little pith will 
not propagate readily from cuttings. 

'' As a general thing, rooted plants are very mucli to be ])referred when- 
ever they can be obtained at a moderate cost. The first summer after plant- 
ing, nothing is necessary but to keep the ground free from weeds, and the 
surface well pulverized, either with the hoe, cultivator, or plow. Should 
the vines grow very strong, they may be tied to the stakes used for marking 
off the ground, and only one shoot be allowed to grow. The next winter, 
stakes should be provided. Here, again, opinions differ, some preferring 
simple stakes, others prefer trellis. The latter is undoubtedly the best, and 
also the cheapest, if well made in the following manner : Take cedar posts, 
wliere they can be had ; if not, mulberry, walnut, locust, white oak, or any 
other durable timber, split up to about three inches in diameter and seven 
feet long. Point one end, and make holes with a crowbar two feet deep in 
the spaces between the vines, setting the stakes firmly. To these stakes nail 
three laths, one about two feet from the ground, the others eighteen inches 
apart. They can be split of black oak, one inch broad by half an inch 
tliick Provided the stakes are made of durable timber, such a trellis will 
last from ten to fifteen years ; is much more convenient for tying the vines 
and training the young wood to them, and will prove the cheapest in the 
long run. 

" The after-culture of the ground is precisely as in the first and second 
years. It is generally observed as a rule that, during wet seasons, the ground 
should be kept clean and smooth, stirring but little. During dry seasons, 
the ground should be drawn up to the vines and well stirred. Should a 
vineyard show a decrease in vigor, it can be manured by digging a small 
trench just above the vines, laying in manure, and covering up again with a 
plow or spade. 

"Vegetable manure and compost I should consider most suitable; but 
good decomposed stable-yard manure will also do. Ashes are, no doubt, 
very beneficial to the vines. 

" After the third year the vine may be considered as established, and a 
full crop expected. It is in pruning now that the nicest judgment, as to the 
capabilities of each vine for bearing, is required, as the success of the vintner 



Seo. 42.] now TO PLANT AND CULTDEE VINES. 647 

jood crop, and also preserving bis vines in a healthy condition, 
depends principally on judicious pruning. 

" Pruning is best done late in autumn or early winter, but it can be fol- 
lowed up all winter until the 1st of March, though it is best in autumn, as it 
will prevent all flow of sap, and the cuttings are also better if required for 
propagating." 

Siii/i?ne)- j}}-uni>ig is earnestly recommended by Andrew S. Fuller, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. He says: 

"By summer pruning we do not mean the cutting off of large branches, 
but a system of pinching or stopping the young shoots with the finger and 
thumb, which is called summer pruning. When a vine is planted, we 
should never allow but one shoot to grow upon it the first season, and never 
allow any side-shoots or laterals to grow any length ; if we do, the Lud at 
the axil of the leaf where this lateral springs, which is the embryo fruit- 
branch for the coming season, will be very much injured, if not entirely 
destroyed ; besides, the sap will be distributed through many small branches, 
instead of being concentrated into one strong shoot. 

" In all modes of training, this operation is necessary for directing the 
vital principle and proper maturation of the plant. It is not only an 
economical operation, saving much labor that would be otherwise lost if the 
vines were left until the annual pruning, but by concentrating the sap 
into that particular portion of the vine where it is needed, we are able 
to produce a much larger quantity of superior fruit than we otherwise 
should. 

" The operation of pinching off the laterals is generally performed thus : 
When they have pushed out and formed one or two leaves, then the end is 
pinclied off, leaving one leaf; when they have pushed .again, pinch again, 
and leave another leaf, and so on as long as the vine continues to grow. 
This keeps them in clieck, and by leaving occasionally a leaf it does not de- 
prive the vine of so many leaves as it would if the laterals were broken off 
close to the main stem, as is sometimes done, and as we may safely do at the 
beginning of the season ; but at midsummer, and later in the season, there 
is danger of forcing out the next season's fruit-bud, which is at the base of 
the lateral, and when this is done, of course you lose your next season's crop. 
This summer-pinching has always been an operation that was strictly attended 
to in all well-regulated vineyards in all ages. 

" It was called, in olden times, pampinating — taken from the word pam- 
pinue, a young shoot; in later days, weeding the vines. Columella says 
that we should suspend the operation while the vines are in flower, for 
fear of destroying the embryo fruit — an idea worth remembering. The 
main shoot may be stopped when it arrives at the proper hight, and then 
let the uppermost buds push out and grow for a while, and then check 
these. By doing so we can often make our vines much stronger in growth 
than they would otherwise be if this was not done, besides ripening 
their wood thoroughly. If we allow all the laterals or side-branches to 



648 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 



grow on a vine, and by doing so divide and subdivide the nutriment which 
it receives through its roots, we shall then have many small and weak 
branches, none of which will be strong enough to fully develop or mature 
their fruit. 

" In our northern latitude we have always observed that, when vines were 
allowed to grow in this way, tliese small shoots were never well ripened 
when the cold wcatlier came, and the consequences were we had immature 
wood and immature roots, both of which were destroyed by the cold weather. 
For it is indisputal)le that unless a vine is made to mature all its branches 
by the time cold weather comes, a corresponding number of its roots will 
also be unripe. To this cause alone a great proportion of the failures in 
vine culture in this vicinity can be attributed. Further, when we come to 
the annual pruning, if we have one hundred branches to cut ofi' we make 
one htmdicd wounds, each one of Avhich will take a certain amount of al- 
burnum to heal over, and thereby cause a vast amount of the strength of the 
vine to be directed to this purpose, which might have been used in furnish- 
ing food for new wood and fruit had there not been more than one tenth of 
tliat number of wounds, which is all that would have been necessary if the 
vine had been properly summer-pruned. 

"No definite rule can l)e given that will be applicable in every case, for 
some vines will grow strong and others weak ; some disposed to throw out 
many branches, others few; besides, each different mode of training will re- 
quire summer pruning consistent with the plan adopted. 

" In some modes of training it is found quite beneficial to pinch off the 
end of the fruit-bearing branch three or four leaves beyond the last bunch 
formed ; in other modes it would be very injudicious. But in pruning, as well 
as in all other operations in the vineyard, the operator must fully understand 
what he wishes to accomplish, knowing that certain causes will produce 
certain results. Those who believe that nature is the best teacher, and 
therefore leave their vines to ramble without check or restraint, would do 
well to lemeniber that our cultivated fruits are no longer wild plants, but 
have, in a great measure, changed their natures, and have become somewhat 
artificial and no longer in their normal state. 

"The objects of pruning are various ; among the most prominent are, pro- 
moting the formation of fruit-buds ; lessening bulk ; modifying form ; pro- 
moting growth ; increasing tlie size and proper distribution of the fruit 
among the branches ; creating an equilibrium between root and stem ; re- 
moval of diseased portions of the plant, etc., all of which should be kept 
constantly in view when the operation of pruning is being performed, for by 
doing it we will save much time and be more likely to produce the intended 
results. 

"Tliere are various opinions in regard to the best form in which vines 
should be trained ; but all of them that have been successful for any consid- 
erable length of time have been founded upon the same principles. All 
successful plans are commenced by a gradual accumulation of wood from 



Sko. 42.] now TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 649 







two to six years, at whieli time the structure may be considered as finished, 
after whicli the vine is not allowed to extend, always pruning it to the same 
point as nearly as ])ossible from year to j'car. 

" The vine is thus made to produce its fruit very near the old wood. 
This is very important when high-flavored fruit is desired. The importance 
of having old or matured wood in close proximity to the fruit is a principle 
so generally conceded to he true by experienced vine-growers, that in th 
best wine districts of Europe they seldom attempt to make wine for the 
purpose of testing the quality of a variety until the vine has been established 
for several years. It is necessary to have old or well-matured wood as a 
basis upon which to grow your fruit. A superabundant quantity, instead 
of being beneficial, is deleterious. 

"This is one reason why all the various plans that have had for their object 
the entire renewal of the vine biennially or triennially from the same root have 
been discarded when thoroughly tried. These renewal plans have often 
been brought forward by tlieorists, but what is equally true, none of them 
have succeeded, and at the present time not one of them is in successful 
operation. 

" Another difficulty which we have had to contend with, when growing 
vines on these renewal plans, is that we are obliged to resort to such severe 
pruning at the time of renewal, that we destroy the equilibrium between 
root and top. When the vine has become fully established (say from five to 
ten years, and no vine can be considered as established in less time), it is 
with great difiiculty that it can be restrained sufficiently to produce a healthy 
ehoot from the one eye or bud to which it is pruned. 

" The large amount of food which will be accumulated in the roots of a 
healthy vine, and is constantly being collected by them, can not find em- 
ployment, and the new shoots or shoot wli^ch put forth can not consume this 
superabundant supply, and a sort of plethora is produced. A portion of the 
roots becomes inactive, and consequently decay. 

" Let any one examine the stump of a large tree that has been cut 
down, and he will see this fully demonstrated. A few trifiing shoots may 
be produced which will grow rapidly, but the greater portion of the old 
roots will die in consequence of tlie sudden check which they have received. 
Some varieties of trees will not produce sprouts at all from the old root 
when the top has been cut away, while others will produce them in 
abundance. 

" "We believe the only true mode of renewing the entire vine, when it 
has become enfeebled by age or accident, is by layering a portion of its 
young shoots. This is the general and successful method practiced in old 
and established vineyards. 

" The first pruning a nursery vine receives is when it is transplanted, at 
which time it should be cut down to one eye or bud above the ground, from 
which one shoot is allowed to grow. Tliis should be kept tied to a stake, 
all side shoots, or laterals, as they are termed, plucked ofl", leaving one leaf 



650 



THE VINEYARD. 



[CnAj>. VII. 



on tliem the first time ; if they start again, pinch them off, leaving another 
leaf, and so on through the growing season. 

"The second year the vine is down to two buds, if strong, but if weak, 
cut again to one bud, and repeat the operation as the first year. "When the 
vine makes a strong growth the first season, it may be safely cut back to 
two buds, and from there we allow two slioots to grow, which must be at- 
tended to during their growth, sucli as tying to stakes, or trellis, and pinch- 
ing off laterals, as was done the first year. 

" The third year we are supposed to have two strong shoots from one root, 
and we are now ready to adopt the plan on which we intend to train our 
vine. Nearly all the sj'stems now in i;se start from this point, whether it 
be the bow system, thomery, or the common trellis plan ; this seems to be 
the starting-point for them all. 

" A very simple plan, and one which is peculiarly adapted for a trellis, is 
formed by bending down the shoots which we should have on our vine at 
the end of the second or third year, to form horizontal arms, leaving them 
about two feet long. The shoot that grows from the end bud we save for 
continuing the arm next season ; but it should not be lengthened more than 
two feet in any one season. Only the number of buds required for the up- 
right shoots should be left to grow upon these arms. The upright shoots 
are to bo cut down to one or two eyes every year, and from the young shoots 
that spring from these we obtain our fruits. 

" Another mode is to cut down every alternate shoot to one eye, and the 
others to four or five, the long canes bearing several bunches, and the others 
none. Next season this order is reversed, those bearing this year bear none 
the next, and so on. 

" Sometimes a vine is planted in a trench five or six feet from the trellis 
or wall on which it is to be trained, and each year a portion of the vine, 
say two feet, is layered, and thus we go on, step by step, until we reach 
the trellis, and have formed our two shoots for arms. The object of this 
layering is to get a large quantity of root before the vine is called upon 
to produce a large quantity of fruit. There is a sufficient amount of top 
allowed to remain on the vine each year (which is also allowed to bear 
fruit) to keep the roots active and healthy. Whatever system you adopt, 
let it be vigorously adhered to until you succeed or fail ; and in case the 
latter is your fate, you may confer a great favor upon others by doing so, 
for it is often the case that the failure of one man is of more benefit to the 
community than the success of many. If you do not adhere to the one sys- 
tem that you start with, we can not tell whether it was your neglect or the 
fault of the system that caused the failure. Of course we are supposing that 
there is no fault in the variety or in the cultivation." 

Mr. Fuller advocates the single eye system for propagation, as likely to 
produce the best vines in the shortest time. The old wood serves to nourish 
the new shoot until it can send out new roots to sustain itself. The best 
plan for training vines for family use is upon trellises. No vine should 



Sbo. 42] now TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 651 

ever be trained upon an arbor for any otlier purpose tjian a shade. Never 
use an arlior to grow fruit. It is very difKcult to arrange an old vine into 
any good shape ; to make a good one, you must start aright witli a new 
vine. Upon whatever plan you train your vines, make your fruit grow 
close to the ground — that is, within reacli without using a fireman's ladder. 
He gives the following as the philosophy of autumn pruning: 

"During active growth of leaves and stems the liquid portion of the sap 
is exhaled almost as fast as it enters the vine. When cold weather tii-st 
checks growth, it does not affect the roots, which continue absorbing food. 
In autumn, then, the vine becomes surcharged with sap. which, during win- 
ter, undergoing its natural change, would deposit solid matter throughout 
the entire length of the vine, so that each bud would be equally supplied 
with its quota of food to commence vegetation anew in spring. Now, sup- 
pose a portion of the vine is cut away in the fall or early winter, it is ap- 
parent that what remains has the whole root for its support, and it may 
receive all the strength that would have been diffused throughout the un- 
pruned vine. These few buds will of course put forth in spring much more 
vigorously, and continue to send out fruit-bearing wood in greater perfection 
than it is possible for an unpruned vine to do. 

" The rule for pruning, then, should be : If the vine is weak, prune early, 
that is, as soon as it sheds its leaves. If your vine bears fruit, and is not a 
vigorous grower of wood, and you wish it to produce more, prune early. 
If your vine is a vigorous grower, but a shy bearer, prune late. If severe 
cold may soon be expected, at the time you are pruning do not cut the 
cane near a bud, but several inches above it. If desirable, you can cut 
away the spur above the bud after cold weather is past. The growth of 
wood or fruit is regulated more by pruning than by the soil in which the 
vine is gi'own. 

" It may be set down as a fact, that no vine in the climate of New York 
can rijien a crop of fruit upon all the wood its roots will produce." 

In pruning, the vintner should have a two-fold object in view. First, to 
raise a g<Kid crop of well-developed and well-ripened fruit ; secondly, to get a 
supply of ftrong, well-ripened young wood, to give a good crop next season. 

Dr. Underbill says : 

" It depends upon the richness of the soil about summer pruning. If the 
soil is very rich, there is danger of the fruit-buds starting as soon as the lat- 
erals are pinched in. If the laterals and leaders are both pinched off, the 
tendency will be, in a strong, growing vine, to send out the fruit-bud form- 
ing, so as to have new grapes in autumn and no crop next year. In mod- 
erately fertile soil, the Isabella will bear pinching m pretty closely, but not 
upon highly fertilized vineyards. I do not of late stop the growth of my 
Isabellas I think the practice of summer pruning inapplicable to the Isa- 
bella variety and all other strong growing plants. 

" The Catawba grows its wood more firmly, and admits the German cul- 
tivation better thau the Isabella. No grape but one of slow growth will 



653 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII, 



bear to be cultivated entirely on the renewal system. I would put new 
plants into generous soil, and give them all the growth I could to ripen the 
M'ood thoroughly. Still, it is not best at any time to drive the growth of a 
vine too fast. A rapid growing vine, or a vineyard forced by high manur- 
ing, will not make as good wine as one of slower growth. Bones and com- 
post of muck and yard manure are the best fertilizers. I never use guano, 
nor any very heating manures, such as that from the hen-house or pig-pen." 

Tlie advantage of taking otf laterals off a very rapid-growing vine is to give 
the fruit more sun and air. 

"In 18GU it was estimated that there were about four thousand acres laid 
out in vineyards in the State of Ohio, of which nearly one half were in the 
immediate vicinity of Cincinnati, and with good weather that the yield 
would be 1,600,000 gallons of wine. 

'• Propagating choice vines by layering should be practiced by all. 
AViien trimming your vines in the fall, save one or more of the canes of well- 
matnred wood, and in the spring dig and manure the ground in a line for a 
trench, in which to lay down the vine, which at first you may cover about 
two inches deep. Drive some pegs over the vine to keep it fast, and when 
the eyes have sprouted and grown a foot or so high, tie them to stakes, and 
earth up around the base, and repeat this from time to time imtil the layer 
is six inches deep. The result will bo that each upright Avill become firmly 
rooted, and be a good vine for transplanting next season." 

731. What is a Merchantable Grapevine ? — A vine with a stem no bigger 
than a straw is not a fair merchantable vine. Such a vine, of one of the 
very rare sorts, may be sold to a purchaser present who perfectly under- 
stands what he is buying, but should not be sent out to fill orders. Neither 
should a stump of a vine, upon which a few roots have been forced to grow 
in a hot-house pot. No definite rule can be adopted as to the size of vines, 
because there is a great variation in growth of difl'erent varieties. The 
Isabella, the Catawba, the Concord, the Northern Muscadine, the Hartford 
Prolific, and some others, are strong-growing, rather coarse, woody vines, 
which at two years old might be twice as large as a good Delaware, Diana, 
Eebecca, Anna, or some other sort that does not make wood fast while 
growing. The Delaware, in particular, grows a small, hard, wiry vine, very 
hardy, and well i-ooted. 

A No. 1 Delaware vine, from an honest nurseryman, will have a cane 
as large as a pipe-stem, with three good eyes and a mass of fibrous roots, 
which will require a hole twelve to eighteen inches across to spread them 
out in, as they should always be in planting a vine. The Diana, liebecca, 
Lenoir, and Anna afe of the same character of growth, and should be of 
the same size to be " merchantable." 

The Catawba, Isabella, Herbemont, Concord, Hartford Prolific, Union 
Village, Canby's August, etc., being vines of a stronger growth, should be, 
when sold from imrseries, the size of one's little finger, with either entire 
canes or three eyes and plenty of roots. Such vines may be taken as » fair 



Sec. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 653 

standard, and people who are anxious to plant vines should not be clieated 
by having inferior ones palmed off upon them. It is that which discourages 
them, and sets back the grape cultivation more than all we have said in its 
favor for years can set it forward. 

732. Grape Culture in Califoruia.— In no other part of the United States 
has grajie culture advanced with such rapid strides as it has, or rather does 
(ISOl), in California. The California i^rt/vftiv of September 7, 1860, speaks 
of a vineyard which the editor visited in Sonoma, on the estate of Gen. 
Vallcjo, managed by Mr. Eyan, that looks like rivaling in a short time some 
of the large vineyards of Europe. It says : 

"Tlie old vineyard called Lachryma Monte, or 'Mountain of Tears,' was 
planted witli about 3,000 vines by the old Jesuits. The trunks of the vines 
are now like trees ; the balance of this vineyard — 7,000 vines — was planted 
in the years '56, '57, and '5S. 

"The new vineyard, which contains 20,000 vines of California grape, and 
5,000 foreign varieties, was all planted on subsoiled ground thoroughly pre- 
pared, twenty to twenty-four inches deep, and these vines are now doing ad- 
mirably. 

"Dr. Victor Fourze is the vintner, and the wine vaults are five in 
number; four are 22 by 50 feet, and one 20 by 40 feet; the buildings are 
adobe, very thick walls, floors doable, and admirably fitted up as wine 
cellars. Tlie stock on had now is about 8,000 gallons, and several parcels 
bottled of wine of '56 to '60. The amount anticipated this year is 15,000 
gallons, and he will make 5,000 or 6,000 bottles of champagne, besides 200 
gallons of brandy. 

'* Col. Ilarasztby's vineyard is on a tract of mountainous land of about 
5,000 acres. The vineyard covers 260 acres in all. There are now 80 
acres in bearing, with 680 vines to the acre, set 8 by 8 feet, which is the 
proper distance. The vines bore well last year, and made 4,000 gallons ISTo. 
1 wine. They will make this year 60,000 gallons, valued at $1 50 the gal- 
lon, or 890,000. Some lots of vines averaged forty pounds per vine, and 
there wcrQ vines that gave 300 pounds ; these were California grapes. Col. 
Harasztby has already one hundred and eighty-six kinds of foreign vines, 
but has tested only thirty-six kinds. He has already contracted to deliver 
to Messrs. Grossinger, of San Francisco, 300,000 pounds of grapes this year 
at 3i cents per pound, four miles from the vineyard, the purchasers to find 
boxes. Tliis will establish the value of grapes at wholesale for wine 
purposes. 

" The wine cellars of Col. Harasztby are made into the bill, composed of 
concrete matter, chalk, lime, blue clay, and gravel stone. There are two 
cellars now, one is forty feet deep and the other one hundred feet deep. 
There is a new one building, which is to be 400 feet deep ; the first one is 
fourteen feet wide and eight feet high, the last will be sixteen feet wide and 
seven and a half feet high. Tliese are grand and complete cellars, being 
moist and dark. The temperature will be uniform ; it should be sixty de- 



C54 THE VINEYAED. [Ciiap. VIL 



grees, and moist. Some persons object to moisture in wine cellars because 
the casks decay, but the gain to the wine and less loss doubles the loss on 
casks, as the evaporation of wine in dry cellars is great ; in moist cellars the 
loss on a sixty-gallon cask is only one half gallon ; in a dry cellar, one and 
one half gallons. 

" Tlie experience of Col. Harasztby is, that foreign vines are superior to the 
California grape for wine, and he will not plant any moi-e California vines. 
Tliere have been planted in Sonoma more than 1,000 acres. 

"It is getting to be so common a thing in California to find vineyards of 
eight or ten thousand vines, that they are not deemed particularly worthy 
of notice. So rapid is the increase of vines, and the manufactures of wine 
in this State, that the day is not distant when ships sent with cargoes — if 
they have anything to send — from N^ew York will return freighted with 
wine-casks, and California wine will be as common in this city as wine from 
France. It is also asserted that raisins can be manufactured in California, 
and will be as soon as the price of labor finds a level corresponding with 
other grape-growing countries. 

" In France, a first-rate crop of grapes is 5,000 lbs. per acre, while 2,000 
lbs. is regarded a fair crop. In the grape-growing districts along the Ohio 
River, where a superior grape is produced, 8,000 lbs. is considered a very 
large crop — 4,000 to 5,000 lbs. is regarded as a good average ; but in Cali- 
fornia, the ordinary crop is from 10,000 to 13,000 lbs. to the acre, and more 
is not unusual. 

" In the Old World, and in the Atlantic States, the grape crop frequently 
fails on account of frosts and disease ; here, it is sure to yield abundantl3\ 
There, the vine must generally be supported by poles ; here, it stands without 
artificial aid. Tliere, a large amount of cultivation is costly ; here, it can be 
had for almost nothing. Tliere, the rains frequently interfere seriously with 
the ripening and gathering ; here, during the vintage, we have an un- 
clouded sky. The returns of last year show the grape crop to have 
been 51,000 tuns, and the wine product 300,000 gallons, besides a large 
quantity df brandy." 

733. Grape Culture in Austriao — Although European culture is not alto- 
gether appropriate to this countr}-, we think there are some things stated in 
the following excellent letter from Austria, written by A. Hamilton Gilberts, 
that are well worthy of preservation in this volume. He says : 

"At the first planting of a vineyard in this country they invariably 
use cuttings — so invariably that they would throw away a root and take a 
good cutting from the vine to set out in preference. The manner of setting 
out or planting is to dig a hole in the ground three feet long by two feet 
wide, and the rule for the depth is, as deep as to a man's knee ; and the cut- 
tings they use are the length across the bottom of the hole, up the side, and 
lying against the side to the top of the earth. They then put into this hole 
about five cuttings, spread along about two feet, the ends reaching six or 
eight inches above ground. The man then stands in the hole on the vines 



Sbo. 42.] now TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 655 

and cuts in the standing sides of the hole, treading the earth close upon the 
vine about six inches deep, and then hauls the balance of the earth in, and 
fills the hole up a little rounding. It is usual to throw in a handful of wheat 
among the cuttings before filling in the earth. Its value I do not know. 
The cutting in the side earth is to give a large, loose area to the roots. 

"They i)ut in five cuttings to insure vines enough. They make the holes 
about nine to eleven feet apart in the rows, and the rows about twelve to 
fifteen feet apart. 

"The first and second year nothing is done to the vine except to keep the 
ground loose and free from weeds. 

" Between the rows they usually sow wheat or oats, or plant corn ; and I 
notice they always plow a shallow furrow one foot from the vines, and turn 
the earth away. If they do not plow they make this trench with a hoe. 

" The third spring from setting out they trim tiie shoots down very close 
— say, leave one or two leaf-buds and set sticks to train the vine to, or what 
is more usual, they plant with the cuttings a slip of a tree, somewhat re- 
eembling the Lombardy poplar, which they head down, and only use to 
support the stock. This third year the vines yield a few grapes. The spring 
of the fourth year they take two or three of the most vigorous vines and 
bend them over about the hight of the knee, and carry them along hori- 
zontally toward the next hill or cluster of vines, and bring some of the 
shoots from that cluster, and wind and tie them together. K they do not 
reach together, they cut a limb from the poplar and lengthen them out. 
From these horizontal vines they expect their grapes. 

" It is of course a known fact that the climate of Europe, on the same 
parallels of northern latitude, is much milder than ours in N'ew England. 
The region in which the vines I send you grew lies a little north of -io de- 
grees, yet snow is rare, and ice on large bodies of water seldom seen over two 
inches thick. We have, however, cold, piercing winds occasionally until 
the middle of April. 

"The mode of cultivating the grape here is in some respects peculiarly 
adapted to a more inclement climate. They rarely allow the main trunk to 
grow much higher than the knee, and the vines are trained together by 
tying, and support themselves, or are helped temporarily by a stick in the 
growing season,, and then they can be trimmed in November, and brought 
into a very small compass, and protected from the most extreme cold. 

" The Tesano Eefosco is the grape from wliich is made the choice wine of 
that name. It is quite peculiar to the province of Istria. A peculiarity of 
its manufacture is, that after the fruit is ripe, the vine on which the fruit is 
borne is cut ofi', but suflFered to hang in its place until it shrinks a little be- 
fore it is picked and the wine made. This is not a good table grape. 

" The Muscats are of two varieties, the white and black. They are both ex- 
cellent for eating out of hand, particularly the white variety, and lioth make 
a good common wine; that of the white is considered the best summer wine. 
They usually mix them together in planting. 



» 



656 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 



"The Tesano is tlie grape from -n-liicli the best of the common red wine 
of this country is made, that is universally drank by all classes. Its retail 
price is about twenty cents a quart. About half a pint of wine and bread, 
worth a kreutzer — a little less than a cent — make the daily breakfast of tens 
of thousands from childhood to old age. Such wine is simply the juice of 
the grape — a pleasant, cooling beverage, slightly acid. It is transported 
into the city in two huge leathern bottles, across the back of an ass, quite in 
the primitive way. 

" It is most customary, Iiowever, for the country people to bring the fruit 
into the city fresh from the vines, in large conical tubs, on rustic carts ; stop 
in front of tlie houses, and inquire if you wish to buy their wine ; if so, then 
they press it out and put it into barrels, and go on. It is then used with- 
out adulteration or refining, after the first fermentation ; and in this form I 
can readily appreciate it, with the corn and the oil, an inestimable gift from 
a beneficent Providence. 

" The Uva Bianca, or common white grape of the country — a large, delicious 
grape, very good for dessert — makes a good summer wine. 

" The Olovina, also a good table grape, large fruit, and from which, alone 
or mixed, as is common with the Tesano, a good red wine is made. 

"The common method pursued by those who make a large quantity of 
wine is to cut their grapes in clusters and put them in large vats, , with a 
•'ratine about midway of the vat, so fine as not to let the stems and leaves 
through, but to admit the pulps and skins to fall to the bottom ; the grapes 
are mashed, and usually turned once each day with a stick or ladle, for eight 
days ; then tlie wine is drawn off and put into barrels, the bung left loosc? 
four weeks; it is then bunged tight or put into bottles. If kept in the bar- 
rel and drawn from that for use, the bung should be just drawn and a little 
fine sweet-oil poured in; it makes a coating on top of the wine, and keeps 
it from souring. 

" For the best wine for family use, the grapes are not mashed, but are 
suffered to bui-st by fermentation. The wine is more delicate.'' 

It, must be kept in mind that the above rules of wine-makers, simple and 
easy as they may be in Istria, with the grapes of that country, may not be 
so applicable in America, as the information we will give in the next section. 
But all who desire to make wine should read both directions carefully. 



Sec. 43.] 



CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. 



657 




SECTION XtllL-CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE-RULES FOR WINE- 
MAKING. 

,~ N Section XXVI. we have given rules suited to domes- 
(y tic wine-making, thougli principally intended for otlier 
fruits than grapes. Some of tlie matter of this section 
will be interesting to those who have, or may be about to 
plant, vineyards. The production of pure wines for home 
consumption is a subject not only of much importance as a 
matter of economy to us as a people, but of still greater im- 
portance as it relates to matter of health with the masses, 
and will continue to be so as long as so many will pefsist in 
drinking something besides water. "We will not attempt to 
discuss the subject of total abstinence, or whether wine is 
better than water, but when we look over the past history 
of man, we find him always attempting to improve or change 
the works of nature. He is not content with the fruits and 
vegetables of earth as he finds them, but is continually trying to bring about 
ii change, or, as we express it, an improvement. A good and pure wine made 
t'niin good grapes has been acknowledged for ages to be a drink that is con- 
ducive to the health and long life of the partaker. But it must not be ex- 
pected that a palatable wine can be made from a hard and unpalatable 
grape, and a wine made from such a grape, and made palatable by mixing 
some foreign substance with it, is well known to be pernicious ; and we have 
been surprised to hear men state that large quantities of pure wine had been 
made from our Northern Fox grape, with only the addition of sugar, when 
they must know that when cane sugar is added to the juice of the grape it is 
no longer pure wine. 

A grape to make wine like the finer wines of Europe must contain sugar 
and tartaric acid in sufficient quantities to make it spirituous and vinous, 
but not strongly alcoholic ; although the alcohol that is generated by the 
fermentation of grape sugar is not the same as that produced by the fer 
mentation of cane sugar, and it does not produce the same etfect upon thii 
human system. 

Taste is simple, but flavor is compound. Thus, by high flavor in the 
grape, we mean the combining of grape sugar and tartaric acid along with 
that peculiar vinous aroma which belongs to the grape alone ; and when wo 
drink of its juice we taste what we smell, and both sets of organs which 
constitute those of tasting and smelling are alike refreshed, invigorated, 
and delighted. The mouth is left cool and free from that acrid, biting 
sensation which is experienced when we partake of inferior grapes or wine. 
734. What Makes iiood Wine. — The great difficulty with our grapes has 



658 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

been that they did not contain sugar enough to create alcohol in sufficient 
quantities to prevent the wine undergoing the acetic fermentation instead of 
the vinous ; so that we had vinegar instead of wine— unless we added sugar, 
which produces rum, and grape juice instead of pure wine. Grape sugar 
and cane sugar are chemically diifercnt, therefore we conclude the alcohol 
produced by the fermentation of the two is different. Although chemists can 
not or do not tell us in what the difference consists, yet we know that they 
act differently upon the human system. A grape to make wine that is pal- 
atable and that will keep, must contain sugar enough to produce a certain 
amount of alcohol, but not in such quantities as we get in our imported 
trash, or in wines made fi-om our poor sour grapes, with sugar added. None 
of the best pure light wines of Europe are ever imported, for the very reason 
that they will not bear a sea voyage unless they are recharged with alcohol. 
Those who have been accustomed to sweet wines and sweet drinks of all 
kinds,' do not appreciate a pure wine if it is a little sour, as most of the 
pure wines which contain but a small per cent, of alcohol are. The acid of 
wines is mostly tartaric acid, and therefore comparatively healthy. The 
preservative qualities are alcohol and tannic acid, with a small quantity of 
malic acid. Sometimes, when there is not sugar enough to produce alcohol 
sufficient to preserve the wine — and a sour wine is not objectionable — the 
juice is fermented with the stems and seeds, so as to extract more of the tannic 
acid which is mainly derived from these. The wines made in hot climates 
are more alcoholic than those of colder countries ; and when we get grapes 
here that will make wine that is sweet enough for our tastes, or our tastes 
become modified or cultivated so that wc can appreciate a pure wine, then 
we may rest assured that this latitude of the United States will produce as 
pure and wholesome •\Vine as any other country of the globe. 

735. Win^ from Several Kinds of Grapes— Per Ceut. of Alcohol.- John L. 
Mottier, of Cincinnati, one of the best M'ine-makers in that city, has made 
wine from the Delaware, Herbemont, Minor, Lincoln, Union Village, and 
Catawba grapes, nothing but pure juice, without the addition of any foreign 
substance, which has been pronounced equal to any foreign wine. 

The Isabella grape seldom contains sufficient sugar to produce alcohol 
enough to keep it. If the grapes are partly dried before they are pressed, 
the proportion of sugar to the juice is greater and the wine far superior, but 
we do not consider it a good wine-grape. Tlie best six wine-grapes in the lati- 
tude of Cincinnati arc named in the following order, and their relative quality 
graduated by Mr. Mottier in the order they are named : 

1. Delaware. 4. Lincoln. 

2. Herbemont. 5. Catawba. 

3. Minor's Seedling. 6. Union Village. 

With the Diana he had but little experience, but from the wine he had 
made from it, he was inclined to place it next to the Delaware, in the place 
now occupied by the Herbemont, that grape having proved to be very un- 
certain in its crops, as the vine is too tender for this climate. 



Seo. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WI!fE. 65& 



The Ddaicare wine was tlie ricliest, and preserved the real bouquet of the 
grape, and it improved by age. The vintage of 1S59 contained Si i)er cent 
of alcohol. 

Ilo'hcniont. — Yery uncertain ; no good wine since 1S50 until 1859, wlien 
the crop was good ; wine very good ; quite delicate ; will not bear trans- 
porting to any great distance. Alcohol, 5| per cent. 

Minor''s Seedling. — Quite foxy in flavor, but a fine light-colored wine. 
Alcohol, C per cent. 

Lincoln. — A dark-colored wine ; rosemblcs the finer grades of clarets, only 
much better than that we generally import. Alcohol, 4i per cent. 

Cataicha of 1859. — Much body and strength ; light amber color. Alco- 
hol, 8 per cent. 

Union Village. — A beautiful dai'k-colored wine ; not much body or 
strength ; will make a fine, light, summer drink. Alcohol, 5| per cent. 

These wines were all marie from tlie grapes without the addition of sugar 
or any other substance. Tlio grapes are gathered when very ripe, and all 
green, broken, or decayed berries picked out and thrown aside ; all the ap- 
paratus that belongs to wine-making is kept in perfect order, and cleanli- 
ness is a prominent feature with all such wine-makers as Mr. Mottier and 
Mr. Schneicke, as it always must be in every establishment where good wine 
is expected. The wines of Cincinnati have already become so celebrated 
that they sell for a much higher price than many of our imported wines. 
It is charged that large quantities of poor Rhine wines have been taken tc 
Cincinnati and put upon the lees of the Catawba and fermented with them, 
and then sold at a profit for Catawba wine, for that will bring $1 25 per 
gallon, when cheap claret can be had for 50 cents. 

To show that our pure native wines are not so strongly alcoholic as man}' 

common drinks, we will give the amount of alcohol that some of these 

beverages contain. Of course they vary much in different specimens, but 

this list will show very nearly the average : 

Currant wine 20 per cent. Elderberry wine 9 per cent., 

Porter 23 

Champagne (pure) 12 " 

Gooseberry wine 12 " 

736. Rules of a French Wiiic-Maker. — The following are the rules adopted 
by an extensive vineyard proprietor, as we find published in the Vigneron, 
a French journal devoted to the interest of grape-growers. These rules, in 
all essential particulars, are as applicable in America as France, and are 
very concise and pertinent. 

"1. The grapes should not be gathered until they have arrived at com- 
plete maturity, that is to say, when they do not grow sweeter in a sensible 
degree. If the weather is good, they may be allowed to hang some time 
after this for the purpose of giving the watery parts of the fruit time to evap- 
orate. This increases considerably the strength and sweetness of the wine. 
Black grapes intended for red wine should not be allowed to become too 
rii^e; if they <lo. +hf.y injure the color of the wine. 



Cider 7i 

Ale 7-' 

The lowest Rhine wines 4J 



660 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII- 

" 2. The vessels should be clean, and, above all, should not have con- 
tained soured wine. Care should also be taken that nothing should ba al- 
lowed to fall into the must, which might cause acidity during the ferment- 
ation. 

" 3. White grapes should be put into a tub and pressed as quickly as pos- 
sible, with the stems on. If obliged to wait before pressing the must, take out 
a portion at least of the steins, else the wine may taste of them. The must of 
weak and mucilaginous wines ought to be allowed to ferment some days 
with the stems, so that the tannin which they contain will assist in the pre- 
cipitation of the mucilaginous matter. For good wines, the mash or resid- 
uum of the grape should never be pressed, as the last juice which comes 
from the press usually contains a great deal of acid and but little sugar. 

"4. For sharp wines of inferior quality, and for sweet and mucilaginous 
wines, it is indispensable to put the must into open tubs, and leave it there 
several days. There forms during this time a layer or stratum of a dirty 
brown color, which contains a great part of the mucilage, yeast, and acid 
rejected by the must, and which should be taken off with care every time it 
forms, so as to remove all those suljstances which alter the taste of the wine, 
cause fermentation, and do a great deal of mischief. 

" 5. Care should be taken not to put the must into casks which are dirty, 
or which have been fumed with sulphur. There are some wine-makers who 
think that the fumes of sulphur applied to casks preserve the sweetness of 
wine, and purchasers are cheated in the quality of the wine by the sugar 
which the unfinished fermentation has left without decomposing. The fol- 
lowing summer these wines are found to be muddy, and ferment often with 
great force, become sour, and are often completely spoiled. Wine should 
be placed in casks which have not been fumed, and no obstacle to fermenta- 
tion should be opposed. There is no exception to this rule, save for those 
autumns which are unusually warm, and which cause fears that the fer- 
mentation will be too strong. In such a case the vessels may be fumed 
with sulphur. 

" 6. The fermentation of red wine should be treated differently from that 
of white. The must of black grapes may remain twenty-four hours with 
the stems, so that the tannin contained in them may communicate itself to 
the must ; then the stems and seeds should be separated by means of a sieve, 
and the must poured into open vessels, which should be lightly covered 
during the fermentation. The temperature of the must, during the fer- 
mentation, should not be allowed to exceed 15 degrees of Keaumur (65| de- 
grees of Fahrenheit), in order to prevent the spirit from escaping. Every 
three or four hours the fermenting mass should be stirred, so as to prevent 
it from souring. 

" 7. At the end of fifteen or twenty days, when all action has ceased, and 
the skins have yielded their coloring matter to the must, it should be put 
under the press and strongly squeezed, so that all the coloring matter shall 
be extracted. The wine is then placed in casks not fumed, and if it is de- 



Sko. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. 661 



sired to increase the capacity for tannin, some of the seeds — which should be 
separated by a sieve from the masli — should be added to it. 

" S. If the weather is cold, the openings to the cellars should be closed, so 
that the fermenation may meet witli no interruption. Persons should never 
enter the cellars until they have been tested for carbonic acid by a light. 
The carbonic acid may be driven from the cellars by opening all the issues, 
by lighting a fire on the stairway, by throwing hot water into them, and Ijy 
scattering freshly-slaked lime in them. During the fermentation the bung- 
hole should be closed with vine-leaves, or by a little bag tilled with sand — 
the object being to prevent the air from entering at the same time that flie 
carbonic acid is permitted to escape. 

" 9. Toward Christmas the clarification of the wine is about completed, 
and the 3'east, which has become insoluble during the fermentation, is pre- 
cipitated. Four weeks after the commencement of the fermentation, the 
casks, which should not be quite filled up at first, become completely full. 

" 10. The racking or drawing off from the lees at Christmas is very im- 
portant and uecessar}'. There always remains in the wine, after the first 
fermentation, a certain quantity of soluble leaven, and if this is not scat- 
tered, and the wine still contains undecomposed sugar, the liquid will be- 
come turbid, it will ferment again, and possibly be spoiled. In the first 
racking, toward the commencement of the year, care should be taken to 
expose the wine as much as possible to contact with the air, in which case 
the oxygen of the atmosiihere precipitates the insoluble leaven, and the liquid 
clarifies completely, so that the second racking may be retarded until tlie 
end of April, there being no further fear of fermentation. 

" 11. The following autumn another racking should take place, after 
which the wine may be considered as completely made. In drawing off, 
great care should be taken not to mix the portion of the wine at the bottom 
of the cask, which is still turbid, v/itli the clear part which is above. The 
turbid part should be placed in a separate vessel and submitted to a new 
racking before it is .added to the other." 

The author of these rules closes by saying : " If our wine-growers will 
strictly observe these prescriptions, without permitting themselves to be 
turned aside by local usages, th-'v will obtain beautiful and good wines." 

737. Rules of an American Wiuc-Makeri— The following rules for wine- 
making we find given by Prof. "Wm. Ilume, of Charleston, S. C. He says: 

"The grapes are bruised and pressed, and the juice strained into a cask. 
To ever}^ gallon of this must let one pint of deodorized alcohol of 80 degrees 
be added, and the cask shaken to effect a mixture before the bung is put in. 
The efl'ect of this mixture is to coagulate and to precipitate all the fecnla 
contained in the must, so that at the end of twenty-four or forty-eight hours 
a thick sediment is formed at the bottom of the cask and the juice brightens 
in color. At this period I filter the whole by piercing above the sediment, 
and allowing the clear portion to run first, and then the sediment. An up- 
ward cloth filter or a downward sand filter is necessary, as the fecula soon 



662 



THE VINEYARD. 



[Chap. VII. 



covers the cloth and renders it impervious. Tliis filtration is practiced to 
prevent the putrefactive fermentation from proceeding in the fecula and im- 
parting a bad flavor. Its presence is of no possible advantage to tlie wine, 
and its absence secures us against the possibility of future fermentation. 
Whatever ferment there may have been in the must is now removed. All 
the sugar has been retained to secure sufficient sweetness, and the added 
deodorized alcohol has communicated no flavor or odor, and supplies the 
place of that which would have been formed had two pounds of sugar been 
added to the must. The original flavor of the grape is preserved, and with 
such accuracy as to enable any one to detect the kind of grape that was 
used to prepare the must. This quantity of alcohol, which is 10 per cent., is 
sufficient to preserve the must from any future change, and ranks it in 
strength to the weaker wines of France and Germany. The plan is so nat- 
ural and simple that the wonder is that it has not long been put in practice. 
The nearest approach to the method is the practice common in Spain, Portu- 
gal, and Madeira, of adding brandj' to their wines in order to strengthen 
them to suit tlie taste of the English and American markets. A question 
of economy irequently arises on the introduction of a new manufacture. I 
am only anxious to point out those processes to which the grapes may be 
subjected to produce a wholesome, agreeable, and harmless beverage, which 
all may enjoy, at prices far below what is now paid for dangerous com- 
pounds which may have been made in Europe, but are also largely made in 
these United States." 

738. Wiiie-KIaking in California. — The old mode of making wine, still used 
by some of the old Californians, is to erect four posts four feet high, and 
forming a square about two feet and a half in size. Upon the tops of these 
posts the corners of a raw cow-hide are fastened, hair down, tlie middle of 
the hide bagging down in the center. This bag is nearly filled with grapes ; 
an Indian gets in, mashes the grapes with his feet by tramping about ; the 
juice is then dipped out, poured into a barrel, left a few weeks to ferment, 
and the wine is ready for use. 

The native Californians liave a wine which they call Angelica (pro- 
nounced An-hel'-i-cd), which they make by mixing one gallon of grape- 
brandy with three of grape-juice, fresh from the press, and adding some 
sugar. It is a thick, sweet, and strong drink. 

Messrs. Froehling and Kohler, and probably others, have another way of 
making Angelica. They reduce the pure, fresh juice about one fourth or 
one fifth by boiling, then place it in barrels, and rack it oflf once or twice 
till it gets clear. Neither kind of Angelica ferments, the brandy and the 
boiling serving as preventives, though, no doubt, the Angelica made by the 
latter method would ferment if long exposed to the air in a warm place. 

The manufacture of champagne wine was commenced on a large scale in 
1858-9 by Messrs. Sainsovain Brothers, proprietors of the large vineyard of 
Alisal, at Los Angeles, with indications of great success. Don Pedro 
Sainsevain made a tour through the wine districts of France on purpose to 



Sec. 43.] 



CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WIJfE. 



663 



study tlic business, and he brought with him an experienced and skillful 
wine-maker from the champagne districts. The firm have filled 50,000 
bottles of the vintage of ISoi), and they intended to make 80,000 bottles of 
the vintage of 1860. They use white wine, and mix with it about a fourth 
of old white wine of previous years. 

The first year they lost about one bottle in five by bursting ; proof that 
the wine will be as vigorous as the best of France. No foreign substance 
is mixed with the grape-juice to make it lively ; all the gases in it are pro- 
duced from its own substance. 

The grape used in California for making wine is of Spanish stock, and 
was introduced by the Spanish missionaries when they established their 
missions, between the years 1769 and 1780. The berry, when Hpe, has a 
dark reddish-brown color, varying to a purplish-brown in the northern part 
of the State. The vine is hardy and healthy, the grape is juicy and strong. 
An acre is expected to produce, ordinarily, 1,000 gallons of wine per year, 
and never less than 800, though 400 gallons is considered a good yield in 
Ohio, France, Germany, Spain, or Greece. 

The California grape begins to ripen about the middle of September, and 
is gathered from that time until the end of the year, there being no frost 
and little rain to interfere with the harvest in the southern part of the State, 
whicli is the chief seat of the vine culture. The berry is considered to be ripe 
when the heart has taken a tinge resembling the darkness of the skin, when 
the berry is sweet and may be picked easily, and leaves no juice upon its 
stem, and when, on holding a bunch to the sun, the fibers running from the 
stem into the grape are nearly or quite invisible. The bunches are cut off 
with a knife, after nine o'clock in the morning, when the dew has disap- 
peared, put into a basket and carried to the i:>Tess. 

!tvearly all the wine and brandy made in California comes from Los An- 
geles County, which is, no doubt, better fitted in soil and climate for the 
culture of the vine than any other part of the State. It is estimated that 
350,000 gallons of wine were made in the State in 1859, viz. : 



Gallons. 

Sainsevain Brothers 73,000 

Froehling & Kohler 60,000 

B. D. Wilson 20,000 

William Wolfskill 12,000 

Matthew Keller 10,000 



Gallons. 

Clements 5,000 

Julius Weiss 4,000 

Others 146,000 



Total 330,000 



It was also estimated that the amount of brandy would be 50,000 
gallons. • 

A great many of those who make wine about Los Angeles ^throw away 
all the refuse and sediment of their presses and wine casks, thus wasting a 
large amount of matter, such as French brandy is made of by distillation 
of lees and waste. The manufacture of grape vinegar might be very much 
extended, where the refuse of wine is not used for making brandy. 

739. Rules for Making Domestic Wine.— -"We have already, in T 469 to 475, 
given rules for making domestic wine, yet we will give one more here under 



QQ4: I'HE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

the head of wine-makiDg, from one who has been uniformly successful, who 
says: 

" The currants should be fully ripe when picked ; put them into a large 
tub, in which they may remain a day or two ; then crush them with the 
hands, unless you have a small patent cider-press, in which they should not 
be pressed too much, or the stems will be bruised and impart a disagreeable 
taste to the juice. If the hands are used, put the crushed fruit, after the 
juice has been poured off, into a cloth or sack, and press out the remaining 
juice. Put the juice liack into the tub after cleansing it, where it should 
ivuiiiiu about three days, until the first stages of fermentation are over, and 
iviiiove once or twice a day the scum arising to the top. Then put the juice 
inio a vessel — a demijolm, keg, or barrel — of a size to suit the quantity to be 
made, and to each quart of juice add three pounds of the best double-refined 
bugar, and water sufiicient to make a gallon. 

"Thus, ten quarts of juice and thirty pounds of sugar will give you ten 
gallons of wine, and so on in that proportion. Those who do not like very 
sweet wine can reduce the quantity of sugar to two and a half or two pounds 
per gallon. 

"The cask must be full, and the bung or stopper left ofi" until fermenta- 
tion ceases, Avhich will be in twelve or fifteen days. Meantime the cask 
must be filled up daily with water, as fermentation tlirows out the impure 
matter. "When fermentation ceases, rack the wine ofi" carefully, either from 
the spigot or by a siphon. Cleanse the cask thoroughly with boiling water, 
then return the wine, bung up tightly, and let stand for four or five months, 
when it will be fit to drink, and can be bottled if desired. 

" All the vessels should be perfectly sweet, and the whole operation done 
with cleanliness. In such, event, every drop of brandy or other spirituous 
liquors added will detract from the fiavor of the wine. The fermentation 
of the sugar gives all the spirit required." 

If any spirit is ever added to currant wine, or that made from any other 
fruit in a domestic way, it should be deodorized alcohol, called " pure spirit," 
fur this is better than brandy for preserving fruits or fruit juice. 

740. The Missouri Wiue-Growers' Association. — Every neighborhood wants 
just such an association as that at St. Louis, called The Wine-Growers' As- 
sociation, before vineyards for wine-making will be successfully cultivated. 
It is a business that no individual can undertake unless he is a man of very 
large means. At St. Louis, or vicinity, any one with means enough to plant 
one vine is sure of a market for his fruit at a fair price. In 1S59 the Associa- 
tion paid from seven to ten cents a pound for Catawba grapes, and from 
seventy to one hundred cents a gallon for the juice. By this the poor vine- 
grower is encouraged, for he can immediately realize the value of his croj), 
instead of waiting to manufacture and ripen the wine. It was estimated 
that year that at least eight hundred acres were covered with vines in Mis- 
souri, within a radius of some eighty miles south and west of St. Louis, and 
that the fruit was nearly all gathered by the first of October quite sound, 



Sec. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. C65 



and would yield from three to four liundred gallons of wine per acre in vine- 
yards that have received careful and judicious management. A letter 



" The Catawba is about the only grape grown in vineyards to any extent. 
Many experiments, however, arc being made with other varieties by intel- 
ligent men, who are desirous of procuring a sort that will prove its superior. 
This, I think, M-ill be found in the Delaware, and I look forward to the time 
when the Catawba, as a wine-grape, will give place to the Delaware on our 
hills of Missouri. It is now about fourteen years since William Glasgow, 
Jr., first planted a vineyard of Catawba grapes for wine-making, and it is 
from his example and success that a very great portion of the present favor 
toward vine-growing is attributable." 

"What a blessed thing it would be for a thousand other places if each had 
a William Glasgow to plant a vineyard and give the business a start, since 
there is scarcely a town in all the Middle States, south of latitude 43 de- 
grees, that might not have its vineyard as well as St. Louis! Every warm, 
rocky hillside, now of little or no value to the owners, in Connecticut and 
eastern IvTew York, might be made to yield " three or four hundred gallons 
of wine per acre." Every acre of Long Island that will grow scrub-oaks, 
if planted in vines, would yield grapes as well as the lands of Missouri or 
Ohio. 

The native wild grape is gathered by the Germans by hundreds of busliels 
in Missouri, and a heavy, strong, dark wine is made therefrom, much esteemed 
by them, and used by the Wine-Growers' Company for making claret. 

741. The German Vine-Growers of Missouri.— Ilermannn, the seat of the 
German vineyards, is about eighty miles from St. Louis. One who has vis- 
ited these vineyards thus pleasantly writes about them : 

" For miles away, on the side of the river where we were, there was a 
broken view of vine-topped hills, while the lower slopes were heavy with 
rich woods, and tlie viilleys green with grain. There is something about a 
vine-growing country peculiarly suggestive of joy and gladness. We do 
not easily escape the old associations of Hebrew terms — ' the shoutings and 
singings in tiie vineyard.' 

"Most of the settlers, said Mr. R., were very prosperous, and their wine 
was coming into great demand. They covered the barren hilltops far in the 
interior with their vineyards. They lived a good deal by themselves, and 
iiad nothing to do with the slaveholding Americans, and he believed led a 
happier life than any other Germans in the Western country. The town had 
produced last year some 80,000 gallons of wine. 

"The good situations for vineyards cost from $1 to $5 an acre; those 
which are already improved, $15 or $20. It needs three or four years' prep- 
aration before a vineyard pays its cost. During this time the vine-grower 
can support himself by farming and other work. Still, to succeed, each 
new immigrant should have some $200 or $300 capital to build his wine- 
cellar and house, buy his cattle, and pay extra labor. After three or four 



666 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

years the vineyard will yield, on an average, from 250 to 300 gallons of wine 
to the acre ; a very favorable site has been known to produce 1,000 gallons, 
and 400 gallons was the lowest Mr. R.'s place had given. One man, with 
industry, can manage five acres. The wine is worth from $1 25 to $1 35 
per gallon, so that $400 an acre is a common return. 

'•The worst weather in Missouri is the sultry, moist heat of July — only a 
few sorts of grapes can survive this — but the frosts and storms of September 
and October, which destroy the vines or fruit in Germany, the American 
vineyards entirely escape. I asked Mr. R. what eifect he considered this 
culture of the vine to have on the habits of his countrymen. He thought 
that those living in this vino region were much more sober than the Ger- 
mans of the cities, and that the native wine was already driving out whisky 
and brandy from use among the Americans. He believed the making of 
cheap native wine the best of all means for checking intemperance with the 
mass of the people, and he had already seen its effects in this direction in 
Missouri. 

" Great care was needed in selecting sorts of vines. .Ho had experimented 
with vines from California, from Spain, Italy, Hungary, and even from 
Palestine, and had at last settled on certain native sorts — the Norton Vir- 
ginia Seedling, the Isabella, and Catawba being the best. He and others had 
also worked out a number of new varieties, and some they had introduced. 
Of these the most valued are the Clara (white), Rabee (red), Cassady (very 
white), Rebecca, Emily, Diana, and Concord. 

"The wines made are less alcoholic than the Ohio Catawba, and resemble 
both burgundy and the common Rhine wine. Of the space in the State for 
this culture, lie says, with Prof. Swallow, that ' there is more good vine land 
in Missouri than in all France.' " 

742. Prize for a New Wiue Grape. — Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, 
cTffers a prize of $100 for the discovery of a new Fox grape, superior to the 
Catawba for wine. He says : 

"I have for thirty years believed that a Fox grape might be found, among 
the thousand varieties which cover our land, that would prove superior to 
the Catawba for the purpose of making wine ; the Catawba, it is well known, 
belongs to the Fox family, and superior, also, to any wine grape in Europe 
on account of the fine aroma and flavor. The only fault in the Catawba is 
its not possessing more of the aroma and flavor which belong to the Fox. 
The common Fox grapes havo these qualifies in a high degree, but they 
have a thick skin, a hard pulp, yield but little must, and are deficient in 
sugar and moisture. 

" I will give a silver goblet of the value of $100, or that sum of money if 
preferred, for grapes that will be superior to the Catawba for the purpose of 
wine — the decision of the question to be left to our Vine-Growers' Associa- 
tion. I will also be pleased to send the person who may furnish me with 
the best quality of grapes a box of pure, still Catawba wine, with all charges 
paid." 



PLATE XVII. 

(Page 667.) 

All that we have said of Plate XVI. we might repeat of this. 
It is one for careful study. It will give more information at one 
examination than we could convey in twenty pages of type. It is 
of' the highest importance that every farmer should carefully study 
this plate, for here he will learn that in growing the staff of life, he 
has to contend with a host of enemies, and that he can not sit in 
peace under his own vine. Although we have devoted a chapter 
to the vineyard, we have not found room to describe these pests of 
the vine-groves and destroyers of grain, except in a few brief notes 
in Section XII., showing instead this more expensive, yet more 
valuable method of calling the reader's attention to this very im- 
portant study. We earnestly commend this plate to his careful 
consideration. 



ijrsB I'Ts .Jt^rjir-xio-rs To ">Vhkat. 



jmi 




( fV?'(* ti''uu wliub the i>prtVi-| iiihi-i i has i^.sc«pcd 
ienvinjj die t-m-iity^ Chi'>-8aUs sisax i>rotruiUu.]|. 



Female X 1 1^ size . 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CEREALIA. 

SECTION XLIV.-WHEAT, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, MILLET, BUCKWHEAT. 



NDER tlie title of this chapter we shall of course 
talk about Indian corn {sea mays), but as this is the 
reat staple crop of America, it must have a separate 
section. Of all the cereals, wheat should really Iiold 
the first rank, because it is the parent of great men — 
the chief fountain of brain food. All nations whose 
principal food is derived from wheat are elevated in 
character over those whose food is derived from coarser 
materials. All food produces general results accord- 
ing to its quality, and as wheat ranks highest, the re- 
sults are most elevating to the human family. Let us 
look about us upon tlie nations of the earth, some of 
whom live almost exclusively upon the fat of sea ani- 
mals ; others upon the flesh of animals obtained in the 
wild woods ; others depend mainly upon insects and such things as can be 
readily picked up. Tlien approaching civilization, are found people who 
rarely taste animal food, living upon vegetables of a low order, some of 
which are subject to epidemical diseases. Compare any of these nations 
with one whose principal food is derived from the cereals, particularly wheat, 
and we shall at once see the importance of any work that treats upon its 
cultivation. 

74:3. Vj i!:al — Preparation of Soil. — In virgin soils, such as those obtained 
by chop[)iug and burning a forest, a wheat crop is often obtained without 
much labor in tlie preparation of the soil, because the seed finds the proper 
sustenance to nourish its young shoot, and during all stages of growth, in the 
decaying vegetable matter, and in the ashes of the wood burned in the clear- 
ing. So upon the prairies, a good crop of wheat is sometimes grown upon 
tlie turned sod with but little other preparation. In old land, however, it 
will never answer to trust to making a wheat crop without the most thorough 
preparation of the soil, the first and best of which is underdraining ; the 
next, subsoil plowing ; the next, a crop of clover to precede the wheat ; and 
finally before sowing, deep plowing, and again subsoiling and complete pul- 
verization ; and lastly, a proper addition of the necessary manuring for per- 
fect fertilization. As to subsoiling, none doubt that deep digging in the 




668 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

garden is profitable, and none who try it under proper circumstances will 
doubt that deep plowing in the field is so. 

The subsoil plow is a valuable implement on most soils, in deepening the 
tillage and giving sufficient room for the descent of the roots of plants, and 
for the ascent of moisture in dry weather. 

Where no advantage has been found from the operation of subsoiling, the 
cause may undoubtedly be traced to the want of proper preparation of the 
ground by draining. 

Numerous examples have been given to the public, showing the great 
utility of this implement. By its use the subsoil is loosened deeply, mixed 
with the top soil, and gradually brought to tlie surface, where, by changes 
from the air, snows, and frost, it becomes improved, and restores in some 
measure many fertilizing substances that have been lost on old lands. 

Au American subsoil plow, which is far superior to the English one, is 
the one generally known as " Mapes' Subsoil Lifter." Its form is tolerably 
well represented by a sixth part of an orange-peel, pointed at each end and 
rising in the middle, where a thin, flat standard is attached that connects it 
with the beam. 

744. Ff rtilizatiou of Soil for Wheat. — Lime and salt are the first two things 
to be thought of on an old farm — that is, upon a farm where it is said the 
land is worn out so that it will not produce wheat, but will produce clover. 

If five bushels of salt are dissolved in water to a point of saturation, 
and that water used to slake fifteen bushels of shell lime nnder cover, the 
mass left until it efilore§ces, and then applied to an acre of land thoroughly 
pulverized, we venture to insure a good crop of wheat. We know whole 
farms, and many farms together, that have been raised from almost entire 
barrenness to a point that produces good wheat and clover crops by the use 
of lime alone, spread at the rate of thirty bushels of air-slaked lime to the 
acre on the surface after the wheat is sown. 

In Virginia, between the Potomac and Happahannock rivers, there are 
large tracts of sandy land that had become so poor it would not produce 
five bushels of rye per acre, and this land has been made to produce fifteen 
to twenty bushels of wheat, followed by a fine growth of clover, from an 
application of 200 lbs. per acre of Peruvian guano. In some cases, a bushel 
of plaster per acre, sown in the spring, has benefited the wheat and been 
of the greatest importance to the clover crop. The use of guano as a fertil- 
izer of wheat has worked wonders in several of the wheat-growing States 
south of New York. 

Lime, plaster, guano, bone-dust, superphosphate, ashes, salt, jjotash, may 
be all profitably used as fertilizers of the wheat crop. But after all, the 
great fertilizer must be clover. 

A most celebrated successful wheat-grower in this country is Gen. Har- 
man, of Genesee County. He says: 

" We can take a wheat crop every third year and improve our land, if we 
feed off the clover with sheep. I always sow timothy in the fall and clover 



Seo. 44.] FERTILIZATION OF SOIL FOR WHEAT. 669 

in the spring upon all wliuat land, and so I do with all small grain. "Wc 
turn under the clover sod in June with the Michigan plow, and then work it 
with a gang plow till first of September, and then sow Mediterranean seed 
by a drill machine. If the sowing is delayed till October, the fly will eat it 
all up, or, rather, that was the case. I have not lately seen the Hessian fly. 
The Golden Drop and Dayton wheat are much sown in my district. I tried 
spring wheat some years, but it does not pay for growing. There is a dif- 
ference of two weeks in wheat maturing from seed of the same district. I 
have sown forty sorts of wheat in one year from all sections. The Virginia 
May wheat ripens earliest of any with me. All of the finest strawed wheat 
ripens earliest. I am not satisfied that seed from the South will ripen any 
earlier than the same sort grown here. I do not think there is any other 
crop that can be grown to bo good advantage as wheat. I turn down clover 
for corn, first spreading manure; then I sow oats or barley, seeding again 
with clover and timothy, and that clover I plow under after mowing or pas- 
turing it one year, so that I get a wheat crop every third year. I do not 
plant all my wheat land to corn, as I have about fifty acres in wheat and ten 
acres in corn. I average thirty or forty bushels of wheat per acre. I do 
not believe that there is a gradual decrease in the productiveness of wheat 
land in this State, though the crop has decreased in consequence of the 
midge. The use of plaster on wheat tends to prevent its early ripening, yet 
I think one bushel of plaster and three bushels of ashes per acre will increase 
the crop four bushels per acre. Plaster sown broadcast will do more good 
than it will put on the hills of corn." 

Another successful wheat-grower in tlie same county, Lewes E. Ileston, 
saj's : " My farm is on limestone soil. I drill two bushels of seed wheat per 
acre, usually after peas, and harvest twenty-five Inishels an acre. The straw 
I feed to sheep. 1 think it desirable for the farmers to increase the wheat 
culture, as we can graze sheep on clover, and feed them straw in winter. I 
sow one peck of timothy with the wheat, and six quarts of clover-seed per 
acre in the spring. I do not cut clover for hay, but pasture it and ])low it 
in. The soil is almost inexhaustible. I once spread the earth from the bot- 
tom of a cellar, and the wheat grew so rank that it did not head well. I 
cultivate 160 acres, and 50 of it in wheat. It is a common practice to sow- 
clover and timothy upon all wheat land." 

J. Jackson, of Butternut liidge, Ohio, gives the following as his expe- 
rience in getting a good crop of wheat : 

" In 1S57 I harvested a field of Mediterranean wheat that yielded 36^ 
bushels to the acre ; the ground was prepared in the following way: When 
it had lain in clover one year after a crop of oats, it was plowed in the fore 
part of June, about eight inches deep, with one strong yoke of oxen, and 
harrowed three times. The third week in August I gave it a light dressing 
of yard manure, about twenty loads to the acre ; cross-plowed and sowed 
the last week in August. The soil is a clay loam." 

It is the opinion of many that land which has ceased to be remuneratively 



670 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



productive jn wheat would again bear good crops if the ground were put in 
a condition to allow the roots to penetrate deeply into it to search out and 
absorb new materials of stalk growth. The plant requires the mineral sub- 
stances of the lower strata brought up and mixed with the vegetable sub- 
stances of the sui-face, producing a mutual decomposition which will be fa- 
cilitated by the growing of the root ]ilants, and penetration of their roots 
through ail its comminuted grains. Tlie roots of a plant will penetrate a 
great distance in search of food and drink if the soil is made friable, hence 
tlie productiveness of rich land is due to its naturally friable condition, 
which allows the roots to penetrate, rather than to the richness of tlie sur- 
face-soil. 

Of the use of plaster on wlieat, one writer says : 

"Tlie fact seems to be well established that plaster has a much better 
effect on clover than on wheat, while superphosphate benefits turnips 
more than wheat. Lieljig thought plaster drew ammonia from the atmo- 
sphere. To this there are two objections : first, it is very doubtful whether 
plaster will attract ammonia from the air ; and, second, if it does, an appli- 
cation of plaster ought to have the same effect as a dressing of sulphate of 
ammonia, but it has one just the reverse. Sulphate of ammonia improves 
wheat much more than clover, while plaster benefits clover, and has little, 
if any, effect on wheat in the majority of cases." 

Tojj-dressing wheat land M-itli maimre Avell decomj^osed, or with a rich 
compost, will always much more tlian pay the cost upon all the old farms 
of the Eastern States. One farmer who has practiced it says : 

" On the part dressed with fine manure at the time of sowing, the seed 
grew a week earlier and produced double the crop of tliat on the land un- 
manured. It is true that the land that was top-dressed was higher and drier 
tlian the unmanured portion, hut that only aflected the start. Top-dressing 
gives the young plants a good start in the fall, enables them to withstand 
the winter better, and brings the crop rapidly forward to maturity." 

Salt for wheat we consider as indispensable as it is for animals, and there 
are not many farmers wlio can bo made to believe that tlieir stock would 
not suffer without it ; and John Johnson, " the old Scotch fiirmer" near 
Geneva, N. Y., believes just as fully that his wheat crop would suffer with- 
out salt. In the autumn, of 1S5S he sowed five bushels per acre upon sixty 
acres of wheat, and we heard him say that he believed every bushel of salt 
used produced an extra bushel of wheat. But this was only a small item 
in tlie account of profit. Tlie great advantage was in hastening the ripen- 
ing several days, by which he escaped the ravages of the wheat midge, 
while his immediate neighbors suffered great losses. It is believed to be 
also one of the best preventives known for rust, as it certainly stiffens the 
straw and gives it more vigor. 

The proper application of salt is five to eight bushels per acre, sown 
broadcast immediately after the wheat is liarrowed in. 

To prevent lodging, one writer recommends to sow several varieties together, 



Sec. 44.] SPRING 'NTHEAT. 671 

for the reason that some kinds bend less in storm, •wliicli helps the weaker 
sorts to stand up, or get n]> after a storm, and a larger crop is gained. But 
we believe that any of the fertilizers that we have recommended, particularly 
salt, lime, potash, and bone-dust, will so strengthen the straw that it will not 
lodge. 

745. Naked Fallows for HTieat. — This old-style system of fertilizing land 
for wheat we hope to see give place to more enlightened views — such views 
as those of General Harman, detailed in a preceding paragraph. A clo- 
ver fallow is altogether preferable to a naked fallow. A few farmers who 
follow the old beaten path of precedent, who seldom take the trouble to 
think, still hold to naked fallows. An advocate of them, writing to us of 
another's practice, says : 

" He plows once in six years, and lets the land lie fallow one year, that 
it may have the full advantage of the summer sun and the winter frost." 

The full advantage of a want of thought! Expose land to the full ad- 
vantage of the summer- sun! What for? Wliat is the object? What is 
accomplished by the process ? The land is drenched and washed upon the 
naked furrows, and some of the lightest portion takes its course toward the 
ocean's depth, never to return, except in costly guano, sea-weed, or fish 
manures ; and it is baked and burned and dried in the sun, and its volatile 
properties set loose to float away upon the wings of the wind to enrich the 
growing crops of some farmer who never commits the great error of expos- 
ing his soil to waste in naked fallow. There is one kind of land that is 
benefited by exposing naked to the action of the frost — it is a stiff clay. 
But there is a better way to ameliorate that. It is by aerification through 
tile drains and the furrow of the subsoil plow. We doubt whether autumn 
plowing can be advocated, in itself, as a good system of farming. It is only 
a resort of necessity, to help along the work of sjjring upon land not under- 
drained,, which remains too wet to plow without injury, long after the frost 
has left it loose enough. As a general rule, we do not believe that land in 
good tillable order was ever improved by a naked fallow. If it is to be left 
one year without a productive or salable crop, how much more sensible to 
sow the fallow-plowing with any sort of grass or grain, even buckwheat, or 
with turnips, but far better with clover, and let the crop grow and fall 
down, shading, mulching, manuring, and really improving the soil. The 
man who practices in the manner quoted in the text of this item is spoken 
of as "a man of facts." What facts has he, or his biographer, or anybody 
else, to prove that naked fallows are more beneficial to lands than green 
fallows ? We should like to know. 

746. Spring Wheatt — Spring wheat can be more profitably grown than 
winter wheat in some sections of the country, even where the winter variety 
can be grown. In some sections, winter wheat is so liable to kill out that it 
is an even chance whether a field sown will ever be reaped. 

Mr. Walworth, a wheat-grower of St. Lawrence County, thinks spring. 
wheat exhausts the soil less than winter wheat. This opinion is entertained 



672 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



by a very large portion of the fanners in that section of the State, also in 
all of the New England States. It is therefore of the highest importance to 
find out the most improved varieties, since there is a difference of full twenty- 
five per cent, in several kinds in common cultivation. 

Ambrose Stevens, of Genesee County, IST. Y., speaks highly of a new 
wheat from New Mexico, that ripens earlier than Canada Club wheat, and 
almost entirely escaped the ravages of the midge that entirely destroyed the 
other sort in the same field. It is a red M'heat, the berry flinty and pearl- 
like in character; the straw medium in size and strong, the heads well 
bearded, and the chafl:' thick and tough. It was sown on the Tonawanda 
Creek, April 16, and kept back by the cold, wet spring, and harvested 
August 1, yielding from a light seeding seventeen bushels per acre. JMr. 
Stevens says : " Had it been more plentifully seeded, and had the wire-worm 
not troubled it, it wonld probably have produced from twenty-two to twenty- 
five bushels to the acre; and it makes whiter flour and bread than the 
Mediterranean wheat ; and when grown, so as to allow of a fair comparison, 
has yielded better." 

In the summer of 1861 a new spring wheat, supposed to be the same as 
the above, was grown in the east j^art of Westchester County, N. Y., that 
would average thirty bushels per acre, ripening in July a long bearded head 
and plump grain. 

George Miller, a large farmer in Canada, sows spring wheat upon ground 
that grew a crop of turnips in the previous fall, for which it was well ma- 
nured, and he says: 

" I can get ten or fifteen bushels an acre more of spring than winter 
wheat. I got from seven bushels of seed, which I sowed at the rate of less 
than a bushel per acre, 393 bushels of grain. I put manure npon all green 
crops. I carry manure in winter upon turnip land, and put that in the 
turnip drills in June. I prefer to plow under my wheat seed." 

Hon. A. B. Dickenson, of Ilornby, N. Y., does not believe in spring wheat 
in the southern tier of counties of New York. lie says : 

" I have known fifty-four bushels of winter wheat per acre in this State — 
that can not be done with spring wheat." 

Mr. Bowen, Orleans County, says: 

" Some of my neighbors raised thirty-five bushels per acre of Mediter- 
ranean wheat. Some of them sow sixty acres. It is put in the last of 
August." , 

How can a farmer spend a little time more profitably than in the ex- 
amination of the question of wheat-growing ? First, whether by the use of 
proper fertilizers he can grow wheat profitably ; and second, which sort, 
winter or spring; and third, which of the many varieties is the best. 

747. Wheu to Sow Spring Wheatt — As a general rule, we have found that 
the earlier M-heat can be sown in spring the better. If the ground is well 
plowed, and manured if necessary in the fall, we Mould advise putting in 
the seed with a drill, or cultivator, if you have no drill, just as soon as the 



Sec. 44.] 



QUANTITY OF SEED TO THE ACRE. 



673 



frost is out of the ground, and is dry enough to work. And even if it is 
not very dry, the crop will probably be better than if deferred to a late 
period. Wc have seen spring wheat put in upon the prairie of Indiana and 
Illinois when it was so wet that a man walking over the land would sink 
almost over shoe at every step. This was in March. Eight alongside a 
piece was sown in May, when the soil was in excellent condition for working. 
That first sown was worth double that last sown. 

As a general rule, it is bad policy to work land while it is wet, but it is 
worse policy to wait a month after it is time to sow spring wheat for the soil 
to become perfectly dry. The only safe way to grow spring wheat is to pre- 
pare for it in autumn. 

748. When to Sow Winter Wheat. — Tlie time depends somewhat upon lati- 
tude, but the rule must be to give it a chance to grow and spread out 
into a complete mat of lea%-es, covering all the surface before the ground 
freezes. 

It is a great object to get a good strong root to the wheat plant in the fall 
of the year, as it sends up more shoots, and the heads are more likely to 
ripen early. John Johnson says he would give a prize of $1,000 to any one 
who could tell him how to ripen his wheat ten days earlier than it does now. 
Even four days ahead of his neighbors is a great advantage, and saves him 
in a great measure from the ravages of the midge ; and this is one of the 
advantages that ho has gained by the use of salt, lime, high manuring, and 
underdraiiiing his land. His object is to have his wheat in ear from the 5th 
to the lOtli of June. 

Tile Ohio Cultivator says.: 

" Between the lOtli and 15th of September is the golden period for getting 
in wheat in Ohio and other States of the same character in soil, climate, and 
other agricultural condition. Peculiarities of season will vary this period ; 
as, for instance, we have known the best of crops raised from fields sown in 
August, and equally good from fields sown in October. It often happens 
that the midsummer drouth is at its hight in the early part of September, 
and grain put in at that time will not readily vegetate, or if sown shallow, 
will never vegetate at all." 

We indorse every recommendation to sow wheat early. If the ground is 
very dry, sow deep. 

In 1861 we grew a small piece of excellent, beardless, white wheat, wliich 
was sown in the last days of August on dry soil, plowed in. 

74:9. How Much Seed to the Acre ?— " The quantity of seed to be sown to 
the acre is a matter of the very highest importance, and may be considered, 
first, with reference to the anticipated j^roduce of a given quantity of land, 
and second, to the yield of the grain sown. There is no doubt but that by 
sowing thick a larger yield will bo obtained than by sowing thin. East 
of the Alleghanies, on rich land, 2i bushels yield 35 bushels to the acre, 
when two bushels will only yield 30 bushels. In Mississippi, rich land, with 
2i bushels sown, yield 44 bushels ; with two bushels, 40 bushels. In Yen- 



674 



CEREALIA. 



[Chap. VIII. 



ezuela, 2i bushels will yield H bushels. In the environs of Paris, 2i bushels 
will only produce 25 bushels. In England, on the best soils, 34 bushels. In 
Lonibardy, on irrigated lands, 25 bushels." 

Tlie following table shows the number of grains upon a square foot, yard, 
and acre at certain quantities : 

Grains per sq. foot. Grains per sq. yard. Grains per acre. 

4 m 174,240— 1 peck 

8 72 348,480—2 pecks. 

12 108 522,720—3 pecks. 

16 144 096,960-1 bushel. 

32 288 1,393,920—2 bushels. 

48 432 2,090,880-3 bushels. 

G4 576 2,787,840—4 bushels. 

80 720 3,428,800—5 bushels. 

" If any person will mark upon a board or paper a square foot of space and 
then divide it into four equal squares, and place a grain of wheat in the 
center of each square, he will have not far from one peck of seed to the acre. 
If he can place two in each square, he will have half a bushel, which, if 
every seed should vegetate, would give as many plants as the land could 
well mature, unless very rich. But divide the foot into sixteen squares, each 
of which contains nine superficial inches, and place a grain in the center of 
each square, and it will give one bushel of wheat to the acre. If any per- 
son will examine his winter wheat, he will find that if the plant have a 
vigorous growth, each seed fully stooled covers more space than it Avonld 
find in the area of nine inches. Put two grains of oats to each square, and 
it will give two bushels to the acre. Make three to each square, and there 
will be three bushels of seed to the acre. 

"Place three grains of clover-seed upon each square inch, and it gives 
less than a bushel of seed to the acre." 

Tlie experience of the farmers over the whole wheat region of the State, 
after nearly or quite forty years' experience, is that sixteen pounds of good 
clover-seed is a heavy seeding to the acre. 

A Chenango County farmer says, " he knows two bushels of seed wheat 
per acre are better than one, which his father taught him to sow." "We know 
that it depends upon the soil, which this writer proves by saying that his 
fields yield 28 to 32 bushels per acre, where formerly they only gave 15 or 
20 bushels from one sowed. That may be entirely owing to the increased 
maturing power of the fertilizers added to the land. 

The writer also says : " I raised in my garden, from one grain of seed, 
3,275 grains of plump wheat in 64 heads, besides two heads given away, and 
175 shrunk grains. The land was in high cultivation where ashes, lime, and 
salt had been spread, and the seed was planted in August." "What would 
have been the quantity of seed per acre required, and what the yield, if the 
same facts had been applied to field culture ? 

English wheat-growers seed heavier than Americans. On good wheat 
land two bushels, and on poor land two and a half bushels are recommended 
to be sown broadcast. If wheat is carefully drilled, we believe a bushel and 
a peck sufficient. 



Sec. 44-.] 



WHEAT.— SEED PER ACRE.— DRILLING. 



675 



All wheat for seed should be washed thoroughly before sowing, to get 
every foul seed out, so that nothing but wheat grains will be sown. If 
brine or solution of copperas or several other salts are used, the smut disease 
will be cured. 

750. Drilling Wheat.— The Hon. David Crocker, of Tompkins County, N. Y., 
recommends farmers who drill in their wheat to set the gauge so as to drop 
only half the quantity of seed that they desire to plant per acre, and after 
going over the field once, turn the other way and put in the other half, so 
that the plants will stand in checks instead of rows. He puts in two bushels 
per acre, and thinks it produces better from being so much more evenly 
planted over the whole surface, so that it more than pays for the extra labor. 
The heads of the drilled* wheat stand up side by side, and nearly every one 
has six rows. The stalks of broadcast wheat are unequal in bight, and some 
have only four rows of grain in the head. 

One experiment showed a gain of nine bushels per acre in favor of drill- 
ing in the same field. An advocate of drilling wheat refers to the follow- 
ing Ohio farmers : 

" Mr. Sickman, Mr. Xapp, Mr. Molan, and J. Shook, of "Wayne County ; 
Isaac Smoker, of Ashland County; Squire Ililderbrandt, an extensive farmer 
of Stark Count}' (who plants 200 acres of wheat annually); John Shaw, of 
Summit County; 11. C. Kingsbury, of Medina County; John Fulton, of 
Eichland County, can give the names of over a hundred farmers in Wayne, 
Stark, Medina, Ashland, and Richland counties, who urge all farmers, even 
those who only plant twelve acres of wheat, to buy drills, because at the 
very best they will warrant a yield of three bushels to the acre over that 
sown. 

"The seed is all deposited three and a half inches below the surface, in 
rows eight inches apart, at the rate of li bushels of seed to the aci-e, and is 
not as easily picked up by the fowls and pigeons. 

" Drilled \vheat is not winter-killed as often as that sown broadcast, and 
being evenly deposited and well covered, it stands drouth better. The roots 
having a firmer hold in the ground, the stalks are not so liable to be thrown 
down ; and for the same reason, in seasons when the fly makes havoc in 
broadcast wheat, that drilled is but slightly injured." 

These facts prove that every man who annually plants ten acres of grain, 
Iitdiau corn included, can well afford to keep a drilling machine, even if he 
did not, as he undoubtedly would, have many profitable jobs from his neigh- 
bors, who only put in three or four acres, and who would be sure to hire a 
drill, though they were too small farmers to buy one. As to the question 
of open or close drills, the following is to the point : 

Dr. Hartstein, Director of the Agricultural Institute at Poppelsdorf, in 
Prussia, has demonstrated tiic futility of the idea that wheat grows better in . 
drills so wide that it can be cultivated. Four years of experiments have 
shown that fields planted in rows four feet apart produce but four fifths as 
much grain as that sown in the ordinar}' way ; it weighs, however, about a 



676 



CEREALIA. 



[Chap. VIII. 



pound and a half more to the bushel, and produces but little more than half 
as much straw. 

751. Seed Wheat— Selecting, Preparing, and Mixing Seed.— Next to the thor- 
ough preparation of the soil, the most important thing to secure a good crop, 
is proper selection and preparation of the seed, and then just such careful 
planting as is eifected by a good drill. 

Too much care can not be given to the preparation of seed wheat ; the 
selection of variety, the growing of it, cleansing it, and then the time and 
manner of sowing it, as also the kind of soil, and the preparation of that 
soil. All the minutire connected witli that seed materially affects the crop. 
One man sorted some Chili seed carefully by hand, and sowed four kernels 
in a hill, and from one seed the product was nine hiindred and twenty-seven. 
By another experiment with two seeds of Club M'heat, tlie product was one 
hundred and thirty-two heads. One lot, planted in hills, required only eight 
pounds to the acre. 

Charles Brackett, of Eochester, Fulton County, Ind., says : 

"In July, 1S56, I noticed some wheat in my held — one root — bearing 
some two thousand grains. I planted several rows of this seed in my gar- 
den, which yielded at the rate of two thousand one hundred and sixty grains 
to the single grain of seed. The rows were eighteen inches, two feet, and 
three feet apart, and at harvest the heads were as thick as they usually ap- 
pear in a field of sowed wheat, and were six and seven inches long, the 
smallest containing seventy-two grains, and the largest heads one hundred 
grains. Tlie wheat stood about six feet high, and was not lodged or in- 
juriously atiected by the heaviest winds. The soil in my garden is a 
sandy loam, enriched by barn-yard manure, swamp miick, and ashes ; the 
subsoil a mixture of sand and clay, colored by iron and underlaid by coarse 
sandy gravel. The surface soil to the red earth is from one to two feet 
deep." 

The following is the plan of an old farmer in selecting seed wheat : 

" He took his seed wheat on the barn floor, and threw a handful at a 
time across the barn, and none but the very nicest, plumpest kernels would 
reach the farther end of the floor : all the chess and foul stufl" would not go 
half way across." 

Samuel Heirstern, of Chester County, Penn., says that he practiced mix- 
ing seed wheat sixteen years with the best results, and recommends that 
each farmer should every year exchange with another a part of his seed, and 
mix the two or more sorts together. 

An Ohio wheat-grower thinks it would be to the advantage of farmers to 
change their seed Us often as once in three years, but that seed from milder 
climates — as Italy, for instance — is not beneficial. 

This is contrary to the opinion of some other farmers, who think seed 
from the South would ripen earlier and escape the midge. 

An Illinois wheat-grower states that his crop increased over three bushels 
per acre by changing seed. The eS"ect, iii our opinion, was not produced so 



Sec. 44.] 



WHEAT— SELECTING AND PREPARING SEED. 



677 



much by a cliange of seed, the variety being the same, as from the fact that 
tlie seed he obtained liad been better selected. 

It woukl require but little labor for a small quantity of seed, compared 
to the value it would produce, to go through the wheat-field selecting tlie 
choicest iieads. The next best way is to select the very best portions of the 
field, and cut them especially for seed. Many years ago, when wheat- 
growing was more common in the Eastern States than it is now, a farmer 
became noted in his neighborhood for his superior variety of wheat, which 
he called " barrel wheat," and sold at a high price to his neiglibors for seed, 
before tliey discovered that it was identical with their own ; the only differ- 
ence was in the manner of saving the seed, by which it got its name. And 
this was it : He selected the best sheaves from the field, and took them to 
his barn, and placed a barrel on its side upon the tlirashing-floor, and 
took each sheaf separately and beat and whipped it over the barrel, 
by whicli the longest and best heads only were shelled, and tlie best grains 
saved for seed, and the process repeated year after year until he got a 
" new variety." 

If seed wheat is taken from the bulk, it should not be sown before it has 
been screened over and over, until there is not a grain of wheat or anything 
else that will pass through the sieve. In this way you may make a pretty 
good selection of the best portion of the wheat, and exclude all small, 
shriveled, diseased grains, and all seads of chess and weeds, except cockle, 
which defies the arts of machinists. 

There is not one farmer in a hundred that does not know and acknowledge 
the advantage of selecting seed corn by gathering the most perfect ears in 
the field. If he will practice selecting wheat seed, he will probably become 
as fully cohvinced of its advantages. We believe tliat the wheat crop of the 
whole United States, can be increased as much upon every farm as the Illi- 
nois farmer increased his. 

752. Pickling Seed Wheat. — The value of pickling seed wheat, as a prevent- 
ive of smut, is beyond doubt. It is a fixed fact. "Water saturated with 
common salt is esteemed suflicient by some. In Scotland, a common pickle 
is urine of. cattle or people, saturated with salt. Sulphate of copper, known 
by many as " blue-stone," used one pound to eight gallons of water, is highly 
recommended as a pickje for seed wheat. Sulphate of iron (copperas) is also 
highly recommended. In this pickle the wheat is thoroughly washed, and 
then dried by rolling it in dry, powdered lime, or ashes, or plaster (sulphate 
of lime), or dust. 

In putting the wheat in the pickle, let it be scattered in very thinly, so 
that any imperfect grains or light seeds of any kind may float and be 
skimmed off, if any such have escaped the screening process, which should 
be very perfect, so that none but the large, sound, heavy grains should go 
for seed. If there still remains, from some imperfection in the operation or 
incompleteness of the antidote, something that induces or produces some 
smut in the product of the immersed seed, what may be expected of that 



678 



CEREALIA. 



[Chap. "Vm. 



from seed taken right out of tlie heap as it comes from the thrashing-ma- 
chine and winnowing mill ? 
753. What Becomes of Seed Wheat?— It Does Not all Grow.— Charles 

Brackett writes as follows, July, 1858 : 

'• I wish to present the following matter of vast importance in regard to 
the cultivation of wheat. 

'• I planted last autumn five rows of wheat, with spaces between different 
rows of three feet, two feet, and eighteen inches ; this was kept clean with 
the hoe, and the product is as follows — Average number of stalks from each 
seed, 32 ; number of grains to the head, 72 to 100. 

'• Now, if we count only thirty stalks from each grain of seed, and seventy- 
two grains in a head, we get at the rate of over two thousand-fold, and three 
thousand two hundred, counting the highest yield. From the year 1845 to 
1855 the average of wheat in this and parts of the adjoining counties, ac- 
cording to my record, was less than eight bushels to the acre, the very best 
being thirty-three bushels. 

"Thirty stalks to the square foot will give 104,089,600 grains to the acre, 
which, allowing 898,560 grains to the bushel, gives nearly 116 bushels to the 
acre. This estimate is a correct one, based upon actual facts, and, although 
it looks like a wild calculation, will prove so nearly correct as to help I'eform 
our present slovenly and extravagant mode of wheat culture. The quantity 
of seed required to plant an acre is only a trifle over five pounds, if put in 
as above described. 

"Suppose every seed of the bushel sown, per acre, grew and produced, as 
some wheat iisually does, three stalks to the grain of seed, each bearing 
thirty grains, would not the acre produce ninety bushels ? But how much 
does it produce? Eight bushels and less on an average. 

"What becomes of seed wheat? is an interesting matter for investiga- 
tion." 

The following table shows an English calculation of the number of grains 



of 



wheat in a bushel, as well as several other seeds : 



Wheat 660,000 

Oats 672,000 

Barley 650,000 

Kye 1 ,230,000 



Buckwheat 1,404,000 

Red clover 15,000,000 

White clover 40,220.000 

Sweet vernal grass 9,250,000 



There is no doubt in our mind about the injury of wheat seed by thrashing- 
machines, and consequently there is an incalculable number of grains of 
wheat which will not vegetate. Careful experiments are needed to show 
the per-centage of loss upon machine-thrashed seed over that thrashed by the 
flail, to determine wjiether true economy would not dictate a change, and 
that all grain for seed should be thrashed by hand. 

According to the above calculation of 660,000 grains of wheat to the 
bushel, there would be 2,640,000 grains in four bushels, and if we assume all 
to vegetate, there would be one wheat plant to every 2| superficial inches, 
if that quantity is sown upon an acre, as there are in an acre 6,272,640 
superficial inches. A good strong wheat plant, upon good soil, with plenty 



Sec. 44.] WHEAT— WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE SEED SOWN? 



679 



of room, will tiller ten-fold, and a field in proper condition should average 
that. Now let the advocates of thick seeding make their own estimate, 
and see how many plants they Avill have to the acre, and then go into 
the best field to be found, and see bow many are actually growing uj^on 
each foot square, and compare the result with the number that four bushels 
of seed per acre should produce. In our opinion, a better preparation of the 
soil, a careful selection of perfect seed, and a careful planting of it, so that 
all would grow, and so that half a bushel would give better results than 
four bushels, would show the best economy. 

Before, however, any certain rules can be adopted by American farmers, 
tlie actual number of seeds in a bushel must be ascertained, and very care- 
ful experiments made. 

In the Xew York State Agricultural Society Transactions for 1849 there 
are some experiments reported. It is stated that wheat sown in squares one 
and a half inches each way, taking nearly four bushels of seed per acre, 
gave a product of almost seventy bushels, while one fourth the amount of 
seed, in squares of three inches, gave fifty-one bushels ; and other trial plots, 
using two bushels of seed, and three fourths of, a bushel, gave respectively 
products rating at sixty and at forty-five bushels per acre. English experi- 
ments give about the same result, pointing strongly to an even distribution 
of the seed over the ground on all clean soils. 

Under a perfect system of tillage — giving all the ground and all the 
•trength of the soil to the one product of wheat — no doubt the rule would 
hold good, that the greater the number of perfect stems and heads per acre, 
the greater the amount of grain produced. 

Weeding wheat, where needed, compensates for the loss of space in drill 
culture, and we are not without experiments showing thin seeding very 
favorably by the side of the more liberal supply, especially in cases of early 
sowing on rich or very carefully cultivated soils. 

These various discussions and experiments point at least to one fact for the 
guidance of the farmer — but one not very generally known and considered — 
that rich, deep, thoroughly worked soils do not need as great an amount of 
seed as those of a less fertile character. 

A new kind of wheat, or cheat, was extensively advertised in the spring 
of 1861, under the name of "Japan wheat," which the issuers of the ad- 
vertisement pretended will yield " three hundred bushels per acre." That 
story is too big. I^ is a big effort to "raise the wind" at the farmer's ex- 
pense. It is rather more than every grain of four bushels of seed per acre 
would produce. 

754. When should Grain be Cut? — A most important question for ev«ry 
farmer. Careful observation and some little experience during twenty' years' 
residence in a great wheat-growing country, have convinced the writer that 
it is fully ten per cent, profit to cut wheat before the grain is fully ripe. Com- 
•mencG cutting as soon as the earliest part of the crop has passed from the 
milky into the dough state. There is no necessity to let it lie to cure, if 



680 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



cut while the straw is still partially green. Bind it up as fast as cut, and 
set the bundles in stocks, two and two leaning together in dozens or twen- 
ties, or any given number, so as to give an even count. Set in this way, 
the most unripe grain will cure and perfect itself. 

The advantages are : the grain is heavier, sweeter, and whiter ; there is 
less loss of shattered grain ; the straw, where that is an object, is so much 
better feed as to make it worth while to cut early, even if there were a loss 
on tlie grain, which is not the case. 

For seed, the best portion of the field should be set apart and left to ma- 
ture iintil fully ripe, and then carefully cut by hand and very carefully han- 
dled, because the very grains which should be saved for seed are the ones 
most easily shattered. Give these bundles a slight thrashing, and give the 
grain a thorough winnowing ; screen out all but the most plump kernels, 
and sow those for your next crop, and you will succeed in improving both 
quality and product. 

In the 2d volume of British Husbandry, pp. 136, 137, it is said that grain 
should be reaped, as a general rule, before the uppermost grain can be shaken 
out. But in this a medium course should be adopted, for although grain, 
if allowed to become too ripe, assumes a dull, husky hue in the sample, yet, 
if not ripened enough, it shrivels in the drying. 

Cadet do Vaux asserts that " grain reaped eight days before the usual 
time, has tlie berries larger, fuller, and finer, and better calculated to resist 
the attacks of the weevil. An equal quantity of the corn thus reaped, with 
corn reaped at maturity, gave more bread and of a better quality. The 
proper time for reaping is that when the grain, on being pressed between 
the fingers, has a doughy appearance, like a crumb of bread just hot from 
the oven." 

Mr. C. Howard, in the Eeport on Select Farms, says : '' "Wheat ought 
never to be allowed to remain uncut till it is fully ripe. By permitting it 
to stand until the straw has lost its succulency, gains nothing in plumpness 
or bulk of grain, and loses mucli in its color and fineness of skin, besides the 
risk of shelling, by high wind, or by its being cut under the influence of a 
burning sun. 

" "When fully ripened by standing in the shocks, no dry hour should be 
lost in getting it well secured." 

Loudon observes, that "in harvesting wheat, the best farmers, both in 
England and -on the Continent, agree that it ought to be cut before it be- 
comes dead ripe. When this is the case the loss is considerable, both in the 
field and in the stack-yard ; and the grain, according to Yon Thaer, pro- 
duces an inferior flour." 

An experienced Pennsylvania farmer of our acquaintance always cuts his 
oats while the straw is green. This he learned to do by accident, for it was 
contrary to the practice of his father and all his neighbors. His hay crop 
was short one year, and he determined to cut his oats green ; that is, a few 
days too soon, as he thought, losing the grain for the sake of the straw. For 



Sec. 44.] WHEAT— WHEN AND HOW HARVESTED. 681 



seed, he left a strip through the middle of the field, where the oats were 
best. Tiie grain of those cut was just in the dough and milky state, and 
he expected they would all shrivel up. What was his surprise when he 
came to thrash, to find the early-cut straw yielding as much and as plump 
grain as that which stood till it was dead ripe, while the straw was in- 
comparably better — in fact, the stock ate it as readily as they would tim- 
othy liay. 

We have known many instances where early-cut grain was saved, while 
that left to ripen was lost. A farmer offered two samples of wheat, one cut 
on the 20th of July in a green state, when the crushed grain had tlie ap- 
pearance of thick dough ; the other, cut six days later in a ripe state, the 
cars drooping, and the grain firm and hard. Both samples remained in 
stack until the 17th of October, when the grain was thrashed, the green-cut 
portion was equally dry with the other, and the green-cnt grain weighed 
twenty-eight ounces per bushel more than that which was allowed to stand 
till it was quite ripe, and produced a better sample of flour with one twelfth 
less bran. 

755. Shocking Wheat in the Harvest-Field.— It will be often found to be 
good economy to take the sheaves from the bunches or dozens which liave 
been set up two and two to cure, and put them in hand stacks, when the^? 
can not be ^ot into a permanent stack soon enough. The following is a 
good rule : 

Bring sufficient sheaves together, say 100, and place them in a circle or ring 
of about fifteen feet in diameter, with the butts to the center. Set a good- 
sized sheaf in tlie center of the inclosed space on the ground, and lay down 
successive sheaves, elevating the heads at first by laying them across the 
first sheaf, and so on around this nucleus until a circular bottom is formed 
suflicient to receive the quantity of sheaves brought together — -alwaj's taking 
care to keep the heads of the sheaves duly elevated until the stack is fin- 
ished. The bottom should be made of ample size, so as to permit the 
sheaves to have due space ; otherwise the center will be too high and cause 
the sheaves to tumble ott", or the M-holc to assume a leaning position. It is 
better, therefore, to allow full size, and then to draw the stack to an apex 
rather suddenly in finishing. This is more especially necessary when the 
sheaves are large, for it is difficult otherwise to make the top sufficiently 
pointed. 

With the foregoing directions faithfully observed, a man with ordinary 
judgment may rapidly secure his wheat in the field against all ordinary 
weather for a month or more. 

756. Storing: Grain in Stacks.— In England, where, for a certainty, there 
is no lack of means to build barns, and where the climate is quite as humid 
at harvest-time as it is here, there is a vast amount of grain put up in stacks, 
and it is contended that there is less loss upon the average of grain stacked 
than upon grain stored in barns. In this country there is an anxiety on the 
part of farmers to have barn room enough to store everything, and stacking 



682 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

is considered wasteful. And so it is, as stacking is generally done, but it 
need not be so ; the fault is in the stackers, not in the system. ' 

In England, a farmer has a permanent stack-yard, with forms, or founda- 
tions upon which to build the stacks, and these are often made of stone pil- 
lars, capped with flat stones to prevent rats and mice from climbing up and 
getting into the grain. Here, some brush, old rails, poles, old straw, or a few 
loose stones may be placed under the grain or hay, though often the stacks 
are built right upon the ground, and we liave seen a thickness of two feet 
of the bottom of stacks frozen together so firmly that the hay or grain could 
not be got at until after a thaw, and then only in a very poor condition. The 
tops arc frefj[uently built equally faulty, and we once had a stack where the 
lazy lout who built it clung to the pole and pressed the hay down around it 
to such a degree that water settled in the cavity and penetrated down 
through the center to the very foundation. Sometimes wheat-stacks are so 
faultily built that the butts of bundles on the outside are higher than the 
tops, serving as conductors of water to the center; and such stacks by hun- 
dreds ma}' be seen upon the prairies coated with green during a warm Sep- 
tember rain. 

AVitli 60 many evidences of wastefulness in stacking, it is not to be wondered 
at that American farmers arc prejudiced against the system, and only adopt 
that plan of storing grain when compelled by necessity. « 

^ome of the remarks about stacking hay (S35) will apply equally M-ell to 
grain. So well satisfied are English farmers about the economy of storing 
grain in stacks, that we see of late, in all the English agricultural papers, 
advertisements of iron stack bottoms — iron frames, supported by iron pil- 
lars, about a foot and a half high. 

757. Thrashiug-Macliines TS. Flai[s. — Because wheat must be cut by ma- 
chines, farmers are apt to apply the same idea to thrashing. The rule will 
not always hold good. Upon the great prairie farms of the West the grain 
must be thrashed by machines, because the work must be done in the open 
air, and it is like hay-making, it must be done while the sun shines, and 
therefore is usually done by a ponderous machine, driven by the power of 
four, six, or eight horses, attended by eight to twelve men ; that is, one to 
feed the sheaves into the thrasher, one to cut the bands and place the sheaves 
on the table convenient to the feeder, and one to three, according to the 
situation of the stack, to get the sheaves to the band cutter ; and three to 
six men to take away the straw and grain, and one to drive, and a stout boy 
to do a score of nameless things. It is a heavy and always dreaded job to 
have the thrashing-machine about the place, and when we grew wheat on the 
[irairie the actual cost of thrashing was 13 to 15 cents a bushel. The straw 
was of no value, and was often burnt after the thrashing was done to get it 
out of the way. We once took the trouble to pile up the straw of fifty 
acres, thinking it might be useful in just such a hard winter as the one that 
preceded the harvest, for our own or some other one's stock, but it was not 
needed, and the stack stood until it gradually decayed several years after- 



Sbc. 44.] WHEAT— STACKING AND THRASHING. 683 

ward. In sucli places, where straw and chaff are worthless for cattle feed, 
it will be good economy to thrash with a machine and get rid of the straw 
in the easiest manner, which will 1)0 \<j hanling it away from the machine 
with a horse-rake. Bnt where straw is valuable, either for feeding or bed 
ding, on the farm or in market, we think it good economy to thrash with a 
flail or with a one-liorse machine in the barn from day to day, as the straw 
is needed. Upon this point we give the testimony of a very practical, ob- 
serving farmer, one who knows whereof he speaks — the Hon. Geo. Geddes, 
of Fairmount, Onondaga County, N. Y., who has most successfully conr 
ducted the farm that his father managed, and winch his son is now con- 
ducting without deterioration in its productiveness. He writes under date 
of March, 1S58, as follows : 

"I will give you some of the reasons that make me think that the flail is 
better than the large thrasliing-machines for most of the farmers of central 
New lork, cxcej^t in tliose cases that require the grain to be thrashed soon 
after it is harvested. The ordinary price for thrashing wheat with the travel- 
ing machines here is five cents per bushel, the owner of the machine having 
with it two men and four horses that the farmer must feed. The farmer 
must provide six more horses, and from five to eight men — say an average 
of seven. All the expenses will bring up the cost of thrashing to ten cents 
a bushel. I have paid that for thrashing a large crop. Wheat is the only 
crop that makes so good a comparison for the machine, for ten cents is just 
a fair price for flailing out wheat in the winter, the thrasher binding np the 
long straw, and feeding the short straw during the day to the sheep and 
cattle. 

'' Barley can be thrashed with a flail for three cents less than by mathine. 
Oats about the same, and yet there are cases where we nse machines. Last 
autumn we could sell our wheat for $1 50, and our barley for $1, so we 
hired a machine and put the crop into market, well knowing that the prices 
must fall before winter. We appeared to save about half a dollar on each 
bushel, but there is some drawback on that calculation. Our men being 
thrown our. of tliis thrashing in the winter, we have had to look up work 
for them that we really did not want to do, and we have lost our straw 
nearly, as the heavy rains of October and November could not be kept from 
going down through the stacks and injuring them very much. Though our 
sheep have had a vast amount of good hay, they are not in as good order 
as nsual at this time of the year. Most of the farmers in Onondaga raise 
grain, make some butter and cheese, raise a few cattle, horses, and sheep, 
and intend, during the winter, to make their stock eat and trample under 
foot the straw of their grain, so as to get it into shape to manure their fields. 
The plan of thrashing it during the winter, either by flails, or stamping it 
out with horses on wide floors, or thrashing with a very small machine, that 
two horses and three or four men can handle, has this advantage, that all 
tlie short straw is fed from day to day as it is thrashed, and thus nearly 
every grain saved in some way. The farmer will find it to his profit to keep 



684 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



this winter work for his men, who he can not do without in summer, and by 
doing this he can raise a few sheep, calves, and a colt or two, witliout losing 
money on them. 

" Thrashing is the only winter employment the farm can give hirelings, 
and in this view, thrashing, in fact, costs but little, for the money paid to 
these men during the winter enables us to employ them in the summer at 
reasonable prices. The result to them is constant employment ; to us, econ- 
omy in the first cost of thrashing. 

" Machines do not thrash cleaner than flails. I have had a great deal to 
io with machines, but I never saw one at my barns, or my neighbors', that 
did not leave grain enough in tiie straw to make the stacks green with 
sprouted grain as soon as the rain wet them. A good flail-thrasher will 
leave but little, and that little the sheep know how to find. And oats and 
barley are, when thus fed to stock, worth their usual market price, and wheat 
more than half. 

'• If you find it necessary to employ machines, have a sufficient number of 
able-bodied men to assist. Persons inclined to diseases of the throat and 
lungs should not labor in the dust created by the thrashing-machine. A 
moistened sponge, tied over the nostrils to prevent the entrance of dust, 
should always be used by those most exposed." 

75S. Cleaning drain for Market. — The practice of sending wheat to mark3t 
in a very badly cleaned condition is injurious to the farmer's interest. In 
1859 the Chicago Board of Trade reported that some samples of rejected 
wheat, returned from New York, show that the grain was an originally good, 
fair quality of spring wheat, and in about the condition of Chicago spring 
wheat generally, but so badly cleaned that it had got damp and musty and 
unfit for use, emitting a sour, disagreeable odor. Another lot, considered 
standard, that passed inspection because dry, perhaps, was found to contain 
oats, barley, kernels of yellow corn, and plenty of dirt. The berry of this 
was so good that, if it had been properly cleaned, it would have passed as 
extra, and fully equal to a kind known as Milwaukee Club, which sold in 
New York at ninety cents, while the Chicago wheat brought but eighty-two 
to eighty-four cents. Now, what is fact in this case is fact in others arising 
from the same basis, and no farmer can aflford to be such a sloven. He can 
not put twelve per cent, of dirt in among the grain, which he must do to 
make up the difference in price. But great as the fault is on the part of 
farmers, it is greater on the part of those who buy the grain of the pro- 
ducers, for they pay just as much for dirty as clean wheat, or if they find a 
load too dirty to pass without notice, they deduct from the price paid the 
producer, and then mix good and bad altogether, and it sometimes happens 
that a farmer who has shipped wheat on his own account, that he had taken 
extra pains to clean, only gets the average price of the whole cargo, his 
honesty being taxed for the benefit of the cheater ; with many the cheat is 
intentional — for dirt and cheaper grains have been purposely mixed in with 
wheat, because it would then bring just as much a bushel as the cleanest. 



SEa 44.] THE PRODUCT OF WHEAT PER ACRE. 685 

This may be the case at first, but in the end, as in the case mentioned, the 
loss comes back upon the farmer, and unfortunately all suffer alike, for the 
value of the whole crop is reduced. The only remedy that we can suggest 
is for every man who does honestly clean his grain to set his fiice against 
all such cheating. Refuse to sell to a man mean enough to buy dirty wheat 
because he can mix it with yours that is clean, and so average it ; and refuse 
all countenance to a neighbor who purposely sells such grain. 

759. The Product of Wheat per Acre. — What is the average product of 
wheat per acre in any State, or in any given district, is a question very dif- 
-ficult to settle, because the poor crops are never reported, nor is such a year 
as that of 1840 in the great wheat district tributary to Chicago, when the 
entire crop was blasted with rust, ever averaged upon the most fruitful 
years. There is generally, too, a disposition to estimate good fields too high. 
The following method of making an estimate of the yield per acre of a 
growing crop of wheat, rye, oats, or barley has been found correct in En- 
gland, and seems easy of application and approximately correct: 

Frame together four light sticks, measuring exactly a foot square inside, 
and M-ith this in hand, walk into the field and select a spot of fair average 
yield, and lower the frame squarely over as many heads as it will inclose, 
and carefully shell out the heads thus inclosed, and weigh the grain. It is 
fair to presume that the product will be j-^lj^ part of an acre's produce. 
To prove it, go through the field and make ten or twenty similar calcula- 
tions, and estimate by the mean of the whole number of results ; it will cer- 
tainly enable a farmer to make a closer calculation of what his field will 
produce than he can by guessing. 

A year or two since a statement was published in the American Farmer, 
at Baltimore, from M. T. Goldsborough, of Ellenboro, Md., that a field of 
27| acres, carefully measured on the farm of his father, yielded 55 bushels 
of wheat to the acre, and nine of the best acres each yielded G4i bushels. 
The field had been subject to a rotation of corn, wheat, and clover for a 
number of years, and repeatedly manured with barn-yard manure, swamp 
muck, woods'-mold, marl or lime, and especially with large quantities of cal- 
careous manure obtained from the Indian oyster-shell banks. It was plowed 
six inches deep but once, and harrowed and rolled till the earth was loose, 
and not a clod could be seen. The seed was drilled in with a nine-inch drill 
on the ith, Gth, and 7tli of October. For ISi acres, only 28 bushels of seed 
were used of white wheat from North Carolina. The straw averaged five 
feet six inches in hight, but many specimens six feet four inches long were 
found. 

S. P. Mason, of Walnut Creek, N. Y., tells us how he grew wheat at the 
rate of SO bushels per acre from California seed. He inclosed with boards 
an exact rod of dry, gravelly soil, and spaded it 18 inches deep, mixing in 
well-rotted clayey turf, sifted, to the amount of a cart-load, and a peck of 
salt, half a bushel of ashes, iind one ])ound of guano; then marked the bed 
into squares of three inches, aiul planted, Sept. 10, one grain in a hole tw-o 



68G CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



inclies deep in the center of each square, using nine grains to each foot, 
whicli he thinks is too thick. It came up in eight days, and by Dec. 1 it 
was a perfect mat, so that the ground was liidden. On this he sifted three 
pecks of charcoal dust, and when the snow melted oif in March, the wheat 
was very green. It was Avatered a little in a dry time, and harvested July 
10, after the birds had taken a share, and dried, and the grain weiglied 29i 
pounds, or nearly 80 bushels per acre. 

That the yield can be increased we have abundant evidence. One writer 
on wheat culture says : 

" If the season is backward, we may hasten the germination of our seeds 
by wateriug with a weak solution of chlorine, iodine, bromine, sulphate of 
iron, dilute sulphuric acid, or nitric acid, and the compounds of ammonia, 
and afterward, by the proper application of suitable manures, we may con- 
tinue the development of all parts of the plant during the entire period of 
its growth, and thus increase to an amazing extent the return of seed. 

" I once sowed two and a half bushels of wheat on a well-prepared acre 
of sandy loam ground, and it yielded me 1,600 lbs. of grain aud 3,000 lbs. 
of straw. On an acre of rich, stiff soil, abounding in organic matter and 
calcareous earth, thoroughly manured, on a pea crop, the same quantity of 
seed yielded 2,000 lbs. of grain and 4,000 lbs. of straw. 

"The grain was placed in dilute sulphate of soda for two hours before it 
was s<nvn, destroying the germs of parasites." 

~Gd. The Ability of America <o Produce Wheat. — Those who believe in the 
inexlianstibilit}' of American virgin soil to produce wheat will do well to 
read the statistical facts in the following article prepared afier the great 
crop of 1860 began to come into market. Our belief is, that under our 
preseut system the great wheat-producing regions of all the Atlantic States 
are gradually becoming less productive, and will in time be reduced to the 
condition of the New England States, where wheat is only grown upon 
favorite spots highly fertilized, and only in small plats for family use. In 
this view of the case, it becomes a serious question what is to be done to 
maintain our ability to grow wheat. 

" In 1790 the United States exported 1,018,339 bushels of wheat. In 
1820 the export had sunk to 25,821 bushels. In 1830 it rose to 408,910 
bushels; in 1840 to 858,585 bushels; and in 1850 to 1,026,725 bushels; or 
only 8,386 more than sixty years previously. These extraordinary vibra- 
tions in the export are measurably governed by the shortness or abundance 
of the crop ; but the fact has long been noticed that our wheat-producing 
power is rapidly declining. In fifty years this great staple of Ohio has 
diminished from an average yield of 30 bushels per acre to less than 15. 
In eleven counties of that State, which in 1850 yielded 7,531,757 bushels, 
there were but 4,413,207 produced in 1857, thougli in the interval many 
thousands of acres of new land must have been broken up and sowed with 
wheat. Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware have ceased producing largely, 
while in Kew England the diminution is almost incredible. In 1840 Rhode 



Seo. 44.] THE ABILITY OF AMERICA TO PRODUCE WHEAT. 6ST 

Island produced 3,098 bushels, but ten years later only 49. Within the 
same period Connecticut fell from 87,000 bushels to 42,000 ; Maine, from 
848,000 to 296,000 ; Massachusetts, from 158,000 to 31,000 ; New Ilanip- 
sliire, from 432,000 to 186,000 ; Vermont alone maintaining her ground by 
yielding 535,956 bushels in 1850 against 495,800 in 1840. In the same pe- 
riod Tennessee fell from 4,569,692 to 1,619,386 bushels; Kentucky, from 
4,803,152 to 2,142,822; Georgia, from 1,801,830 to 1,088,534; and Ala- 
bama, from 838,520 to 294,044. The -whole wheat crop of the Union in 
1S40 was 88,513,270 bushels, while in 1850 it had risen only to 100,585,844 
bushels, an increase of only 12,072,544 in ten years, of which increase, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, and Wisconsin supplied every bushel — showing conclusively 
that all the old wheat regions were rapidly deteriorating. Within the same 
period only nine of the fifteen slave States increased their crojjs, wliilc the 
falling off in tlie whole fifteen was 2,200,316 bushels. 

" In New York the increase in 1850 Avas not ten per cent, over 1840. 
Many portions of the State, which once produced 25 bushels per acre, now 
barely average five. An English traveler in 1775 was amazed at finding - 
that the land around Albany yielded 30 to 40 bushels per acre witli the most 
imperfect husbandry, while in England their best managed land did not 
yield half so much. Yet in 1845 tlie average of the same Albany region 
had sunk to 7^ bushels per acre. In Dutchess County it had dwindled to 
five ; in Columbia to si.x ; in Rensselaer to eight, and in Westchester to 
seven. In some portions of Maryland and Virginia, wheat is no longer cul- 
tivated on land which forty years ago produced abundant crops. Ohio it- 
self, the second on the list of wheat-producing States, is rapidly losing 
ground. In Canada, the yield is so steadily diminishing that within a pe- 
riod of seventeen years it fell from 22,981,244 to 942,835 bushels, a difler- 
ence of over 22,000,000. 

"It is evident that the relative production of food to increa.«e of popula- 
tion is annually diminishing, notwithstanding the opening up of virgin soils 
to the plow. As these are opened, others are abandoned from exhaustion. 
Without these virgin soils to flee to, the failure of a single wheat crop would 
occasion a national scarcity. Actual famine can never occur in this country, 
because in its enormous corn crop it will ever hold a granary almost large 
enough to feed the world. The boast has been that we could feed the world 
with wheat, but nothing could be wider of the truth. In the single month 
of October, one year, we shipped $6,000,000 of grain and flour to England, 
but in the same month of the preceding year M-e sent none. Such are the 
uncertainties of dependence on a market abroad, instead of upon one at 
home. The crop of 1848, amounting to 126,000,000 bushels, is held to bv. 
an average one. We then had 22,000,000 inhabitants, giving within a frac- 
tion of 5i bushels to each. But England consumes 166,000,000 bushels an- 
nually, orsi.x bushels each. We send her wheat whenever she needs it, but 
we spare it only because we have corn to fall back upon. If it were not for 
this peculiar product of our climate, all the wheat we raise would be insufli- 



688 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

cient for our own wants. Our average export is 12,000,000 bushels. Onr 
population doubles in about twenty years, yet the relative diminution of the 
wheat crop is so great that, unless our mode of agriculture is improved and 
the ratio per acre increased, the export will entirely cease, and we shall not 
produce enough for ourselves. The census of 1870 will probably establish 
this fact. 

" The gravest reasons exist for such an opinion. The prevalent belief that 
this whole continent is adapted to wheat-growing is a great misapprehen- 
sion. Our wild lands are not all wheat land. On the contrary, the true, 
reliable wheat region of ihis country is ascertained to be limited to ten de- 
grees of latitude and twenty of longitude, covering about half t»e States. 
Beyond tliese limits wheat is certainly produced, but it is almost exclusively 
spring wheat, an inferior article, giving less yield and always selling lower. 
As New England lies outside of this belt, it can never be a wheat producing 
region. Vermont alone increased her product in the last decade, the in- 
crease being only 40,000 bushels, and this in the face of legislative pre- 
miums held forth to stimulate its cultivation. Formerly she was a large 
wheat-exporting State ; now she does not export a bushel, but imports more 
than half of all the flour she consumes. Manufacturing has superseded 
agriculture, because more profitable, and the consumer having placed him- 
self beside the producer, both are prospering. New England soil, when 
first broken up, produces good wheat, but exhaustive cropping has dimin- 
ished its jiroductiveness ; everywhere, in fact, a virgin soil will wear out. 
The lands soutli of North Carolina have never been and never can be re- 
liable for wheat. In only four States south of this line has there been an 
increase in the last ten years, and-that of only 150,000 bushels. In the ex- 
treme Soutii the diminution has been enormous. The gain in Delaware 
and Maryland exceeded more than half the loss of the whole fifteen slave 
States. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas produced in 1850 only 43,373 
bushels. 

" Spring wheat is raised so readily on prairie soil that it is no wonder the 
yield of Illinois rose from 2,335.393 bushels in 1840 to 9,414,575 in 1850, 
and Wisconsin in the same period from 212,116 to 4,286,231. But the 
popular opinion that this region is to be the permanent granary of the Union 
may well be doubted. It will undoubtedly go on increasing its annual 
product as new prairies are broken up, until the whole has been subjected 
to tillage ; but while the new lands are yielding liberally, those first tilled 
will be wearing out more rapidly than those of the Atlantic States. 

'' On the great American plains, extending to the Eocky Mountains, per- 
petual barrenness rests. Thence to the Pacific is a wilderness in which 
Indians alone can dwell, because it produces game only. Nearly all Sonora 
is sterile, and most of New Mexico. No wheat can be grown over all this 
vast region, unless it be in a small portion of western Texas, and the nar- 
row belt along the Pacific. Ohio is the real Western boundary of the 
wheat-producing region. As a general rule, in those sections where no 



Sko. 44.] 



WHEAT-GROWING IN DIFFERENT STATES. 



689 



heavy snows occur to protect the winter grain, wheat can not be raised to 
profit, and spring wheat must be the substitute. It is even doubted by 
close observers whether winter wheat has ever been grown to profit unless 
covered by a blanket of snow. This region embraces Ohio, the aouthcrn por- 
tions of Michigan and Is ew York, all Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. 
It is proved by the census returns that the product of those States in 1850 
was -18,385,000 bushels, or 2,000,000 less than half of the whole national 
harvest. Geological research points to the large mixture of clay in all these 
soils as being indispensable to continuous production of wheat, and infers its 
absence from the Western prairies as foreshadowing their early abandon- 
ment as wheat fields. Ohio, with a clay loam, produces IGi bushels to 
each inhabitant, while Indiana, •with a richer soil, produces only 8^ bushels ; 
and Illinois, with a soil still richer, yields only seven bushels to each in- 
habitant. 

" While the ratio per acre has thus been steadily diminishing during half 
a century, British agriculture has been revolutionized the other way. Here 
we have been skinning the land to exhaustion, and like the wasteful cotton- 
grower, pulling up and moving off to newer land that needed no labor for 
manuring. There they have swept the battle-fields of Europe for the bones 
of friend and foe, brought them at great expense to their own shores, and 
ground them up to fertilize their lands. Ships are often loaded at New 
York and Philadelphia with bones for English wheat fields that ought to 
have been retained for use at home. They have expended an untold sum 
for guano. More underdrains have been laid in England than in all the 
world besides. Fertilizers innumerable are consumed in immense quanti- 
ties. Roots have become a staple of the kingdom, feeding more cattle than 
ever, and producing manure in abundance. Under this renovating system 
the land is so enriched, that in England the average yield of wheat is 36 
bushels per acre, while crops of 88 bushels have been raised. Yet she has 
never been able to raise food enough for her vast manufacturing population. 
A failure in her grain crop affects the exchanges of the world. In France 
the same calamity produces revolution. We are now helping to feed both 
nations, though England is our largest customer. Yet England is the 
greatest exporting country known. What we sell to her in flour and grain 
we buy back in cloth and iron, which we should manufacture ourselves, thu:? 
building up communities of consumers on this instead of on the other sida 
of the ocean." 

761. Wheat-Growing in Different States< — California soil is undoubtedly the 
most productive of wheat of any in America, or the world, unless it may be 
Australia. The following item from a California paper shows what that State 
is capable of producing, and our comments will show the fertilizer used : 

" The Indian Agent at Fresno, in charge of the Reservation there, reports 
that the yield of 300 acres of wheat on the Reservation will probably 
amount to 30,000 bushels ; that is, 100 bushels per acre." 

As we know that farming upon these reservations is generally performed 



690 



CERE ALIA. 



[Chap. VIII. 



by Indian laborers, there can be nothing in the mode of cultivation to 
account for the yield, and we are naturally led to inquire what is in the soil 
to afford such a production so much above anything we are accustomed to 
on this side of the continent. Neither can we look upon this as an isolated 
case, for such a production is not new in California. Now what is in the 
soil that makes it so productive ? Nothing, probably, that is not in any 
good wheat soil of the Atlantic States. 

Then what is the fertilizer applied to make it bo productive ? 

Tliat question we can readily answer. Although in this account it is not 
stated, yet we think, from our knowledge of what lias been applied in other 
cases, where great yields were the result, and the only thing that wo ever 
heard of being applied, we know that we are safe in saying that the only 
fertilizer applied was water — water from an irrigating ditch, led through the 
field and spread out in a net-work of little channels upon the surface, moist- 
ening all the roots just when most needing it. And need it they surely do 
where there is no rain. Here, to make irrigation advantageous as it is there, 
we must connect it with underdraining. And then in the same parallel of 
latitude, say in Virginia, North Carolina, or Georgia, upon some of the first- 
rate wheat soils abounding in these States, who can say that one hundred 
bushels of wheat per acre will not yet be grown ? 

Illinois wheat-growing does not appear to be very profitable by the fol- 
lowing tables made up by these wheat-growers. " Making a calculation on 
thirty acres of wheat, and estimating the crop at twenty bushels per acre — 
a high rate, including the whole State — and setting down the cost of seed 
and labor at what we farmers paid last year, the result is as follows : 

Feeding 4 horses 2 days, at 25c. per head $2 00 
Hauling, two teams and hands, at $2 50 

three days 15 00 

2 hands stacking, 3 days, at SI per day. . 6 00 



Thrashing at 12 cents per bushel 72 00 

Hauling from 6 to 9 miles, at 6 cents per 

bushel 36 00 

Interest on 30 acres of land, $3 per acre. 90 00 
Interest on horses, wagons, harness, plow, 

etc 40 00 



37 .J bushels seed wheat, at $1 $37 50 

Plowing thirty acres 37 50 

Sowing wheat, one hand three days, at 

$1 per day 3 00 

Harrowing twice, 6 days with teams, at 

$2 50 15 00 

Rolling ground in spring, 2 days 6 00 

Cutting with reaper, 75c. per acre 22 50 

7 binders, at SI 50 per day 21 00 

3 shockers, at $1 50 per day 9 00 

Boarding 12 hands, 72 meals, at 20 cents 

per meal 14 40 Total $425 00 

" Some may object to my estimate of the cost of thrashing ; but six cents 
per bushel is what was charged last fall in this section, the owner providing 
everything, and double that amount when he provided nothing. Thus we 
see that the cost of producing was very nearly seventy-one cents per bushel." 

Another one says : " I consider it cost me last year to raise twenty-four 
acres of wheat as follows : 

Plowing land at $1 50 per acre S3G 00 

Seed, IJ bushels per acre, at $1 25 per 

bushel 62 60 

Sowing and harrowing at 75 cents per 

acre 18 00 

Harvesting at SI 50 per acre 36 00 

Hauling and stacking at 50 cents per acre 12 00 
Thrashing 660 bushels, at 6 cents per 

bushel 33 00 



Hands, two teams, board, etc., while 

thrashing $25 00 

Hauling to market at 6 cents per bushel 33 00 
Kent for land at $3 per acre 72 00 

Total cost $317 50 

Value of wheat at 50 cents per bushel . . 330 00 

Gain on 21 acres of wheat $12 50 



Sko. 44.] 



WHEAT-GROWING IN DIFFERENT STATES. 



691 



' The first year I broke twenty acres, and here is what 



Thrashing 660 bushels, at 5 cents per 

bushel SSS 00 

Hands, teams, and board 12 00 

Hauling to market at 3 cents per bushel 19 80 



Total cost $350 80 

Value of wheat at 80 cents per bushel . 528 00 



Another man says : 

it cost me : 

Fencing ICO rods $160 00 

Breaking at $2 50 per acre 50 00 

Seeding, U bushels per acre, at 80 cents 

per bushel 24 00 

Sowing and harrowing at 60 cents per 

acre 12 00 

Harvesting at $1 60 per acre 30 00 

Hauling and stsicking at 50 cents per acre 10 00 

" My gain was $177 20 ; or $S 86 per acre." 

A Wiscotmn -wheat-grower sums up the account of wheat-growing, which 
is very fair on paper, and very good in fact, every time it does not fiiil : " I 
take one hundred and twenty acres, and fence eighty with rails ten and a 
half feet long, got from the land. I used mortised posts, ten feet apart, 
making a fence with three rails, the lowest two and a half feet from the 
ground, makuig a strong fence against large stock ; stone handily got from 
a ravine and bhiff near, to underpin at leisure. 

" The estimate is for debt and credit, as follows : 

WtlEAT CROP TO SUNDRIES, DR., 

To 120 acres of raw land, at $5 $600 

To two months of man breaking, at 



$14; board 810 $38 

To use of team, plow, etc., for same 75 — 
To two moutlis of man making and 

hauling rails, at S12 24 

To board $10 ; use of team, $10. . . 20— 
To two munth.s making fence, at $12, 

S2'V; board $ 

To 120 bushels seed wheat, at 80 cents 

(present value of such wheat for .St. 

Louis market) 

To harrowing and sowing 80 acres, at 

GOc. (large estimate) 

To harvesting and shocking 40 acres, 

at $1 S40 

By 120 acres improved farm, at 

$10 $1,200 

To fanning mills, etc., on hand. SO- 



US 

44 

34 

96 
48 



VIZ. : 

To harvesting and shocking 40 acres, 
at $1 50 60 

To stacking 80 acres, at 40 cents 32 

To board of harvest hands 20 — 

To thrashing-shed and fanning-mill . . . 

To four months' thrashing, at $12 ; 
board $20 

(Use of team, etc.. largely paid for by 
straw thrown daily to stock.) 

To one month man marketing, $12 ; 
board, $5 ; teams $40 — 

To miscellanenous and personal ser- 
vices 



$152 
50 

08 



100 



Total $1,362 



CONTllA, CR. 

To 2,000 bushels wheat Dr. (52 

cents per bushel) 1,120 

1,250 



" The wheat used and parceled out would much more than meet the item 
for personal services, etc. Agahi, raw land in the neighborhood will not 
readily sell at $5, while improved would readily bring over §10. My object 
has been to figure so as to make the wheat cost something. The real profits 
of the operation were fully §1,(300." 

Will farmers please make a note of this fact. If you want to grow smut, 
sow it. If you prefer to have clean wheat, sow nothing but clean wheat 
for seed. 

Mic/iigan is a good wheat State in favorable seasons. 

L. G. Ilunt, of Kalamazoo County, Mich., gives the following as first crops 
upon newly-cleared woodland. On ten acres, cleared and burned off in the 
spring of 1855, and plowed ten inches deep, one half yielded fifty bushels 
per acre of Dent corn, and the other half twenty-five bushels per acre of 
eight-rowed yellow corn and three loads of pumpkins. Sowed to wlieat in 



692 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



October, the yield next harvest was eighteen bushels per acre. In 1856, 
another ten acres yielded fifty bushels per acre of Dent corn, with the large 
trees girdled and left standing, and was sowed to wheat in September among 
the standing corn. In 185S, another ten acres, entirely cleared, gave forty 
bushels per acre of Dent corn, and now has a growing crop of wheat sowed 
among the standing corn. He attributes his success to deep plowing, as by 
deep garden culture he has secured good crops of all sorts of vegetables. 

Minnesota has just began to develop its capacities as a wheat-growing 
State. 

Hon. W. C. Dodge, in a letter to the author, in 1861, speaks of an im- 
proved variety of spring wheat grown in that State. He says of this wheat, 
that " from two bushels sown on one and three fourth acres of land, there 
were produced, gathered, and tlirashed eighty bushels. This would make 
an average yield of forty-five and five seventh bushels per acre, which is 
the more remarkable from the small quantity sown per acre — being only 
about half the usual quantity. It was grown by Messrs. Starr & Gay- 
lord, of Lake City, Wabasha County, Minn., on prairie land, on which corn 
had been raised the previous season, and without manure of any kind. It 
was sown April 2d, and harvested July 15. Mr. Geo. Hendrickson, residing 
in Eose township, Eamsey County, near St. Paul, sowed the following kinds, 
with the. results as appended : 

Number acres. Tot.il yield. Yield per acre. 

Kind of Wheat. acres, rods. bush. bush. 

Wliite Wheat : . 5 33 102.i 31 1-5 

Scotch Club 3 47 lo3J 46J 

Kio Grande 17J 572| 34 

Canada Club 7| 217 28 

"Average yield of whole crop, 33 bushels per acre. Of barley, Hi acres 
produced 500 bushels, averaging 45 per acre. Of oats. Si acres produced 
450 ; average, 53 bushels per acre. 

" Mr. Middaugh, of Red Wing, raised a crop of wheat of sixty bushels 
per acre, of sixty pounds per bushel, of sound, white, plump grains." 

Ohio shows, by the assessors' returns, that 1,695,412 acres of wheat were 
grown in that State in 1858. Tlie product given is 17,655,483 bushels, 
showing an average of 10| bushels per acre. It was estimated that the crop 
of 1859, in Ohio, covered 2,000,000 acres, and that the average would be 15 
bushels per acre. 

The Ohio Farmer says that from 1840 to 1850, though the number of 
acres of wheat grown in Ohio largely increased, the number of bushels de- 
creased 2,084,310, which it attributed to bad farming. We do not know 
about that. We are inclined to think tlie cause is owing to destruction by 
insects, and perhaps to the natural deterioration of the soil in its ability to 
produce this important portion of the staff of life. It is true that high 
farming might correct the loss, but wliile all the West is open to settlement 
and cultivation of new lands, high farming does not appear to pa}-. 

Do the Oliio farmers, who perceive tiiat the productiveness of tiieir land 



Sec. U.] wheat-growing IN DIFFERENT STATES. 693 



for wheat is failing, always sow it upon a clover lea, which proves so ad- 
vantageous everywhere else? The falling off in production is so great, that 
something for a substitute has already been talked of. C. "W". Carpenter, of 
Mount Gilead, O., speaks very highly of a kind of spring barley from Italy 
as a suljstitute for wheat. He says : 

"It weighs over 60 lbs. to the bushel, has no husk like the common bar- 
ley, but is smooth like wheat ; it must be sown very early in the spring, and I 
think it is as certain and will yield as well as oats — certainly better than 
rye or wheat ; it has always been sown very thin on the ground in order to 
increase it as fast as possible. It makes as white, nice flour, and bread as 
white and light as wheat. It can not. be distinguished from wheat bread, 
only it is sweeter and more palatable. It is certainly the best substitute for 
wheat known." 

Pennsijlvajiia feels the difficulty of "something wanting in the soil" to 
grow wheat. In a letter from Joel Sneedley, dated Fulton, Lancaster 
County', Pa., 8mo. 9, 1858, he says: 

" I have for several years past been troubled with my wheat failing before 
maturity. I have been induced to believe there is something wanting in 
the soil to impart strength to the stalks. The system that I have pursued 
for several years is to manure the corn ground in the spring with clover chaff, 
having a clover mill ; this method almost invariably produces good corn. Tiie 
next spring I sow the stalk ground with oats and clover seed. Tlie oats fro 
quently fall before ripe ; the clover is left standing the next season, and either 
mowed or pastured ; if the latter, the ground is manured from the barn- 
yard, and after harvest is plowed and sowed with wheat ; the wheat stubble 
is again slightly manured from the barn-yard, plowed and sowed again with 
wheat and timothy seed, with the view of setting it with grass. My fields 
have all been hoed over twice, and some of them three times, within 
twenty years. If a practical remedy for the evil referred to can be sug- 
gested, a very important benefit will be conferred on a large portion of 
the fanners of this section of country, who have suffered in a similar way 
with myself" 

It has been suggested that the use of a roller would be highly beneficial 
in such cases as this. The rolling should be done as soon as the frost leaves 
the ground. In England, wheat that is not rolled is apt to fall down. It is 
first dragged by a large bush, and then rolled. One case is reported where 
the portion of a field "that was rolled produced 16 bushels more wheat per 
acre than the portion not rolled. 

As a remedy for weak straw, we should recommend lime, salt, potash, and 
drilling in the seed. 

A farm in Chester County, Pa., of 22-i acres, owned by Wellington Hick- 
man, which for ten years has averaged 75 or 80 bushels of corn per acre, 
gave an average of 30 bushels of wheat upon 14 acres in 1850. The follow- 
ing is the statement of the entire ]iroducts of the farm for that year, which 
has 200 acres in meadow, pasture, and plow-land : 



694 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIIL 



14 acres of wheat produced 420 bushels, at SI 40 $588 

17 " oats •' 1,200 " 33 396 

16 " corn " 960 " 60 576 

Market value of grain crops on 47 acres 81,560 

42 acres of hay produced 75 tons, at $10 750 

THE STOCK. 

30 head of cattle, hought at an average cost of S40 per head, sold for $77 each ; 

profit on the thirty, at S37 1,110 

72 ewes, bought at $2 50, sold with their 92 lambs at $4 25 ; profit on a total 

of 164 sheep and lambs 602 

Gross product of farm valued at $4,022 

Of course this statement is larger than the actual net return of the farm, 
as the hay, and probably much of the grain, are counted a second time in 
the profit on the live-stock consuming them. But that does not lessen the 
value of these figures for purposes of comparison. It will be perceived that 
the wheat averaged 30 bushels per acre, and the oats a fraction over 70 
bushels ; and that the money return was $42 per acre for wheat, $23 29 for 
oats, and $36 for corn, or an average of $33 19 per acre for the 47 acres in 
the three grains, which is not by any means an unpleasant result to reach. 

Mr. Hickman considers that pasturing the land with sheep before breaking 
up for corn, and then putting a little salt in the hill, together constitute an 
almost sure protection against the cut-worm. 

7(32. Red and White Wheat. — Though the white varieties maintain a supe- 
rior price over the red, both in our own and foreign markets, yet red wheats 
are hardier, grow on poorer soils, and withstand the attacks of mildew, rust, 
and insects better than the white varieties, and are cultivated with most 
profit. 

Eed wheat that is partly transparent, hard, and flinty, is best suited to 
the city baker, affording what is called strong flour, that rises boldly with 
yeast into a spongy dough, and contains the largest proportion of gluten. 
For iM-oad of the first quality the flour should be fine as well as strong, and 
therefore a mixture of the two conditions of wheat is best suited for makinn; 
the best quality of bread. 

" Generally speaking, the lightest colored white wheats indicate most 
opacity, and of course yield the finest flour, and red wheats are mostly 
flinty, and therefore yield the strongest flour ; for a translucent red wheat 
will yield stronger flour than a translucent white wheat, and yet a red wheat 
never realizes so high a price in the market as white, because it contains a 
larger proportion of refuse in grinding." 

763. The Price of Wheat for Sixty Years.— The following table exhibits 
the market price of wheat at Albany, a', New Year's, from 1793 to 1854. 
It is from the minutes kept at the office of the Van Rensselaer Manor, at 
Albany, where large amounts of rent ar? payable in wheat, or a cash equiv- 
alent, on the Ist of January each year ; and as two parties are deeply inter- 
ested in the price, it is probably the moA reliably correct of any record that 
can be obtained. There is quite a lesson in these figures — look at them : 



Seo. 44.] 



now WHEAT IS stored and handled. 



695 



1793 SO 75 



1794. 
1795. 
1790. 
1797. 
1798. 
1799. 
1800. 
1801. 
1802. 
1803. 
1804. 



1 00 

1 87i 

2 00 
1 50 
1 25 
1 18} 
1 56t 
1 31J 
1 00 
1 12i 
1 25' 



S2 00 
1 433 
1 37i 
1 12J 
1 00 
1 66i 
1 75 

1 871 

2 25' 
1814 1 87i 



1805. 
180G, 
1807. 
1808. 
1809. 
1810. 
1811. 
1812. 
1813. 



1815. 
1816 



1 62V 
1 75' 



1817 $2 25 



1818. 
1819. 
1820. 
1821. 
1822. 
1823. 
1824. 
1825. 
1826. 
1827. 
1828. 



1 87i 
1 76 
1 00 

77 
1 12J 
1 25 
1 25 
1 00 

87 J 
1 00 
1 00 



1829 $1 75 



1830. 
1831. 
1832. 
1833. 
1834. 
1835. 
1836. 
1837. 
1838. 
1839. 
1840. 



1 00 
1 25 
1 25 
1 25 
1 00 
1 00 

1 50 

2 25 
1 621 
1 75 
1 12i 



1841 81 00 



1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
1850. 
1851. 
1852. 



1 

1 871 

2 00 
931 

1 18} 
1 12* 
1 31J 
1 18| 
1 18| 
1 12} 
1 00 



1853 $1 183 I 1854 $1 75. 

You will notice that only six times in all these years wheat has been 
$2 or upward per bushel, while it was seventeen times at $1 or under — 
once at seventy-five cents. Only once in thirty-seven years — that is, since 
1817, to wit, in 1837 — has it exceeded $2. The average price for the whole 
period is $1 38. For the last thirty years it is $1 25. 

The price of wheat at Chicago since that began to be a wheat market, say 
about 1840, has ranged from 40 to 90 cents as a general thing. The amount 
stored there in 1860 was almost beyond belief, considering the young age 
of the country and the town as a wheat market. 

7G4. How Wheat is Stored and Handled.— Without dispute the city of Buf- 
falo is the greatest grain market upon the American continent. Here on a 
little creek, a convenient harbor for Indian canoes, just where Lake Erie 
contracts into the Niagara River, a trading post was located, out of which, in 
half a century, lias grown a beautiful city. 

From accurate information, we are assured that the quantity of grain 
passing through Bufialo, including that in the flour, equaled thirty millions 
of bushels in one year. 

The lower part of the city is cut up with canals almost as much as Venice, 
which unite with the waters of the creek on a level with the lake. The 
creek is the harbor for all the lake vessels as well as for a fleet of canal boats, 
and is entirely too narrow for the great commerce centering here, and would 
be entirely inadequate but for the little tug-boats that pull the others here 
and there, so as to prevent an inextricable tangle. 

Along the north bank of the creek are located the warehouses and count- 
ing-rooms of the flour and grain' merchants, and with one exception the 
steam elevators, by which all the corn, wheat, oats, etc., coming over the 
lake in bulk is lifted from the hold of the vessel and carri^ to the high- 
est loft of the warehouse, and thence spouted down to separate bins upon 
either floor, and thence into canal boats. One of the largest of these ele- 
vator warehouses is on the south side of the creek, having a slip under the 
center long enough to hold and load three canal boats at the same time, with 
a slip outside for a large vessel. This house can take in 57,000 bushels of 
grain a day, and deliver 65,000 ; it can store 400,000 bushels. There are 
eleven of these elevators on the creek, which are, altogether, capable of 
lifting 25,000 bushels of corn an hour; there is storage room for 1,600,000 
bushels. 



696 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



The charge for taking a load of grain out of a vessel and delivering it in 
a canal boat is half a cent a bushel — one half to the vessel and one half to 
the boat. If tlie grain is stored, tlie charge is one fourth cent a bushel for 
ten days. The grain is accurately weighed as it is taken up, and that is the 
measure by which it is bought and sold. And all this work is done by four 
men — that is, 50,000 bushels of grain are taken up and accurately measured 
and delivered to the boats that take it away, or lodged in store in one day 
by four men, independent of the shovelers who throw the corn in the ves- 
sel's hold up to tlie buckets that carry it up as fast as twenty men can shovel 
it forward. The leg, as it is termed, that contains the elevating buckets, is 
lowered down when the vessel comes alongside, into the liold, and when the 
grain is exhausted from that end, the leg is lifted up and the vessel moved 
forward so as to receive it in anotlier hatchway. It is for the protection of 
these elevators that we see those square towers on the main houses. If the 
owner of corn requires it, he can at the same time it is elevated have it 
screened and the weiglit made good for one cent a bushel. Wheat is 
screened at the same price, but the owner takes the screenings and sutlers 
his own loss. 

When a merchant desires to sell a cargo of grain, he takes a sample in a 
small box under his arm and goes to the Corn Exchange, where there is a 
general congregation of all parties at twelve o'clock each day. If the sale is 
made, the buyer receives the warehouse receipt and becomes the owner of 
the grain specified, which he may sell again or remove at Iris pleasure. A 
fluctuation of a cent or two a bushel often changes owners of immense quan- 
tities of grain in the space of a single hour, and it is no remarkable thing to 
see a hundred thousand bushels started from the M-arehouso eastward in a 
single day. How could all this grain be handled without steam machinery, 
is the natural question of every one observing the magnitude of the grain 
trade at this immense granary of the world. The New York Central Rail- 
road Company have a very large freight-house on the dock, and an elevator 
by which they can take the grain from the vessel's hold up into their store- 
house and then spout it down and load a whole train of cars in less time 
than one car could be loaded by hand. 

In Chicago, Bufialo, and Oswego immense quantities of grain are all 
measured and handled by steam-power machinery. At Oswego there are 
eight elevators* along the creek, five of which are double ; that is, two sets 
of elevating buckets to each building. Elevators are also to be seen at many 
other lake towns, and wherever they are known it would be considered the 
very hight of folly to persist in measuring grain in a half bushel. 

765. Preseniog Wheat in Binsi — In sections where the weevil is trouble- 
some, it is the practice of some farmers to store wheat after it is thrashed, in 
the chaflf. It is also stored that way on some prairie farms, where tight bins 
can not be provided to hold it after it is cleaned. 

The practice of putting stones or bricks in the center of a bin is good to 
absorb moisture, and prevent mustiness. The best way to prevent weevil 



Sko. 44.] SMUT— ITS CHARACTER CONSIDERED. 697 

from destroying wheat that we have ever seen tested, is the one detailed 
below. Mr. IL Barber, of Juneau, Wisconsin, is also well satisfied that it 
is a preventive of smut. Mr. Barber says: 

" When I thrash my grain I sprinkle in dry slaked lime with it in the bin. 
The lime absorbs the moisture, and when tlie grain is wanted for use, tlic 
fanning-mill blows out all the lime. Tliis method I have practiced for years, 
and my seed I take from grain thus treated, and I never have any smut in 
my wheat." 

766. Smut — its Character fonsiderrd. — "What is smut? and. What causes 
it? and. What will prevent it?" are interesting and important questions. 
Some years ago, these questions were pretty thoroughly discussed here and 
in France. M. Philippar, professor of agriculture in the Normal School of 
Agriculture, Versailles, France, asserts that smut is a parasite plant, belong- 
ing to the mushroom tribe of the genus Uredo. M. Poiteau declares that 
it is a local disease, contagious by touch, and not a parasite plant. M. Tillet 
and Tezzien, M. Benedict Provost and M. de Candolle, have written much 
upon this subject, and have all expressed their opinion that it is a parasitical 
plant, of the mushroom kind, and argue in the main and more essential 
points with M. Philippar. 

" A parasitical plant is one that derives its aliment from that on wliich 
it grows. K fungus, a parasitical plant or production of a cellular texture, 
having no flowers, and deriving its nutriment from the atmosphere, and 
nourished also from the stalk, stem, or spawn. Its propagation is efi'ected 
by means of small and very curious seeds, spores, or sporules, inclosed in 
skinny integuments, called sporidia, or spore cases. Animal and vegetable 
substances in a state of incii^ient decay are those which most generally pro- 
duce fungi, but those of the simplest organization frequently locate on tis- 
sues. Of this class we may enumerate common mold as being the most 
familiar and best known. Of this, however, there are two types — the lirst 
of which, when examined by a microscope, is found to exhibit jointed 
threads, and to consist of a cellular structure, the small pavities or cells being 
arranged end to end, apparently independent of each other, and capable, 
under certain contingencies, of reproduction. The second type presents the 
aspect of a thread-like structure, the spores being elevated on the tops of the 
threads, or processes, and sometimes very thin and minute capsules or cases, 
which explode, and thus cause the dispersion and dissemination of the seed. 

" When smut was first declared to be a plant, the labors of the micro- 
scope, applied to botany, were very imperfect; matters were declared to be 
uredos, crimes, and erysiphes, which have since been discovered to be 
insects' nests, or tissular maladies to which the plant was subject. Hence 
it followed that, as microscopic botany became better known, these pre- 
tended plants gradually disappeared from succeeding editions of botanical 
works. Now these plants have been generally classed in the category as 
the smut ; and as these have been proved to be not of the mushroom race, 
so may smut also. 



698 CEREALIA [Chap. VIII. 

" A most remarkable thing is, that if the thick oil which is distilled from 
smut by holding it over a Iiot fire, is placed in contact with sound grain, 
nearly one third of the ear will be affected by smut." M. Poiteau maintains 
that this is altogether inexplicable, unless smut be contagious by touch. 

After fairly considering all these scientific arguments, we are of the opin- 
ion that farmers should use all means within their power to kill the seeds 
of smut, so as not to grow it from seed of their own sowing. 

767. Chloroform for Insects in Wheat. — "A commission was appointed by 
the French government at Algiers to inquire into the means of protecting 
stored grain from the ravages of insects. The commission state, as the result 
of their experiments, that thirty grains of chloroform, or sulphuret of car- 
bon, put into the interior of a grain-pit, hermetically closed, are sufiicient to 
destroy every insect in a metrical quintal (220 lbs.) of corn in four or five 
da^'s. Or seventy-five grains of sulphuret of carbon, suitably divided amidst 
the grain, will do it in twenty-four hours. Chloroform operates rather more 
slowly. The sulphuret, in a still larger quantity, succeeds on grain laid in 
a heap and covered with an impermeable tarpaulin. A committee of the 
Academy of Sciences is to give its judgment upon the process." 

If, as a German writer says, there are thirty thousand different insects 
that prey upon wheat, we think it will l)e a hard fight, even with all the 
aids of science, ever to get entirely rid of the pests ; but we must keep up 
the figlit, and use all the preventives within our reach. One farmer says : 
" I have learned, or tliink I have, that wheat sown early, say in July, in soil 
properly enriched, will not suffer from the fly." Then lie will not need to 
buy chloroform. 

768. Wheat Heaving Out — a Preventive. — The disposition to heave out dur- 
ing freezing and thawing that is natural to some land, can be cured as cer- 
tainly as corn can be grown by the labor of plowing and hoeing. All that 
is needed to prevent the soil from so doing is to drain it of surplus water. 
Land that is saturated with M-ater will heave out and destroy winter grain ; 
and sometimes the diflaculty is so great that timothy grass will not endure 
more than two winters. Thorough draining is the only remedy, and that is 
a certain one. 

Where the land is not drained, and the danger is great in the spring of 
the year of losing tlie crop by repeated freezing and thawing, we recommend 
rolling the land. If you have no i-oller, use a stone boat, or blunt-toothed 
drag, or a heavy bush, or turn a large flock of sheep on the wheat, and drive 
them about until they have trampled the ground thoroughly. The object is 
to compact the earth, and press back into the soil those roots which have 
been hove out by the frost. 

769. Rye — its Cultivation and Yield. — All that we have said about; tne 
cultivation of wheat is about equally applicable to rye, which, though usu- 
ally sown upon poorer soil than wheat, with much less care in its cultivation, 
will always pay for extra care in its extra productiveness. 

Tlie following account of a great rye crop is given by a correspondent in 



Sko. 44.] ■ RYE— ITS CULTIVATIOIT AND YIELD. 699 

JhIt, 1861, and is commended to the attention of those who doubt about 
a crop of rye being profitable. AVe grant it is not, where the straw is of 
no vahie, and where tliree bushels of grain per acre is all that can be 
made. 

'In July, 1859," says the writer, "I had land in grass that gave a very 
light crop. It was plowed as the grass was taken from it. About the mid- 
dle of September it was again plowed, and subsoiled, manured, harrowed, 
and sowed with one bushel of rye to the acre. Grass seed was also put upon 
it. In July it was harvested, and in February thrashed by hand. The pro- 
duct was ninety-one bushels of rye from two acres and twelve rods of ground. 
The straw weighed 9,400 pounds." 

As this crop was made near New York, where the straw sells as high as 
timothy hay, it must be set down as a profitable one. 

Another farmer says : " "With regard to rye, I usually sow 2i bushels, and 
find it will thrive in nearly all soils, and in many that will not grow wheat 
at all ; the return of grain is nearly the same average as that of wheat. 
From an acre of land producing 25 bushels, 54 pounds to the bushel, there 
would be reaped 1,360 pounds of grain and 4,100 pounds of straw. 

" On land of the same quality, where I only sowed 1^ bushels to tiie acre, 
my yield of grain was 1,000 pounds and 3,000 pounds of straw." 

Every farmer should sow an acre of rye for pasturing sheep in autumn, 
when all other herbage is dried up or consumed. By this means the flock 
will be strong by the commencement of winter, and able to withstand the 
rigors of that season. In spring this rye M'ill afford the earliest and best soil- 
ing for horses or cattle, and will furnish provender for nearly a month before 
clover is fit to cut. 

Rye is grown as a common crop in all the New England States, and often 
upon land that once produced a good crop of M'heat. It is about the last 
effort of some of the worn-out lands of Virginia, and produces from three 
pecks sown, three bushels of rye upon an acre. When they will no longer 
produce that, they are given up to old-field-pines and sedge grass — both 
worthless pi od nets. 

Rye is generally considered an exhausting crop, but we do not know why, 
unless because it is a crop in a very exhaustive system, or rotation, that 
will exhaust any land ever cultivated, wliich is less fertile than the delta of 
the Mississippi. Such a system as corn upon a shallow-plowed field, with a 
little shovelful of manure in each hill, followed by oats sown upon the corn 
stubble, after splitting the hills with a single furrow, and this oat crop fol- 
lowed with rye, fertilized with nothing but the oat stubble and weeds, and 
that with buckwheat, and then corn again, unless, perchance, oats intervene 
to save the trouble of the volunteer buckwheat in the corn ; and so on for a 
series of years, until the land can not produce more than three bushels an 
acre of rye, and then we hear that " rye is an unprofitable crop." So it is, 
and so have been all the crops ever grown by farmers who thus destroyed 
the natural fertility of their farms. 



700 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

Altliough rje, as a general thing, may not be as profitable a crop as wheat, 
we are satisfied tliat it will give a handsome profit upon land that can not be 
profitably cultivated in wheat, if it is treated with a fair dressing of proper 
fertilizing substance, such as either of the following : that is, bone dust, at 
the rate of 10 or 15 bushels per acre ; Peruvian guano, at the rate of 250 to 
300 lbs. ; superphosphate at the rate of 400 to 600 lbs. "Wood ashes, 30 
bushels per acre ; or stable manure, 10 to 20 cords per acre ; or a cympost 
of muck and manure, 30 one-horse cart-loads, with 10 bushels of salt in it to 
an acre, all of them applied as a top dressing. 

But to make this treatment profitable, clover and timothy must be sown 
with the rj-e, and that must be dressed with lime, or plaster, or both. 

Eemember that rye is not a profitable crop on barren soil — it is profitable 
on good soil, where the straw, as it does near New York, sells for as much 
as the grain, 

770. Oat-Growing Farmers. — Those who usually devote their main atten- 
tion to the oat crop are seldom very energetic in draining, composting, and 
manuring — seldom go to any great expense to improve their breeds of stock, 
or ]irovidc for their comfort and thrift in winter. 

A dairy farmer gives the following account of his oat crop for the year : 
" Sowed about two and a half bushels per acre, on six acres of sandy loam, 
without manure, except one acre, which had about a dozen loads of horse 
manure after potatoes. This acre yielded about double any other acre in 
the field of six acres. 

" The yield was two hundred and sixty bushels, or forty-three and one 
third bushels per acre ; was the third crop of oats in succession, a kind of 
farming he can not commend. It requires either rest or manure to bring the 
land into grass, or the profitable production of any other crop, after being so 
exhausted." 

Oats are generally sown in the most hap-hazard sort of a way of any grain 
in this country. One man writes : " I take less pains in preparing land for 
oats than any other grain ; it does well as a first crop on newly-broken land, 
and succeeds best on a soil not much pulverized, sown after a single plowing 
as early in April as possible." This " less jjains," is too true of many. 

The old fashion in New England was to split the corn-hills with a small 
plow and sow the oats, about one third of the seed falling upon fresh earth, 
and the other upon the hard surface, or in pools of water, or on the hard roots 
of the corn stubble. The seed was then very lightly plowed in, and perhaps 
seeded with grass or clover, under a bush drag. If the butt- stalks of the 
corn were not cut away when the corn was harvested in autumn, they were 
frequently cut and burned in the spring. And such land was expected to 
bring a crop of grain that requires and pays for manure as well as any crop 
planted, except, perhaps, Indian corn. We are not even certain that that 
does. We are certain that oats should always be sown upon land ])roperly 
dressed with some sort of fertilizer. 

771. Quantity of Seed per Acre. — The quantity usually sown varies from 



cSko. 44.] A GOOD CROP OF OATS, AND HOW TO MAKE ONE. TOl 

one to two bushels in this country, thongli a few reading farmers have 
learned that it is profitable to sow more seed. 

In England, the cmnmon oats arc sown at the rate of six bushels per acre, 
and potato oats at the rate of five bushels, and one man will sow sixteen 
acres a day. 

One American farmer publishes the following statement : " I sow from 
three to six bushels to the acre, according to the size and weight of the 
grain. If potato oats are sown, two bushels M'ill always be ample, because 
it has no awns, consequently there is a greater number of grains in a bushel, 
and it litters better than any other oat. On medium soils, three bushels will 
be requisite, and on upland soils six will not be found too mucli. If an acre 
produce 2,260 pounds of oats, there will be 3,000 pounds of straw. Tiiis 
can not always be calculated upon, because there is no grain grown that 
yields so variable a quantity of straw as the oat. I esteem it very highly 
as fodder ; and it furnishes a large proportion of my winter feed for stock. 
Its chief enemy is the wire-worm ; and if you find the ground impregnated 
with the larvae, defer plowing until May, when you will bury them so deep 
that the oats will grow beyond their reach before they can come to the sur- 
face of the ground." 

Another one says : " Two of my neighbors had each one acre of land, 
which they wished to seed down with oats. Their farms join, and the soil 
was the same, and treated alike, except that one neighbor sowed one bushel 
per acre, and measured up forty, of as handsome oats as I ever saw, as the 
result. The other man sowed three and one half bushels per acre, and 
measured up but thirty-three bushels. But he had a much larger quantity 
of straw. If these results were to decide the question, I sliould think that 
where the largest quantity of fodder was the most of an ol)ject, the heavy 
seeding would be the best. The man who has practiced seeding with but 
one bushel per acre, has received nearly the like results for the past two 
years." 

772. When to Sow Oats.— As a general rule, there is no time to sow oats 
so good as just as soon as the frost is out of the ground, so that plowing can 
be done ; and if the land is not naturally dry, or has been underdrained, so 
as to plow very early in the spring, it should be plowed in autumn with a 
Michigan plow, and then it can be harrowed or scarified with a cultivator, 
and sown and lightly dragged. And it is even better to sow without any 
stirring of the soil previously, if it is very soft, rather than to wait for a 
good time. The year 1858 will be long remembered as one of unusual wet- 
ness in the spring, and one of failure of the oat crop. Yet in every instance 
where the seed was put into the ground early, where it had been previously 
prepared, or wliere it had been underdrained, the crop was good, both in 
straw and berry. 

773. What is a good Crop of Oats, and how to Make One ?— In tlie spring of 
1S60, wishing to sow a little patch of oats for soiling, if they should be 
needed, we proceeded as follows. The ground was corn stubble, it was 



702 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

very poor, and six hundred pounds of superphosphate to the acre had been 
applied in 1859. It was plowed in autumn, and the next spring plowed with 
a subsoil plow for the first operation. This new way of plowing attracted 
some attention. Several passers-by stopped to look and wonder, and say 
pooh ! After it was thus plowed, it received a moderate dressing, com- 
posed of barn-yard manure, well-rotted, and hair and spent lime, from a 
glue manufactory, and old ditch bank stuff, to which was added a small 
per-centage of the bulk of printer's roller composition, and about half 
a bushel of salt to a cord of manure. It was piled in autumn, and over- 
hauled once in the winter, and was not quite ripe when a portion of it was 
spread U])on the oat ground. After harrowing over the manure, to break 
the lumps and mix it with the soil, three bushels of common black seed oats 
were sown, and plowed in with a light plow, and again harrowed. This was 
done about the 12th of April, and the season tliat followed was not favorable 
to the growth of a good crop. It was altogether too dry for the growing 
plants to get the full benefit of the manure ; but they grew, and I soon 
began to hear that " Eobinson had the best piece of oats iu the country." I 
wished every day that the piece had been large, as well as the oats. Mj' 
neighbors were sadly disappointed, I believe, that the crop did not all fall 
down before it was ripe, but it did not — only part of it, and that part on the 
new ground — which is, say, two fifths of the whole. The great drouth in 
July prevented the plants from attaining as large a growth as they would, 
particularly on the old ground, which is part of a piece noted for its poverty. 
A fair average sample of the growth upon the corn-ground was about four 
feet and a half long. Some of it on the new ground was full a foot higher, 
and stout in proportion. Intending to feed the crop without thrashing, I 
had it cut pretty green — that is, as soon as the most of the straw turned yel- 
low. That on the corn-stubble part, and a portion of the other, was bound 
up into very stout, double-banded sheaves, which were, when well seasoned, 
quite as heavy as I cared to pitch upon a pretty warm day. Of these sheaves 
we had thirty-one dozen, and the heads were well loaded with plump grain. 
The other part was mowed and cured like hay, and pitched up into cocks, so 
that we could estimate it as though in sheaves, which we did, at full twenty 
dozen. I think it was more, as it made two snug ox-cart loads, and more 
than two thirds the bulk and apparent weight of the other part. Then there 
was, besides, a little load of rakings. I will call the whole fifty-two dozen 
stout, double-banded sheaves, which, if thrashed, would surely yield a bushel 
to the dozen ; and this was a good crop for land badly worn, upon a piece 
of ground of the following dimensions: the first side is 156 feet; the one 
opposite to it, 183 feet ; the two other sides, one is 168 feet, and the oppo- 
site 213 feet. The superficial contents, if I calculate rightly, are 32,290 feet. 
The superficial contents of an acre are 43,560 feet. Three fourths of an acre, 
then, contains 32,670 feet, so that my patch of oats lack 380 superficial feet 
of surface of being three quarters of an acre ; and farmers hereabouts con- 
sider it a pretty good crop, and I want to know whether it is not worth 



Seo. 44.] 



RUSTY OATS. 



ro3 



their while to think about manuring oat-ground ? And also think about 
plowing oat-ground with a good-sized subsoil plow? And what do they 
think about plowing in the seed ? And finally, what about sowing four 
busliels of seed per acre, and harvesting sixteen-fold ? It is a matter which 
will do to think about. 

We have no doubt that it would be quite as profitable to apply manure to 
oats as to corn, and that there is no need of exhausting land with oats. 

To prove this, and also to prove that my neighbors were in error when 
they told me that wheat could not be profitably grown in this neighbor- 
hood, and not at all upon oat stubble, and that grass and clover seed " would 
not catch," I plowed under the oat stubble, running a subsoil plow in every 
furrow, and gave the land another light dressing of manure, wiiich was 
afterward plowed in with a light plow, and sowed wheat at the rate of three 
bushels per acre upon the rough furrows and harrowed in once, and then 
timothy seed, a peck per acre — sowed and harrowed again. After tlie wheat 
was up it was dressed with plaster, two bushels per acre. 

The winter being almost without snow, and freezing and thawing fre- 
quently, was hard upon wheat, and there were consequently several sage 
remarks in the spring, such as, " There, I told you it was no use to sow wheat 
upon oat stubble." No matter; the grass looked well, and that was the 
main object, and so four quarts per acre of clover seed were put on, and 
afterward salt, at the rate of about five bushels per acre, was sown, and 
after a while the wheat began to recover from its hard winter, and if any- 
body had a better yield or finer plump berries I am glad, and sliould like 
to see it. At any rate, I am convinced that wheat will grow upon oat 
stubble, and good timothy and clover afterward. 

Still, we would not recommend sowing wheat or any other grain upon oat 
stubble, because we prefer to sow grass and clover, and let that grow one 
year at least, so as to have a good sod to serve as manure. 

77-i. Rusty Oats. — This is, comijarcd with rusty wheat, a new disease, only 
appearing to any extent in this country within five years. Some oat crops, 
badly rusted in Illinois, have been reported as producing death when the 
straw was fed to horses. An article in the Southern Homestead, when the 
disease first appeared in the Southwest, attributed it to insects. It says : 

" From microscopic examinations, we are satisfied that the cause of all this 
destruction of the oat crop is a living worm, too small to be plainly seen 
with the naked eye. A single blade or leaf of the oat sometimes contains 
hundreds of them. They lie incased in the tissues of the leaf or blade, where 
they have been generated, beneath the epidermis or thin pellicle over the 
exterior portion of tiie blade, and as they progress in development, the skin 
of the leaf is raised into curious pufly blisters. Tiie growth of the worm 
subsequently ruptures these, and it escapes to feed on the plant. Wlien 
first released from their covering, they are of a beautiful clear red color, al- 
most transparent, but soon begin to change color and form, getting more 
opaque and dark in appearance, until in the course of transformation they 



704 CEEEALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



become a black bug, with legs and wings, when they attack the head or 
grain of the oats. 

" Under the microscope, the dust which remains on the leaf closely re- 
sembles that on the wings of butterflies. 

" How this innumerable army of infinitesimal worms originated is yet a 
mystery. It is a singular fact, however, that wherever the greatest quantity 
of rain has fallen, thei-e the oat crop has fared the worst." 

As cause and eifect are often mistaken or misplaced, it may be so in this 
case, and that the rust was occasioned \ipon the oats by the excess of rain 
and heat, which does produce it on wheat, and the Avorms followed this dis- 
eased condition as they do disease and decay of many other vegetables. 

775. Barley Cultivatiou. — The cultivation of barley in the State of New 
York has largely increased since the destruction by the midge has been so 
great as to deter many farmers from all attempts to grow Avheat. 

Tbere are two principal kinds of barley as of wheat — winter and spring. 
Winter barley is sown from the middle to the last of September, at the rate 
of two and a half bushels per acre, and will be ready for harvest the last 
of June. 

A correspondent in Kentucky recommends sowing winter barley after 
oats, rather than after winter" wheat, for the reason that the land, having 
been plowed in the spring, can be got into better condition than that which 
has not been plowed for twelve months. 

Our severe winters do not injure barley when it is sown on dry uplands, 
but it does not succeed on low, moist land. It should be sown early — 
tliougli many do not sow it till after they have got in their wheat, and it 
requii'cs the same culture, and when sown on good soil, properly prepared, 
the yield is large. 

There is one thing that farmers must remember about barley — they can 
not grow it on poor land. Of the cultivation of sjjring barley, a New York 
farmer, who has grown it some years, says : 

" In the cultivation of barley I usually sow 2j bushels to the acre of the 
two-rowed Ilordeum distichon, which yields 38 bushels of 36 pounds to the 
bushel, or 1,368 pounds of barley and 2,800 pounds of straw. 

" The best season for sowing it is about the 1st of May, after some crop 
on M-liicli manure has been applied ; it will not succeed a summer fallow 
well ; the best soil is a rich, finely pulverized loam. I usually sow it broad- 
cast, but it will do better in drills. On a contiguous piece of land I sowed 
Ij bushels to the acre, and found great disadvantage in it; the season was 
dry, and few or no ofl:sets were thi'own olf. The yield was 1,000 pounds of 
barley and 2,000 pounds of straw." 

A Georgia paper recommends barley as a valuable crop for that section. 
The writer says : 

"This is one of the most valuable winter crops that can be grown at the 
South. We give some directions for its proper culture. In the first place, 
the ground must be rich, and any time after the first to the middle of Oc- 



Seo. 44.] ' BARLEY CULTIVATION. 705 



tober is the right time for seeding. New land that has been heavily cow- 
penned yields enormously. Tiie ground should be well broken up, and 
about one bushel and a lialf sowed to the acre, and then plowed or har- 
rowed in. In its early growth pigs may run upon it, and after a while 
calves, but never full-grown stock. For horses and cattle, the grain is 
almost equal to corn, and there is no green food that sustains a working 
animal like it." 

In harvesting barley, it is important to cut it at the right stage, when 
neither too green nor too ripe. If rather green, the grain shrinks, and is of 
liglit weight ; if fully ripe, it shells easily, is liable to become discolored, 
and t!ie straw is of less value. When the head begins to assume a reddish 
cast and drops down upon the straw, the proper period of harvesting has 
arrived, and as after this the grain ripens rapidly, it should at once be cared 
for. It may be mown or cradled, or cut with a reaper ; if the straw is long, 
it should be bound ; if short, with proper forks it can be pitched at once 
from the swath and stored without binding. Barley should be secured as 
soon as thoroughly dry, which will be soon in favorable weather. 

The varieties ofharley are numerous; Scotland has some thirty, though 
really there are but three decidedly distinct sorts; that is, the two-rowed, 
four-rowed, and six-rowed. The two-rowed barley grows the largest grains, 
that is, 80 to the drachm ; the four-rowed, 111 grains to the drachm, and the 
six-rowed, 93 grains to the drachm. 

The use of larley is principally for making malt for beer, but there is a 
good deal used for making pearl barley. It is not much used in this country 
for bread, though it makes a very sweet, nutritious food, and very palatable 
when eaten as hot cakes. 

The profits of a harley crop, reported for premium in 1859 by Hiram 
Mills, Lewis County, N. Y., were $31 98 upon two acres. The soil was 
clay loam, with hard clay subsoil. The crop in 1858 was peas on sward. 
The land was plowed in autumn, and in the spring 26 loads of cow-stable 
manure spread and plowed on the 9th of May, and sowed next day with 
two and a half bushels per acre of two-rowed barley, put in with a culti- 
vator and then harrowed. It was cut with a scythe Aug. 11th, and spread 
like hay to cure, and raked with a horse-rake, and hauled from wiurows to 
the barn, and thrashed with a machine Dec. 12th. The yield was a fraction 
over 122 bushels, of 48 lbs. per bushel, on two acres. The whole field of 
13 acres yielded over 50^ bushels an acre. It sold at 75 cents a bushel, and 
the straw was valued at only $5 an acre. In some localities it would be 
valued much higher, so that upon the basis of this crop, growing barley 
must be accounted profitable. 

A Niagara County, N. Y., farmer offers the following opinion upon the 
subject of growing barley. He says : " The question of the profit of barley- 
growing to the farmer is one which ought to be discussed. Wc are getting 
doubtful of the propriety of using our best soils for so uncertain a crop, 
while corn, oats, and hay are much surer, and hence, on an average, more 



706 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



remunerative. Besides, the use, or rather abuse, which is made of the great- 
est part of this product, is one that conscientious, thinking men can scarcely 
reflect upon with pleasure. Barley requires, with us in Niagara County, 
the best land we have, prepared in the most thorough manner ; and it must 
then have a very favorable season, free from drouth or excessive wet, to 
insure a fair yield. Barley straw, well cured, and not over-ripe, is freely 
eaten by cattle and sheep. It is worth more for fodder than wheat straw, 
and our cattle, while the grass is yet green, will fill themselves from the 
straw-stack every night when they return to the yard. By elevating the 
straw-carrier above the lower sieves of the separator, when thrashing, the 
bearded chaff is thrown into the manure yard, thus escaping its presence in 
the straw to the injury of sheep by getting in the wool while eating. This 
straw is sometimes of small value, because over-ripe and weathcrbeaten, or 
because carelessly saved kud stacked. In our opinion, it is worth better 
treatment." 

776. Buckwheat as a Farm Crop. — A large portion of the farmers of the 
New England States, and also some of the other Northern and Western 
States, raise a little buckwheat for family use, but few depend upon it as a 
farm crop, because most of them believe it to be an exhausting one, and 
some think a few successive sowings would utterly ruin land. Now, /*• 
huckioheat an ex/iaiistin(j crop ? We find this question answered according 
to our notion of fiicts in the Country Gentlenmn : 

" I will give an authentic ease, coming under my own notice, at variance 
with the usually received theory. A neighbor of mine has grown buck- 
wheat on the same field (and a poor field naturally, at that,) for twenty-six 
consecutive years, with a fair average return, no other manure having been 
carried on the field than the buckwheat haulm, which was regularly returned. 
Said neigiibor having died, the farm came into the possession of others, who 
raised in the succeeding years good crops of corn, wheat, and clover." 

Buckwheat straw, if cut before frost, makes very good fodder, everybody's 
opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, and we have no doubt makes good 
manure for any other crop. It certainly does when turned in green. 

As to the profitableness of growing buckwheat we are well satisfied, pro- 
vided it is not, as is too apt to be the case, turned off upon the very poorest 
old field on tl*e farm. With a fair chance it will average twenty-five or 
thirty bushels an acre. 

The premium crop of New York, 1859, was thirty-five and a half bushels, 
grown upon sandy loam in good order, where a crop of rye badly winter- 
killed had been plowed in July 1st, and the buckwheat sowed July 6tli, 
one bushel per acre. It was harvested the last week in September, and sold 
at C2i cents a bushel. The whole field from which the acre was measured, 
yielded two hundred and two bushels upon six acres. The profit upon the 
crop was counted $11 an acre. 

We look upon buckwheat as the most important crop for planting late in 
the season of any of the substitutes for wheat. It may be sown as late as 



Sec. 44.] MILLET AS A FARM CROP. 707 

the first of July. Some farmers consider lialf a bushel of seed upon good 
hind sufficient, as the more it branches the more productive will be the crop. 
It is a profitable crop, as it is easily cut and thrashed upon the field, or 
it may be stacked and kept till winter. The grain, besides its use for human 
food, is one of the most valuable for poultry-feeding, and to tit up a horse 
quickly with a sleek coat there is no grain equal to buckwheat. For ordinary 
stock-feed it is not as valuable as corn, barley, rye, wheat, or peas. Indian 
corn should never be planted upon buckweat stubble. We are not aware 
that it injures any other crop. 

777. Millet as a Farm Crop. — Very few farmers sow millet as a farm crop, 
and many never saw it grow. Of late years, one variety has been a good 
deal extended at the West, under the name of Hungarian grass.. That kind 
grows with a branching head, heavily loaded with round seed, somewhat 
larger tlian turnip seed. Another sort grows a spike-head, eight or ten inches 
long, and is generally called Syrian millet, and the other is called German 
millet. Tlie botanical name of the millet mostly grown here is Panicum 
Sorghum, and it is largely cultivated in some parts of the world as a bread 
crop. It grows well in sandy soil, and is really a productive crop, and one 
of the great advantages of it is that it may be sown after corn, oats, pota- 
toes, and sju-ing wheat have been provided for. From the Ist to the loth 
of June is the right time to put it in, and it is fit to cut after grass and grain. 
For poultry feed, millet is excellent, and well worth growing for that pur- 
pose. It is estimated that a fair crop of millet will produce three or four 
tuns per acre of straw, and twenty bushels or more of seed. If the crop is 
sown for the purpose of making seed, it is recommended by those who have 
grown it most, to sow twelve quarts, and if the crop is intended to be cut 
for hay, sow half a bushel of seed per acre. When allowed to stand till all 
the seed is well i-ipened, thirty bushels an acre is a coiumon yield. 

For a soiling crop millet is very good, particularly the large sort, which 
grows in rich soil with large succulent stalks, and makes as good feed and 
as large a burden as sowed corn, and often succeeds when that fails. It 
requires no more skill, and hardly as much labor to grow a crop of millet 
as a crop of oats. 

Ill districts where it is most grown in Europe, the opinion prevails that 
millet yields more food for man and beast than any other cultivated grain. 
Cut for hay, the crop is large and of excellent quality, and, it is said, im- 
parts a vigor and elasticity to working cattle that is acquired from no other 
food. Stock, too, are very fond of millet hay. 

Writers in Europe, treating upon the cultivation of millet generally, con- 
cur in the followiiiir statements: 

If allowed to ripen its seed, it is an excellent grain for animals, possessing 
as much nutriment as Indian corn, but not its fattening property. In Europe 
it is often ground, and where people are accustomed to its use, they are fond 
of millet bread. A rich, light soil is best, and it should be deep and finely 
prepared as for wheat. If grown for hay, from thirty to forty quarts of seed 



708 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



should be sown to the acre. It should he cut while the seed is in tlie milky- 
state, and as soon as it is well wilted it should be put up and cured in cocks, 
as recommended for clover hay. If the weather is fine, it will be sufficiently 
made in three or four days, when the cocks should be turned and opened a 
few hours before it is hauled in. When sown for the grain, from sixteen to 
twenty quarts of seed are required to the acre, and if put in with a good 
seed drill, the crop of seed would be much improved. 

No attempt should ever be made to secure both seed and hay from tne 
same field. Plant one field for seed and one for hay. A good crop will yield 
five tuns of hay per acre. 

For seed, the iipper parts of the heads must be ripe before tliey are cut. 

There is one advantage in growing millet that ought to commend it to all 
farmers — it flourishes well in the driest seasons. 

Farmers who once commence the cultivation of millet seldom, if ever, 
abandon it. 

778. Grain Farms and Stock Farms. — In closing this section upon the 
cereals (e.xcept maize), we could write a long paragraph upon the subject of 
uniting stock and grain farms, but will only copy from the New York 
State Agricultural Society's Transactions the following suggestive and in- 
structive paragraphs from Hon. George Geddes' Survey of Onondaga 
County : 

"In that part of the county best adapted to the cultivation of grain, our 
farmers generally intend to keep stock enough to manufacture their hay, 
cornstalks, and straw into manure. The teams to do their work they must 
have, and the cows to make their own butter, and perhaps a small surplus 
to sell ; the rest is generally made up with sheep, as the most convenient 
stock to handle, with the least labor. They calculate that eight merino 
sheep can be kept as well as a cow on the farm, and with far less labor. 
A good ewe should yield four and a half pounds of wool, worth 45 cts. per 
lb., which for the eight gives $16 20 ; and the eight should raise six lambs, 
worth in the fall $2 each, which with the wool gives $28 20. "We could 
not profitably devote all our lands that are good for grain to raising sheep, 
but we can connect them in proper numbers with grain-raising to advan- 
tage — we think to more advantage than any other farm-stock. 

'• To show the advantage of raising some stock in connection with grain, 
we have only to take Camillus, which is a grain-raising town, and we find 
that only ly'A acres are devoted to pasture, yVo to meadow, for each head of 
neat cattle, of horses, and of eight sheep. This gives for pasture and 
meadow lyVo acres for each head. From this it is evident that the straw and 
cornstalks of Camillus winter about half the stock, and the pasture from 
grain-fields nearly half pastures them. If we carry this calculation fully 
out, the comparison between the purely grazing and mixed agriculture 
would be still more striking. The town of Camillus has a large number of 
horses engaged in other business than farming, the canal running through 
the town, and being near Syracuse, a considerable part of the hay is sold 



PLATE XVIII. 

(Page 709.) 

Tnis picture, although not so shovpy and attractive to sight at 
first view, is one of the most valuable in the series. It should be 
most carefully studied by every farmer. He must learn to readily 
tell his worst enemies from his best friends. Here both are placed 
before hira. He should examine them so carefully, that he can 
afterward distinguish them as easily as he can teU his own horse 
from that of his neighbor. The three classes of insects illustrated 
upon the upper part of this plate are the most destructive of all the 
pests of the farm ; yet the farmer who has not informed himself all 
about insects, would be just as likely to destroy those represented 
upon the lower part of the plate as he would the others. Yet 
they are his best friends ; without them he could not exist. The 
destructors of fruit and grain and trees would prevent man from 
growing a sufficiency of food, if it were not for the "insects bene- 
ficial to the agriculturist." 

The little that we have found room fpr under the head of Ento- 
mology (Sec. XII.) will only serve to whet the appetite to study the 
habits and character of aU insects in works devoted to the subject. 
Without such works, much may be learned from this plate. Many, 
perhaps for the first time, will be made to understand that each of 
those pretty little spotted bugs which frequently swarm about the 
garden, which we have been merely taught the common name of, 
and because it is pretty, have called "the lady bird," is one of man's 
co-laborers in the garden ; and so are several others which he will 
see pictured in its company. "We entreat you to study the picture 
of every one of these insects most carefully. 



IwsBOTS IS'.TrRiot'S To l-'Kri-r, 



i^m 




bepo siting 
crescent shaped cut . 




J;^ S atuj-al 



^gtSSSk ^P^ ^S«r CocUinsMolhl-alerpillarandChiysalis |-.„in„^ Mnlhs 

Larva \^ee^-il <ir CiiroiiUo fpi;^mng death WVpvil Larva Mas-*^ 




Iclmpiim-on Fly Nat^sizp 



Sec. 45.] 



HISTORY OF INDIAN CORN. 



709 



there. In the grazing town of Fabius, a small fraction over three acres of 
pasture and meadow is required for each head of stock, or eight sheep." 

Assuming this as the proper ratio, he makes a three-year-old steer cost, for 
use of land $36, care $1S, total $54, or about five cents per daj^ up to that 
age, and the expense is far from being over-estimated •where stock-raising is 
carried on upon expensive land uncoimected with grain-growing. 




SECTION XLV.-INDIAN CORN-ITS HISTORY. 

P NDIAN CORN" (maize) is the poor man's crop. It is 
y often grown by the new settler in the little opening he 
makes in the woods, amid stumps and fallen trees, by the 
aid of his hoe alone. "Without Indian corn, this country 
could never have been settled and brought into such rapid 
cultivation. It is to America the most important crop that is 
grown. It enters into tlie food of all classes of people, either 
as bread or meat, so that it may be said tJiat it is as much a 
universal food crop with us as rice is in India. It is more 
important than rice, for it produces a higher order of civil- 
ization. 

Indian corn takes its name from the American aborigines, 
among whom it was found growing before they knew the 
use or value of iron implements of husbandry. It has ever 
been a favorite food with them, and since we call them Indians, it is very 
proper to call this Indian corn. 

At first, Europeans who came to this country, as well as those who come 
now, were and are prejudiced against the use of this grain as food, not even 
relishing it when cooked in the milky state, of which Americans, like the 
Indians, have become so universally fond. The Irish, too, in time of famine, 
when supplies of this great American breadstuft' were sent them, considered 
it but little better than starvation to be obliged to sustain life upon food only 
fit for fatting pigs. The same people had just as strong prejudices at first 
against potatoes, now called Irish potatoes, because so many of that nation 
live upon them almost as exclusively as some Americans do upon Indian 
com. The value of the corn crop to America is beyond calcuhation. The 
two next greatest — wheat and hay — do not equal it, while beside corn, the 
boasted cotton crop is a mere fraction. Its importance is universal ; no 
product common to all the States has ever been so extensively cultivated. 
So important was it considered by the native itdiabitants of America, that in 
Peru the palace gardens of the Incas were ornamented with maize, with all 
the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves, in gold and silver, representing the 
growth in its exact and natural shape ; a proof no less of the wealth of the 



710 



CEREALIA. 



[Chap. VIII. 



Incas than of their veneration for this important grain. In further proof 
of the American origin of this phmt, it may be stated that it is still found 
growing in a wild state from the Rocky Mountains to the humid forests of 
Paraguay, where, instead of having each grain naked — as is always the case 
after long cultivation — it is completely covered with glumes or husks. Co- 
lumbus found the natives of Hispaniola cultivating it in extensive fields, and 
those of other places first visited by liim were also in possession of it. The 
first Englishmen by whom it was cultivated were those who settled in Vir- 
ginia in 1607. 

In all the wars against the Indians, the hardest blows given them were in 
tlie destruction of their cornfields. The biirnintj of a wigwam town was 
misery to women and children, but destruction of the cornfields impoverished 
the entire tribe. The former could be quickly rebuilt, but the latter conld 
not be replaced till next year. The Indians had not many varieties of corn, 
and its cultivation was a necessity with them, and the task was imposed on 
the women, who planted, gathered, roasted, pounded, and cooked the corn. 
The plowshare occasionally turns np, on the site of some forgotten wigwam, 
the I'ude stones which crushed the ripened grain. The whites quickly recogv 
nizcd the value of corn as food for man and beast, improved its culture, mul- 
tiplied its varieties, and by the invention of machines for shelling it rapidly 
and grinding it cheaply, raised it to the position of a staple so important, 
that if the whole wheat crop of this country were suddenly annihilated, the 
corn crop alone would supply ns plenteously with food. While Louisiana 
and Florida produce but 1,500 bushels annually of wheat, they give 
14,000,000 bushels of corn ; and slaves consume no more wheat than did the 
aborigines. Corn is their sole food, and if the corn crop could be annihi- 
lated, slavery would perish of starvation. It is cheap corn as well as high- 
priced cotton that keeps slavery alive. 

Corn hybridizes with great facility, so that varieties are constantly in- 
creasing, yet a rich reward is ready for whoever may propagate a new va- 
riety far surpassing any of the sorts now cultivated. It may be said of sorts 
now in use, that one is grown in one district of country because it was first 
introduced there, the growers being satisfied without looking farther. An- 
other, because great crops have been secured from it in a different section, 
where the soil had been found especially congenial. A third, because the 
grain was large and the cob small. A fourth, because the stalk grew very 
tall and yielded much fodder ; while a fifth was preferred for peculiarities 
directly opposite. It hajipcns, fortunately, that all varieties are good for 
man and beast, and that where cultivation is well managed, good crops and 
certain profits are the result. 

Chemistry applied to detecting the peculiarities of Indian corn shows a 
great difference in varieties. " A grain cut in half, and immersed in a solu- 
tion of hydrosulphate of ammonia, will have the chit changed to a dark olive 
color, thus proving the presence of salts of iron. The exact limits of starch 
and dextrine contained in the grain are indicated by the tincture of iodine 



Seo. 45.] CHEMISTRY OF INDIAN CORN. 711 

striking an intense blue with the starch, and a deep port- wine red with dex- 
trine ; so that this test, by producing a rich violet, indicated the presence 
of both starch and dextrine. If the oil be extracted from the transparent 
horny part of corn by alcohol or ether, the tincture of iodine will show the 
presence of starch in that part of the grain associated with the gluten. By 
these moans one can readily cause any grain to define the extent and precise 
limit of each of its ingredients, and enable the naked eye to form a pretty 
correct estimate of their relative proportions in different seeds. The relative 
proportions of the phosphates in grain depend on the appropriating power 
of each species or variety. Thus, an ear of corn being selected containing 
two different kinds, the Tuscarora and the sweet corn, and these seeds being 
split in two and imn>ersed in the same solution, soon gave evidence of more 
than do»ble the amount of phosphates in the sweet corn than in the other 
variety. The result was extraordinary, because the grains came from the 
same ear and grew side by side, yet they had obtained unequal quantities 
of phosphates from the same sap, drawn from the same soil." Thus, a crop 
of sweet corn will appropriate twice as much of the phosphates as the other 
variety, and will consequently sooner exhaust the soil of them. Hence 
ground bones are the specific manure for sweet corn. This variety has re- 
cently come into extensive use for table consumption, and is annually in- 
creasing. Its numerous growers should freely make use of ground bones as 
its most valuable fertilizer. Its origin is unknown, but it appears to liavc 
been used by the aborigines of New England previous to the settlement of tiie 
country by the Pilgrims. In addition to a large proportion of the phos- 
phates, it contains a great quantity of sugar and gum, with but little starch. 
Its short and slender stalks take up a less proportion of the saline matters 
of the soil. 

Chemistry proves that corn possesses peculiar value as food for young 
animals, because it contains more of the phosphates than the smaller grains. 
Farmers know, without knowing the cause, that the bones of young animals 
are greatly strengthened by being fed on corn, and they may learn from 
chemistry not only how to raise corn, but how to use it. Chemistry indicates 
the relative power possessed by each kind of grain of appropriating the 
pliosphates contained in the soil, and consequently its wants. As oats and 
buckwheat contain the least proportion, they may be raised on soil not fully 
supplied with phosphates. 

Tuscarora corn is one of the varieties which does not contain oil. Rice 
corn contains the most, pop corn ranks next, Canada corn third, and brown 
corn next. There is a curious difference observable in the mode of distribu- 
tion of the oily and glutiaous parts of corn, the Southern variety always 
having it on the sides of the elongated seed, while the starch projects quite 
througii the grain to its summit, and by its contraction in drying produces 
the peculiar pit or depression in what is known as " gourd-seed corn." The 
Baden corn, which contains a very fine white oil, is still more remarkable 
for this arrangement. 



712 CEREALIA. [Chap. Vin. 



The uses of oil in corn are manifold. It is obviously to protect tlie grain 
from rapid decomposition in the soil, during long-continued wet, and to retain 
a portion of food until needed by the young plant, as the oil is uniformly the 
last portion of the grain taken up. It serves to keep meal from souring 
readily, and kiln-dried flint-corn meal will keep sweet for years, when put 
up properly, while the Tuscarora meal will sour in a short time. The oil 
imparts a decided taste to the meal, not pleasant to persons accustomed to 
use varieties containing no oil. 

There is from six to twelve per cent, of oil in corn, that of Southern 
growth containing less than Northern. When hulled by means of potash 
lye, tjie oil next to the epidermis of the grain is converted into soap, and 
the epidermis is detached. Tlio caustic alkali also liberates ammonia from 
the mucilage around the germ. "When corn is used for the manufacture of 
whisky, the oil is saved during the fermentation, as it separates and rises to 
the surface. It is held that 100 bushels of grain will yield 15 gallons of oil 
valuable for illuminating purposes. 

The colors of Indian corn depend on that of the epidermis, or hull, and 
of the oil — the latter, when yellow, showing its color through a transparent 
epidermis. In white varieties the oil is transparent and colorless, and the 
epidermis being also free from color, the meal is white. The Golden Sioux, 
a twelve-rowed variety, is colored by the oil. Red and blue owe their lively 
hues to the colors of the epidermis, and not to the oil. On inspecting very 
thin slices of corn under the microscope, the epidermis is found to be made 
up of hexagonal cells much larger than those of the glutinous and oily parts 
of the grain. The starch globules are distinctly seen in the starchy part ; a 
drop of diluted tincture of iodine brings out their forms and character with 
beautiful distinctness. The phosphates are probably in the state of a fine 
powder, while the ammonia is in combination with the organic matters, 
forming a kind of ammid in the mucilage around the germ. 

Corn contains all the elements required for the perfect development and 
support of the bodies of animals. The ingredients make it a highly nutri- 
tious grain. The gluten and mucilage contain nitrogen, an element essen- 
tial to the formation of fibrous tissue, muscle, nervous matter, and brain. 
The oil is nearly-formed fat, easily convertible into animal oils by a slight 
change of composition. Starch also is convertible into fat, and into the car- 
bonaceous substances of the body, and during its slow combustion in the cir- 
culation gives out a portion of the heat of animal bodies, while in its altered 
state it goes to form a part of the living frame. From the phosphates are 
derived the substance of bone, as well as the saline matters of brains, nerves, 
and other solid and fluid parts of the body. The salts of iron contained 
in the food of animals go to the blood, and constitute an essential portion 
of it, enabling it, by successive changes of its degree of oxydation during 
the circulation through lungs, arteries, and veins, to transport oxygen to 
every part of the body. 

" Chemistry has proved that ' flesh is grass,' that vegetable and animal 



Sec. 45.] INDIAN CORN. 713 



fiber are identical, as are vegetable and animal albumen. Plants are there- 
fore organs of reduction, animals mere organs of combustion. Vegetables 
produce neutral nitrogenized matters, fat matters, sugar, starcb, and gum ; 
decompose carbonic acid gas, absorb heat and electricity, and are an ap- 
paratus of reduction. Animals consume what the vegetables produce, at 
the same time producing carbonic acid gas, giving out heat and electricity, 
being an apparatus of combustion." 

Corn is unquestionably the prime national staple, and in every season of 
deficient crops of other grains, the corn crop has proved a granary upon 
which the nation could live, and the yield is annually increasing. In 1840 
it was 377,000,000 bushels; in 1850 it was over 590,000,000; and in 1860, 
900,000,000. In 1840 our whole export of corn and its manufactures 
amounted to only $800,000. In 1847 the famine in Ireland swelled the 
amount to $18,696,000, since which the export has never fallen below 
$2,000,000, while in 1855 it rose to $8,198,693, and in 1859 to $6,187,446. 
When a bushel of wheat is worth 95 cents, one of corn is worth 77, nutri- 
ment alone considered ; yet when corn has stood at $1 per bushel, wheat 
has stood at $2 50. Thus, in buying wheat, we obtain, for any given 
amount of money, a little less than half the nutriment we obtain when 
buying corn 

1S40. 1850. 

Product of the Blave States bushels, 252,443,802 348,fl'J2,282 

Product of the free States " 124,988,072 242,618,650 



377,431,874 591,610,932 

Thus the increased production in the free States was about 75 per cent., 
while in the slave States it was only about 39 per cent. Tlie greatest corn- 
producing State in 1840 was Tennessee, whose crop was 44,986,188 bushels. 
In 1850 it was but a little over 52,000,000. In the same period Indiana and 
Illinois had risen from 50,790,098 to 110,611,347 bushels. Iowa had in- 
creased her yield nearly 500 per cent., Wisconsin as much, while New Jer- 
sey, Ohio, Vermont, and Maine nearly doubled theirs. In Michigan the 
increase was more than double. In only two of the slave States, Missouri 
and Arkansas, was the production double. Virginia made poorer relative 
progress than any other State. These figures show that the great corn em- 
pire of this country is to be in the West. Nearly one sixth of the Ohio crop 
has heretofore been converted into whisky. 

In 1855, Ohio had 2,205,282 acres in corn, producing 87,587,434 bushels, 
an average of 39.7 per acre. In 1859, the quantity in corn was 2,431,312 
acres, producing 68,730,846 bushels, an average of only 28.3. For ten years 
the average yield has been steadily declining ; in two only, within that 
period, rising above the yield of 1850. It then stood at 36.8 per acre, and 
in 1859 at 28.3. 

Indian corn is the great American staple — the grand necessity of all Amer- 
ican agriculture. The grand success in its production is, first of all, in the 
preparation of the seed, and the soil in which it is to be planted. 



714 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

779. Corn Crops, North and Sonth. How to Grow them Better.— We think 
that in all the Southern States, excluding the alluvions, the average per acre 
will not equal ten bushels of Imlian corn, while a crop of forty bushels upon 
some of the richest river bottoms is considered a lirst-rate one. It is not 
surprising that the yield is so light. Look how it is planted. In all of the 
slave States the little one-horse shovel plow is in common use. Tiiis plow 
is made of a piece of thin iron like a pointed shovel, say nine inches across, 
which is fastened to the standard under the beam, and the whole is so light 
that I have often seen a negro girl of fourteen or fifteen years old, mount 
her mule and take her plow on her shoulder or on before her, to ride to the 
field. With this tool the ground is scratched over, and corn planted and 
tended by the same implement. As the subsoil is hard, the roots only 
spreftd through the loose earth on the surface, and the after-plowing serves 
to tear them to pieces. In lower Virginia it is common to throw the land 
all into beds about a foot high, five feet apart, and grow stalks one in a place, 
from two to four feet apart. The crop is ten to twenty bushels. One of the 
largest planters on the Roanoke cultivates about 3,000 acres in corn. His 
land is very rich, and subject to overflows. He does not manure, and burns 
his stalks and cobs to get rid of them. The yield averages perhaps thirty 
bushels. In the same vicinity the Messrs. Burgwin have brought the ave- 
rage yield of their land from seven bushels to thirty, principally by deep 
plowing. They plant rows five feet apart, and stalks one to two feet apart. 
Uplands in that vicinity, plowed by one horse and the little shovel plows, 
produce five to ten bushels to the acre. It is planted about the 20th of 
April, 4 by 4i feet, one stalk in a hill without manure. On the bottom 
lands of James River the average yield may be about twenty-five bushels. 
On the Sandy Point estate, where the land is a true loam, and plowed with 
a three-mule team, and planted about 25th of April, five and a half feet be- 
tween rows and one and one fourth feet between stalks, the yield is thirty- 
five bushels average. The seed is covered with a harrow, and the crop 
tended with a double shovel plow. The annual crop is five hundred acres. 
Gen. Peyton, above Richmond, took an old plantation and renovated it by 
deep plowing. He runs what is called a coulter, which is a small subsoil 
plow, to mark the rows, and then again on each side after the corn is up. 
This lets the roots down sixteen inches to search for food and moisture. Ed- 
mund Ruffin has renovated an old farm on the Pamunky, east of Richmond, 
by the use of marl and deep plowing. He plants 4 by 5 feet, two stalks in a 
hill, and 5 by 2 feet, one stalk in a place. Mr. Ruffin is the champion 
of calcareous manures, and has caused many thousand acres of worn-out 
land to be restored. The Sandy Point estate has been limed three times, with 
first, fifty bushels ; second, thirty-five bushels ; third, thirty-five bushels; and 
cultivated on the five-field system — that is, corn, wheat, clover, wheat, fal- 
low. The annual wheat crop is 1,000 acres, which has been increased from 
an average of three bushels to seventeen. There are 2,700 acres of plow 
land in one field. The corn crop is from 15,000 to 20,000 bushels a year, 



Sec. 45.] CORN CROPS— IIUW TO GROW TIIEM BETTER. 715 

about two thirds of wliicli is sold. This place will be long remembered by 
" the army of the Potomac," as the one where the Cliickahominy was crossed 
on tiie pontoon bridge. 

On Edisto Island, and upon the coast of South Carolina generally, the cul- 
tivation is all done by hoes. A negro will tend six to eight acres in cotton, 
corn, and potatoes. Upon the plantation of Mr. Townsend, who has made 
ctibrts to induce people to use the plow, the task of his hands is five acres 
of cotton, three acres of corn, and one of potatoes to each field-hand. In all 
tlie Southern States there are thousands of acres planted every year, upon 
ground scratched over by the little shovel plow, that does not yield ten 
bushels per acre, and much of it not five bushels. The great fault every- 
where is shallow plowing, and that is the reason why corn crops do not 
averatre better in all the corn-£jrowin£: States. 

A negro scratches two or three marks about two inches deep in the loose 
earth, in the place where the rows are to be, leaving the " middles" to be 
" broke out" after the corn is planted and has come up. This is a part of 
tlie cultivation, or " tending the crop," on land never manured. 

At the West, the average yield of all the acres planted is not thirty bush- 
els, although crops of ten acres each have averaged over one hundred and 
fifty bushels per acre, and crops of one hundred bushels are not unusual. 
Upon rich prairie soil, forty to sixty bushels per acre is accounted first-rate, 
and fully satisfactory to the producer. 

Most of the cornfields of all the Eastern States might be made to double 
their yield by the use of a plow that would reverse the surface ten indies, 
bringing the lower five to the top and leaving them loose and friable, and 
then following in the same furrows with a subsoil lifter that would loosen 
the compact earth eight or ten inches deeper, to say nothing of the advan- 
tage of turning under a strong grass or clover sod to decay and furnish food 
for the grain at the very time when it was most needed. All this is inde- 
pendent of manures, either from the farm-yard, or sea-side, or muck-beds, or 
city streets, or from Peru, or any of the manufactories of artificial fertiliz- 
ers, and is witiiiii the reach of all corn-planters who may be unable to pro- 
cure the oUwv means of fertility and increase of the crop, without some of 
which it is now useless to attempt to grow Indian corn in New York or 
New England. 

In the old States, Indian corn can not be profitably grown upon land that 
has not been underdrained or subsoil plowed, and that is nou plowed at least 
eight inches deep for each crop, asd most tiioroughly pulverized before tho 
seed is put into the ground. As a general rule, half the labor of after- 
culture will be saved by proper preparation of the ground before planting. 
One of the best implements ever used for marking out the rows is a subsoil 
lifter. We have seen an ordinary plow coulter, eighteen inches long, fast- 
ened to a beam with handles, used for marking the rows with decided ben- 
efit, as it made a temporary drain for the young plants, which every farmer 
knows can not bear any excess of water, even for a few hours, in a hot sun. 



716 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

without serious injury to all the after-growth of stalk and production of 
grain. 

Upon tlie virgin soil of the prairies, or upon the bottom-lands of some of 
the Western rivers, men will not, of course, follow those directions, because 
they can get a large acreable yield with less labor, and some of them liave 
been so long in the practice of raising corn in the slovenly, careless manner 
they do, that it is as useless to ask them to improve as it is to ask a New 
England farmer who never grew 40 bushels of corn upon an acre to believe 
that his neiglibor has grown 80. Both East and West, and North and South, 
the mass will still work on in the old way, notwithstanding all the facts 
spread before them, yet we will hope that one or two may be induced to re- 
solve upon improvement after reading this article. 

Upon tlie rich prairie soil of Indiana and Illinois, corn has been grown on 
contract for five cents a bushel. The late Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth had 
3,000 acres one year grown by persons who contracted with Mr. E. to plow, 
plant, till, and grow the crop ready for harvesting for $3 an acre, and the 
yield gave sixty bushels per acre. 

One of tlie premium corn crops of Connecticut was grown by Nathan 
Hart, Jr., of West Cornwall. The soil was a rich, friable loam, which had 
been in grass for the last forty years, and had received no manure except 
the droppings of the cattle. It had probably been pretty well manured in 
this way. "Twenty-four ox-cart loads of manure from the barn cellar were 
applied; the land was plowed seven inches deep on the 9tli and 11th of 
May. The seed was of the Dutton variety. It was soaked for thirty-six 
hours in a warm solution of saltpeter, and rolled in plaster and planted May 
23, four kernels in a hill, the hills from two to two and a half feet apart in 
the row, and the rows three feet apart. It was hoed three times by hand 
after the horse-hoe at intervals of eight days, commencing June 13. 

" The crop was cut up by the roots during the week commencing Sept. 
17, and husked the first week in November. The yield was 98 bushels, one 
peck, six quarts per acre. 

Estimated value of crop, including stalks and pumpkins S103 43 

Cost of raising 37 50 

Balance profit of the crop S65 93 

" Wm. H. Putnam, of Brooklyn, grew another prize crop. The soil was 
a wet, black loam, with a heavy, compact subsoil, which had been three 
years in grass, with no manure. Sixteen full loads of stable manure from 
under cover were plowed in, and ten loads of compost, made from fer- 
mented stable and Iiog manure, well mixed with rather poor summer-made 
yard manure, were put in the hill. His land was plowed eiglit inches deep, 
and corn dropped upon the manure, in furrows three feet apart, and the 
corn two and a half feet apart in the furrow, and plaster upon the corn ; six 
quarts of seed to the acre of the Rhode Island premium variety, planted 
May 27. Cultivated and hoed twice, and thinned to four stalks in the hill, 



Seo. 45.] WHEN TO PLANT CORK 717 

and when ripe, cut up by the roots and stacked. The yield was 95^ bushels 

to the acre. 

Value of the whole crop $96 40 

Cost of cultivation 26 60 

Balance of profit $69 90 

" James A. Bill, of Lyme, took the third premium. His soil is a gravelly 
loam, cultivated tlie two previous years in corn, and the third year previous 
in grass. Forty loads of barn-yard nianure were plowed in deeply for each 
crop of corn, and a dressing of 150 bushels of ashes the first year. No ma- 
nure was applied to the land when in grass. The land was plowed June 1, 
and planted June 5 with six quarts of Dutton corn three feet and a half apart 
cacli way. The seed was soaked until nearly ready to sprout, and ten days 
after planting it was up and hoed ; and again tlie last of June ; and the 
third time about the middle of July. The land left perfectly flat, no hills 
being made. The crop was cut Sept. 30, and yielded 89 bushels per acre. 

Whole value of crop $95 50 

Cost of cultivation 9 60 

Balance of profit 880 00 

The value of the manure is not estimated, which would take off at least $20 
from the profit, leaving it about the same as the other premium crops. It 
will be noticed that Mr. Bill plants very late, June 5. This is his practice 
every year. He plants, also, six inches farther apart one way, and a foot 
farther apart tlie other. With a smaller variety of corn, and closer planting, 
we think this acre would have taken the first premium." 

Now, these erops were grown in as unfavorable a season as we have had 
in many years, in a State not marked upon our country's map as one of the 
corn-growing States, and not, so far as we can see, with a very extraordinary 
amount of labor, and yet with a very handsome profit, leaving the soil in 
better condition than it was before. 

7S0. When to Plant Corn. — There is a rule, and one of no little import- 
ance, homely as it may seem, for fixing the proper time for putting the seed 
corn in the ground. It is a day in the calendar of the aborigines, which our 
Pilgrim fathers found established among these original corn-planters. In 
answer to the question, " What time in the spring do you plant corn ?" the 
answer was, "When the leaves upon the oak-trees are as large as the ears of 
the squirrels that sun themselves on the branches, then our squaws plant the 
seed that has been so carefully preserved in the smoke of our wigwams." 

There is much truth in the old Indian rule, both in preserving the seed, 
which was hung up in clusters of ears, by the braided husks, to the poles of 
the wigwam, and in the time of planting it — the time pointed out by nature, 
not the almanac, when the ground had become sufficiently warm to insure 
rapid vegetation. 

Experience has proved that the 20th of May, as a general rule, corre- 
sponds very well with the time of putting forth oak leaves " as large as a 



718 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

squirrel's ear," and then it is the fittest time for planting. The next most 
fitting time is when you are ready, for upon getting land ready, and proper 
cultivation, depend all your success. 

With straight rows, and a practiced hand to hold the cidtivator, it leaves 
but little work for the hoes. Corn should bo cut about the middle of Sep- 
tember by the roots, and shocked. There will be more corn and better fod- 
der. This process will give us corn at 50 cents a bushel or less. 

781. Seed Coru— Selecting, Saving, and Preparing it to Plant.— Any man 
claiming the name of farmer who does not systematically select his seed 
corn in the field before the crop is harvested, can never be written down in 
our books as a good farmer. And this is a work, too, that must not be 
trusted to a graduate from any Corkonian institution. It is the business of 
the farmer himself. No ear, ho^vever large and sound, should be taken from 
a stalk that does not carry two full-sized, sound ears. No ear that is not 
well filled out with perfect kernels to the very point, should be accepted for 
seed, if a farmer — and a good farmer does — desire to improve his crop. 
The effect produced by Baden, by this practice of selection, was a universal 
regular production of four to seven ears upon all the stalks, until at length 
" Baden corn" became known as an improved variet}'. It is an improve- 
ment that any farmer can make. If you would grow great crops, the great- 
est pains must be taken with the seed. It should be carefully selected, and 
that from crops grown north of your own location, if only half a degree. 

Many farmers contend that no kernel should be planted which has not 
been soaked to the point of sprouting ; not one should be planted deep. 
Then if you do not neglect the after-cultivation, you may have a good crop 
of Indian corn, notwithstanding the discouraging character- of prospects in 
the spring. 

If the weather is such that you can not plant a great quantity, remember 
that you can have more bushels now from half the number of acres intended 
tc be planted than from the whole, if the manure and labor are concentrated. 
But always bear in mind that the first and most important step toward a 
good crop is in the careful selection of seed. Mr. Thomas Sjjencer, of Cape 
Girardeau, Mo., increased the yield of corn in three years, upon the same 
ground, fully one third by simply selecting the seed in the following man- 
ner : When his corn was just coming into the proper state for roasting ears, 
he passed through his field, marking the ripest ears, judging by the silk. 
If tliere were two ears on the same stalk, he selected the upper one. When 
gathering his corn in the fall, these oars were carefully put away for seed. 

Farmers ! think of this every year. If you have neglected this course, 
or if the selection has been neglected while the corn stood where it grew, do 
not neglect it while you are husking. Save the best ear of all stalks that 
carry two or more, until you get an ample supply, and then put it away in 
a perfectly dry place. If you wish to change your seed, make it the busi- 
ness of a day to go about the country and see who has the best, and make 
your selection while it is on the stalk. The best time to gather seed coi'n is 



Sec. 45.] SEED CORN— SELECTING AND PREPARING IT TO PLANT. 719 

when it has just fully ripened, and the best way to keep it is to tie the ears 
in bunches by the husks and hang them up to the rafters. If in the loft of 
a smoky log-cabin, all the better. Smoke is as good for preserving corn as 
for corn-fed pork. Freezing weatlier in autumn injures more seed corn tliaii 
anything else. It should always be saved before frost. 

Many of the improved varieties of corn are accidental. Tliis is said to 
have been the case with the Improved King Philip, au excellent variety, 
which produces ears of unusual length, as long as the best Dutton, the 
kernels being very large and deep, eight rows on the cob, and it ripens per- 
fectly in one hundred days, producing very nearly double as much as the 
ordinary King Philip. 

One of the curiosities rf this improved variety is, that it does not appear 
disposed toward further improvement nor change. We have grown it in- 
termixed with half a dozen sorts, all of which hybridized, while tlie Im- 
proved King Philip remained as pure as the seed we planted. 

One of the best recommendations in relation to seed is this : Let each 
farmer plant, expressly for seed, from ten to a luindred hills in the richest 
ground he has, placing the hills six feet apart and allowing not more than 
three stalks to stand in each hill, so as to encourage each to develop three 
or four ears if possible. Let some of these hills be planted in the midst 
of potatoes, melons, cabbages, or other low plants, so as to secure them 
abundant air and sunshine, and thus no ground will be wasted, and in all 
probability seed will be obtained that will increase the next crop ten bushels 
per acre. It is an experiment that is worth trying. 

Farmers can not be too careful about providing good seed. If you have 
it not of your own, buy it. Even if an exorbitant price is demanded, it will 
be economy in the end, for it requires labor to re[)lant corn, and the second 
planting rarely amounts to anything in the way of ears ; the first planting 
shades, and gets so much the start of it. 

In some seasons the corn is generally uncertain about germinating; then 
it -is best to get cora of the previous year for seed. If you can not get old 
corn, select new corn that you think will grow, and take one kernel from 
each of fifteen or twenty ears; put> it, witli some moist, mellow dirt, in an 
old crock or dish, and wet it occasionally with tepid water ; keep it in a 
warm place, and you will soon have a test. In one experiment, where nine 
out of thirteen grew, M-e planted six or seven, instead of four kernels. If 
the germ of seed corn is feeble, and particularly if planted too deeply, the 
blade will curl up under the ground, and a great deal of it will never see the 
light ; while some that does reach the top of the ground is so exhausted by 
the effort that it never recovers. Planting good seed, or so much poor seed 
that a sufficient amount will grow, is of more importance than may be im- 
agined. Some farmers lose hundreds of bushels of corn by carelessness in 
this particular, and a general carelessness would materially affect the entire 
croj). One of the best farmers in Xew Jersey says : 

" I would only use the best grains in the center of the ear. The land 



720 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

should be deeply prepared, and marked each way three and a half feet by 
three and a half feet, with seven or eight grains to a hill, and five stalks 
loft to stand. "We cover one inch deep, and cultivate with Knox's horse- 
hoe, and never hill up. "We use the subsoil plow in preparing land and in 
cultivating. "We prefer to plant in May to a later day. The "White Flint 
corn is the most productive sort we grow. I have never known crows to 
cat corn. They certainly pull it up, for I have seen it lying upon the 
ground uneaten where they p>ulled it out. Our greatest pests are the 
blackbirds, which destroy a good deal of corn that Dushes its point out of 
the husks." 

A kind of corn called Button, much grown in the State of New York, is 
a Yellow Flint variety, eight-rowed and long ears, and productive of good 
crops, and this, if planted June 1, would generally ripen in the latitude of 
Albany. It requires one hundred days to come to maturity. There are 
several valuable hybrids of this variety that will ripen in the same period. 
If corn is ever heated in the crib, its germination is destroyed. Great care 
should be used to plant corn when the earth is in exactly the right condi- 
tion of temperature. 

From an experiment reported in the papers a few years ago, to test the 
question whether the seed taken from the middle of the ear is better than 
that from the ends, we gather the following facts, which are at least sug- 
gestive, if not conclusive, and should induce farmers to continue the experi- 
ment for several years, until each one is entirely satisfied. The following is 
the statement : Two acres were planted on a light soil, well adapted to 
Indian corn ; manured with seven and a half cords of barn-yard manure to 
the acre, spread broadcast and cultivated in, and ten bushels of leached 
ashes and one hundred pounds of gypsum to the acre put in the hill. The 
corn was planted on the 3d day of June, in alternate rows, with seed taken 
from the large ends, middle, and tops of the ears. It Avas hoed three times 
in the course of the season. One acre was harvested and husked with care, 
and the result noted on the 19th of October. 

The rows planted with seed taken from the large ends of the ears pro- 
duced 738 pounds of sound corn, 77 pounds of soft corn on the ears and 
1,3G0 pounds of stover. 

That from seed taken from the middle produced 663 pounds of sound 
corn in the ear, 164 pounds of soft corn, and 1,290 pounds of stover. 

That from seed taken from the small ends produced 747 pounds of sound, 
53 pounds of soft corn, and 1,320 pounds of stover. 

Comparing the crops on this acre, and estimating the sound corn at 1 and 
the soft corn at half a cent per pound, and the stover at 7 dollars the ton, 
the value of the crop, the seed of which was taken from the large end, 
was, 738 pounds sound corn, $7 38 ; 77 pounds soft do., 39 cents ; 1,360 
pounds stover, $4 55. Total, $12 32. That from middles— 663 pounds 
sound corn, $6 63 ; 164 pounds soft do., 82 cents ; 1,290 pounds stover, 
$4 51. Total, $11 96. That from the small ends— 747 pounds sound corn. 



Seo. 45.] WHEN TO PLANT CORN. 721 



$7 47 ; 53 pounds soft do., 26 cents ; 1,320 pounds stover, $4 62. Total, 
S12 35. 

From this experiment it appears that the very portion of the ear usually 
selected for seed is the least valuable, and the portion containing the small 
kernels actually produces the most sound corn, the least soft corn, and 
greatest quantity of fodder, and slightly exceeds either of the three divisions 
in cash value. Taking this one case as a basis, and it proves that it is hardly 
worth the while of any farmer to shell off portions of the grains of an ear, 
rejecting one and saving the other for seed. An experiment made by Lan- 
sing Wetmore, of Warren, Pennsylvania, upon four adjoining rows, gave 
eleven and a half bushels upon those with unprepared seed, and seventeen 
bushels upon the other. The preparation consisted in soaking the corn over- 
night in just enough soft water to cover it, in which one ounce of copperas 
to each quart of corn was dissolved. To a peck of corn, when you take it 
out of the steep, stir in a pint of soft soap. Then add plaster enough to make 
it dry, so that you can handle it easily for dropping. The argument used by 
those who favor the various modes of preparing seed, is that it gives the 
young plant a vigorous start into healthy life before it could look abroad 
for pabulum. " An old farmer" says, about saving seed corn : " My own 
observation and experience, during forty years, convince me that the best 
preparation and treatment of seed corn is to keep it on the cob till the 
ground is prepared to receive it. No coating — no saturating — no soaking. 
At the proper season, pulverize the ground well, and put the dry corn in 
immediately from the cob." 

Still there are other farmers, of equal experience, who strenuously con- 
tend for the advantages of soaking seed corn, not only to hasten its vegeta- 
tion, but to save it from the attacks of destructive vermin. A young farmer 
writes that " an old gentleman not far from me says : ' Soak the seed ovei' 
night in copperas water, and the wire-worm will not trouble it.' Wh* 
knows whether this is so or not ?" To this question another correspondent 
makes this answer: "A good many years ago, when I was farming, in Mas- 
sachusetts, we had a field of corn that was at least two thirds destroyed by 
the wire-worm. A half dozen of these troublesome fellows were sometimes 
found sticking in a single kernel. We planted the second time, after soak- 
ing our seed over-night in a solution of copperas water, and I do not know 
that a single kernel failed. In after-years, we tried niter with equal suc- 
cess." Probably the best remedy against wire-worms is not to grow them. 
Keep no old meadows. Break them up. Plow all your sod and stubble 
land in autumn. Either bury your worm seed too deep to get out in time 
in the spring, or else freeze it to death in the winter. There is probably no 
remedy equal to deep plowing in aiitumn. 

Another correspondent is equally sure that tarring seed corn is a sove- 
reign remedy against all pests. He says : " Dissolve a pint of tar in hot 
water, sufficient to immerse a bushel of corn, and you will coat every kernel 
so that plaster, bone-dust, or ashes will adhere and cover each grain ; 

4S 



722 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



and this not only makes an unpalatable morsel for crows, squirrels, and 
other pests, but it will fertilize the young shoot so as to give it a vigorous 
start. Every variety of seed that vermin depredate upon may be tarred 
with great advantage." 

But another one says : "Tar is oftener injurious tlian otherwise. So are 
all other applications to seed corn — whether to keep off devourers or to 
promote growth. A better preventive is to scatter corn on the ground 
around thfe margin of the field, and through it in dilfcrent parts, if the field 
be large. As much corn as crows will eat, thus fed to them, will be found 
cheaper than scarecrows of any kind." 

782. Fertilizing Seed Corn. — A great deal has been written of late upon 
the advantage of fertilizing seeds by soaking them in a solution of some 
substance that has the property needed to give increased vitality to the 
young shoot. Dr. Chamberlin, of Chicago, has made some experiments 
that convince him that nearly half the time might be saved in germinating 
the seed by the use of chlorid of lime. In one of his experiments he had 
in his office four boxes ; in the first, the corn planted without soaking the 
seed, had not germinated, when the second, with seed that was soaked in 
warm water, had just commenced to germinate. In the third, seed that was 
soaked in a solution of chlorid of lime, showed green blades just peeping 
from the ground. In the fourth, seed soaked in a solution of chlorid of lime 
and copperas, in equal parts, showed blades nearly three inches above the 
ground. All the seeds taken from the same ear were planted at the same 
time, in the same quality of soil, and the boxes all had an equal share of 
heat and light, and equal advantages. 

This experiment should attract the attention of farmers, and if from four 
to six weeks nfay be saved by the use of chlorid of lime and copperas, it is 
a matter of no ordinary moment, since a delay in the gertnination of two 
weeks may place the crop within reach of frost in autumn. The copperas 
used in soaking tends to prevent birds, squirrels, and worms from eating the 
seed. One pound of chlorid of lime and one pound of copperas, costing not 
over twenty-five cents, should be dissolved in sufficient water to soak seed 
enough for twenty acres ; so every farmer could afford to make the experi- 
ment, even if he should fail to derive any benefit from it. 

7S3. Shall we Grow Two Ears upon a Stalk ?— It is the general opinion 
of farmers, that a field which averages two ears upon a stalk would give 
more bushels of corn per acre than a field of stalks bearing one ear each. 
But we have a statement from O. S. Murray, of Warren County, Ohio, that 
gives proof to the contrary of this position. He says : " After having my 
attention often turned to the subject, by what had been so repeatedly pub- 
lished in the agricultural papers, I went about taking observations for my- 
self, several years ago. The result was, that in more than ninety-nine in- 
stances in a Imudred, the largest ear on a stalk having but one had more 
grain than. the largest two ears, or all the ears on any stalk having more 
than one. In a field of two acres, very well eared, I searched in vain 



8ko. 46.] PREPARING GROUND FOR CORN. 723 



throughout to find a single instance where two or more ears on a stalk had 
as mucli grain as I could easily and often find on the largest and best car 
where there was but one. In another seajon afterward, I mentioned the 
matter to a man who was helping me harvest a field of eight acres of supe- 
rior growth. He was astonished at my suggestion, and quite unbelieving. 
So we went about the scai'ch and comparison — he looking for two ears or 
more on a stalk, and I for one. In a single instance, and that instance onlj', 
he found more on two ears on a stalk than I could find on one. We made 
numerous comparisons, and in every other instance my single ear had de- 
cided advantage over his two or more in amount and quality of grain ; 
general!}^ the difference would be considerable. These observations led me 
to the conclusion, that in tlie cultivation of our larger varieties, the true 
philosophy is to ascertain as nearly as possible the largest number of stalks 
that can stand on a given area witli the largest single ears. Stop reducing 
the number of. stalks at the point where in the first single instance the 
second ear will shoot on a stalk. Besides increasing the quantity and quality 
of grain, you save one hqjf the work of husking. It is more work to husk 
a small ear than a large ^le. The swelling of the latter opens and loosens 
the husks for more ready removal." 

In relation to planting corn very wide apart, Mr. Murray thinks there would 
be liability to failure of perfect filling on the cobs. Except in the most 
favorable conditions of weather as to winds and showers, there could not be 
a sufiicieut number of successful communications from the anthers to the 
stigmas at wide distances. 

78i. Preparing Ground for Corni — This is the most important in all the 
laborious part of the work of making a crop of corn. Our choice would be 
a clover sod turned under in autumn, witli a good growth of green clover, 
running the subsoil plow in each furrow, or else, if the soil was already in a 
deep mellow condition, we would plow it with the Michigan, or double- 
share plow, and in the winter, while the ground was frozen, liaul and spread 
such a dressing of manure as we intended to give it, and then plow that in 
with a light plow, so as not to turn up the sod. We would mark the rows 
with a small subsoil plow, or else with a coulter, neither of which will make 
a furrow for you to plant in below the level of the surface. Indeed, upon 
wettish ground the following plan has been successfully used : Instead of 
plowing a furrow and planting the seed below the surface, where it will rot 
in wet weather, use an implement that will draw the loose surface-soil from 
each side of the line of the row into a ridge, or rather a flat elevation, and 
plant the seed upon that. In the lower part of Yirginia, nearly all the 
laud, particularly on the river bottoms, and what are called the " flat 
lands," is {flowed in ridges. But we do not commend the plan, unless it 
is upon flat lands that can not be drained. On the other hand, we condemn 
the practice of planting in the bottom of furrows upon any land. If tlie 
soil is well prepared, by surface and subsoil plowing and harrowing, if tlie 
ground has broken up in lumps, there is no way that the seed can be so 



724 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIH. 

well put in as with a drill. If farmers would spend more time in destroying 
the weeds before they go to seed, it will pay better than almost any other 
work. Three hundred years a^o, Toralio wrote in Italy that the soil dug 
over eight times was better than manurinnr. The old Indian mode of 
niling up the loose earth around the stalks was a mere thing of circum- 
stances by which they were surrounded, and like a great many other men 
before them, our sires and their sons became imitators. They never stopped 
to inquire or think why it was done. It was because the ground was not 
previously well prepared. If your ground was plowed in autumn or early 
spring, it has, of course, been beaten down by the rain, and is unfit for 
planting until plowed again. If you can not afford to do that, do the next 
best thing. Mark your rows with a subsoil lifter, or a long coulter, and 
commence using the cultivator or plow as soon as the corn shows above 
ground. If June proves dry and hot, the growth will, in default of deep 
plowing, be likely to fail ; and, if the land has not been previously plowed 
deep, the use of the subsoiler, run close to the rows upon each side, may be 
the means, perhaps the only means, of saving the«rop from ruin. 

785. Autumn Plowing and Wire-Worms.— Speaking of autumn plowing, a 
farmer of Livingston County, N. Y., says: " If the ground on which corn is 
intended to be planted the coming season is sward land, and infested with 
wire-worms, I would not, by any means, advise you to plow in autumn, but 
just before jjlanting, giving only time to suitably prepare the soil — even 
two or three weeks' difference in the time of plowing made more than one 
half difference with me in a crop, of corn. It would "be folly to think of 
planting the same ground to corn the ensuing year withoiit plowing deep, 
and very late in autumn, for the wire-worms would most certainly destroy 
the crop." By this it appears that his only reason for not plowing in 
autumn is on account of wire-worms. If he will dress this sod ground with 
three to ten bushels of salt per acre, a few days before the corn is plant- 
ed, we will insure him against the worms, and also insure the crop to be 
enough larger, on account of the salt, to pay for its cost. Dr. G. J. Locke, 
of Danby, Kutland County, Vt., gives the method by which he is suc- 
cessful in raising corn, which he thinks might be beneficially adopted by 
others : 

" Plow sward land six to ten inches deep ; then drag smooth with a heavy 
bush ; then spread twenty two-horse wagon-loads of barn-yard manure per 
acre ; then harrow till well mixed with the soil ; then mark off and put a 
handful of dry hen manure in each hill, and cover it two inches deep ; then 
drop the seed and cover it lightly with a hoe. Since I have taken this 
course, about four years, I have not had a hill of corn eaten by worms, 
while most of my neighbors have complained of having theire destroyed. 
Whether it is the general chemical action in fermenting, or whether there 
is one or more elements in the hen dung that keeps the worms from the 
corn, I do not know. If the corn is planted on the hen guano, without its 
being covered with earth, it destroys the vitality of the corn. In this way I 



Sko. 45.] DEPTH AND DISTANCE APART OF PLANTING CORN: 725 

get from 40 to 85 bushels to the acre. Twenty hens kept through the win- 
ter, in a good hen-house, as they should be, letting them run out in the day- 
time when convenient, with the chickens I usually raise, will furnish suffi- 
cient manure for one acre of land, and will pay their keeping if properly 
taken care of, leaving the eggs as a clear profit." 

We have one suggestion to add to this, and tha't is, that the sward be 
turned with a Michigan plow, which buries all the sod, and leaves several 
inches of loose earth on the surface, in admirable condition for receiving 
the dressing of manure. The recommendation of saving hen manure, and 
the profit of it, we fully indorse. Remember never to put lime or ashes in 
the hen-house, but you may use plaster, charcoal dust, fine muck, or loamy 
earth, so as to keep the mass, as it accumulates, quite inodorous. 

One who has tried it, says that an efiectual way to prevent cut-worms 
from destroying the first planting of corn is to sow broadcast half a bushel 
of seed per ?icre, and harrow it in, an4 then mark ofi" and plant as usual. 
The sowed corn sprouts first, and the worms eat it, and let that in the hills 
alone. At the first hoeing, if any hills are missing, fill them wifh plants 
from that sown broadcast, and plow under the balance. It will not hurt the 
soil any. An old corn-planter says : " To prevent the black grub from eat- 
ing corn, take strong ashes and plaster in equal parts, and put a good hand- 
ful on each hill as soon as planted." A Michigan farmer plows in clover 
sod in autumn, and applies all his manure to it in the spring, working it in 
thoroughly with the cultivator and harrow. He says : " Hoeing the com 
fits the ground well for wheat, and I sow it as soon as the ripening of the 
corn will admit. After the wheat comes off, I plow in the stubble, and in 
the spring sow oats, timothy, and clover. I get three crops of grain, one of 
them wheat, in three years, and get the land back to clover in the time. 
Last year my corn yielded 100 bushels of ears per aci-e, and the wheat this 
year, on the same ground, averaged 14 bushels per acre, though it was badly 
shrunk These crops were raised on land which was thought nearly barren 
when it came into my i:)ossession." 

7S6. Depth and Distance Apart of Planting Corn.— If you prefer corn in 
checks rather than drills, we recommend putting at least five kernels to a 
hill, two of which may be i^ulk"! out if all grow. Let it be the law of your 
farm never to cover seed corn very deep ; if it is, it will be delayed in its 
growth, and some will never reach the surface, and some that does will 
look yellow and feeble. Tou may be pretty sure that corn planted three 
and a half to four feet apart will grow as luxuriantly, and will be far 
better than if planted more sparsely ; for, in the latter condition, the silk 
docs not receive the pollen so freely. The outside row, growing q;uite as 
rank as the other, is, for the above reason, not usually as well filled. As a 
general rule, the closer the ground is planted, the better the com grows and 
ears, if the soil is naturally or artificially strong enough to carry a heavy 
crop. Upon sparse planting, an observing farmer says : " I have always 
noticed that where single stalks have come up from seed accidentally drop- 



726 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIH. 

ped in a garden, how rich soever the soil might be, they bore nothing but 
miserable pig ears. I account for it thus : the stalk standing alone, the wind 
blows the pollen from the spindle, not upon its own silk, but away 
from it." 

In the Southern States, sparse planting is the rule. A farmer gives as a 
reason for shallow planting, that " corn planted at three quarters of an inch 
deep came up in six days ; and corn at two inches, nine days ; and five 
inches, seventeen days — the same seed and same preparation in the same 
field. I lost half of a crop once from deep planting. I would put the ma- 
nure four inches deep, covered with soil, and the corn covered only half an 
inch d^ep. All self-planted corn grows from shallow planting; and this is 
the case with all tree seeds. Much depends upon the state of the weather 
at planting, as well as the condition of the soil. The distance between hills 
should depend upon the kind of corn. For Southern and Western, five feet 
is about near enough for a profitable*crop. For Dutton, three and a half to 
four feet. For Early Canada I planted once twenty-two by twenty-four 
inches, four kernels in a hill, and I had one hundred and one measured 
bushels on a measured acre." 

787. Cultiration of Corii> — One who advocates early planting says : " As 
a general thing, it is much less work to tend the crop. I say, drills for corn 
by all means. Each time you haul dirt to the stalk, it throws out a new set 
of roots, as corn requires breathing tubes at the ends of its rootlets. Go 
into a cornfield which has been left ' decently alone' after it is two feet 
high, and try to find an inch square of ground without corn rootlets pro- 
truding from it ! Does the plant know best what it requires ? If not, cut 
and haggle away at its roots, as your grandfather did before you !" 

From all that we can read or hear about corn, and after some experience, 
our motto is level culture, and such preparation of the ground as to fit it so 
as to require but little after-cultivation. There is no labor on the farm, per- 
haps, that will pay better than working corn at the proper time, and in a 
drouth, all the time. Instead of hand hoeing, use some of the light horse 
hoes, with which one man will do more good than ten with hand hoes, fol- 
lowing a mold-board plow. As for manuring corn, that is a necessity in all 
the Eastern States. Upon the rich lands of the West it will not pay. It is 
idle in the older States to plant corn upon a majority of the farms without 
purchasing some kind of fertilizer. We have never recommended a fanner 
to neglect his barn-yard manure, but to add to that guano, bone-dust, im- 
proved superphosphate, and everything of the kind that he can buy, be- 
cause no farmer can make as much manure as he can use profitably. It is 
nonsense for a farmer to be content with forty bushels of corn per acre when 
he can get eighty bushels by $3 more expense. It is nonsense to say that 
barn-yard manure is all that is necessary to be applied to any land, or that 
it is not profitable for a farmer to purchase just such specific manures as 
analysis or experience shows the land requires. As to working among corn, 
commence as soon as the rows show, using a subsoil plow, two furrows be- 



Sko. 45.] POP-CORN IS PROFITABLE AS A CROP. 727 

tween each pair of rows, running as close as you safely can to the corn, and 
follow with a horse-hoe to brush over the unbroken surface and kill any re- 
maining weeds, but leave the surface as nearly level as possible. In two 
weeks repeat this operation, keeijing farther from the corn with your plow. 
Once or twice thereafter run through the field with a cultivator or horse- 
hoe, and if any weeds remain, uproot them with, the hand or hoe, but do 
not let any plow go down three inches below the surface after the plants are 
a foot high. If the corn looks well, pull one or two of the feeblest stalks in 
each hill at the second plowing. If you have not applied ashes or plaster 
before planting, throw a handful of the two mixed upon each hill before 
plowing the second time. The distance traveled in cultivating an acre of 
corn is greater than most persons suppose. We have seen one statement 
made from actual calculation, that gave sixteen hundred miles as the aggre- 
gate travel in growing a hundred acres of corn. Is it not worth the time 
and calculation of some farmers who grow very small acreable products to 
inquire how much they have traveled to produce each bushel, and what 
they shall do to lessen that distance ? If it requires sixteen miles of travel 
with a horse to each acre of corn, farmers must get a better yield than some 
of them do to make the business pay a fair compensation for so much 
travel. 

788. TranspIaHting Corn. — ^Transplanting corn can be done with as much 
ease and certainty of success as cabbage. For early roasting ears, corn could 
be started in frames so as to give it three or four weeks the start of corn 
planted the usual way. Transplanting would be valuable also in the field 
where hills are missing. The safest way to do it is to make up a mixture 
of cow-dung, loam, and water, of the consistence of thick porridge, and dip 
the roots in it as they are taken from the ground with a transplanting 
trowel, and carried in this to their place, where, being carefully set, and 
shaded, if it is sunny, with a bush or some artificial shade stuck in the 
ground, they will be almost certain to live and grow. Like all transplant- 
ing, it is best done when the soil is wet. 

789. Pop-Corn is Profitable as a Crop. — It is said of a Boston merchant 
now engaged extensively, that he commenced business as a peddler of pop- 
corn by the cent's worth. Is it any wonder that he grew rich — that is, rich 
enough to enlarge his sphere of action— particularly if he raised his own 
corn, or got it of those who did, at about first cost? Let us look at the 
profit. A writer in the New England Farmer " calculates the value of an 
acre of pop-corn, at the prices which city residents pay for the article when 
fitted for their palates — that is, when parched and on sale by the grocers 
and candy men — at four cents a. quart, and calls a quart the product of a mid- 
dle-sized ear. The corn may be planted three feet by eighteen inches. Al- 
low eight ears to the hill, which is not equal to the average, and it would 
be about eight thousand hills, or sixty-four thousand ears to the acre. This 
is $2,560 per acre, paid by those who eat the corn. Take away half the 
amount, if you please, for every contingency which may be thought of, and 



728 CERE ALIA. [CnAP. VIK. 



we still liave $1,280, which the consumers pay for the product of an acre of 
ground ; and who among them pretends to call pop-corn dear eating ?" 
But this, the farmer will say, is the price of the article manufactured. It is 
not what I should get. True, but still the price is liberal. The crop of 1860 
we sold at 87^ cents per bushel of ears, wholesale in New York, and we are 
told it has been worth that price, or more, in previous years. We are sure 
that one hundred bushels per acre can be easily grown, and the stalks being 
small, make excellent fodder. It is well worth growing to feed poultry ; 
and as a crop, we are fully satisfied that pop-corn is profitable. We have 
treated largely of its value as food (see 418), and now add the chemical 
cause of the effect produced by heat. The popping of corn is in reality 
chemistry made easy, by bringing it to the very fireside. It was formerly 
attributed to the conversion of the water contained in the starch into steam, 
but modern science has proved this phenomenon to arise from the rupture 
of the cells in the glutinous part of the grain by a conversion of the glob- 
ules of oil into gas. If an attempt be made to pop the Tuscarora corn, 
which contains no oil, it will never succeed. Popping eft'ects a change in 
corn of considerable importance, for it is much more digestible by man 
after this decomposition and extrication of the oil, though not so fattening to 
animals 

790. Various Experiments in Growing Corn.— Table showing the results 
of experiments on Indian corn, made in 1857, near Rochester, N. Y., by 
Joseph Harris, editor of the Genesee Farmer • 

A. B. 0. D. E. F. G. H. 

1 — No manure 60 7 67 — • — — 

2—100 lbs. plaster (gypsum, or sulphate of limt) 70 8 78 10 V 11 

3 _400 lbs. unleached wood ashes aud 100 lbs. plaster (mixed)... 68 10 78 8 3 11 

4— 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 90 15 105 30 8 38 

5^300 lbs. superphosphate of lime 70 8 78 10 1 11 

6 — 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia and 300 lbs. superphosphate of 

lime(mixed) 85 5 90 25 — 23 

7 — 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes (uncertain) 60 12 72 — 6 5 

8—150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia and 400 lbs. unleached wood 

ashes (sown separately) 87 10 97 27 3 30 

9—300 lbs. superphosphate of lime, 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia, 

and 400 lbs unleached wood ashes 100 8 108 40 1 41 

10 — 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes 00 8 68 — 1 1 

11 — 100 lbs. plaster, 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes, 300 lbs. super- 
phosphate of lime, and 200 lbs. Peruvian guano 95 10 105 85 3 38 

12 — 76 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 78 10 88 18 3 21 

13-200 lbs. Peruvian guano 88 13 101 28 6 34 

14 — 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes, 100 lbs. plaster, and 600 lbs. 

Peruvian guano Ill 14 125 61 7 58 

A. No. of the plots. 

B. Descriptions of manures and quantities applied per acre. 

C. Bushels of ears of sound corn per acre. 

D. Bushels of ears of soft corn per acre. 

E. Total number of bushels of ears of corn per acre. 

F. Increase per acre of ears of sound corn. 

G. Increase per acre of ears of soft corn. 
H. Total increase per acre of ears of corn. 

The superphosphate of lime was made on purpose for these experiments, 
and was a pure mineral manure of superior quality, made from calcined 
bones; it cost about 2i cents per pound. The sulphate of ammonia was a 
t^ood commercial article, obtained from London at a cost of about 7 cents 



Sec. 45.] VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS IN GROWING CORN. 729 



per pound. The ashes were made from beech and liard maple {Acer Sacchar- 
nium) wood, and were sifted through a fine sieve before being weighed. 
The guano was the best Peruvian, costing about 3 cents per pound. It was 
crushed and sifted before using. In sowing the ashes on Plot 7, an error 
occurred in their application, and for the purpose of checking the result, it 
was deemed advisable to repeat the experiment on Plot 10. 
Tiie following table gives the results of the other experiments : 

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. 

1 — No manure 75 12 87 — — — 

2— 20 loads barn-vard manure 82} 10 92} 7i — — 

3— 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 85 30 115" 10" 18 — 

4— 300 lbs. superphosphate of lime 88 10 98 ,13 — — 

5— 400 lbs. Peruvian guano 90 30 120 15 18 — 

6— 400 lbs. of " cancerine " or fish manure 85 20 105 10 8 18 

A. No. of the plots. 

B. Descriptions of manures and quantities applied per acre. 

C. Bushels of ears of sound corn per acre. 

D. Bushels of ears of soft corn per acre. 

E. Total number of bushels of ears of com per acre. 

F. Increase ears of sound corn per acre over unmanured plot. 

G. Increase ears of soft corn per acre over immanured plot. 
H. Total increase of ears of corn per acre. 

As before stated, the land was of a stronger nature than tliat on which 
the first set of experiments was made, and it was evidently in better condi- 
tion, as the plot having no manure produced 20 bushels of ears of corn per 
acre more than the plot without manure in the other field. 

Plot 4, with 300 pounds of superphosphate of lime per acre, gives a total 
increase of 11 bushels of ears of corn per acre over the unmanured plot, 
agreeing exactly with the increase obtained from the same quantity of the 
same manure on Plot 5, in the first set of experiments. 

Plot 3, dressed with 150 pounds of sulphate of ammonia per acre, gives 
a total increase of 28 bushels of ears of corn per acre over the unmanured 
plot, and an increase of 22 j bushels of ears per acre over Plot 2, which re- 
ceived 20 loads of good, well-rotted barn-yard dung per acre. 

Plot 5, with 400 pounds of Peruvian guano per acre, gives the best crop 
of this series, viz., an increase of 33 buslifels of ears of corn per acre over 
the unmanured plot, and 27^ over the plot manured with 20 loads of barn- 
yard dung. The 400 pounds of " cancerine," an artificial manure made in 
New Jersey from fish, gives a total increase of 18 bushels of ears per acre 
over the unmanured plot, and 12^ bushels more than that manured with 
barn-yard dung, though 5 bushels of ears of sound corn and 10 bushels of 
"nubbins" per acre less than the same quantity of Peruvian guano. 

The result of the following detailed experiments was published in the 
Eural American. Ten equal quantities of White Flint corn were treated as 
follows : 

No. 1, I soaked in tar water eight hours, until it was perfectly black, then 
rolled in lime. 

No. 2 was merely immeVsed in tar water, ana rolled in lime. 

No. 3, soaked in clear water over-night, then immersed in tar water, and 
rolled in lime. 

t 



730 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIIL 



'No. 4, immersed in tar water, and roiled in ashes. 

No. 5, soaked in clear water over-niglit, then dipped in tar (not tar 
water), and rolled in ashes. 

No. 6, soaked over-night in clear water, immersed in tar water, and then 
rolled in ashes. 

Ko. 7, soaked in tar water eight hours, until perfectly black, and then 
rolled in ashes. 

No. 8, immersed dry in tar, and then rolled in lime. 

No. 9, soaked in clear water over-night, jind dipped in tar, and then 
rolled in lime. 

No. 10, ^nmersed dry in tar, and then rolled in ashes. 

On the 23d of May I planted the several prepared parcels in similar soil, 
at an equal depth as nearly as possible, and each parcel received like treat- 
ment and culture throughout the season. Now mark the result : 



JUNE 8. 

No. 1. Only about one quarter of the grain 
germinated — looks weakly. 

No. 2. All the grains up — looking middling 
well. 

No. 3. Every pr.ain up, and looking nicely. 

No. 4. All up ; look tolerably well — not so 
well as No. 3. 

No. 5. Tardy — just up — very weakly. 

No. 6. Every grain up — looks first-rate. 

No. 7. Only one half the grains germinated — 
weakly. 

No. 8. Every grain up — looking well, and 
growing finely. 

No. 9. About one third the grains up — rath- 
er weakly. 

No. 10. Only about one tenth of the grains 
up — weakly. 



JULY 26. 
About one half the grain up. 

Somewhat backward, but promises better 
than No. 1. 

Growing finely — promises well. 
Backward, weakly, and spindling. 

Very backward. 

Thrifty — promises well. 

Middling — rather better than Nos. 4 and 5. 

Looking exceedingly well — the best of the 
ten parcels. 
Tolerably well — a trifle better than No. 7. 

Remained long in ground before it germin- 
ated — very backward— about the same as Nos. 
4 and 5. 



Soon after the corn came up, No. 6 appeared to be the most thrifty and 
promising ; No. 3 looked nearly as well, but No. 8 soon shot ahead of No. 
6, and remained so through the season. 

Nos. 4 and 5 were the most backward of any. 

On July 2Gth, Nos. 3, 6, and 8 I judged to be from two to three weeks in 
advance of Nos. 4, 5, and 10 ; the former Nos. being silked and tasseled, 
while none of the others were. No. 8 was the most forward — ears best set, 
and largest. 

No. 8 finally produced the best corn, and the most of it. So of all the 
above preparations I give that mode of preparing the preference. 

There is an evil I think, however, attending the application of tar in any 
shape to corn previous to planting ; it retards the germ, while at the same 
time I know of no benefit I liave received from its use. 

791. The Yield of Corn per Acre. — This question causes much controversy, 
as the modes of measuring have been so diverse. "Weighing the ears grown 
on an acre is certainly better than measuring off »one square rod, and shell- 
ing the corn, and multiplying by one hundred and sixty. "A good deal de- 
pends upon what we call a bushel, as corn will shrink from December to 

9 



Sko. 45 ] YIELD OF CORN PER ACRE. 731 

May fifteen per cent. A good crop is sixty bushels per acre. Premiums 
are often awarded to a very rough manner of measurement. Never count 
your crops until sold ; upon whatever they measure then, estimate the 
yield per acre." Some say tliat corn shrinks twenty-five per cent, in weight 
between the time it is ripe enough to gather, and the next summer. If you 
wish to estimate how much an acre of corn will yield Avhile standing, count 
the hills, or estimate the number upon an acre, and shell the ears from a 
given number, and measure the grain, and calculate from that base. If you 
have four thousand hills per acre, and a pint of corn per hill, j'our acre will 
yield sixty-two and a half bushels, as it measures at that time, and so in 
proportion. To make one hundred and twenty-five bushels per acre, each 
hill must give a quart, and there must be none of the number missing. You 
may find now and then a square rod that will yield a quart per hill, but who 
gets such a yield from every rod of an acre ? and if one could, let him be 
sure that it does not cost too much. If we can grow sixty or seventy bush- 
els per acre, we are doing well. 

It is certified that James Annstrong, of Knoxville, Tenn., raised, in 1859, 
upon forty acres of land, four thousand bushels of shelled d?frn, measured 
in the half bushel, which weighed sixty pounds per bushel. The best acre 
of the forty gave one hundred and sixty-six bushels. The same forty acres 
produced, with the corn, fifty two-horse wagon-loads of pumpkins, forty 
bushels of Southern peas, and ten bushels of beans, yet we do not believe 
that the average yield of all corn crops in the Southern States is ten bush- 
els. The yield of nine lots of ten acres each, entered for premium at the 
State Fair of Kentucky a few years since, is given by the committee as fol- 
lows: 

Bbls. Bush. QL _ _ B*"''- B"*- Qt- 

J. Matson, of Bourbon 37 4 1 per acre. 

reter Pean, of Clarke 37 4 

S. H. Chew, of Fayette 27 J " 

J. Hutchcraft, Bourbon 23' " 

A. Vanmeter, Fayette 21 3 J 

A barrel of corn in Kentucky is five bushels of shelled corn. 

About the year 1840 (or 1841), Mr. Bryant, and Mr. Young, of Jessa- 
mine Cijuu;y, Ivy., each grew a crop of five acres, which averaged one 
hundred and ninety bushels per acre, according to a well-certified report. 

Over one hundred bushels of corn per acre, in Maine, are reported by 
John H. "WillalKl, of Wilton, Franklin County. He says : 

" I have repeatedly, within a few years past, raised from eighty to one 
hundred and ten bushels of dry shelled corn to the acre. All my farming 
is on a small scale ; but the same cultivation would produce the same re- 
sults on a large as on a small scale. The best crop I ever raised was in 1853, 
which was the best corn season we have had in this vicinity for many years. 
The produce that year was fifty-five bushels and eight quarts from half an 
acre. I proceed to give an account of the various steps I pursued in raising 
that crop, and shall persevere in following nearly the same course till I learn 
a better. The soil is a gravelly loam, and the land stony. The stones near 



A. Hedges, Bourbon 21 2 1 per acre. 

E. W. Hocaday, Clarke 20 " 

Dr. Dudley, Fayette 20 " 

H. Varnon, Bourbon 19 3 



732 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

the surface had been removed, and put into a wall. As to the component 
parts of the soil, I am as ignorant as most farmers are respecting theirs, 
having no means of ascertaining. I only know it contains a fair portion 
of lime, having previously raised a good crop of wheat on the same land. 
The wheat was sown on the sward newly broken up. Soon after the wheat 
was cut, I plowed in the stubble, and plowed very shallow, say from two to 
four inches deep, so as to just cover the stubble, and not disturb the sward. 
In the spring, put on six cords of manure, twelve to the acre, one lialf 
spread, and the other half in the hill. I spread the manure, and harrowed 
previous to plowing ; then plowed and cross-plowed about ten inches deep, 
being a little deeper than the land was previously broken ; plowed fine, that 
is, in narrow furrows, not more than two thirds the width the plow would 
turn. After harrowing, I furrowed the rows straight, three feet eight 
inches apart, and put the hills two feet four inches apart ; covered the ma- 
nure in the hills before dropping the corn, which I put in liberally, nearly 
double what I wanted to grow ; covered the corn thoroughly from two to 
three inches deep ; hoed the corn thoroughly twice, having run a cultivator 
twice between the rows before each hoeing, and having thinned the corn to 
five stalks in each hill previous to the second hoeing, by pulling up the 
poorest stalks. I cut the corn up at the roots, when the stalks were wilted 
above the ears, and green below, and cured in shook before husking. The 
seed was thoroughly dried by the ears being hung near a fire. The manure 
used was stable, part cow and part horse, with a good deal of straw litter, 
kept under cover till spring, and one or two hogs kept on it. The largest 
part was from horses well grained. The coarsest part, or* last made, was 
first hauled to the field and put in a heap to ferment for the hills, the other 
spread. When the heap got into a high state of fermentation, I pitched it 
over to prevent its burning. 1 know it is said that maniire must be thor- 
oughly decomposed before it is food for plants ; hence many infer it must 
be in that state when put on the ground ; but I have had the best luck 
when I put it into the hill in such a state of fermentation as to be uncom- 
fortably hot to the feet through thick boots, and planted and covered imme- 
diately before it cools. I had no potatoes, pumpkins, or beans, and but few 
weeds among my corn, for weeds are the most unprofitable crop I ever 
raised." 

We hope a good many small farmers who read this accoynt will pursue 
the same course, and raise an equally good crop. Tlie way to do it is simple 
and sensible. 

Dr. John T. Tuttle, of Rye, twenty-five miles northeast of New York 
city, near Long Island Sound, gives the following interesting statement of 
what kind of a corn crop can be produced upon such a forbidding soil as 
the most of the land in this region of country : 

" According to request, I send you an account of my crop of corn grown 
on two fields, one containing eight and a half, and the other six acres, mak- 
ing fourteen and a half acres. I paid $150 per acre for the land. It being 



Seo. 45.] 



YIELD OF CORN PER ACRE. 



733 



too wet, naturally, for good corn land, I determined to drain it, and accord- 
ingly laid six hundred and forty rods of tliree-incli sole drain tile, which 
was sufficient to thorouglily drain the fourteen and a half acres. The tile 
was laid about three feet deep ; this is necessary, in order to get it out of 
the way of the frost. If laid too near the surface, and permitted to freeze, 
it will crack, fall in, and destroy it. This land being originally very poor 
and neglected, I was obliged to bestow much labor on it, in order to re- 
claiTu and make it productive. Completing this result, I valued my land 
at $4(>0 per acre. I then jtlowed it, turning the soil up eleven inches deep, 
following with a subsoil plow, so that the entire piece was mellowed to the 
depth of eighteen inches. I then carted on three hundred loads of good 
composted manure, and harrowed it in. I marked out eight and a half 
acres for planting, three feet each way, and planted it with Improved King 
Philip corn, four grains in each hill ; the balance of the plot of six acres I 
marked out three feet in drills, and planted it nine inches apart in the drill, 
one grain in a place. The fourteen and a half acres yielded two thousand 
two hundred and seventy-six and a half baskets of ears ; each basket yielded 
eighteen quarts of shelled corn, making an average of eighty -eight bushels, 
one peck, two quarts per acre for the entire plot. The six acres planted in 
drills was much the best corn, and the yield much the largest ; this I esti- 
mated at one hundred bushels of shelled corn per acre. I should recom- 
mend this mode of planting in drills ; the yield is much larger than the 
hill system. I think the Improved King Piiilip the most productive corn in 
cultivation, and as it ripens in less than one hundred days, is sure to escape 
the early fall frosts ; it is a most valuable variety of corn. The following is 
the average result of the fourteen and a half acres : 



Dr. 
Interest on I acre, value per acre, i?400. .$28 00 
Twenty loads of manure, per load §1 . . . . ;!0 00 

Plowing and subsoiling, per acre 6 00 

Harrowing, per acre 1 00 

Marking out for planting 75 

One peck com seed 25 

Planting, per acre 1 28 

Running cultivator through four times. . 4 00 

Hoeing once 1 25 

Cutting up corn from the ground 1 50 

Gathering 160 baskets, at 3 c. per basket 4 80 



Total $G8 83 



Cr. 

Eighty-eight bushels, one peek, two qts., 
at 75 cts. per bushel 866 23 

Three tuns stalks, at S5 per tun 15 00 

Four and one half cords pumpkins, at 
$2 per cord 9 00 

Seventy-five bushels turnips, at 20 cents 
per bushel 15 00 



Total $105 23 

Profit $36 40 



The following is the corn crop of an Ohio farm : Abont five miles below 
Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a tract of high river bottom-land, known as the 
" Claypool Farm," now owned by the widow of James Davis. Tiie corn crop 
of 1858 was forty-seven thousand bushels, sold at seventy-five cents a bushel 
to a distillery. ~We submit the problem to political economists, of how many 
persons the products of this one farm would have fed one year, and how 
many its products will make miserable after passing through that distillery. 

792. Two Hundred Bushfis of Corn per Acre.— It has been published— 
and, so far as we can see, duly certified — that Dr. J. "W. Parker, of Colum- 



734 CEREALIA. , [Chap. VIII. 



bia, S. C, grew, in 1S57, upon his farm near that town, two hundred bush- 
els and twelve quarts upon one measured acre of ground, and one hundred 
and sixteen bushels and six quarts upon another acre. 

In the report to the State Agricultural Society, Dr. Parker states that the 
seed selected for planting was from North Carolina, and designated " Bale 
Mountain Corn." After soaking it during the night in a strong solution of 
niter, it was planted from eight to twelve inches distance in the row, cov- 
ered with hoes, and the ground rolled, leaving it perfectly level. The land 
was the border of a small creek, underdraiued, and prepared by plowing in 
November, and manured in December with twenty-five two-horse loads of 
cow-house manure, plowed in, and followed by a subsoil plow di"awn by two 
mules. About the first of March another coat of good stable and cow ma- 
nure was spread, and plowed in. Early in April, three cart-loads of air- 
slaked lime, and two sacks of salt were spread over each acre, and lightly 
plowed under. On the 1-ith of May the ground was thoroughly plowed 
with Glaze's large iron plow, harrowed level, and laid oif thirty inches apart 
with a shovel plow. Guano and plaster were sprinkled in tlie furrows, near 
two hundred pounds of the former, and three hundred pounds of the latter 
to each acre. 

On the 14th of May the corn was plowed with a long, very narrow plow, 
and dressed over with hoes. On the 5th and 17th of June the same work 
■was repeated, each time leaving the ground level. About the first of July 
it was necessary to draw a ridge about the roots of the corn to prevent its 
falling. During a protracted drouth, acre No. 1 was twice irrigated, and 
acre No. 2 had the water turned on it once. 

The yield of acre No. 1, as before stated, exceeded two hundred bushels. 
No. 2 was partly replanted, which the committee say prevented the yield 
being as large as the other. 

True, this crop cost labor and manure, but does it not pay better than the 
tens of thousands of acres that do not yield ten bushels per acre, for such 
are as common as blackberries all over the Southern States. The land used 
being " sand-hill branch land," required the high manuring, as it is not 
naturally fertile euov;gh to produce such crops. The secret, however, is in 
the underdraining, the frequent plowing, and subsoiling and irrigation. 

793. Uow to Bind Corn Shocks.— Hiram Harris, of Ohio, has made the 
world a gift of a valuable invention. It is a way easily to bind shocks of 
cornstalks, which have been cut and set up ready for binding, and whicli 
have to be hogged together tight enough to put the baud on. This new 
plan saves that dirty, hard job. Any one can make the implement. It is 
a wooden spindle, round and smooth, sharp at one end, and long enough to 
thrust through the loose shock at the point where it is to be bound. On 
the other end is a crank and turning-piu, like the crank of a grindstone. A 
few inches from tiie crank is a cross-piece on the spindle, of a few inches in 
length, to one end of which a stout cord is attached, long enough to go 
round the shock and hitch a loop on the other end of the cross-piece. Now, 



8ko. 46.] HARVESTING CORN. 735 

by turning the crank, the cord is drawn tight, compressing the loose stalks 
as firmly as may be desired, when the band is put on firmly and the crank 
unwound and applied to another shock. It enables the operator to do 
double the work, doubly better than he can without it; and as there is no 
strain upon the band, in the attempt to draw it tight, as is usual in trying to 
compress the shock, there is no breaking of bands in putting them on, and 
they may be made of stalks, straw, bark, or twine. Any farmer can make 
one of these little implements, which saves so much labor. Indeed, a smooth 
young hickory, sharpened at one end, with a crank at the other, will be the 
best material. The rope should be small and very strong. 
794. Requisites in llarvesting Corni— 1. Have a good corn-cutter. 

2. Lay the corn (2 or 4 hills in a place) so that the tops of tlie second 
two rows will lie toward the tops of the first two, the tops of the fourth 
two toward the tops of the third two, and so on. By throwing the left 
arm over, never under the stalks, bending them down slightly, one blow of 
the cutter will generally bring down the whole : and a large field may be 
leveled at short notice, far quicker than the top stalks can be cut. 

3. Make yom-self a good corn-horse. Take a small pole, about three 
inches through at the large end, 10 feet or so in length, light and dry ; if a 
little curving, so much the better. "With an inch-and-a-half anger, bore two 
holes near the large end, so as to insert two legs, standing outward and for- 
ward, the curving side of the pole being upward. Next, bore a horizontal 
hole about 2i feet from the large end, into which a broken rake-handle or 
smooth stick may be run. Here we have a complete corn-horse all ready 
for use ; the horizontal stick forming with the other four corners, around 
which we may set up the corn, 16 to 33 hills in a stook. Then tic firmly 
with wilted suckers or small stalks, or, what is better, rye straw bands, and 
bend down the tops and tie a small band over them, to shed rain, and then 
draw out the horizontal stick ; take hold of the horse just behind the legs, 
draw it along a few feet and run the stick in again, ready for another 
stook. ' ■ 

The husking may be greatly facilitated by first breaking off the ears. 
This is done by pressing the thumb and fingers firmly against the butt of 
the ears and bending over with the other hand. One may acquire the habit 
of breaking them off so that many ears will have few, if any, husks left. 
The stocks need not be untied. By a little ingenuity at contrivance, one 
may fix a low bench three feet wide, or so, throw a stook upon it, sit down 
with feet under the bench, begin at one side to break ofl', and make clean 
work as he goes ; or he may kneel down to the stocks as they stand, or lie 
on the floor. If possible, let the corn be fairly glazed before cutting ; but if 
a cold September morning, which threatens a hard frost at night, finds a 
field standing unglazed, I should prefer cutting and stocking, with the 
wilted side inward, to letting the frost take it. In such a case, it will harden 
off better in the stook than in the field. 

The corn-horse described above has been used by many, and declared by 



736 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

all who liave used it to really save one third the time usually employed in 
cutting up and stooking corn. Never top corn, and why ? The sap which 
is elaborated in the leaf and upper part of the stalk is fitted to perfect the 
grain. The best farmers in the country settled that question years since. In 
a large field of corn one topped several rows, left the same number to ripen 
unniutilated, and cut up by the ground an equal portion at two difi"erent 
periods of growth, viz., one when the kernel was fairly seared, and another 
when the corn was thoroughly seared. The result proved, conclusively, that 
the corn cut at the ground when fairly seared was the best and heaviest, 
and the fodder was also best of all. 

If you have not yet become fully convinced of the folly of cutting stalks, 
try the following experiment : Cut the stalks on fifty hills of corn at the 
usual time, cut up fifty hills at the ground when the corn is glazed, and let 
it mature in the shock, and let the stalks remain on fifty hills until fully 
ripe, and weigh the corn on each when dry. And try this : Plant the same 
quantity of ground with corn of the same kind, with compost manure, at 
the rate of twenty-five loads to the acre, and with guano, at the rate of 260 
pounds to the acre, and weigh the corn in the autumn, keeping an account 
of the cost of each kind of manure on the land, and which ground is easiest 
kept clean of weeds. 

When there is no danger of frost, adopt the rule to cut no stalk till the 
corn is ripe, and do not try to swindle nature by fishing for a crop of beans, 
or turnips, or pumpkins among the corn. One good crop each year is 
enoiigh to exact of land in this latitude, and these extras often hinder the 
harvest as much in tiic loss of corn as they are worth. 

T95. Corn Harvesting MachineSi — The following is the description of a pa- 
tent corn-cutter : 

A driver sits upon a small cart, drawn by one horse walking between 
two rows of corn planted four feet apart, either in hills or drills. Attached 
to the forward end of the body are two circular saws, arranged to work j ust 
as near the ground as may be desired. 

These saws are driven by gearing attached to the cart-wheels, and one is 
designed to cut a row one side and the other on the other side ; the horse 
walking forward saws off" the stalks right and leftj and, like all circulai 
saws, tlie faster they run the easier they will do their work. The stalks as 
they are cut off are held hy an arm so as to fall on a platform upon each 
side, which tips them off out of the way of the machine. It will be easy to 
arrange a machine to cut rows of any regular width apart, and the plan 
looks, on paper, as though it would work well on land, and be a real labor- 
saving machine. 

Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, when he was growing corn upon a large scale 
in Illinois, contrived a very cheap corn-cutter. Two pieces of wood, like 
the sides of a triangular harrow, were hinged at the point, and held apart 
at the wide end by a piece of hickory, represented by half of a stout hoop. 
The side pieces were armed with short scythe blades. The frame was sup- 



Seo. 45.1 CORN nARVESTING MACHINES. 737 



ported upon blocks that raised it above the surface, and ran on the ground 
like sled runners. This frame, drawn by one horse between two rows of 
corn, had the blades pressed against the stalks by the spring, and cut them 
off as fast as the horse could walk ; men following picked them up rap- 
idly, setting them in shocks. The objection urged against this macliine was, 
that unless the stalks were gathered row by row, as they were cut, they 
were apt to become tangled together, and the men said made, instead of 
saved, labor. 

At the New York State Fair of 1861 we saw a corn-cutting machine that 
looked as though it would prove effectual. A few stout cutters are fixed 
upon the bar of a mowing machine, and a box to hold the corn as it falls, 
until enough accumulates for a bundle, when the driver by a slight move- 
Itient opens the box and drops the corn. The horses walk by the side of the 
row to be cut, just as they do by the side of the grass. The additional ex- 
pense to a mowing machine was stated at twenty-five dollars. 

A corn-shock cart is in use in "West New Jersey, which we thought a great 
labor-saving machine, by which a boy and one horse would move more 
shocks of corn in a day, where the distance was not over half a mile, than 
two men and a team could do in the. ordinary way. A horse-cart, with a 
frame to tilt, having rather long shafts, and a windlass on the shafts be- 
hind the horse, with a stout rope fast at one end of the windlass, consti- 
tutes the machine. The cart is backed up to a shock, and the frame tilted 
up against it, and the rope thrown over, and the loose end hooked on the 
windlass, which is turned by a cran"k or arms, and winds up both ends of 
the rope, drawing the shock tight upon the frame, and that down to its 
place, when the windlass is fastened by a catch, and the horse trots off to 
the barn, or out upon the grass at the side of the cornfield, if the object is 
merely to clear the corn-ground, and then the catch being loosened, {he 
frame and shock tilt back by their own weight, and the corn is set upright 
upon the butts, just as it stood originally. A pair of old city dray-wheels 
answer a good purpose to make a corn-shock carrier, and such a machine 
will be found extremely useful to those who wish to sow rye or wheat upon 
the corn-ground. 

796. lIuskiDg in the Fieldi — A letter from Tioga County, Pa., recom- 
mends pulling down four shocks of corn toward a center, and then 
throwing the corn to that point from all, thus making one pile instead of 
four ; and also laying the stalks, as the ears are stripped off, in bun- 
dles of equal size for binding. In commencing to husk a shock, stand up 
and drop the first stalks at your feet; then kneel upon them until you get 
enough to form a seat, when tired of kneeling. This change of position is 
said to be a great preventive of fatigue. It is recommended to pull down 
the shocks in the morning, when the dew is on, and bind them at eveniiig, 
when a little moist. The best time to gather the ears of corn and store 
them in the crib is when they are hot and dry in the sun. The ears never 
should be thrown upon wet nor frozen ground, except the weather is cold 



738 CEREALIA. [Chip. VIII- 



enough to keep it frozen. But, after all these directions for husking in the 
field, it is a question whether it is not altogether the best economy, where 
stalks do not grow larger than they generally do in the Northeastern States, 
and where they are valuable for fodder, to haul the shocks of corn np to 
the barn, so that all the fodder can be saved in good order, as fast as the 
ears are husked. Filling a large shed, or the barn floor, with the siiocks 
of corn, to be husked on rainy days or evenings, is a good old fashion that 
need not be lost sight of in days of modern improvement, and the machine 
described in 795 will be found a very useful thing to those who wish to 
pursue this good old fashion. 

A Pennsylvania farmer, John F. Overshire, of Athens, Bradford County, 
gives his mode of cutting up and husking corn in the field, which appears 
to be a very good one. He says : " I cut and set my corn in stooks of 
thirty-five hills to each, set in squares. I do not leave a hill uncut to 
support the stook, but bind a bundle to set in the center ; and I never 
throw the corn down, but set it up as fast as cut, wliich takes less time, 
and there is no liability to injury from rain while lying upon the ground. 
In husking, never throw sound corn on the ground, but in baskets, sorting 
it at the same time. Empty the baskets into a cart or wagon, and thence 
to the crib. I place a husking bench between four stooks, and pull them to 
it, and it saves many hours of back-aclie and cramps of limbs. A good 
busker can put sixty bushels of ears in the wagon in a day. The bench is 
two by five feet, made of inch boards nailed upon cross-pieces that liokl 
legs put in a two-incli auger hole, so as to stand two feet higii. The legs 
at one end being set back from where the husker stands against the end of 
the boards, he can crowd his stalks in a pile down between his own and 
the legs of tlie bench." 

797. SowiBg Corn Broadcast or Drilling for Fodder.— Tliere are not many 
farmers who would not find a small plot of sowed corn tiic most profitable 
crop of the whole annually planted. Land produces of sowed corn a greater 
burthen of excellent fodder to use green, and, if cured, makes more of win- 
ter food for stock than any other grain. 

We have sown corn broadcast upon a mellow piece of ground, plowed in 
after the first of July, and got a very heavy crop. It should not be plowed 
in unless the land has been previously plowed, because plowing the land 
as deeply as the crop requires would bury the seed too deep. The best way 
to plant this fodder crop is with a wheat drill. The next is to sow broad- 
cast and cover with a gang plov/, or share cultivator, that will turn the 
seed nearly all into straight rows. Some persons sow it wide enough be- 
tween rows to be cultivated. 

Warren Ilutchins, Bethel, Vt., says . 

S I plow evenly, sowing the seed in every third furrow, and roll the 
ground and harrow lightly in the direction of the furrows. I run a culti- 
vator once or twice between the rows. If the crop is to be plowed in for 
manure, I commence about September 1, with a plank fastened on the 



Sko. 46.] DOUKA CORN-SOILING CROPS. 739 

beam to break down the stalks, so that they will turn under well, making 
my furrow across the rows. I find this a cheap way to enrich land that lies 
far from the stables. 

''This day, June 1, I have sowed an acre for fodder, with the assistance 
of a boy half a day. Last year, a half acre left to ripen had 25 bushels of 
ears, besides a great yield of fodder." 

It is preferable to cut the corn for fodder before the ears get of any con- 
siderable size, and as a general thing the crop is most valuable when grown 
60 thick that ears are not likely to form ; and when sown broadcast upon 
rich soil, and plowed in lightly, the last of June, it will grow of sufiicient 
size and maturity for good winter fodder, before the usual time of frost, 
whicli in this latitude is usually about the first of October. 

798. Doura Corn for Fodder. — Tliis is one of the varieties of sorghum, 
much esteemed by some farmers for a fodder crop. Its great advantage 
over corn is that it will sometimes grow when and where Indian corn will 
not. One farmer says : 

" Having found from experience that where stands of corn are broken it 
docs not pay either to supply breaks with seed or to transplant, I have, for 
years past, done neither, but always plant Doura corn or sugar millet in 
all missing hills in my cornfields, and I have found it to do and pay well. 
When planted early, tlie Doura corn will make two or three heads to the 
stalk, and the first head will shell as much as an ordinary ear of fiint corn ; 
when planted late, say in April or May, it will still make as mucli as the 
corn, and it answers as an excellent substitute for corn to feed to poultry, 
besides making very good bread." 

The above word is spoken of a region where February and March are 
the corn-planting months. In a wet season, the Doura corn here would 
grow a good fodder crop after the first of August. It is only by experi- 
ment that it can be determined which is the best for the purpose, the Doura 
corn or sorghum saccharatum, known as Chinese sugar-cane. 

799. Value of Sowed Corn for Soiling Milch Cows.— For a soiling crop we 
do not know of any plant cultivated that is of greater value than Indian corn. 
In a large milk dairy, where sowed corn is much used at the time of our 
usual summer droutlis, when pastures fail, the following results were noted : 

From the first of April to the first of July there is a gradual increase in 
the quantity of milk produced ; during the month of March it is stationary ; 
it increases in iVpril, as warmer and pleasanter weather comes on ; and 
thenceforward the quantity keeps exact pace with the growth of grass and 
the advance of the season, until the maximum is attained in the first week 
of July. This point once turned, tlie yield decreases, by slow degrees at 
first, but with greater rapidity as the autunm months approach, and it can 
only be increased by feeding the green corn, and then the gain is sufij^ient 
to pay a large profit upon the soiling crop. For sowing broadcast it will 
require two bushels of seed per acre, and some prefer to sow three busliels. 
When used green, the objection urged against broadcast corn, tliat it is dilfi- 



740 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



cult to cure it, does not apply. With us the trouble about saving the stalks 
for -winter was overcome with one heavy crop in this way. "We com- 
menced cutting and setting the stalks against the fence, and after clearing 
a strip about 30 feet wide, hauled poles from the adjoining woodland, and 
laid them on forked posts, and then cut another strip and set the stalks on 
each side of the poles, and so on through the field. This plan will only 
answer where woodland is very convenient. The stalks, however, may be 
bound in small bundles, and set up in rows, and will cure perfectly. "When 
partially cured set them in shocks, to prevent bleaching. But we look 
upon this crop as more valuable for soiling than for preserving for winter 
use. In all cases where pastures are liable to be short in autumn, have a 
resource in reserve in a soiling crop of broadcast corn. 

800. Corn in Drills or Hills. — A correspondent in East Hamburg, Erie 
County, N. Y., gives the following as the successful practice of "Wm. Ham- 
bleton, of that place, in raising corn : 

" After a faithful plowing, he makes furrows with a light plow, one way 
at 3i feet apart. These furrows are then nearly filled with such a compost as 
usually accumulates every year about farm buildings, or by well-i-otted 
stable manure, and on this the corn is drilled, the kernels six inches from 
each other in the row. From beginning to end he is death on the weeds, 
and the labor of raising corn in this way is hardly more than by the old 
method, while the harvest is doubled by it, and sometimes averages 100 
bushels to the acre ; and the greatly enlarged quantity of stalks pays every 
expense of cultivation." 

"We are much in favor of drilling corn, but not in favor of sustaining the 
practice by such statements as this, that " the harvest is doubled by it." 
If the land is rich enough to sustain corn in drills, six inches between stalks 
and 42 inches between rows, it will give 24,891 stalks to an acre 10 by 16 
rods square; and the same land would grow four stalks in each hill, planted 
three feet apart each way, and that would give 19,360 stalks ; and, as the 
stalks will produce equally, the result will be that if the drilled acre pro- 
duces 100 bushels, the acre in hills will produce 79 bushels ; or, say one 
fourth more, instead of doubling the crop ; and that, we think, sufiicient to 
induce any one to adopt the drill system. The estimate of Southern corn is 
100 ears to a bushel. The ordinary Northern corn will require nearer two 
hundred than one hundred ears, as they average through the field, to make a 
bushel ; but suppose we say 150 ears to the bushel, and that the stalks 
average one ear to each, the product in bushels per acre will be 165 bushels 
for the drills and 129 bushels for the hills. Is this result produced in one 
field in a thousand? and, if it is not, is it not a question worthy of considera- 
tion by tlie owners of the 999 fields, wliether the rule should not be reversed 
so far that in a good season not one field in a thousand should produce less 
than 100 bushels per acre ? 

801. Measuring Corn in Bulk.— A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer 
gives a rule for ascertaining the number of bushels of shelled corn in a crib 



Seo. 45.] YIELD OF STARCH PER BUSHEL, AND ITS USES. 741 



of ears, by multiplying the cubic feet in the pile by (forty -five hundredths) .45. 
" Example : In a crib or bin of corn in the car, measuring ten feet in length, 
eight feet high, and seven feet wide, there will be two hundred and fifty- 
two bushels of shelled corn. Thus — 10 x 8 x 7 x .4o==252. This rule agrees 
with weighing corn — seventy pounds to the bushel in tlie ear. Assuming 
this rule to be correct, it will be very important to keep it where it can be 
readily referred to at times when it will be found very useful. But the rule 
applies only to localities where three heaped half bushels of ears make a 
bushel of shelled corn. In the Eastern States, where it takes two bushels 
of ears to make one of shelled corn, in order to use said rule we must pro- 
ceed as follows: To find the contents of a crib ten feet long, eight feet 
wide, and seven feet high, 10 x 8 x 7 x .45^252. Then 252 x 3=756-^2=378, 
the number of bushels of ears, or one hundred and eight^v-nine bushels of 
shelled coi'n of Eastern varieties. It would probably come nearer the truth 
to multiply the cubic contents in feet by 3i, and cut off the riglit-hand 
figure, to wit : the number of bushels of shelled corn. Thus, lO x S x 7=560 
feet; 560 x3i=182— cutting off the right-hand figure." 

802. Corn — Shriukage ia Drying. — Experiments have been tried where 
the quantity of newly-gathered ears supposed sufiicient to make a bushel 
of shelled corn, weighed seventy-five pounds, which, after being thoroughly 
dried, only weighed sixty pounds — ^nine of cobs and fifty-one of grain. 
The proportion of cob by weight to grain will generally average about one 
sixth ; and we think the difference in weight of ears between the time of 
harvest and spring is never less than ten per cent., unless the corn stands 
until very ripe, and is then gathered in a very dry time. The shrinkage is 
more in the cob than in the grain, but there will be a considerable less upon 
the grain, stored in a good crib, from autumn till spring. 

803. Yield of Starcli per Bushel, and its Uses. — As the starch in corn is 
tlie principal ingredient of value as food we should grow the varieties that 
afi'ord the most. The average yield is about thirty pounds per bushel, 
and if not separated from the other ingredients, it will not prove too nu- 
tritious, although we generally take our food in a highly concentrated 
form, that is, too much starch to the bulk. All grain is more wholesome 
when used without separating is parts. Starch will not make as much fat 
as corn meal, though it is much used for food, and saves flour. It is also 
used in calico printing, not only as starch, but, by a chemical process, to 
make a sort of gum much required. It is very doubtful whether the largely 
increased manufacture of corn starch has proved beneficial to mankind, if 
it is true, as it has been stated, that nine tenths of it has been used for 
human food, since a corn-meal pudding is far more wholesome than a 
farina pudding, notwithstanding one is vulgar and the other fashionable — 
one tickles the eye as well as palate, while the other is the subject of an 
apology whenever offered to guests, even at a farm-house. 

The increased demand for corn starch within a few years past has caused 
the building of immense manufactories ; one in particular, at Oswego, N. Y., 



742 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



is very large ; and the process, which is very simple, though requiring large 
space to conduct it in, separates all the starch contained in the corn, and 
makes as pure an article as can be made from any other substance. Indian 
corn yields a larger amount of farinaceous food to the acre than any other 
grain, and it is the most certain crop ever planted, but there is a great loss 
in going over a large space of ground — better make the same number of 
bushels usually made, upon one third of the space. 

804. Corn and Pumpkins Together. — A writer in the Genesee Farmer 
objects, with a good deal of reason, to growing corn and pumpkins together, 
on account of the shade the vines give the land. He says : " I believe 
more than the value of the pumpkins is subtracted from the value of the 
com crop. In Illinois we raise them in great perfection on the prairie sod, 
the first season after breaking. An acre of land cultivated entirely in 
pumpkins will yield an immense quantity ; and I think this method pref- 
erable to planting among corn. The crop is a valuable one — I have made 
excellent beef with no other feed but pumpkins and hay. The pumpkins 
should be cut up, and fed in a clean trough. I had two hogs, one of which 
I intended to fatten, and the other to keep through the winter. As soon as 
pumpkins were ripe enough to gather, I shut them apart, and fed one on 
corn all he could eat, with an occasional pumpkin for sauce, with slops of 
the house, and milk. The other I fed entirely on pumpkins. They were 
both of an age, and size very nearly alike. In December I killed the one 
fed on com, which weighed about three hundred pounds ; the other was as 
heavy, but not quite so fat. I then concluded to fat the last one, and fed 
him on corn and pumpkins all he would eat. In about a month he was 
very fat, and weighed nearly a hundred more than the first. This experi- 
ment convinced me that pumpkins were good feed for hogs, and that corn 
and pumpkins fed together wei'e much better than corn alone." Several 
other farmers are convinced that there is no profit in growing corn and 
pumpkins together. 

805. Corn Hybridizing. — "We planted one season some of the Improved 
King Philip corn, side by side with several other sorts, all of which hybrid- 
ized, while the King Philip remained pure. The sort most aflfected was the 
little rice corn. Now, what is the philosophy of this mixing and running out 
of old sorts ? Nature never works at random, nor is there a foolish thing 
to be found in all her works. They are full of mystery, but not of wasted 
forces. In this, as in a thousand other instances of hybridization, there is 
something to be learned. My own theory is, that this rice corn is a very 
low type in the family, perhaps only one remove from the original wild 
state, where each kernel is enveloped in a separate husk ; and therefore 
nature, ever willing to aid man in improvements, makes a greater show 
upon this than any of the others, toward a variety that will be more valu- 
able for cultivation ; for that, though toothsome in its green state, is not to 
be compared to some of the best varieties of sweet corn for the table, and 
is not near as productive. The stalks are low and bushy, and may grow 



Sko. 45.] THE COST AND PROFIT OF A CORN CROP. 743 

close together, the ears small, and set near the ground. The principal 
object in growing it is for popping. The Improved King Philip has reached 
a high point toward perfection, that is difficult of further improvement. 
Hence it does not mix freelj with any other sort. Nature shows plainly in 
this, that it has already expended its main force in bringing it up to its 
present point. 

806. Corn and CrowSi — Until the mooted question is settled, whether 
crows do more damage to farmers than they do good, we shall say : 
Frighten the crows, but do not kill them, except one to use to keep his fel- 
lows off your corn. Pick off part of his feathers, and scatter them on some 
spot in the field easily seen, and near by lay the carcass of the dead crow, 
and you will see his late companion sailing over the field, and looking 
down upon what has been done, but very careful not to light where he, too, 
might fall a victim. If you can not kill a crow, you may make a very 
good show of a dead one with a black hen. Crows are too valuable as ver- 
min-destroyers on a farm, to be wantonly destroyed because they pull up a 
little corn. One farmer says : " In protecting fields from crows, he has 
found the best remedy to tie young crows to strings stretched across the 
field. Their calls drew a great many old crows, which came to see what 
the matter was, and went off, and kept off that year and the next." 
Another one says : " A very troublesome case of crow depredation was 
cured by suspending young crows dead, which so alarmed the old ones 
that they left in disgust. I find tarring corn seed a good preventive." If 
crows are to be kept off by any kmd of scarecrows, they must be put up 
as soon as the corn is planted, before the thieves get a taste. That is 
the " ounce of prevention" that is "worth a pound of cure." 

807. The Cost and Proflt of a Corn Crop.— The growing of corn ; the 
varieties grown ; the manner of planting ; how cultivated ; whether high 
manuring, and much labor to produce a great yield per acre ; whether corn 
shall be grown — particularly in the Eastern States — will always depend 
upon the cost of production ; which, in all but the great fertile corn region 
of the West, is not less than thirty cents a bushel. There it can be grown 
for less — there it has been often sold below twenty-five cents a bushel. 
For many years in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, a sort of 
universal price of corn prevailed, at a dollar a barrel, which is a local 
measure of five bushels. Yet during those years we have known large car- 
goes delivered on the bank of the Ohio, or its tributaries, at half that 
price ; of course, for that is the custom, always in the ear, and at the 
rate of three heaped half bushels of ears for a bushel of grain. The gene- 
ral price of corn upon the Illinois Central Railroad during the summer 
of 1861 was ten cents a bushel, delivered in the ear, at a measure that 
would make a bushel of shelled corn. On the rivers it was not worth 
as much, and we heaiHi of sales upon interior farms at three cents a 
bushel. At these prices corn does not pay ordinary farm-laborers' wages 
to grow it. The price it has sold for also proves that the great value of 



744 



CEREALIA. 



[CnAP. VII r. 



laad is not its richness; the great source of profit is not the great crops 
produced, but the market for that produce; and land is valuable just in 
proportion to its nearness to a place where its produce can best be sold. It 
ought to be a leading feature in the calculation of every land purchaser, 
Where is the market ? Every producer should also keep this question con- 
stantly before his eyes, and shape his productions accordingly. Before the 
age of railroads the price of wheat in the interior of Indiana and Illinois 
was twenty-five to thirty-five cents a bushel, "store pay." It was not a 
cash article, because there was no market. Indian corn was still more a 
cheap drug on hand, and many a " broad horn" has been loaded upon the 
Wabash and other rivers for the far-off New Orleans market, with corn at 
six to ten cents a bushel. The strongest incentive to high farming is a high 
market. Is it profitable to grow corn in New England ? 

808. Early Ripening Sweet Corn.— Sweet corn, which is the kind liiat 
shows shriveled grains when fully ripe, and tastes sweet, is not an early 
ripening corn. Oiir pop-corn is fit for boiling two weeks before the sweet 
corn ; but neither pop-corn, nor any other kind of corn, is to be compared 
to the sweet corn for table use, and is only tolerated by those who grow 
sweet corn until that is large enough to boil. There is a black variety of 
sweet corn that ripens early ; but this we would only grow for early use, 
on account of its color, and that probably is one of the causes of its early 
ripening, as all dark-colored things absorb the rays of the sun. Some of 
this black corn has black cobs and husks ; others, the grains only are 
black. We have grown an excellent sweet corn with white grains and 
dark-colored husks, which is quite early ; that is, in ordinary seasons, fit to 
eat in July. 

809. The Value of Sweet Corn.— There is no variety of corn that affords 
the ftirmer so much value, or gives so great a return for the labor of grow- 
ing it, as sweet corn ; and it should be grown in sufficient quantity to give 
every farmer's family an unlimited supply for the table at every meal, if 
desired, and also for the children and servants to roast. and eat between 
meals, from July 20th to October 20th — three full months. 

There is no food that can be furnished so cheaply, and none that is more 
nutritious and wholesome. It is always a w<flcome dish to chance guests, 
and in case of deficiency of other food at such a time, a dish of ears of 
green corn can be gathered, husked, cooked, and put upon the table in 30 
minutes. And upon two or tiiree ears a hungry man makes a satisfactory 
meal, M'ith very little other food. In first cost, in cost of preparation, in 
value as food, is there anything equal to green corn ? In value as food, so 
far as nutriment is concerned, sweet corn is 25 per cent, above any other 
sort, and 50 per cent, above as regards its wholesomeness. Being softer it 
is easier masticated, and goes into the stomach in better condition for diges- 
tion ; and being almost entirely destitute of oil it is believed to be more 
easily digested than the common field corn. 

Sweet corn should be planted for family use in hot-beds for transplanting ; 



Sec. 45.] BROOM CORN. 745 

or, if you have no hot-bed, in bits of inverted sod, in a box in the kitchen, 
so as to have them ready to pnt out in a rich warm spot as early as possible, 
and at the same time you should plant a few hills, and after that every 
two weeks till the middle of July. Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn can be 
planted so late that it will barely mature so as to be eatable wlien frost 
comes, previous to which if it is cut up and shocked, or packed closely in a 
room, it will remain fit for boiling till New Year's. Green corn may be 
preserved very late in autumn, by tying a bundle of straw, or cornstalks, 
around a hill of corn while it is growing, and before it is injured by frost. 

Another value that sweet corn has is for drying for winter use. Scald 
the ears when the grains have acquired their full size, and cut them off and 
dry them in the sun, or in a very slow oven, leaving the door open to allow 
the moisture to evaporate. When dry, store it away for winter use in a bag 
of open texture, hung up in a dry store-room — on the rafters in the garret is 
a good place. 

It may be cooked by soaking and boiling alone, or with beans, as " suc- 
cotash ;" and when boiled it may be eaten with meat or with milk, or with 
sirup ; or it may be stewed in milk, adding butter and salt, and form an 
excellent breakfast dish. 

A variety of sweet corn, known as the Excelsior, is considered the best 
where but one sort is grown. It grows two or three ears to the stalk, with 
twelve or fourteen rows to the ear, and is very ricli when cooked. 

810. Broom Corn— How it is Grown, and Value of the Crop, — We are aware 
that broom corn does not come properly under the head of this section, be- 
cause it belongs to the Sorghum family. But as it will be more likely to 
attract attention under the head of Corn, we give it a place here. 

In some sections of the country, particularly on the Mohawk liiver, broom 
corn is a leading crop upon many of the farms. It requires the best kind of 
soil — that is, soil that would produce forty or fifty bushels of Indian corn 
per acre. It also requires the best kind of preparation by disintegration and 
manuring, and then the seed is planted in drills or hills, like ludian corn, 
at about the same time in the spring, and it should be tended in the same 
way, thinning out the plants, which will probably grow in excess, as tiie 
seed is usually planted very thickly, and it must be carefully attended to at 
the first and second hoeing. When the broom corn is matured sufficiently, 
the heads are bent down before cutting. If the seed is to be saved in a 
mature condition, the corn is allowed to stand until the heads are Avell filled, 
but not dead ripe, when the heads are bent down l)y a man walking between 
two rows and bending all the heads inward. It is then allowed to stand 
until ripe, but not dry, when it is cut by a man walking between the same 
rows with a keen knife — a large-sized shoe-knife is about the best kind that 
can be used — cutting oft' the brush with six or eight inches of the stalk at- 
tached. The brush is thrown in bunches by the cutters, and is or should be 
immediately gathered iip and carried to the barn, or somewhere under cover. 
It must not be cured in the sun. It is frequently stripped of the seed as 



746 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

fast as it is cut, and spread all through the barn, over tils' hay and grain 
lofts, or under sheds, or tied in bunches and hung against the walls. 

The seed that is to be saved must be handled carefully, as it is very liable to 
heat. It may be cured in the sun, or spread upon the barn floor, or on a loft 
with a very open floor, and it must be frequently stirred so as to give it air. 

Sometimes the brush is cured ■with the seed adhering, but it is not as 
well, as it is more difiicult to cure it perfectly, and it is bulky and heavy 
to liaadle, and really in the end i-equires a good deal more labor. It is 
said, also, that the dry brush scrapes much harder than when first cat, 
and certainly it is more liable to be injured. For some work the brusli 
must be cut and cured quite green before the seed is mature. Tlien it is 
scraped off and fed out at once, and is of about the same value as hay. The 
ripe seed, cured for winter feeding, is considered by some nearly equal in 
value to oats. We have never been satisfied that it was worth lialf as mucli. 
Perhaps it M'ould be if ground. Tlie stalks are not considered nearly as 
valuable as Indian cornstalks. If neat cattle are turned into the field after 
the brusli is cut, they will pick off the leaves, but never eat tlio stalks. So 
they will if the stalks are cut and cured, and fed out in the winter. About 
the best use that the stalks of broom corn can be put to is to litter yards in 
winter to give cattle dry beds. Tliey may also be used to make temporary 
shelter, or wind-breakers, for stock, or lor covering root piles, or protecting 
more valuable forage from the weather. They are not valuable for manure, 
and would probably be the most so as mulcfi. It is the most common prac- 
tice to let the stalks stand till spring, letting the stock pick and trample 
what they like, and then cut and burn the remainder on the field. 

Scraping ofl" the seed is a laborious job. A machine has been extempo- 
rized for this purpose, and is described as follows : 

" Take an old fanning-mill (a new set of wheels in a strong frame, so that 
you could use a balance-wheel, would be better), put on two plank wheels in 
place of the fans, then take slats of the length you wish to make your cylin- 
der, three inches wide and three fourths of an inch thick, hollow them a 
little at the ends, so as to fit the wheels ; drive eight or ten wrought nails 
through each slat, and nail it to the wheels with the nail points out, in 
such a way that they will not be in straight rows around the cylinder, but 
bristling all over. One to turn the crank pretty smartly, one to hold on the 
brush in handfuls, and a boy to hand it up, will scrape two or three wagon- 
loads a day." 

The value of the crop is the most important consideration to those wlio 
may be tempted to embark in the business. We have seen various estimates 
of the amount of produce per acre. We think that a tun of brush from five 
acres is a pretty fair estimate, and this will sell at from $100 to $150, or it 
will make up about one hundred and twenty dozen brooms , and any man 
of tolerable skill as a f;irm laborer can soon learn how to make good twine 
or wire brooms. There arc macliines used by broom-makers which greatly 
facilitate the work. They cost about $35 each. 



Seo. 45.] BROOM CORN. 747 

The quantity of seed grown upon an acre we have seen rated as high as 
sixty bushels. We do not believe that one crop in ten will give that. The 
writer of an article now before us estimates the value of wcU-ripcncd seed 
for horses, sheep, and j)ouUry higher than oats. The stalks, when left to 
ripen the seed, arc of no value for cattle food. The seed is more valuable, 
but the brush is not ; that is most valuable when cut green, and when the 
straw is fine, and retains a bright, lively color. 

In January, ISGO, it was estimated that 2,000 tuns of broom corn liad 
been received ifi this city within a year past from Illinois ; from Ohio, 500 
to 600 tuns, and the same quantity from the State of New York. The 
quantity grown in the New England States is mostly manufactured before 
it reaches the city. 

The average price of broom-corn brush is six cents a pound for the green 
sort, and four cents for the red brush. The average crop per acre at the 
West is 400 pounds ; in this State, 350 pounds ; in New England, 250 
pounds. 

It is not considered profitable to grow broom corn on a small scale ; but 
as a crop it does appear to be so. There is a dwarf variety which has been 
recommended as more profitable for cultivation than the large and more 
common kind, because it furnishes finer and higher-priced brush ; but for 
cultivation on a large scale there are serious objections against this variety 
— the sheaf of the ujjper leaf adheres so closely to the stalk it is very difli- 
cult to separate it. For family use this would not be so objectionable. It 
would only make a little work for small fingers, while larger ones were 
making brooms in winter evenings. 

Shaker brooms are so common, that people generally suppose that broom 
corn is one of the staple crops of the Shaker Society. It may be in some 
families of the community, but not in all. The largest and oldest Society 
in the country, that of New Lebanon, Columbia County, N. Y., find it more 
advantageous to use their tillable land for some other purpose, and buy the 
brush, which they manufacture extensively, from the broom-corn farms of 
the Mo!;a\vk Valley. The soil there is not only productive in this crop, but 
the quality of ihe product ranks higher than it does upon the richer lands 
of the West, where the yield is larger, but the brush is coarser and less 
valuable. 

In conclusion, we advise caution about embarking in the culture of broom 
corn, without more knowledge than we can impart. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE GHASSES-CULTIVATION AND USE. 




SECTION XLVI.-MOWING AND PASTURE LAND.-SEEDING LAND TO 
GRASS- VARIETIES OF CULTIVATED GRASS -WHAT IS GRASS? 

\ 
fHAT is grass? maybe more important to the bot- 
anist than to the farmer ; but what farmer's son of 
ordinary intelligence would not like to be able to 
answer that question ? How can he, if he is never 
taught ? Who has told him that clover is not grass, 
and that Indian corn and sugar-cane do belong to 
the grass family ? But it is not so much our present 
object to answer the question, as it is to speak briefly 
upon several practical things about the cultivation 
of grass and clover, and making them into winter 
feed for farm stock, and all matters that pertain to 
this very important crop. We are sure that every 
one who studies what we have compiled under the 
head of the grasses, particularly young readers, must 
be instructed in very important useful information. Natural grasses extend 
over the whole globe. Very curious and various provisions are made for 
the diffusion of the seeds ; many of them are furnished with creeping roots. 
They are not, like other plants, injured by the laceration of their herbage. 
The making of artificial meadows is an art yet iu its infancy. We never 
hear of them in England prior to a. d. 1G81, nor in tliis country until about 
A. D. 1720. So little is known of natural or uncultivated grasses, that very 
few know the names of the grasses growing on their farms, nor can they 
distinguish one from another. One sixth of all the plants on the globe 
belong to the family of grasses — two hundred and thirty genera, including 
three thousand species, are already known, and new species are constantly 
presenting themselves. Six tenths of the cultivated area of New York is 
devoted to the growth of grass, and the grass crop of the United States is 
estimated at $300,000,000 annual value. Think of that, and you will see 
the importance of every treatise upon this farm crop. 

Sll. Varieties and Value of Grasses Cultivated.— J. Stanton Gould, of 
Columbia County, N. Y., has devoted much attention to the study of 
grasses. Of those most commonly cultivated, he gives the following brief 
description. First, of the Fescues : 



\1X 




Tmk ^'r^n.ss'gs. a s'rrny toK rorx^t. VAKTvieits . 



PLATE XIX. 



(Page 748.) 



This plate needs no explanation. It is a beautiful picture of somt 
of the most valuable of our cultivated plants, which, collectively, 
make a farm crop so much more valuable than that which has been 
ftUsely called king, that when the two are fairly compared, "king 
cotton" dwindles into insignificance. Compared with grass, it is no 
more than a word. Without cotton we can live. Without grass, 
the world would be a desert, and man and beast would perish. It 
is because it is of such vast importance, that we have devoted a 
whole chapter to its consideration ; and for the purpose of attract- 
ing attention to it, we have placed this picture as a frontispiece. 
Each one of these grasses will be found pretty fully described in 
the following pages, which should be studied with careful attention. 
The pictures may be depended upon as true representations. 



Sec. 46.] VARIETIES AND VALUE OF CULTIVATED GRASSES. 749 



"Festuca ovina is essentially a grass of the thin soils resting upon rocky 
uplands, as on the mountain limestone, and most mountain ranges. 

"/'. duriuscula. — In the valleys between such hills, and in the more shel- 
tered pastures of the upland districts. 

"i^. rubra. — In the more sandy loams of the lowland meadow, and by the 
sea-shore. 

"i^. loliacea. — Kich meadows on river banks, or under irrigation. 

"i^. j!>?'a^«i«/s. — Best lowland meadows, not liable to floods. 

"i^. elatior. — On sandy clays, or other stifl" and strong lands, especially 
on the sea-shore. 

" The fescues are invariably present in our best pastures, and especially 
present in those of the most famous cheese districts. 

" The K pratensis is worth $3 33 when timothy is worth $5 per ton. 
It follows next after meadow foxtail {alopecurus) as an early grass, and af- 
fords a bite earlier than orchard grass. 

" The Bromus family has a very bad name, being neither agreeable nor 
nutritious to cattle. Bromus erectus is said to be the only perennial species 
in the genus. Early mowing is recommended as a means of extiruating 
this family. 

'■^Lolhwi j:>eren7ie, or rye grass, is the favorite grass of England, and occu- 
pies there the same place that timothy does with us, and is probably better 
adapted to a wet climate like England than to a dry one like ours. Sixty 
varieties are cultivated in England of this one species. 

'■•Lolium Itedicum, Italian rye grass, is worth $2 69 when timothy is 
worth $5. One hundred pounds of it give twenty-four and a half pounds 
of dry hay. It is best adapted to limestone and light soils, and is one of 
the most desirable varieties for irrigated meadows. 

" Triticinri repens^ known as ' quack,' ' twitch,' or ' dog' grass, is very 
easily recognized by its spikelet of eight or ten-awned flowers placed flat- 
wise toward the sachis. It is a terrible jiest in alternate husbandry, grow- 
ing in all sorts of soils, and robbing the cultivated plants of the richest por- 
tion of their food. In very dry seasons it may be killed by plowing it very 
thoroughly in July, and sowing the ground with buckwiieat. Its stalks 
sometimes attain an altitude of three feet, but it ordinarily stands two feet 
liigh. It forms a tolerably good hay, and is much relished by the stock as 
a pasture grass. It operates as an emetic on dogs, and is very useful in 
binding the eloping banks of railroads. 

'■'■Anthoxanthum odoratum, sweet-scented vernal grass, is not very valu- 
able for hay or for pasture, as one hundred pounds of it gives only nineteen 
pounds and three quarters of dry hay, and an acre three quarters of a ton. 
It starts very early in the spring, and continues to throw out leaves during 
the summer. 

" Glyceria nervata grows in wet places. Its culms are extremely succu- 
lent; it is the hardiest grass in existence, and always grows more vigorously 
after a severe winter than after a mild one. 



750 THE GRASSES— THEIK CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



Poa serotina, or foul-meadow, is one of the earliest grasses cultivated 
in this country, and is still among the best. It does not injure by standing, 
as do other grasses, but may be cut at almost any time. It is easily made 
into hay, and never seems hard or harsh, and produces sound se*ds in great 
abundance. 

" Trisetinn suhspicatum is a mean, stingy grass, growing on stiff clayey 
side-hills which have a northern aspect. It is only lit to be grown on soils 
that will bear nothing else. 

" Zlgantia aquatica grows in places wholly covered with water. It is 
very sweet and nutritious, and cows fed upon it have a copious flow of 
milk. In favorable situations it produces five or si.x tuns to the acre, grow- 
ing to the hight of nine feet. Its seeds resemble rice. 

'■'■ Phleu7n pratensis. — According to the analysis of Professor Way, timo- 
thy yields more dry Iiay from a given amount of grass, and more of albu- 
minous, fatty, and heat-producing matters, from a given amount of dry 
liay, than any of the grasses upon which he experimented. But it must be 
remembered that Professor "Way did not analyze cither Poa compressa or 
Poa serotina. 

A crop of pure timothy on the farm of George Geddes, near Syracuse, 
N. Y., gave three tuns to the acre, and it is reported that John Fisher, Car- 
roll County, Md., cut from an acre five tuns and one thousand si.x hundred 
and twenty-two pounds of dry liay. 

Tlie proj^er time for mowing timothy is just when the first dry spot 
appears above the first joint. If mowed earlier, the plant is injured. If 
left to a later period, the starch and sugar are converted into indigestible 
woody fiber, and the nitrogenous compounds, on wliich its value chiefly 
dejjcnds, are transferred from the leaves and culms to the seed, wliich 
mostly drop out before they reach the manger. Timothy is not well adapted 
to hot sands, gravels, chalks, nor hard, sterile clays ; but thrives on peaty, 
damp soils, and especially on most calcareous loams, where it exhibits its 
fullest perfection. 

" The great drawbacks to its utility as a permanent meadow grass are, the 
very little after-math it produces, its liability to run out after two or three 
years, and the injury it receives from insects with which it is infested. 

" Alojjecurus (Meadow Foxtails). — There are five varieties of this genus, 
viz. : A. pratensis, A. agrestis, A. genicidatus, and A. rishdatus. The A. 
pratensis may be distinguished from its allied species by the equality of 
length in the glumes, and by a twisted arm twice the length of the blossom. 
It rarely exceeds three feet in length, and does not usually yield over one 
tun to the acre. It is very Avatery in its comjjosition ; one hundred pounds 
of the green grass give only nineteen pounds and three quarters of dry hay, 
while an equal quantity of timothy gives forty-two pounds and three quar- 
ters. If one tun of green timothy be worth $5, the foxtail will be worth 
§2 07, if Professor Way's analysis can be relied on. It is found abundantly 
in some of our best pastures, is one of the earliest to start in the spring, and 



Sec. 46.] VARIETIBS AND VALUE OF GRASS CULTIVATED. 751 

the first to mature ita seeds ; its after-matli is exceedingly abundant, start- 
ing up immediately after mowing, and if the weather be showery, will, in a 
week or ten days, give a fair bite to the cattle. It is not well adapted to 
alternate husbandry, as it requires three or four years to bring a meadow 
to full perfection. It is very difficult to procure good seeds, as many heads 
are entirely destroyed by the insects. It is better adapted to pasture than 
to meadow, flourishes most luxuriantly on rich, moist, strong soil, the pro- 
duction from a clayey loam being three fourths greater than from silicious 
soil. 

'^ Setaria glauca is good for nothing in meadows and pastures ; it should 
be exterminated as soon as possible, which may be done by a thin coat 
of horse manure applied in autumn. 

" Dactylis glomerata^ or orchard grass, sometimes grows five feet high, 
and has produced five tuns, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine 
pounds to an acre. One hundred pounds of it produces thirty pounds of 
dry hay ; it contains nearly as much of fat and flesh-forming matter as 
timothy, but contains much less of heat-forming matters. If the latter 
is worth $5 a ton, orchard grass will be worth $3 59. It flourishes well 
in shady places, and receives its trivial name from its adaptation to orchards. 
Its disposition to gi-ow in tussocks may be prevented by harrowing and 
rolling in the spring. It flourishes well in almost all soils and climates ; 
best in sandy loam. It is known in England as cocksfoot. In this country 
it is most common in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
and less common in most of the other grass-growing States. "We say grass- 
growing States, for, strictly speaking, the cotton States are not so, not- 
withstanding the planters are always grumbling about being overrun with 
grass. It is, however, an annual that troubles them most, and in all those 
States very little grass seed is sown to produce a crop either for hay or 
pasture. For both purposes, orchard grass is good, but most especially 
for pasture, producing good milk, beef, mutton, or wool ; and every kind 
of stock eats it freely, and thrives well upon it ; and after being mowed or 
fed oflF, it throws up a now growth rather more readily than any other grass. 
It is not inclined to run out in any situation where it once gets good root, 
though as easily subdued by plowing as timothy ; it is better than that to 
mix with clover, ripening more nearly at the same time. For pasture, we 
would mix orchard grass with several other sorts. 

'■'■ Poa pratensis (the Kentucky blue grass) does not grow higher than 
two and a half feet, and can not be relied upon to yield more than a tun 
and a half to the acre. One hundred i^ounds of the grass yields thirty-two 
pounds of dry hay, and is worth $3 20 per tun when timothy is worth 
$5. Butter made from this grass will keep sweet longer than that made 
from any other species. Its after-math is very luxuriant, and it stands the 
cold better than any other, but is liable to burn up in hot, dry weather. 
Its favorite locality is a limestone soil. 

" Pea covi>prcssa (wire or blue grass) is believed to be the most nutri- 



752 TOE GRASSES— TUEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



tive of our grasses ; it grows heavy, about twenty inches high, standing 
thickly on the ground. It causes an abundant flow of very rich milk, and 
horses fed upon it alone do well. Sheep fatten upon it, and all grazing ani- 
mals eat it with avidity. 

' Agrestis vulgaris (red top) grows about two and a half feet long, and 
yields about one and a half tuns to the acre. It is not a first-rate grass, but 
seems to be better relished by working oxen than by any other stock. It 
grows in very moist land. 

" Agrcstis alba (white top) seems better adapted to sandy soils than the 
preceding, but resembles it veiy nearly in its botanical character." 

No country can be a prosperous agricultural one that imports its hay. 
Yet we find that South Carolina has done so; not merely from Maine and 
other Northern States, but from Holland. From a remarkably able report 
by Oscar M. Lieber, State Geologist of South Carolina, upon " the Agri- 
cultural Capacity of the State, and the Obstructions to its Full Develop- 
ment," published in March, 1860, he very plainly shows how a country that 
neglects grass culture will deteriorate. He points out many instances where 
the original condition of the soil was very desirable, which is now the re- 
verse, because the owners import hay, and leave their own soil naked. He 
says: 

" There are other considerations, such as thorough manuring, which should 
be duly remembered ; but it is certainly owing, in the very first place, to 
these causes, that those once fertile lands are now in many instances de- 
populated and abandoned by their former owners ; that a district as promi- 
nent in her virgin productiveness as Fairfield is gradually losing her origi- 
nal legislative representation, and that a section of the State, capable of 
supporting perhaps ten times the population of our entire Commonwealth, 
is now, to a very considerable extent, thrown out as irreclaimable. But how 
is the system to be changed ? Nothing easier. Clothe your barren hill- 
sides with grass — decrease the area of your cultivated crops — manure highly 
Avith commercial and compost manures — ai;d, to enable you to do the latter, 
keep cattle, sheep, and hogs ; feed them well, and make them pay you in 
rich returns." 

812. Grasses Recommended by the New York State Agricultural Society.— 
A conmiittee, composed of Wm. Kelly, J. Delafield, B. P. Johnson, to whom 
the subject was referred by the New York State Agricultural Society, reports 
as follows : 

"The following described grasses are, by common consent, admitted to be 
the most valuable now cultivated in England. There are others of great 
value, which might, perhaps be profitably cultivated in our climate, but 
for the experiments now proposed, your committee recommend only the 
varieties here named. 

Meadow Foxtail — {Ahpecurus pmttmsis). — ^This is a very early grass, 
productive, and exceedingly nutritious. It is the principal grass in all rich 
pastures, is a favorite with sheep and cattle, and is one of the most per- 



Sec. 46.] VARIETIES RECOMMENDED. 753 

nianent of the cultivated grasses. The objections to it are these — that 
it is slow to establish itself and acquire its full growth, and in England 
does not produce its seed perfectly. Not more than one third of the seed 
sown usually germinates. In our climate there ought to be no difficulty 
of this sort. 

Meadow Fescue — {Festuca pratensis). — Fibrous root. This is one of the 
most valuable grasses. It is nearly as early as the foxtail, and equally 
nutritious, though not so productive. It is found in all the richest natural 
pastures, is much liked by cattle and horses, and is among the most per- 
manent of grasses. It thrives best in the clay districts of England. It 
ripens its seed well, but, like the meadow foxtail, is slow in arriving at 
maturity. 

Rough Stalked Meadow Geass — {Poa trivialis). — This is a superior pas- 
ture grass. It has fibrous roots, and in a moist, rich soil is productive and 
very permanent ; but on dry and exposed land its product is inconsiderable, 
and it soon dies out. It is not remarkable for its nutritive properties, though 
cattle seem fond of it. 

Fektile Meadow Geass — {Poa fertilis). — Is a native of Germany ; roots 
slightly creeping ; is productive, one of the earliest grasses, and is remark- 
able for the large crop of after-math, sending up a succession of flowering 
culms till the frost arrests it. It grows well on any good land, but thrives 
best in moist ground ; is among the most nutritious grasses, and ripens its 
seed well. 

Sweet-scented Yeenal Geass — {Anthoxanthum odoratum). — This is one 
of the earliest as well as one of the latest herbage grasses, is extensively culti- 
vated in Eastern Pennsylvania, and imparts the peculiar richness of flavor to 
Philadelphia butter. 

Peeennial Eye Geass — {Lolium perenne). — The root is fibrous. It is the 
most generally cultivated of the herbage grasses in England. It is adapted 
to a wide range of temperature and soils, soon reaches maturity, ripens av 
abundance of seed, is early and productive, but not particularly nutritious. 

Rough Cocksfoot, oe Oechaed Geass — {Dactylis glonierata). — Said to 
be a native of Virginia, is cultivated with us, but does not rival timothy ; 
yet in England it ranks very high. It is always sown there in mixture with 
other grasses, and by experiment is the most productive of all, yielding a 
greater weight of forage per acre, though less nutritious than other favorite 
sorts. 

Meadow Cat's Tail, oe Timothy — {Phleum jjratensis). — Tlie cultivation 
of it in England is recommended in mixture with other grasses, but not 
alone, as with us is most common. 

Faem, oe Bent Geass — American names are Herds-grass, Foul Meadow, 
and Red Top — {Agrostis vulgaris, and Agrostis stolonifera latifoUa). — In 
England, several varieties are recognized, the largest of which is Farm, or 
large leaved creeping Bent ; this is more productive, though not so well 
adapted to upland, as the common Bent Grass, or Herds-grass. 



754 CLOVER— ITS CULTIVATION AND USE. Chap. IX. 

Smooth Stalked Meadow Gkass— American names: Spear Grass, June 
Grass, and Blue Grass — {Poa pratensis). — This grass is indigenous, and is the 
ordinary growth of our roadsides. It is very early, and continues its growth 
throughout the season until very late in the autumn ; it resists drouth, 
makes a close sod, and is a great favorite with sheep. As a hay grass, it is 
not so valuable as many others ; it is very permanent. 

It is asserted that upward of two hundred varieties of grass are grown in 
Great Britain, mostly indigenous. In a single sod taken from a rich pasture 
were found thirty varieties, and there are usually twenty-six or more in all 
first-rate pasture land. 

If we e.xpect to rival natural pastures, we ought to imitate nature in scat- 
tering a variety of seeds, instead of confining ourselves to one or two sorts. 

813. George Geddes on Growing Clover. — "The agriculture of Onondaga 
County is based on the clover plant, Trifolium pratense. It is used for 
pasture, for hay, and for manure. Strike this plant out of existence, and a 
revolution would follow that would make it necessary for us to learn every- 
thing anew in regard to cultivating our lands. We have this most valuable 
treasure and appreciate it ; its influence and importance to us demand an 
extended account. 

"There are two varieties of red clover, known among the farmers as the 
large and small. The large is but little cultivated, and is generally con- 
sidered of less value for hay or pasture, and yields but a single crop of hay 
in a season ; but where wanted for manure only, it is sometimes preferred 
for its heavy growth. 

"Clover seed is usually sown on winter wheat, in March or April, in 
quantities varying from two to ten quarts to the acre : eight quarts is gene- 
rally sown by the best farmeis. Sometimes this seed is sown on oats, barley, 
and spring wheat ; but as it can be sown before the spring frosts are over on 
winter wheat, it is more certain to be covered by the freezing and thawing 
of the earth, and for this reason success is more certain than with any other 
crop. 

" Gypsum, at the rate of a bushel or more per acre, is usually sown after 
the ground is settled and the crop has commenced growing. Sometimes 
the sowing of the gypsum is deferred until the wheat is harvested, and then 
sown on the stubble as soon as convenient. If the season is wet, and there- 
fore a growing one, the small kind of clover will be in full bloom before the 
frosts of autumn kill the plants. 

"It is common to pasture this young clover moderately in autumn, and 
opinions are somewhat divided as to whether this injures the future growth 
of the crop. 

"In the following spring, gypsum should be again sown on the clover, 
at the rate of a bushel to the acre. By the 25th of June or the 1st of 
July the small variety is ready for making into hay, and should yield a tun 
nnd a half to the acre. Various opinions have been entertained as to the 
proper stage for cutting this hay crop ; but the general practice is to cut 



Sko. 46.] CLOVER— ITS CULTIVATION AND USE. 755 



when in full bloom, or as soon as the earliest heads show signs of ripening. 
The true process of curing is to handle as little as possible, and to cure 
mostly in the cock. As soon as the hay is drawn away, gypsum, at the rate 
of a bushel to the acre, should be sown. By about tlie first of October 
the second crop will be ready to cut for Seed. This crop sliould be allowed 
to ripen so that the seeds are full and mostly hardened ; and should be care- 
fully cured, or it will heat in the mow to the injury of the seed. In winter, 
the seed is thrashed out at a cost of about one dollar a bushel. The straw 
and chaff are eaten with avidity by cattle and sheep, and are of considerable 
value for forage^perhaps enough to pay for cutting, curing, and putting 
the crop in the barn. The seed generally averages three bushels to the acre 
— sometimes six bushels have been saved — and sometimes the crop of seed is 
a failure. The usual market price is about six dollars a bushel. 

" After the seed crop is removed from the ground, there is a considerable 
part of the crop of hay left, particularly if it was cut high, as it should be. 
This stubble is usually pastured to some extent. 

"In the spring following, the ground is plowed, unless wanted for pasture. 
If plowed, corn, oats, barley, or spring wheat is sown, and a good crop is con- 
fidently expected. If it is intended that the clover shall remain on the 
ground more than one year, other seeds ai'e sown with the wheat so as to 
make a more perfect covering of grass, and aid in filling the soil with roots. 
Timothy (herds- grass), Phleuiii pratense, sown in September with the wheat, 
will aid in every part of the cultivation of the clover. The crop of hay will 
be benefited, and the surface of the ground will be more perfectly covered, 
and thus weeds kept out, and in case the second year is to be for pasture, it 
is important. 

" According to Boussingault, one acre of the perfectly dry roots of clover 
will weigh 1,275 lbs., and these roots are valuable manure for the next crop, 
and the same may be said of the tops that are plowed under. The roots run 
deep into the soil, and thus j>ulverize it, so that a single perfect plowing 
brings it into a most satisfactory condition. Some of our best farmers plow 
their fields once in a few years, and then shallower plowing of this clover sod 
will show the long tap roots that have been pulled up from the subsoil by 
the plow, projecting above the surface all over the field, looking quite like 
dead weeds. These roots have transferred the fertilizing matters of the lower 
soil to the surface. 

" If our soils require improving we turn the clover crop under, and repeat 
the operation until there is sufiicient fertility to allow us to carry the clover 
off. The oftencr we can fill the soil with roots, and then plow them under, 
and thus allow them to rot, the sooner we cxuect to get our land in condition 
to crop with grain. 

" A very considerable part of the cultivated land of this county has never 
nad any otiicr manuring than this clover and gypsum, and its fertility is not 
diminishing. Fields that are distant from barn-yard manure are rarely 
treated to anytliing but gypsum and clover. These fields are not cropped 



756 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



with grain as often as those that have the benefit of barn-yard manure, but 

they are manured at much less expense. 

The cost of a fourth of a bushel of clover seed, at $6, is $1 50 

do. sowing is about 03 

do. three bushels of gypsum at the mills is 24 

do. drawing same 12 

do. sowing at three different times 38 

Total cost of manuring one acre with clover $2 32 

"A field treated as described, having the first year given a crop of hay and 
another of seed ; the second year, an acre will nearly or quite pasture a cow 
from the 20th of May until the middle of August. If then plowed six 
or eight inches deep in the most perfect manner, it will be in the best pos- 
sible condition for winter wheat ; or if not wanted for wheat, the land may 
be used the second year for pasture the whole season, and put into corn or 
any other crop the next. Clover is a biennial, and two years is all that one 
seeding should stand." 

814. Clover Seed— How Much to Sow per Acre. — John Johnson, " the old 
Scotch farmer" near Geneva, N. Y., says: "I never have sown over twelve 
pounds of clover seed to the acre, unless done by mistake, and I have always 
had large crops if any one else had in the neighborhood. My man once ac- 
cidentally sowed, by the use of a machine, twenty-four quarts per acre of 
clover seed. The result was, the clover never got taller than the natural 
white clover we some seasons have in such quantities, but which is generally 
too short to cut; while that sown at about 10 lbs. to the aero was as good as 
I could wish." 

Eobert L. Pell, of Ulster County, N. Y., once stated that he generally 
sowed a bushel of clover seed per acre. Upon this Mr. Johnson remarks : 
" I read that Mr. Pell sows one bushel of red clover seed to the acre. Now 
such nonsense as this should not go out among farmers, a great many of 
whom are opposed to anything like book farming ; and when they see a record 
of such folly, it is less wonder that they should believe nothing that is writ- 
ten on agriculture further than their own practice." 

The statement was, like many others, made without proper consideration, 
and liable to mislead others. The quantity named by Mr. Johnson is correct. 
Can any one tell the true value of an acre of clover, and whether it is worth 
more to plow in than it is to rot upon the ground, or cut and cure and pass 
'hrough animals, before it is given back to the earth as manure ? And who 
can tell the value of a tun of manure ; that is, as a smelter of ore can tell tlie 
value of a tun of it which he puts into the furnace ? Does not the farmer 
put the manure into the earth for a similar purpose? One draws out refined 
metal, and if that is worth more than the ore and fuel and liboi-, then he 
makes a profit. 

The other has for an object to change the nniss of dirt into corn, wheat, 
and fine flour, which, after all, is nothing but refined dirt, and upon the 
process depends the profit, and one should be just as well able as the other 
to tell the value of the crude article. 



Sec. 4G.] growing AND HARVESTING CLOVER SEED. 757 



815. Growing Clover Seedt — Clover will produce only one crop of seed in 
a season, and if we allow it to grow until it has blossomed, and -then permit 
it to stand until the seed begins to form, or until the seed has formed, and 
some of the blossoms begin to turn brown, we can not reasonably expect to 
have much of a crop of seed the next time the clover is cut, because the 
seed-producing substances have been too much exhausted to mature another 
crop the same season. There is usually too much anxiety to get a good crop 
of hay, and afterward a crop of seed. It is better to be contented with less 
hay in the first crop, and have more seed in the second crop, than to lose a 
dollar's worth of seed for a dime's worth of hay. 

It is said that the application of plaster to the clover field in spring will 
secure a better yield of seed from the second crop, while a direct application 
after mowing the first growth is found to increase the rankness of the hay at 
the expense of the filling of the heads with seed. 

816. Harvesting Clover Seed. — We recommend cutting when two thirds of 
the head are brown. The chance of good weather is better, and there is less 
loss from shelling while handling ; and the straw is of greater value as fodder 
than if allowed to stand until the whole is dead ripe. Besides, the later 
ripening heads are poorly filled with seed. Sometimes, however, both the 
first and second growth may blossom largely and yet produce very little 
seed — from some cause not well understood. 

Tiie best implement for harvesting is a reaper — the grain platform at- 
tached, witli a board at the back edge to retain a larger amount of clover — 
when full, to be pitched or raked off in heaps. If clover stands well, it may 
be cut high'; it saves time in curing and labor in handling, and leaves 
the dryer portions of the stalk upon the field. As soon as fairly dry it 
should be drawn to the barn, as it can not be secured in the cock against 
rain. When spread out, however, as when left in the swath, or in small 
gavels from the reaper, it is little injured by rain, though heavy storms may 
wash oft' a portion of the seed. 

In cutting with the scythe, we may turn two swaths together to facilitate 
the work of raiding. With good weather it will be cured suificientlj' to draw 
in the second day after cutting ; if not, it may be raked, when slightly 
damp, into small bunches, or pitched together with a barley-fork. Care in 
handling is lequisite to prevent loss from the dropping of the heads, and, 
from the stift' bush-like character of the straw, it may be placed in tlie mow 
in a greener state than hay Or grain, without injury. The moisture should 
be dried oft', but an occasional juicy stalk will do nf harm. 

The seed can be separated from the straw with a common thrashing ma- 
chine cylinder, having a long shaker or box full of holes attached, so that 
the heavier part of the chaff, which contains the seed, may fall through. 
This work is best performed in freezing cold weather, when no dampness is 
present in the seed or air. To get the clean seed, a clover-huUer is em- 
ployed — a machine which rubs the seed from the chaff, which is passed 
through it again and again, until tlie separation is complete. Wherever the 



758 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



crop is much grown, there are farmers who make it their liusiness to go 
from barn to barn with these machines — thrashing, hulHng, and cleaning 
the seed at a specified price per bushel, usually about one dollar. 

If grown only in small quantities for Iiome use, clover seed may be 
thraslied with flails or trodden out witli horses and sown in the chafi", which 
is full as certain to catch, and perhaps more sure than that cleaned ever so 
nicely. Still it is difficult to regulate the quantity as closely, or distribute 
as evenly, as with the clean seed. 

817. Cutting Clover for Hay. — Clover for hay should be cut when the 
heads are about two thirds open, and it may be housed the same day, and 
salted with a peck to the tun, and will keep perfectly sweet, though sweat- 
ing and turning almost black. We prefer to cock clover to cure, cover- 
ing it with hay caps in case of danger of rain. The value of a crop of clover 
for hay is esteemed great by all farmers, and some have learned to value it 
higher for improving the soil for future crops than they do for hay. One 
advantage over any other crop grown to improve the soil is that its roots 
are earth-workers, and when they decay, they not only manure the soil, but 
leave it light and porous. It is a question well worth the consideration of 
farmers, where clover grows heavy, so as to eifectually shade the land, how 
much is lost by not plowing under while green. Some suppose that the 
shade, together with the mold of the clover on top of the ground, would im- 
prove the land as much as plowing under. Others think the beneiit pretty 
much lost, and others still would consider it a dead loss to devote a crop of 
clover to inanurial purposes. They will cut it for hay, haul it home, and 
haul the manure back again. 

White Clover is seldom cut for hay. Its greatest purpose is for pasture. 
Its growth should be encouraged by all who keep bees — it is good bee-pas- 
ture. The growth of white clover on soils natural to its production may be 
encouraged and promoted by a top-dressing of plaster and ashes. 

818. Lucern, Alfalfa, Lupine, etc.— Several of the plants named in this 
paragraph are used for forage, though not properly called grasses. They are 
worthy of farmers' attention. 

Mcdicago saliva (lucern) succeeds best upon limestone loam. It is par- 
ticularly liable to be injuriously affected by weeds, to avoid which it is 
generally sown in drills, and hand hoed in England, where its cultivation 
has been mostly in small patches for soiling, for which it is very valuable. 
Mr. Gould says : 

" The best soil for it is a sandy one, resting on a porous calcareous sub- 
soil. Its roots penetrate fourteen feet in depth, and hence a hard subsoil is 
fatal to successful growth. It arrives at its greatest perfection after three 
years. In one recorded case, eleven acres sufficed to keep eleven horses 
two hundred and ninety-nine days. In another, a field of eight acres kept 
eight horses three hundred and fifteen days. In both cases a large number 
of sheep were fed on the ground after the last cutting for the horses. Chan- 
cellor Livingston, in Columbia County, N. Y., cut twenty-five tuns from an 



Sko. 46.] LUCERN, ALFALFA, LUPINE, ETC. 759 



acre in five mowings. It is ready for cutting about tlie first of May, and 
may be cut over every thirty days thereafter. It is remarkably adapted for 
milch cows, where the milk is sold in the market, but butter made from it 
is not so sweet as from other grasses. It is greatly relished by liorses and 
cattle ; one hundred pounds of it will make twenty-five pounds of dry hay, 
and its nutritive powers bear such a relation to those of timothy, that it is 
worth S3 13 per tun where that grass is worth $5. The only difficulty with 
lucern is to get it started. It must be sown in drills, and carefully hoed 
until it is large enough to cover the ground. If this precaution is taken, and 
a drouth does not occur just as the young plants are starting, it will be pretty 
sure to succeed, and will last for twenty-five or thirty years. If, however, it 
is overrun with weeds in the beginning, or a severe drouth occurs, it grows 
feebly, and soon dies out. The seed is covered with a very hard and com- 
pact coat, which, if the weather be dry, will greatly retard vegetation. It 
is therefore generally the practice to steep it in warm water, to soften the 
coat, for six or eight hours before sowing. From fourteen to eighteen pounds 
of seeds are usually sown on an acre ; but, as many of the seeds are imper- 
fect, and as fine and succulent plants are more desirable than coarse and 
rank ones, it is better economy to sow twenty -five pounds." 

Alfalfa, sometimes called Peruvian clover, is beginning to be appre- 
ciated in California. It can be cut several times a year, and afl'ord a very 
heavy crop. In deep soil the roots penetrate so far that drouth does hd: 
prevent its growth, like ordinary grass or English clover. It should be ciil 
tivated here for soiling cattle. 

Lotus corniculatus (bird's-foot trefoil) is a prostrate perennial, common 
on open grassy pastures and dry places. It is a leguminous plant, equally 
nutritious as clover, and is instantly eaten down whenever cattle have access 
to it. It is one of the commonly cultivated artificial grasses of Englaiul, 
and is always recommended as worthy a place in all mixtures for pernui- 
nent pastures, and especially for lawns, orchards, and shady places. 

Medicago lupuUna is another leguminous plant, a fibrous-rooted peren- 
nial, very common in dry pastures, especially if of good loamy quality, 
where it forms, with other plants, a thick sward. The pods are short, black, 
twisted, and arrayed in oblong heads. It is not equal in nutritious quali- 
ties, perhaps, to red clover, but is valuable on dry, poor soils, where, how- 
ever, it is apt to run out in a few years. 

White lupine is highly recommended as a fertilizing crop on sandy land, 
where no other crop would grow. Portugal has been highly benefited by 
growing lupine for soiling and manuring. It is of very rapid growth, 
produces a large amount of vegetable matter, and draws from the subsoil a 
large quantity of alkalies. It is rarely or never injured by drouth or in- 
sects, and is admirably adapted for eni^iching unfruitful sandy soils , while 
its strong stems and roots open and ameliorate, as well as enrich, heavy 
tenacious clays. M. Vilmorin, of Paris, says it is sown in that vicinity 
about the middle of April, after all danger from frost is past. He says the 



760 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

green manure yielded by this plant is excellent. The seeds, soaked in water, 
form a good cattle food, and the young plant is readily eaten by sheep. 

Spcrgula Arvensis (Spurry). — No plant has been more lauded for enrich- 
ing sandy soils than spurry. Von Vogt states that by its use the worst 
shifting sands may be made to yield remunerative crops. 

Vicia Sativa (Vetch or Tare). — In England this is an exceedingly valua- 
ble plant, especially on lieavy soils. It can be sown in autumn or spring — 
the latter generally yielding the heaviest crop, though the former is the 
earliest. Vetches are principally used as a green food for horses ; an acre 
of good vetches, fed in the yard or stable, will keep more horses than six 
acres of the best pasturage. They succeed best in a wet season, and on this 
account are not likely to do well in this country, though we liave seen them 
in Canada, and sheep and horses both fatten upon vetches faster than upon 
clover. They are good, too, for all horned cattle, particularly milch cows. 
Pigs eat vetches as well as clover, and thrive without grain. Mr. Lawes' 
experiments on vetches, extending over many years, prove that, like peas 
and beans and clover, vetches are an enriching rather than an impoverish- 
ing crop. 

Bcwn Gi'ass. — The editor of the Maine Farmer thinks that very common 
plant in New England, known as barn grass, would prove as profitable for 
cultivation in that section as Hungarian grass of Iowa notoriety, which it 
very much resembles. Both arc annuals, and if grown upon a good corn 
soil will produce a heavy crop of green or dry feed, but no grazing after 
being mowed. We have never considered the barn grass a valuable forage 
plant, and do not believe it will ever come into general use, because Indian 
cornstalks are more nutritions, and will produce more per acre when sowed 
in drills or broadcast. In a dry season, and on good soil, it will produce 
more than most of the grasses that we cultivate. Horses and cattle like it 
when the seed is in the milk. Horses and poultry like the seeds. There is 
as much farinaceous matter in the seeds, in proportion to the size and weight, 
as in some of the cultivated grains. 

819. Iliiu^arian GrasSi — This is a new name for an old thing. It was in- 
troduced into France in 1815, and has met with much favor. It germinates 
readily, withstands drouth to a remarkable degree, remaining green even 
when other vegetation is parched up, and if its development be arrested by 
dry weather, the least rain restores it to vigor. It has numerous broad and 
long leaves, so that it affords a great amount of nutrition for stock. 

According to Mr. Flint, Hungarian grass flourishes in somewhat light 
and dry soils, though it attains its greatest luxuriance in soils of medium 
consistency, well manured. One of its characteristics will go far toward 
recommending it to farmers. Mr. Cornell says that one piece of his was 
blown down by storms three times in succession, and each time recovered its 
upright growth. He thinks it twice as heavy as timothy. On poor soil it 
attained a hight of two and a half feet, but on a small patch, more highly 
manured, it grew to even three and a half feet. This grass is a good forage 



Sko. 46.] HUNGAKIAN GRASS. 761 

crop on the rich lands of the West. It will exhaust soil, and if it is not rich 
it will not produce a profitable crop. The time of sowing is the same as 
tliat of oats. We would use a peck of seed per acre, and cut for hay before 
the seed is in the milk. It should be cured like timotii}', and stock will eat 
it as well — many say better. The Hungarian grass is millet. Whether 
precisely the old German millet or not, which has long been cultivated in 
this country, is no matter. It is, at least for the prairie farmers, a good 
crop plant. The sellers of "honey blade grass seed" are knaves of the 
meanest sort, when representing the seed they sell as anything but millet, 
and millet is no new thing in this country. In some situations it certainly 
is a good thing, and we hope its cultivation will rapidly increase, but we 
object to humbugging anybody into it under the impression that they have 
found a new variety of grass, under the name of " Hungarian." 

A farmer in Illinois says : "As a forage plant for milch cows and cattle it 
is, I believe, an excellent article, when sown thick and not allowed to ripen 
the seed, or to feed after the seed is thrashed out. For horses, it will not 
do to feed with seed. Where it does not produce death it reduces the 
animal's strength, though not always his condition as to fat or lean.- From 
feeding with this grass I have lost three horses. The seed is to horses a 
stimulating diuretic, acting upon the kidneys energetically ; and when used 
continually, the increased diuresis produces irritation and inflammation of 
the kidneys, weakness of the loins, shortness of breath, inability to undergo 
much exertion, and death ensues, unless the cause is removed and remedied. 
I do not think it too rich a food, but the oil contained in the seeds is injurious. 
It operates upon cattle also as a diuretic, and rather more so than I like in 
milch cows, unless fed upon shorts or bran at the same time. My opinion 
is tliat the straw is a good feed when not too coarse, but with the seed, in- 
jurious to horses and sometimes to cattle. In one experiment made witli 
Hungarian grass upon two acres, the seed, sown the first of July, ripened 
before frost, and two tuns of hay per acre were cut. A third of a bushel of 
seed sown broadcast suffices for an acre." 

The Iforthwestem Farmer says: "It is well known to those who have 
fed the Hungarian grass, that it is remarkably nutritious, and that horses and 
other stock thrive more rapidly when fed on it than when fed on any otlier 
kind of coarse forage. Hence it should be fed more sparingly. If any 
injury has resulted from feeding it as stated, it can only be accounted for in 
the action of the seed upon the animal organism. The seed is as rich as 
Indian corn, and should be fed with care, as horses are liable to eat too 
much." 

One farmer says of it : "I have been told that it is not safe to feed to my 
horses, as it would obstruct the flow of urine. My opinion is the reverse. 
I think it somewhat diuretic and aperient, especially for animals that are 
worked hard. 

" If I have a horse, colt, cow, or calf that appears unwell, I feed Hunga- 
rian hay as a remedial agent, and have been gratified upon all such trials to 



762 THE GRASSES— TUEIR COLTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

see how soon the animal would begin to gain. I consider it the best liay 
we can have, if fed properly. I would say, never confine your working 
horses to this hay alone, but alternate with prairie hay or some other kind. 
If fed in mangers in tight stables, a dust arises from it that will make horses 
cough." 

From all we have learned by our own experience and that of others, we 
can not commend its cultivation to farmers in tiie Eastern States; and this 
we find to be the opinion of many others. We have, however, one cor- 
respondent at Bristol, Addison County, Vt, who is jubilant over his success 
in growing Hungarian grass — two tuns of dry grass and nearly twenty-five 
bushels of seed from four quarts sown. He says : " It is a very nutritious 
and sweet grass, and a great favorite with horses and cattle. Sowed June 1, 
it matured by August 1, standing dry weather well. Tlie average yield 
is said to be six tuns of dry grass and thirty bushels of seed per acre. The 
stalk is finer than timothy of the same length, with fine, succulent leaves. 
It forms a large stool from a single seed, and, altliough an annual, will pay 
better than most of the perennial grasses, as the hay is good when mature 
enough to ripen its seed, which is as valuable as oats." 

The following statement about Hungarian grass is from the Genesee 
Farmer, the editor of which, we believe, would not say a word for or 
against it which he did not believe to be strictly true. As he is a man of 
scientific acquirements, his statement that it is nearly or quite identical with 
tiie common millet, may be accepted without hesitation. lie says : 

"This grass has attracted a large share of attention at the West, where it 
has supplied, to a great extent, the place of timothy grass, which it is diffi- 
cult to grow on account of winter-killing. It is nearly or quite identical 
with the common millet, Setaria Gennanica, growing, jjerhaps, not qiute as 
large straw, and a trifle smaller seed, or about the same as millet, on rather 
poor soil, sowed quite thick. That it is valuable as a forage plant, all know 
who have ever grown the millet to any extent ; and to tlie farmers at the West 
it has been a great boon, from its quick and luxuriant growth. It is an annual, 
thriving best on warm, rich, sandy soil, and may safely be calculated to 
yield from two to three tuns of cured hay, which horses and cattle prefer 
to the best timothy. To be obtained in the best form of hay, it should be 
cut as soon as the seeds on the tops of the stalks begin to turn, and before 
the bulk of them are ripe. We commend it, either as Hungarian grass or 
millet, to the attention of farmers, not for making their fortunes, but as an 
excellent auxiliary as food .for farm stock. This is tlie testimony of farmers 
in Monroe County, N. Y., who have grown it, and have no seed to sell, either 
as millet, Hungarian grass, or honey blade grass." 

820. How Much Grass Seed per Acre ? — The answer to this question would 
vary in almost every neighborhood. To answer it understandingi}', we must 
know the number of seeds contained in a pound or in a bushel. 

A table, in an English work, gives the following calculation of several 
iwinds of seed : 



Sbo. 46.] 



SEEDING GRAIN LAND WITH GRASS. 



763 



Seeds per lb. lbs. per bus. 
Italian rye grass contains. . . U70,0(J0 18 

Red clover 250,000 

White clover 687,000 

Sweet vernal grass 925,000 

Drumhead cabbage 112,000 

Scotch drumhead 127,000 



CO 

61 
10 



66 



Seeds per lb. lbs. per bus. 

Swedish turnip 104,000 54 

Buckwheat 26,000 54 

Rye 22,000 66 

Barley 16,000 60 

Wheat...: 11.000 GO 

Oats 21,000 32 



An important condition to the liealthy germination of all seeds is, that 
they should have become perfectly ripened before being collected. 

Another condition is, that they should not be sown too early in the spring, 
as no seed has ever been known to germinate below the freezing-point. 

It is of the first importance in raising any kind of crops, that the seed 
sown should be perfectly good, fresh, and thoroughly ripened. It is gene- 
rally kept in shops for so great a length of time that it is often in a state 
unfit for vegetating when purchased by the farmer. 

In rich, well-disintegrated soils, every good seed grows, while in poor, 
badly tilled soils, be the seed ever so good, half of them will fail, particularly 
in dry seasons, and a third of those that come up will die afterward. 

Rich soils are siipposed to require a smaller number of seeds than poor 
soils, as in the rich earth they have a much better chance of growing and 
becoming luxuriant, thus individually occupying greater space. 

In deciding upon the proper quantity of seed to be sown, the farmer must 
consider whether the season is favorable or not, or he may meet with serious 
loss. Our opinion favors a very liberal seeding of grass and clover. Timothy, 
say twelve quarts sown with winter grain in the autumn, to which add 10 lbs. 
of clover in the spring. It is a good plan to sow it on the last snow. Red- 
top seed is sown in the chaff, three bushels per acre. Orchard grass in the 
chaff, one and a half to two bushels. It is good economy to sow grass seed 
and clover with every crop of small grain. The growth of only a few 
months, say from the harvest of winter grain till time to plow for Indian 
corn, makes a great deal of manure for the next crop. As a rule, never 
leave the earth naked. 

The globe is a mass of vegetable life. Plants are the universal covering — 
the dress of tjic naked earth. Their functions are to reclaim naked, barren 
spots, and iinprovo all its surface. They are the basis of animal life and ex- 
istence ; their very beauty, their social and benevolent language, render even 
this troubled scene a place of delight. He who communes and meditates 
among trees and flowers shall find his Maker there to teach his listening heart. 

821. Seeding Grain Land with Grass.— If a field of wheat is well harrowed 
in, and the ground is fresh, it may be sown with timothy without doing any- 
thing further ; the first shower will cover the seed sufficiently. If the sur- 
face is not entirely smooth, it will pay to drag over it a large bush when the 
grass seed is sown. Some land that is pretty wet is apt to send the timothy 
ahead of the wheat in the spring, and injure the crop. Such land had best 
not be sown till spring. It is a good plan to sow upon a light snow, if there 
is one at the right time. When it melts, the grass seed will be sufficiently 
covered. If there is not a snow, or if the laud is dry, the grass seed may be 



764 



THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



sown in March, and lightly harrowed or bushed in without any harm to the 
wheat. If wheat land is to be seeded to clover, we would mix the seed with 
plaster, and sow it in March or April, without harrowing. The quantity of 
timothy or clover seed per acre varies from four to eight quarts, and plaster 
from half a bushel to two bushels. In sowing grass or clover seed upon oat 
ground, care should be taken to sow it directly after the oats, while the 
ground is fresh ; and it will be an advantage to roll the land, or drag it 
with a bush. There is no method of manuring land so cheaply as sowing 
grass or clover seed, and turning in the sod with a Michigan plow for a 
hoed crop. 

The foundation of all good husbandry upon any farm not devoted to some 
special crop, as cotton, sugar, rice, fruit, is an abundance of grass. And this 
grass, either as grazing or winter keeping, must be fed on the farm to 
domestic animals. It can not be sold ofi" without endangering the fertility of 
the land. Every Northern farmer who would be successful, must devote his 
energies to making his farm productive in grass. 

822. Seeding Indian Corn Land with Grass. — It is not uncommon in some 
places to seed corn-land with some sort of small grain, not so much for the 
crop as to protect the grass or clover with which it is desirable to seed the 
land. Sometimes corn-ground is put in small grain at considerable trouble, 
for the purpose of seeding it to grass or clover, the grain crop not being 
considered an object, as it is, compared with other crops, not a profitable 
one. We presume such farmers never think, because they never heard, that 
they coidd just as well sow their grass seed among the Indian corn as among 
the wheat or rye stalks, and that one would serve as a shade for the young 
jjlants just as well as the other. 

Where it is intended to seed corn-land, care must be taken in the last 
working of it to leave the surface as level and smooth as possible ; then sow 
the seed and harrow with a light, fine-toothed one-horse harrow both ways, 
or else rake between the hills where the harrow teeth do not touch, with an 
iron-toothed hand-rake. 

If the stalks are cut above the ears, in the way common in all the East- 
ern States, we would pluck the ears when ripe, and leave the but-stalks 
standing till spring, and then roll them down. If the corn is cut up by the 
ground, the stubs may be rolled or beaten down in the spring ; and if there 
are any spots where the grass seed did not take well, they may be re-sown 
and harrowed, raked or bushed. 

There is probably no way in which land can be cheaper or better seeded 
than by sowing the seed among corn ; and a good mixture will be found to 
be composed — of clover, five pounds ; red-top, one peck ; timothy, one and a 
half pecks per acre ; and if for pasture, v/e would add four or six quarts of 
orchard grass, and we would not take any pains to level the surface. In the 
spring we would sow at least a bushel of plaster per acre, and we are sure 
that the change from corn to grass will be quicker, easier, and more certain 
in this way than in any other. 



Sko. 40.] SOWING GRASS SEED IN AUTUMN. 765 



An Illinois fanner gives his experience in seeding corn-land as follows : 

" The men were set to work about the middle of August, or a little be- 
fore, with garden rakes to smooth the rough places and prepare the ground 
for seed. AVe then sowed liberally with timothy. Wo cut tlie corn up at 
the ground as usual. In the spring wo rolled the ground while rather soft, 
and liave seldom had fields left in smoother and better condition for tlie 
mowing machine. The seed took remarkably well, and produced the next 
year a fine crop of excellent hay." 

Farmers need not fear to sow grass seed and plow it in among corn. 
Some farmers of our acquaintance have tried the experiment of plowing it in, 
and are convinced it is the best way of planting. It is contended that where 
it is deeply buried it will vegetate and find its way to the surface in time, 
and having roots deep set it withstands the drouth better than it does when 
sown upon the surface or only slightly covered ; and, besides, it is not so 
likely to heave out. 

One man says : '• I have practiced sowing grass seed' and plowing it in 
for twelve years, and I have sown on five difierent farms in this way, and 
on every variety of soil, from gravelly ledge to black muck, and never 
failed to get a fair crop of grass when seeded in this way." 

823. Sowin.g Grass Seed in Autumn.— P. Morrill, in the Maine Farmer, 
offers the following reasons for sowing grass after harvesting the grain crop, 
instead of with it in the spring : 

" Grass seed sliould be sown in autumn, because it is the natural time, as 
much so as winter rye or wheat. By turning under stubble for sowing 
grass seed, you give it the clean possession of land. If sown with grain in 
the spring, tlie tender grass plants are crowded by grain and weeds above, 
and their roots below, and for three months they have a hard struggle for 
life in the siiade. All plants derive the chief part of their bulk and value 
through their leaves, and in harvesting the grain by mowing the grass- 
leaves are nearly all cut ofl:*, leaving the bare stalk suddenly exjiosed to the 
scorching, withering rays of the sun. I plow the land just deep enough to 
cover the stubble completely, harrow with a light harrow, then sow the 
grass seed, and brush it in thoroughly." 

Another farmer says : " The best way I have found to raise good timothy 
is to get your ground in good order, the same as you Avould for wheat, and 
harrow very fine, and then the beginning of September sow one bushel of 
timothy seed to four or five acres, and give a light harrowing after." 

A writer from Buchanan County, Iowa, says that he prepared ground in 
September, harrowed and sowed six quarts of timothy seed per acre in 
March, and from nine acres made twenty tuns of good hay in July. 

Another says : '^ I would always sow timothy in autumn, and I have had 
considerable experience in sowing and raising grass, especially timothy, and 
have always found wliere I sowed a peck to the acre, the grass was sufii- 
ciently thick, and sometimes too thick, and have come to the conclusion 
that one bushel sown to five acres is nearer the proper quantity." 



766 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



824. Seeding Prairie Sloughs to Red-Top.— An old fanner of Cedar 
County, Iowa, wants ns to advise all prairie fanners to turn their sloughs 
into red-top, as it is a much more valuable crop than the natural growth. 
He says : 

" As soon as the ground thaws enough in the spring sow your seed, say 
one Ijushel to six acres, and harrow well to cut the sward, so that it will 
take root and grow. Then mow it before harvest, so as to give it a chance 
by the aid of autumn rains. If left too late, the wild grass will smother it 
out. Do not be discouraged if it does not head out the next year, but mow 
as before, and ever after you may look for an ur.failing crop — say two or 
three tuns per acre. "When there is plow-land on either side it can be got 
in around the edges without the use of the harrow, as the wash will spread 
over so that it will take root. I choose this method in preference to break- 
ing. Some jarefer ditching, but this is an error. Only where the water re- 
mains during the whole year is ditching necessary. For pasture, one acre 
of red-top is worth three of the slough grass." 

In many places, particularly in Northern Indiana, there is a nativo i-ed- 
top grass that is equal to anything of the name for hay for all kinds of 
stock. No doubt that could be extended by cultivation upon the plan above 
recommended, which we know is a good one. 

825. A Cheap and Speedy Hay to set a Grass Plat.— A Jady gives the 
following plan : " At different times during last season, in improving the 
grounds about the homestead, we had occasion to sod several pieces, but no 
rich, thick -set grounds were convenient where we could procure the turf 
entire ; we therefore adopted another plan. We ]>rocured less perfect sods, 
cut without care, and threw them into the cart promiscuously ; and after 
plowing the ground well to receive them, we chopped them up into small 
pieces, say from one to two inches across, more or less, and worked these 
under the surface, barely covering the roots; After the lirst rain, these 
small pieces of turf sent up numerous blades, and in a short time the 
ground became entirely covered with grass. Tiiese experiments were tried 
several times from July till September, and always with perfect success, 
though of course the latest planting did not become so thickly set before 
cold weather set in." 

In all ordinary cases we should prefer this method to entire sodding, even 
if turf was at hand, on account of the saving of time and expense. Bine- 
grass roots are very tenacious of life, and when scattered in the way above 
named, so as to cover one quarter of the ground, will soon spread so as to 
make a thick-set lawn. 

826. The Way to Harvest Timothy Seed.— If the timothy is very tall, 
and not too heavy, cut it with a grain-cradle, as high as practicable, and 
after it is raked and bound, set it up in long shocks, to cure al)out three or 
four days — then it is hauled to the barn. Then cut the stubble close to the 
ground for hay. Sometimes when the bottom of the grass is not very thick, 
cut it with a machine close to the ground, and leave it in small gavels for a 



Sec. 4C.] NOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 767 



day or two, if the weather is favorable for hay-making ; then turn them 
over, stir them up a little, and bind, and when cured, haul to the barn, and 
spread over a large surface, so as not to injure tlie vitality of the seed. 

Another way is to mow the grass with a scythe as soon as the seed is ripe 
enough, and allow it to remain about one day in the swath ; and the next 
day, turn the swaths upside down. Should there be some very thick, green 
bunches, they should be stirred up, so that the whole would dry out in a 
day or so if the weather is favorable. As soon as it is cured, we would 
bind in small bundles, and shock it, and allow it to cure for several days, 
when it may be stacked or put in the barn. Most farmers allow their seed 
to remain too long in the field after it is cut. 

In mowing timothy grass for seed, it is very desirable to have it all laid 
evenly and straight, as if it had been cradled, so that we can bind it. In 
order to do this properly, a man must be not only a good mower, but he 
must have the knack of fetching his scythe around at every clip in such a 
manner that his swath will not be tumbled over and over, as it sometimes is 
when we mow grass for hay. It is almost impossible to give the necessary 
directions on paper how to do it ; but, in the first place, it is very important 
to point in low. This must be done by dropping the entire scythe, from 
heel to point, flat on the ground, and keeping the heel down on the ground 
through the entire clip or sweep. 

827. Notes on Meadows and Pasturesi— The following excellent article is 
from the pen of Professor Buekman, of England : 

" Plants are weeds in pastures, if they do not add to the crop either of 
grass or haj'. Tlie following plants take up spaces, but yield no produce. 
That is : Broad-leaved plantam {Plantago media) ; Dandelion {Leontodon 
tai'axacum) Daisy ; {Bellis pcrennis). The leaves of these grow too close 
to the ground to be eaten oflf by cattle or be cut by the scythe. 

"Cowslip {Primula veris) ; Primrose {Primula vulgaris) ; Green-winged 
orchis {Orchis mono) ; Early purple orchis {Orchis mascido). These take 
up room in growing, are not eaten by cattle, and being dead before hay- 
making, add little or nothing to the rick. 

"We have just been examining a pasture full of the first three species 
of the above list. Of the plantain we made out as many as twenty-five 
in the square yard, varying from two to six inches across ; we removed 
them, and bare patches to the extent of a quarter of the surface was the re- 
sult. Of the dandelion we have as many as six tufts in the square yard, 
each more than half a foot across: we remove them, and in so doing have 
sown some hundreds of flying seeds over the rest of this field, or sent them 
to our neighbor. And now for the ' wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,' 
looking So bright with its silvery stars dotting the green field, surely this is 
not a weed ? Alas ! yes, all is not gold that glitters, or silver that is brio'ht, 
and on the spot where the daisy is growing, a grass root is not, and we have 
just stepped out to look at a meadow half daisies. However, as regards 
these three plants, there is no doubt that tlie first two are the most mis- 



768 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



cliievous, and the question of how to keep plantains and dandelions out of 
the pastures, and still more out of lawns, is one worth more attention than 
has yet been given to it. With respect to the plantain, we know of no 
better method than absolutely cutting them up with a common knife and 
dropping a bit of salt in each hole, as without this they sprout up again 
from any part of the old crown that might be left in. 

"Mr. Baily Denton invented an implement for this kind of weed destruc- 
tion, which would eject a caustic fluid as it cut up the plants, and he named 
it the scorpion spud. A boy with a knife can easily clean pastures very 
foul with plantam and dandelions, at one shilling an acre, a cost which 
would be amply covered by the first hay crop, for it would, indeed, be a 
comparatively small admixture of plantain that did not take up the space 
that would grow a hundred weight of hay. 

" As regards seeds for laying down permanent pasture, care should al- 
ways be exercised to prevent tliis plant from being sown, as a few seeds 
will soon stock the ground ; and if the new pasture is left pretty much to 
itself, for some two or three years the plantams will increase very rapidly. 
It should be considered that a single root may in one year produee from 
three to six thousand seeds. 

" Care should be taken to prevent the seeding of dandelions in waysides 
and waste places, as each flower-head may produce one hundred and sev- 
enty seeds and twelve heads to a single root at one time, and they keep on 
forming for several months ; it is indeed of consequence always to prevent, 
if possible, all weeds from seeding. 

" ' One year's seeding, seven years' weeding. 

"There arc many other plants in meadows that die out before grass- 
cutting ; but still, as they grow with the grass, and take up space at the 
most critical time, as far as yield is concerned, they are very detrimental, 
and to its hindrance ; they are, besides, evidence of poverty and bad man- 
agement, which only exists in bad grass-farming. Cultivate on proper prin- 
ciples a meadow in which they occur, and the amount of success will be 
indicated by their more or less rapid decrease. 

" Plants which, though innocuous, yet take up space, and so dilute the 
quality of the hay and injure the productiveness of the pasturage, are 
named below. This ofi'ers a somewhat large list, as all the plants found in 
pastures, which have a tall growth, have neither spines nor other mechanical 
hindrances, nor any poisonous qualities, must be ranged under this head. 
These arc injurious, simply because they take up space which might be bet- 
ter appropriated to the growth of grass or some nutritious herbage ; for, as 
they have no qualities to cause them to be eaten by cattle, so in the hay 
they do not nourish but simply dilute the bulk. 

"Blunt-leaved dock {liumex oUusifolhis); Crisp-leaved dock {Eumex 
crispus) ; Marsh dock {Rumcx palustns). All three are rather common 
meadow plants, especially in damp places. 

" Burdock {Arctium lappa). Often found in the borders of fields. 



Seo. 46.] 



NOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 



769 



" Butter burr {Petusit^s vjilga7'ts). Occupies the sides of water-courses. 

" Cow parsnep {TIeracleiim sphondylimn) ; Wild-beaked parsley {Anthris- 
cus vulgaris). These two umbelliferfe are very common, and most unsigiitly. 

" Ladies'-smock {Ca?'<Iamine prateiisis), found in wet meadows, and Com- 
mon yellow rattle [Rhi7ianthus crista galli) m very poor meadows, and the 
Hawk-weeds and others (the several Composit(B\ everywhere. 

"These, though only offered by way of examples, yet in themselves make 
up a formidable list of plants injurious to the pasture. Their large roots 
and tall stems take up much space to the injury of the grass ; and though 
it is quite true that they go far in making up weight in the trusses of 
hay, yet the hay will always be of an inferior description ; and in fields 
where plants of this character prevail we shall often have a good pasturage 
for cattle — that is, the animals will get on well on the grasses, of which 
only they Avill partake ; and then one is too apt to be astonished that good 
feeding meadows shoulQ yield a poor hay ; but the truth is that hay, with a 
fourth of its bulk and weight of these objectionable plants, is diluted to that 
extent by rubbish with no feeding qualities, and well indeed is it if they do 
not many of them contain positively injurious principles. 

" How, then, are M'e to get rid of these pests ? The simplest answer, 
with regard to the docks and umbelliferte, will be — Let them get tolerably 
strong in their stalks, and then take the opportunity, when the ground is 
soft, to pull them out of the land. They must not be mown, as in this way 
small branches, or buds that will make brandies, will seed before the sum- 
mer is over, and then fifty new plants will appear for one old one that wo 
have destroyed ; but by pulling, we take out the crown, and usually enougli 
root to destroy it. 

" But now, as regards pulling docks when the flower has advanced, it is but 
right to caution the farmer against the practice of jjutting them in a corner 
of the field, out of the way, for the thick succulent roots will have sufilcient 
vitality, and especially if kejit moist by companionship, to grow again." 

828. Remedy for Short Pastures. — ^Those who have but a limited range of 
pasture, and keep stock enougli to crop it close, are always at the mercy of 
the weather. If there chance to be favoring rains, and a good season for 
the growth of grass apd clover, all is well ; but if, as frequently occurs, 
there comes a long period of drouth, the brown fields, already close cropped, 
fail entirely, having little to protect the roots from the full power of the sun, 
and the cattle sufl'er, and milk-pails show serious diminution, the dairy 
profits shrink, and the effect of the drouth will be felt throughout the sea- 
son, for nmch of the pasture being thus summer-killed, the full flow of milk 
can hardly be regained. 

This may be guarded against by putting in a small plot of corn, sorghum, 
millet, or other suitable crop for cutting and feeding green. An acre of 
corn sown broadcast will very soon yield sufficient to give great relief to 
the short pasture. It is not necessary to stable the cows ; cut a good supply 
for them, and feed night and morning before tiiey leave the yard ; they will 



no 



THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



eat it with a relish, and make ample returns in the milk-pan and the churn. 
Even if the threatened drouth does not come, and abundance of grass should 
grow, the soiling crop need not be lost. Cut at the proper season, and pro- 
perly cured, it will not come amiss next winter. 

829. Mixing Stock in Pasture — In ISTos. 24: and 110 we have treated upon 
overstocking the farm, and how many cows an acre of good pasture should 
support, but no one will get the full value of his pasture if he has but one 
kind of stock. There is just as much economy in grazing bullocks and 
sheep upon the same farm, as there is in having hogs follow the herd while 
feeding corn. Every feeder knows that hogs will fatten well upon the drop- 
pings, and every grazier who ever tried it, knows that sheep will fatten upon 
herbage rejected by the bullocks, and the pasture for both classes of animals 
will be improved, and if not overstocked, both will do better than one sort 
alone. 

830. Improving a Wild Pasture by Sheep.— Mr. Fay, of Lynn, Mass., states 
" that on a tract which was overrun with woodbine, briers, and other shrubs, 
he turned 150 sheep. At that time a cow could not have lived on the 
whole tract. The sheep were kept there several years, and so killed out the 
wild growth that the tract now affords good pasture for 15 cows." We sup- 
pose the sheep were fed elsewhere, and were occasionally turned on this 
waste land merely to enrich it by their droppings, and kill out the iiseless 
herbage and shrubs. 

We have known a great deal of this work of killing out bushes and briers 
done by the aid of salt — fine salt thrown upon the leaves while wet, to induce 
the sheep to browse them off. In this way a thick plat of bushes may be 
so killed out in a single year, that the land will take grass seed. 

831. Cattle Forage— How to Produce and how to Use it.— This is one of 
the most important questions for the stock farmer, both summer and winter. 
Manuring pastures is not as unprofitable as some persons suppose. A dress- 
ing of either lime, ashes, plaster, superphosphate, guano, bone-dust, niter, 
potash, salt, upon pasture, will almost always increase the feed to a value 
much above the cost of the application. If pastures fail in drouths, cattle 
must be fed. The question is, upon what? We answer, any green food that 
can be grown in season. At one time, rye — another, oats — then, com, buck- 
wheat, turnips, etc. Grinding grain increases its value. 

One writer suggests grinding the entire straw and grain together. Will 
that pay? We doubt it. Much has been said and done about grinding 
cobs to increase the forage. We would give just as much for basswood 
rails as for corn cobs, to grind for any kind of stock. For hogs, we believe 
cobs are absolutely worthless. For horses, neat cattle, or sheep, clean cut 
straw is better than ground cobs. As to grinding corn fins or coarse, it 
does not make so much difference, if fed immediately to the hogs. For any 
other purpose on earth, coarse meal is better than fine ; and for human food, 
fine meal that has been ground a month is absolutely deleterious — it is not 
fit to eat. 



Sbo. 46.] AMOUNT OF FODDER NECESSARY. 771 



One farmer says : " I found that cob meal lessened the richness of the 
milk, though one animal fed with corn and cob meal did thrive better than 
upon corn alone. 

" Corn cobs weigh seven pounds to the bushel, and some of my neighbors 
say it will not pay the extra cost of grinding the cobs, as it costs a quart 
more corn to grind a bushel of the cobs and corn together, than it does to 
grind the corn alone, so that in fact we give a quart of corn for seven 
pounds of cob meal. I have ground a good many cobs, aud have now 
thrown away my cob-mill, and would not give it house-room. I can not 
afford to grind cobs, nor to feed any grain unground ; and I can not afford 
to feed hogs with uncooked meal. I cook meal six or seven hours, and I 
practice feeding it to hogs hot. The corn cob has some value, but not 
enough to pay for grinding. We can not grind cobs fine without great 
expense." 

832. Amount of Fodder Necessary.—" The Springfield (Mass.) JiepuUican 
states that William Birney has wintered forty-two cattle, three horses, aud 
four sheep on the produce of sixty acres of land, which, supposing the whole 
stock to equal forty cows, gives an acre and a half of land for the annual 
sustenance of each animal. Wheat bran and oil-meal are purchased and 
used for the stock, which is balanced by the disposal of corn and liay of 
equal value. The amount of fodder consumed daily by Mr. B.'s stock is 
stated as« follows : 

378 lbs. of chaffed com fodder and straw. . $1 89 

77 llis. lon,^ hay 70 

120 lbs. wheat bran 1 20 

10 lbs. oil-meal 17 

10 lbs. cob-meal 12 

" This makes a cost of about seventeen cents a day for each animal. It is 
stated that the stock is in fine condition, and that the quantity of milk 
diminishes when steamed food is withheld. Mr. B. generally cooks twenty 
bushels of roots per day for his stock, and on feeding, by way of experiment, 
the same quantity raw for three weeks, there was a diminution equal to a 
quart of milk a day to each cow." 

Estimating the roots at fifty pounds per bushel, and adding that to the 
other articles, will make 1,595 pounds of food daily ; divided between forty 
cows, is within a fraction of forty pounds of food to each, which is 14,600 
pounds for the year. This is seven tuns three cwt. per annum for each cow, 
which looks like pretty strong feeding ; but we have just read a statement 
of a writer who declares that it will require from five to six tuns of the best 
timothy hay, or its equivalent, to support an animal twelve months ; and as 
no land in this country has produced this qitantity, he argues that no man 
can sustain a cow per acre. With him, two horses and sixteen cows, 
mostly dry, consumed a tun of hay per week, besides brewers' grain and 
turnips in abundance. ' 



20 bushels roofs $2 00 

Fuel for steaming the above 40 



Total $6 48 



772 



THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 




SECTION XLVII.-HAYING AND HAYING MACHINES. 

„ N the single, comprehensive word haying, we have the 
[^ most important matter connected with American agri- 
culture. The' hay crop is of more value than the cotton, 
the corn, or the wheat crop, or any other single article of 
farm produce, and upon many farms of more value than 
all others combined. Of what immense importance, then, is 
haying. Of what vast consequence to individuals, and to 
the whole country, that the best of all appliances that modern 
ingenuity has provided should be brought into use to save 
the hay crop — tlie crop upon which the lives of three fourths 
of all the horses, cattle, and sheep in the United States de- 
pend from [November to April. One half of the year, in 
the States that produce the working animals, as well as 
beef, butter, cheese, hides, mutton, and wool — these animals 
so necessary to our existence as a civilized people, must be mainly sup- 
ported upon hay. We could find a substitute for every other crop grown. 
For hay there is none. 

Farmer ! have you thought how much depends upon the four weeks of 
liaying time ? Are you provided with the tools necessary to secure this im- 
mensely important crop in the short season that nature gives you ? For you 
must " make hay wliile the sun shines;" .and that never again will shine 
enough during the haying season, in this country, to enable you to make it 
with poor old hand-scythes, fastened to crooked sticks cut in the woods, and 
forked sticks for pitcliforks, with rakes to match — such as were in almost 
universal use in New England fifty years ago. 

You can not secure your crop with such tools. Fortunately, you have no 
need to use such. None but a sloven will. None but a bad manager will 
use hand tools, excellent as they now are, except to a very limited extent, 
because Y'ankee ingenuity has been at work, and machines have been in- 
vented, tried, improved, tried again; and now are extensively manufactured 
in an almost perfect state, by which hoi-se-power is substituted for man- 
power to mow the grass, to spread it, to rake it in windrows, and, in some 
cases, to pull it together in cocks, or to the stack ; to lift it from the ground 
to the stack, or upon the bay-cart, and then to lift it again from the cart to 
the mow— all by horse-nower. Have you got these machines, or any one of 
them ? 

833. Mowing MachineSi — As most important of all farming tools, have you 
got a mowing machine? Of these, the family is numerous— all children of 
the origfnal American reaping or mowing machine, invented and put into 
successful operation by Obed Ilussey, of Baltmiore, within the last twenty 
years, and all, with slight variations, working upon the same principle. 



Sko. 47.] 



HATING AND UAYING MACHINES. 



773 



Upon Hussey, McCormick improved, and carried off tbe palm of success, 
until "McCormick's lieaper" lias become of world-wide renown. 

Though both of tliese original machines would cut griiss, they were not 
successful enough as mowers to come into general xise. The honor of a suc- 
cessful mowing machine was reserved for Ketchum, of Buffalo. His first 
machines gave great satisfaction though requiring a strong team, and were 
too heavy and costly for small farmers. "Wood's Improvement" of the 
Ketchum machine has been generally considered an important one. 

Of mowers, up to the haying season of 1858, the great want was a one- 
horse machine that would do the work as perfectly as the best two-horse 
machines, with speed proportioned to tlie power. In short, a machine for 
small farmers, such as compose nearly nine tenths of the population of all 
the Northeastern States. 

Since that date, such machines have been extensively manufactured. One 
made by Joel Nourse, of Boston, we have seen in successful operation. It 
is a machine that no man who has five acres of grass to cut can afford to be 
without. 

It is constructed entirely of iron, with a movable cutter bar, adapted to 
uneven surfaces, or it can be raised from the ground and held stationary 
while driving from field to field ; it certainly looks as though it had all the 
elements of strength and durability, and yet it is not heavy. One of tlie 
advantages of such a machine Ave will state: A gentleman bought a small 
I^lace, which was mostly in what the owner called grass ; it was, however, 
more than half weeds, upon a rough surface, and the first year afforded a 
meager crop of poor hay, cut at one mowing with a scythe. In the spring, 
he procured one of these little machines, and as soon as the weeds were 
large enough, he harnessed his carriage horse to it, and mounted the seat 
and shaved the lot. During the summer he repeated tlie operation, again 
and again feeding the crop to the horse and cow. The consequence is, that 
the weeds are killed, and the grass much improved. 

The swath cut by one of these machines is about four and a half feet wide, 
and the work done is at the rate of six or eight acres a day of heavy grass ; 
and it will stop and start anywhere withouUclogging. 

It has another advantage: i- costs something like fifty dollars less than a 
two-horse machine. 

It works so easily that we have seen one man pull it through grass stout 
enough to make a fair swath ; and one horse can work it without fatigue, 
and in very small inclosures — in almost any situation where mowing can be 
done with the hand scythe. 

Tiie advantage of such a machine in a hillj' region is very apparent. No 
farmer can aflbrd to do without one mowing machine, and some can afford 
to have two. Every one who has one of heavy draft, or with any serious 
imperfection, can afibrd to buy a new one. The great hay crop hereafter 
7mcst be cut by horse-power. 

There Is another great advantage besides substituting brute for man 



774 



THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



power. With the scythe, the man must cut the grass while the dew is on, 
and that requires extra labor to cure it and extra labor in saving it. With 
the machine, the grass is more easily cut dry, and time is afforded to do it ; 
and the man, while riding and guiding his mower, has no fear of the burn- 
in" sun. It is the horse that sweats, not the man. He rides at nearly as 
much ease as he would in his wagon on the road to mill. 

834. Horse Rakes aud other Haying Machines. — Of horse rakes there are 
several patterns, all good, and some of them operate with as mucli ease to 
the man as the mower; for he sits in a chair, mounted upon a pair of 
wheels, to which the rake is attached. To rake hay by hand, when it can 
be so much more speedily done by horse-power, shows a great want of 
economy and sound judgment. 

Unloading hay at the barn by horse-power is such a simple operation, 
that it seems wonderful how a sensible farmer can continue the excessively 
hard labor of lifting it, a forkful at a time, in the stifling heat of the barn, 
of a July afternoon. 

To unload by horse-power, a tackle-block is attached to the ridge, the 
fall being brought down to a snatch-block at the door, to which the horse 
is hitched, and as he walks off on the ground, up goes the " horse-fork," 
with almost a fourth of the wagon-load at once ; it is pulled to its place by 
a guy rope, when, by unloosing a catch, it is upset all in a heap. 

Stacking is done by the same operation ; using a set of shears — three poles 
in a triangle — set up over th« wagon, to sustain the tackle. 

We have now indicated some of the most important labor-saving imple- 
ments of the hay-field, to which should always, on a large farm, be added 
a tool-wagon, made convenient to carry all the hand-tools, always including 
a grindstone, and the spare clothing of the men, and a large refrigerator of 
ice water as a substitute for that accursed old black jug that has been the 
ruin of so many men in haying. 

With this we close our homily upon haying, and repeat the question to 
every farmer, Are you ready ? Have you got any, or all of these appli- 
ances ? If not, there is no time to lose ; the haying season comes round 
with the revolving seasons, always once a year. 

835. Stacking Hay. — We ask the reader here to refer to what we have 
said in 750 upon stacking grain, as it is equally applicable to stacking hay, 
and in both cases we must advocate stacking in an economical point of 
view. Stacks of hay or grain, well built, will keep, with an amount of 
waste absolutely less than the interest of the money that barn shelter would 
cost. Whatever the size of a stack, a hen's egg should be taken as the 
model of form, the small end up, which should be made to shed rain as per- 
fectly as the roof of your own house. The most perfect mode of doing this 
is to take straw, or long, coarse grass, and commence at the lower part of 
the taper, and thrust a little handful at a time into the stack until you en- 
circle it, leaving the long ends hanging straiglit downward, and then put in 
another course a little above, lapping over the first one, and so on, tying the 



Sec. 47.] HAYING AND HAYING MACHINES. 775 

apex to a little stick thrust into the top, making, -with two or three hours' 
work, a thatcli that will preserve the stack for years. 

We have seen the thatching of a stack made somewhat as tassel fringe is 
made, by twisting the long hay into a small hay-rope on the ground, until 
enough was made to cover the stack-top, tlie whole being rolled up in bun- 
dles as large as a man could carry up a ladder, when it is unwound and 
pinned to the stack. This is more work, and only better wlien there is 
danger of the thatching blowing out when put on in the manner first de- 
scribed ; and that difficulty can be obviated by drawing liay-ropes or cords 
of twine around each course of thatchine;. 

After the stack of hay has settled, if it is found that the stacker did not 
allow enough for the settling, and the bulge comes down too near the 
ground, take a hay-knife and cut away enough to give the stack its proper 
egg-shape. If a mistake has been made in a grain-stack, it can not so Avell 
be remedied. Always remember that a well-formed stack will be, after it 
has settled, smaller at the bottom than it is a few feet above. In a stack of 
six tuns, there should be room enough for a man to lie down under the 
bulge and be well sheltered from a shower. 

In building ricks, or long stacks, the same rule as to form should govern 
the builder as in building a round stack, so that looking at the end we should 
see the same egg-shape ; and in building ricks or stacks of sheaves, the 
secret of success is keeping the middle full, so that the butts of all the 
sheaves are a third lower than the tops. Such a stack will^ always shed rain. 

There is no doubt that bay or grain may be put up in a stack much 
greener than in a barn, with perfect safety, and if we make a hollow stack, 
as is sometimes done in England, by setting up four poles, three feet apart 
at bottom and joined at top, we could stack our hay as soon as it was what 
we now consider half-cured. This country, as a general thing, has a good 
deal yet to learn of the art and economic value of stacking hay and grain. 

836. A Machine to Stack Hay is in use in some places in Ohio, but very 
little known in others. A mast is framed with braces into a foundation that 
moves like a sled, and can be drawn about from place to place in the field, 
or carried on wheels to distant fields. At the top of the mast is a yard, 
braced by a rope at one end, with a tackle-block at the other, from which a 
fork is suspended, upon which as much hay can be hoisted at once by a 
horse as a man could fork up at a dozen times. Sometimes the stack is so 
situated in relation to the cocks, that they are brought up to the frame by a 
drag-rope, and hoisted bodily to the top of the stack. 

A very convenient implement for moving cocks up to a stack may be 
cheaply made as follows : Two white oak or ash poles, about twenty feet 
long, framed together in the middle by three cross-pieces, three feet long, 
are formed like shafts of a wagon at one end, sharpened at the other and 
smooth, to run under a cock of hay. The shafts should be cut and framed 
while green, and then bent and seasoned in the proper shape, so that when 
attached to the horse the rear part will rest flat upon the ground. A boy 

i 



776 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [CHiP. IX. 

can operate it as well as a man. He trots rapidly between the stack and 
cocks, leading short distances or riding long ones. He backs up to a cock, 
running the poles under it, and then throws a rope around, which is attached 
by one end to the off-shaft, and draws it tight and hitches the other end by 
a loop to a hook on the other shaft, and then trots back to the stack, casts 
his rope loose without stopping, and hurries back for another load. It is a 
very rapid, easy way of stacking hay — a man and boy and two horses will 
haul and send up the hay as fast as the best stacker can place it. 

837. Storing Hay — Ventilation. — Many farmers, those of New England in 
particular, have a custom of storing hay in large masses in the barn, in a 
place called " the bay," without a sign of any ventilation under the bulk, 
which usually rests upon a i'cw loose poles or boards on the damp ground. 
A " bay" should have ventilation, not onl}' under it, but up through it, by 
means of a chimney made of four poles fastened together by rounds like a 
ladder. A loose stone foundation could be laid for the hay bottom, with an 
air-chamber from the outside leading to the chimney, directly over which 
there should be a ventilator in the roof. This simple contrivance would not 
only save many a tun of hay from mustiness, but it would enable the owner 
to put in his hay in a much greener state. That next tlie chimney would 
always come out very sweet. 

It is also an excellent plan to ventilate stacks. It can be done by setting 
up four rails, two feet apart at the bottom, fastened close together at the top 
with a rope, strip»of bark, or a withe. We once put up a very large rick of 
wheat, that is, a long stack, which was thought too green to keep well, but 
it did, for we took a convenient rail fence and built a flue sixty feet long, 
big enough for a man to crawl througli, in the center of the foundation, so 
that a current of air passed up all througli the wheat. At another time, in 
building an immense rick of prairie hay, we made an air-tube of brush, 
M-hich greatly aided in tiie preservation of the hay. A good timber bottom, 
elevating the whole stack so that air would circulate under it, would be still 
better. 

838. Day Caps, their Value — How Made. — We look upon liay caps as we 
do any other labor-saving implement in hay-making, and they are of such 
great advantage that we never heard of any one who had once learned their 
value, who was willing to forego their use. They are the means of saving 
thousands of tuns of hay after it is well cured, every year, in Massachu- 
setts, where they appear to be best known and most used. Simply cotton 
cloth caps, pinned with little sticks over the haycocks that are in danger 
from an approaching storm, are the kind most in use there. Grass may 
be cocked as soon as wilted, and hay improved, if you are provided with 
hay caps. One of four feet or four and a half square is considered ample 
size ; and of compactly woven, good, though light sheeting, much better 
than heavy, and a simple ring-loop of cord sewed in at each corner, but left 
60 as to slip, finishes the cap ready for use. It is fastened at the loops by 
pins fourteen to sixteen inches long. Take care not to pack them or let them 



Sko. 47.] THE BEST TIME TO CUT GRASS. 777 

lie in a heap when wet or damp. A season may pass, and they will be of 
no use ; but another time they may pay the whole expense in protecting the 
hay through a single storm. A sheet twelve or fifteen feet square should 
always be kept on hand to cover a half-finished stack or load of hay caught 
by a sudden shower. 

839. The Best Time to Cut Grass should be authoritatively settled, and 
not left to mere assertion ; one farmer contending that it is best to cut it in 
the blossom, and another not until the seed is partially ripe. 

Levi Bartlett, who is good authority, says : " As far as practicable, we 
cut our herds-grass when the seed is in the dough state, and before the bloom 
is much shed. It is said by those who have carefully investigated the mat- 
ter, that too early mowing of herds-grass results in great injury to the next 
year's crop, much more so than to tliat of other grasses. It being a bulbous- 
rooted plant, if cut too soon, the bulb has not stored up the necessary nutri- 
ment in it to secure a vigorous after-growth. Clover should be cut when 
about half the blossoms have turned brown, and cured mostly in the cock." 

"Wlien should grass be cut ? Our answer to the question is this : While it 
is grass, and not after it has become hay. To make good food for cattle, the 
grass must be cut and cured, not cured and cut. A new and rather thinly- 
seeded piece of timothy will grow coarse stalks, which must be cut while 
younger than the crop of an old field which was thickly seeded, and has 
grown thick and fine. The field where the growth is thin we would cut as 
soon as it blossomed. The field where the stalks grow thick and fine we 
would allow to stand still until the seeds in the but-end of the heads were in 
the milk, and after the grass was cut, a portion of them would mature so as 
to grow. Other grasses and clover we would cut in full blossom, taking 
care not to dry them to death in curing. We would never mow while the 
grass was wet with dew or rain ; and if cut with a machine, we would not 
care how soon after it was cut it was raked into windrows with the horse- 
-rake. If cut with a scythe, turn the swaths over as soon as the top is well 
wilted, and, after an hour or two of hot sun on the other side, let a man 
with a three-pronged fork begin to pitch the swaths together into wind- 
rows. If not previously bleached, grass will stand a hard rain in swath or 
windrow without serious injury. It should always be put in good-sized, 
well-made cocks before it is dry, and then let it sweat. It may even turn 
black without injury, but it is preferable not to allow it to reach that stage, 
for fear acetous fermentation should take place. No matter how green the 
grass or hay of the cock looks, or how much it smokes from the sweating 
process when you pitch it on the wagon, if the air is hot and windy, it will 
dry out so as to keep perfectly in the mow or stack by the time you have 
pitched and carted and pitched again, and then again in mowing it away. 
Grass cut at noon may be cocked at four o'clock and hauled the next morn- 
ing and make better hay than it would if cut in the morning and afterward 
spread, and stirred, and raked, and pitched about, and finally cocked in the 
afternoon, and the cocks opened and shaken up again the next afternoon, 



778 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

because they felt a little warm inside, and finally, after getting as dry as 
tinder and puiiy as feathers, hauled away to the Lam. In our opinion, there 
is a foolish fashion of cutting grass with the dew on, and an unnecessary 
labor in curing it, and an altogether causeless fear of putting hay in the 
barn too green. It should be put away in such a condition that it will be 
green in color when fed out in winter. "We can hardly set too high a value 
on flavor in hay. The relish with which food is eaten makes part of its 
value; and it goes further with man or beast than that which does not relish. 

8i0. When to Cut Timothy for Seed. — When the heads have simply turned 
brown, the seed is fully matured ; and if it is cut then, but little of it will be 
lost by shelling, and the stalks and leaves will make, sometimes, tolerably 
good fodder, especially if it is run through a straw-cutter. 

The spot for seed should be selected early in June, or July, where the 
timothy is the best and tallest, and where the heads are longest, and if there 
are any noxious weeds, improve some leisure hours in pulling or cutting 
them all out. When we come to cut it, if a single weed has escaped notice, 
let it be taken out at that time. We- have known several prairie farms 
stocked with weeds, where none grew before, from sowing what was bought 
for pure grass seed. 

84:1. llow much Grass can Land Produce? — It has been published that, 
upon the Earl of Derby's land, a field of one hundred acres was dressed with 
liquid manure, by a steam-engine and pipes, and a hydrant and hose to each 
ten acres, and this land was mowed seven times, and gave upon one acre 
one hundred tuns' weight of grass, and estimated an average of seventy-five 
tuns upon each acre, llie meadows near Edinburgh, watered with sewer- 
age water, grew fourteen feet of grass a year, which, cut at several times, 
weighed some eighty tuns. In Ayrshire, similar treatment of forty acres of 
land lias enabled its owner to feed one hundred cows. If the grass upon 
one acre should weigh one hundred tuns, perhaps it Avould not make over 
twelve tuns of dry hay. Mr. Lincoln, of Worcester, Mass., has done some-, 
thing like this. 

842. Uow much Hay must we Provide ? — IIow much hay to provide, or how 
much to feed to each animal, is a matter not sufficiently understood. The 
following is the' English rule, said to be made from careful experiment with 
good sound English hay. An ox requires two per cent, of his own weight 
in hay per day if he does not work, and two and a half per cent, if he 
works. If you have an ox that weighs 1,500 lbs., he will require 30 lbs. of 
hay per day if he does not work. Apply this rule to all neat stock, and 
give to each animal twice as many pounds as it weighs hundreds. In this 
l.ttitude, the period of winter feeding is never less than one hundred and 
fifty days, and oftener one hundred and eighty, and it is not safe to calcu- 
late upon less than two tuns a head of sound hay, or its equivalent, for a 
stock of oxen, cows, heifers, and steers. The equivalent in turnips is 5 lbs. 
to one of hay. So if an animal requires 20 lbs. of hay, and it is thought 
best to give only half that quantity, and make up the required quantity in 



Sko. 4r.] 



HAT RIGGING OF CARTS AND WAGONS. 



779 



turnips, 50 lbs. must be given. The equivalent of corn meal is estimated at 
about Si lbs. of meal to 15 lbs. of liay ; but wo have no doubt that a milch 
cow or a working ox would do better upon 10 lbs. of hay and 5 lbs. of meal 
than upon 20 lbs. of hay. Of milch cows, however, it should be remarked 
that tliey must have more than two per cent, of hay, or its equivalent, to 
give a profitable yield of milk. Carrots, beets, turnips, ruta bagas, may 
be calculated at nearly double the value of white turnips. In England, 
mangel-wurzel is preferred to all other roots for feeding milch cows. 

SiS. Pea Vine Haji — In the Southern States, tlie vines of the " cow pea" 
{phaseolus), are sometimes used for hay. The peas arc usually planted 
among corn after the last working, in hills four feet apart, midway be- 
tween the rows. For hay, the vines should be gathered while the pods 
are green, and well cured under shelter before stormy weather, or the 
leaves will mold. A planter in Mississippi says : " I gather my pea 
vines about October 1st, and cure them in windrows by turning several 
times daily. 

"We know of no reason why this kind of pea could not be grown for hay 
in most of the Northern States. There is a sort called the Oregon pea, that 
originated in the State which gives it the name, which could be grown on 
this side of the continent, as far north as it grows at the " Far West." 

844. Hay Rig^ng of Carts and Wagons. — A properly constructed hay wagon 
is one of the important haying implements that should not be, as it too 
often is, neglected till the last moment, when a rack is patched up " so it 
will do for now," and like nearly all patched-up tools it does very poorly. 
Every farmer should have a well-constructed hay-rack, made to fit the 
wagon or cart, of light, strong materials, put together with screw-bolts, so 
it could be readily taken apart for storing away when not in iise. With the 
hay-rack there should be a light, strong, folding ladder, attached so that it 
could always go with the wagon, without occupying any more room than a 
round pole three inches diameter and of only a few pounds' weight, easily 
drawn out from tlie load, and in one minute you open out a ladder twelve or 
fifteen feet long, being not only convenient, but a real labor-saving imple- 
ment — saving lime, strength, and danger, in climbing on or off a load of 
hay or stack. 

As it would be a great annoyance to have a wagon-tire come off while 
hurrying home a load of hay to avoid a shoM-er, you must guard against such 
a misfortune by having the wheels manufactured in such a way that tires 
will never get loose. See that they are made of thoroughly seasoned wood, 
and then, before putting on the tire, saturate the felloes with linseed oil. 
To do this in the best manner, a cast-iron trough will be required in which 
to heat the oil and keep it boiling — not burning hot. Hang the wheel on a 
stick through the hub, so as to turn freely, and suspend a portion of the rim 
in the oil, where it must remain one hour or more for each portion. Then 
set the tire, and it will never run away and leave the wheel, since no cliange 
of the hygrometrical condition of the atmosphere will affect wood perfectly 



780 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

saturated with boiling oil, and, besides that, it will be much more durable. 
An ordinary painting of felloes is of no more value than a coat of boot- 
blacking would be. It is washed and worn oif in the first mud^puddle. 

8i5. Carting Hay to IHarkct< — The following is the statement of work 
done by one Long Island farmer, in carting hay to the New York market. 

Ten years — 70 loads each, carried 24 miles, and the return journey added, gives 48 

miles per load of travel — equal to, say 83, GOO miles. 

Then l)y simply straightening the road, which should have been done at 

tii'st, the distance was lessened six miles : 

Ten years — 70 loads each, 18 miles, and the return, making 36 miles per load of. 

travel, equal to 25,200 miles 

Eleven years— 60 loads each, same distance 23,760 miles 

Making 82,560 miles 

that this farmer has traveled on his hay wagon. His loads have averaged 
about a tun and a quarter in weight, so that in his 2,060 journeys, he had 
carried 2,575 tuns of hay, which sold for over $40,000. In that thirty-one 
years, and for that amount of work, he used but four teams, and at sixty- 
five years old ho was still in hale health, as we should suppose a man 
would be who was so much exposed to pure air and engaged in moderate, 
healthful employment. Although this man may have done well, it is a 
matter wortliy of consideration whether he could not have done better if he 
had fed all this hay upon his farm and sold the animal products, for then 
every tun would have repi-oduced itself from the manure, if well saved and 
increased by use of muck, and carefully applied to the land. 

846. Number of Cubic Feet in a Tun of Hay.— It is important for every 
farmer to know how many tuns he has stored, because the number of 
cattle he may winter is always based upon the number of pounds of hay he 
can feed them. It is also important in case of buying or selling hay, be- 
cause if the quantity in a mow can be approximated by measurement, it 
will save the labor of weighing and something in the value of hay, which 
will be deteriorated by the handling necessary to weigh it with the appli- 
ances ordinarily at band in the country. 

In estimating for our own use, we would always count gross tuns. la 
buying or selling, it should be as we could agree ; the custom of the locality 
would govern the calculation. 

An old farmer thinks that to those living at a distance from hay-scales, 
tlie following plan will be desirable. It is this : 

" Multiply th« length, breadth, and hight into each other, and if the hay 
is somewhat settled, ten solid yards make a tun. Clover will take from ten 
to twelve solid yards per tun." 

This statement has been extensively circulated, and we print it here to 
prove that it is erroneous, which we do by the following testimony. We 
hope all who have circulated this error will inform their readers that, in a 
well-settled mow of good hay, where ten to twenty tuns are stored together, 
they may ascertain the number of tuns approximately, by careful measure- 



Sko. 47.] NUMBER OF OUBIO FEET IN A TON OF HAY. 781 

inent and calculation of one tun to from four hundred to seven hundred 
cubic feet, according to quality and the degree of pressure. Nowhere but 
in the bottom of a large mow of timothy hay will four hundred feet make 
a tun. But to the testimony. One writer says : 

" At or near the bottom of a large mow where twenty tuns are stored, four 
hundred and fifty feet will make a tun ; while near the top of the same it 
would take seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty feet. It rarely takes 
one thousand feet, where hay has lain together a length of time, unless it 
be coarse and near the top, when it may sometimes require even that 
number of feet." 

E. Pratt, Jr., of Freeport, Mo., says : 

" In a mow forty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and foui-teen feet deep, 
well settled, the common estimate is from four hundred and twenty-five to 
five hundred cubic feet for a tun. For some fifteen successive years I have 
pressed hay in my own barn from a mow less than the above, and tlie aver- 
age number of cubic feet required — including tare, whicli is about five per 
cent. — has been about four hundred and twenty-five feet per tun." 

C. 'W. Fairbrothers, of Saxton's River, Vt., says : 

" I have had some experience in measuring and weighing hay, and find 
that of what we call scaffold hay, not pressed, of a coarse quality, it takes 
some seven hundred feet to the tun. But of scaffold hay pressed by grain 
being put on the top of timothy and red-top, free from clover, wo liave a rule 
to allow eiglit feet cube, or five hundred and twelve cubic feet to a tun, and 
the same rule will apply to a mow of considerable size and same quality. It 
takes somewhat more clover to make a tun." 

A farmer of ^Yest Enosburg, Vt., says : 

" Wlien there is a large quantity together, four hundred cubic feet will 
make a tun ; but where only a small quantity like a scaffold is stored, it 
will take for a tun not far from five liundred cubic feet. It depends some- 
thing on the quality, but I am speaking of good herds-grass hay. I saw a 
scaflbld measured and weighed a few days ago ; it was twenty -six feet long, 
eleven feet wide, and nearly five feet high, making one thousand four hun- 
dred and thirty cubic feet ; it weighed five thousand eight hundred 
pounds — so you must see that it varies but a fraction from five hundred feet 
to the tun." 

A Jeflferson County (N. Y.) farmer gives a cube of seven feet of good 
hay as a tun, by actual measurement and weight, in a large mow. Scaffbld 
liay, he says, " I buy or sell at five hundred and twelve feet, or eight feet 
cube for a tun." 

William Pease, Oswego, says, March 16th : " I have just measured and 
weighed a mow of hay, two thirds clover and one third timothy, cut wet 
and dried, and pitched with a horse-fork, and stored six months in a mow 
twelve by twenty -six feet, ten feet deep, which took five hundred and forty- 
nine cubic feet for a tun." 

II. Kobie, Georgetown, N. Y., estimates five hundred feet as the fair aver- 



782 THE GRASSES— THEIK CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



age for a tun of hay iu ■well-settled mows, and seven hundred feet on scaf- 
folds. 

C. "W. Ingerson, New Bremen, Lewis County, N. Y., says: 
" I have carefully measured and weighed several mows of hay ; in all 
cases it was weighed in the barn, and varied but little from four hundred 
cubic feet for a tun. A piece cut from the middle of a good-sized mow, 
seven feet square by eight feet deep, or three hundred and ninety-two feet, 
will weigh a tun. And there is not the difference generally sui)posed in the 
top and bottom of a hay-mow which has lain from harvest until winter. I 
speak of timothy or herds-grass, cut when the seed had nearly matured, 
mowed in the forenoon, and secured in the afternoon of the same day." 
J. W. E., "West Almond, Alleghany County, N. Y., says : 
" I filled a mow that is fifteen by thirty feet with common timothy hay, 
so that it settled to twelve feet high. I weighed out twelve tuns, which is 
four hundred and fifty feet to the tun." 

J. T. Keeley gives the following weight and measure of his mows : 
" Mow No. 1, twenty-one by twenty-one feet square, thirteen feet in 
depth, required four hundred and sixty solid feet to weigh two thousand 
pounds. This hay was timothy, not very coarse ; cut while in blossom, and 
well mowed away by two men. 

" Mow No. 2, ten by twenty feet square, five and a half feet in depth, the 
hay the same quality as No. 1, required six hundred and fifty solid feet to 
weigh two thousand pounds. 

" Mow No. 3, eleven by twenty-four feet square, fourteen feet in depth, 
timothy hay, part of it rather too ripe when cut ; required five hundred 
solid feet to weigh two thousand pounds. 

" My experience is, it will require five hundred solid feet of timothy hay, 
cut in season and mowed away as it should be, to weigh a tun taken from 
the center of a mow twelve by twenty-four feet square and ten feet in 
depth." 

J. W. Cressinger, of Sullivan, Ashland County, Ohio, writes, March 20th : 
" That the result of weighing that day was one hundred and forty pounds 
to a cubic yard from a mow fourteen by sixteen feet, the hay lying about 
twelve feet deep, and that taken out to-day was half way down. Tliis was 
timothy, with a trifle of white clover, cut the second week of June, when the 
first blow was off. Previous weighing has clearly proved to me that timothy 
hay, cut when the blow is oft', and before it is ripe and properly cured, will 
weigh from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty-six pounds to 
the cubic yard, and clover from one hundred and twenty to one hundred 
and forty pounds to the same. I find that fourteen and a half cubic yards 
of mow or stack hay well packed, if taken below half way down, will 
make one tun where there are more than four tuns put up together ; fifteen 
cubic yards, taking the whole together, will make one tun where there is 
not too much clover among it; and clover will take of an average sixteen 
cubic yards." 



Sko. 47.] NUMBER OF CUBIC FEET IN A TUN OF HAY. 783 

A farmer of Cass County, Mich., says, March 4th : 

"I have just measured ten feet square, thirty inches deep, of a well-set- 
tled mow, which weighed one thousand pounds." 

Ct. G. Snelling, of South Thoinaston, Me., says : 

" I have sold hay from the bay or ground mow, four hundred cubic feet 
to the tun ; but in doing so, have discovered that I generally suffered loss. 
Hay on scaflblds requires more cubic feet to the tun than hay in bays. 
Since reading your article, I sold from the bottom of a hay-mow, thirty feet 
long, ten feet wide, and originally fourteen feet high, two tuns and three 
quarters of very fine hay, and found on accurate measurement that it occu- 
pied eight hundred and thirty-one cubic feet, or a fraction over three hun- 
dred and two cubic feet to the tun. From the top of another mow, the hay 
a little coarser, I cut a square, eight by ten feet, and took off the hay to the 
depth of three feet, and found it weighed one thousand one hundred and 
seventy pounds, which is about four hundred and ten cubic feet to the tun. 
Hay, according to bulk, weighs more some years than others. Last hay 
season I discovered, on examination, that the stalk where it was cut by the 
scythe was entirely filled — a circumstance which rarely occurs." 

J. Farnum, of Uxbridge, Mass., gives four hundred feet for a tun in a 
mow twenty feet high, twenty feet long, and twenty feet wide, as the lowest 
number of feet he ever heard estimated. 

" In a scaffold of hay eleven and a half feet by eleven and a half feet 
square and nine feet high, making one thousand one hundred and ninety 
and one quarter solid feet, there was by actual weight five thousand and 
seventy-six pounds of hay, or a little over two tuns and a half of liay. 
The hay was what is here called intervale upland, a kind resembling the 
English red-top, though not so valuable. This estimate gives a fraction less 
than four hundred and sixty-nine cubic feet to the tun. Under ordinary 
circumstances, -five hundred solid feet of well-packed, not very coarse hay 
is considered with us to be a fair estimate for a tun." 

Harvey Head, of Paris Hill, N. Y., says : " I have two barns thirty by 
forty feet, each of which has a bay across one end sixteen by thirty feet, 
which at fourteen feet high to the plates gives six thousand seven hundred 
and twenty feet as the contents when filled. For the last fifteen years I have 
usually sold one of these mows, generally by weight. I find by looking over 
the account that nine tuns and eight hundred is the least I ever weighed 
from one of them, and that fourteen tuns and seven hundred is the largest 
amount weighed from the same hay. In the case above, the mows were 
filled above the plate with oats in the bundle. You will see by the wide 
difference above, that I have long understood that without a good sound dis- 
cretion to back it, there was no safety in buying or selling hay by measure. 
For while it will be difficult to get a tun of coarse clover and timothy hay 
into seven hundred feet, it will require no very sharp practice to get a tun 
of pure timothy that will make about twenty to thirty hundred to the acre 
into four hundred feet. The heaviest hay we make here is timothy. Take 



784 THE GRASSES— TEEIR CULTUTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



a field of it not so tliick but the sun shines quite to the ground among it, 
cut when a little past full in blossom ; if good weather, get in the same day ; 
the mow will steam just enough to pack solid, and four hundred feet make 
a tun. Dry the same hay crisp, so that the mow never warms, and it will 
take four hundred and fifty feet or over for a tun. On the other extreme, 
take a field of coarse-lodged clover sparsely sprinkled with coarse timothy all 
out of blossom, and it requires seven to eight hundred feet in large mows 
to make a tun." 

Asahel Burnham, Jr., of Arkwright, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., gives 
four hundred feet as the r.ule for a tun. 

B. P. II. , of Onondaga, says: "The hay that grows on old, worn-out 
meadows is much heavier, according to bulk, and far more nutritious than 
that on meadows recently stocked down ; besides, the quality and weight 
of hay on the same meadow varies from year to year ; in a very wet season 
you get a greater bulk; in a dry season greater weight; and clover hay 
occupies a quarter more space than timothy, so all rules are uncertain." 

C. H. Harroun, of Patterson's Mills, Iowa County, Mich., says his expe- 
rience in selling hay is, that timothy mixed Avith one fourth clover, cut 
when timothy begins to ripen, and cured in cocks, and packed in a mow 
eighteen by thirty feet, and kept over summer, weighed a tun to four hun- 
dred cubic feet. Clover took five hundred and twelve feet to a tun. 

A. S. Myrick, of Jefferson Valley, N. Y., says : " Dederick's presses 
make a bale of three hundred and seventy-five to four hundred and twenty- 
five pounds in twenty cubic feet (four feet by twenty-four inches by thirty 
inches)." 

The weight of the testimony is that four hundred cubic feet of the bottom 
of a large mow are required on the average for a tun ; five hundred feet in 
the middle, or as the average of a mow ; and seven huiulred feet for a scaf- 
fold of a few tuns of what is often called English hay, and about a quarter 
more for clover. The calculation of ten yards is a blunder. If you doubt 
it, try it. Measure across a mow fifteen feet wide a strip of six feet, and 
take ofl' the hay three feet deep and weigh it, and see if it makes a tun. 
The statement, just as soon as you begin to analyze it, will appear ridicu- 
lous. The smallest quantity given for a tun is a cube of seven feet— thi-ee 
hundred and forty-three feet. As a general rule, it will do to calculate 
every cube of eight feet in a large mow as a tun, and unless the hay is 
packed solid, it will take more rather than less than such a cube to make a 
tun, particularly if the tuns are estimated at gross weight, which we think 
is the general custom. 

"With the above estimates, based in most cases upon actual weight and 
measurement, the farmer will have but little difiiculty in determining how 
much hay he has stored in any particular place. 



CHAPTER X. 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 




SECTION XLVIII.-POTATOES, TURNIPS, BEETS. CARROTS, PARSNEPS, 

ONIONS 



I HE value of root crops other than potatoes has never 
been appreciated in this country as much as in Europe •, 
fe^^ for instance, turnips in England and beets in France. 
■;^fpf The potato, Solanum tuherosuin, is considered in- 
■^ dispensable in Middle and Northern States; and 
the sweet potato. Convolvulus hatatas, in Southern States. 
"Within a very recent period, American farmers have 
begun to regard carrots and ruta bagas among the im- 
portant farm crops. The common white turnip has long 
been grown by most Northern farmers in a small way, but 
as a great Held crop, as it is in England. Many farm- 
wlio know very well how easily turnips are grown, have 
no faith in tlieir value as feed for stock. They have faith in 
potatoes, and as they are considered the most valuable of all root crops in 
America, we will open this chapter with their history, and give opinions of 
practical men as to the value of various kinds and modes of culture. 

8iT. History of the Potato. — Historically, we are told that it originated in 
South America, probably within the torrid zone. 

It was introduced into Europe by Sir Walter Ealeigh about the year 
1586, and into Ireland in 1610, and as a field crop in Scotland in 1728. 

At first its culture was confined to the gardens of the nobility of England. 
In 1613, the price of potatoes is stated, in the household expenses of Queen 
Anne, at Is. per lb. 

English w'riters estimate that twice as much food is produced from an 
acre of potatoes as from an acre of wheat. 

No theory of climate, soil, or culture can as yet explain the phenomena of 
its growth, or the nature and cause of the disease which of late years has 
reduced it from the most certain to the most uncertain of crops. 

Though a native of the torrid zone, it grows most luxuriantly in tlie 
Nortiiern States and British provinces of this continent, while in Ireland its 
culture attains the highest relative importance. In Sweden it is cultivated 
as far north as the sixty-fourth degree. Tlie origin of the various-sorts now 
in use is from planting the seed of the balls, or where the seed has ac- 
cidentally sprung up and produced tubers. 

so 



786 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X 



The potato known as the Mercer, or Nishenock, was first grown about 
forty-seven years ago, in Mercer County, Penn., on Big Nishenock Creek, 
hy Joliu Gilkey, who called it the Nishenock Royal potato, and it got the 
name of Mercer from Mr. Bevan Pearson, who carried a few in his saddle- 
bags to Darby, below Philadelphia, from which point they have spread over 
the United States under the name of Mercers, while from the original point 
tiiey have spread under the other name, which has been corrupted into Nesli- 
anocks, Meshanocks, Clienango, Bone's potato, and several other misnomers. 

Eev. Chauncey E. Goodrich, of Utica, N. Y., has originated more new 
potatoes than any other man in this country, and some of remarkably good 
quality. lie says of the origin of the potato : " In a state of nature, it is 
found on the sides of the Andes, and in the adjacent valleys. At the base 
of the mountains, the tamarind, yam, and banana; the melon, corn, tomato, 
and pepper come higher up ; and above these is the belt where the potato 
thrives most vigorously, the climate being ecpiable, and the root not ex- 
posed to the frosts." 

84:8. The Character of Several Prominent Sorts of Potatoes.— Tlie char- 
acter as well as origin of several sorts of potatoes in general use is given in 
the following notes, by Nathan R. French, of New York, who has paid 
great attention to the cultivation, salableness, and value of potatoes as a 
farm crop. He says : "As a general rule, yellow potatoes are rank and 
strong — white ones, good flavored. 

" Tlie Mercer has been for many years the standard variety. "When first 
introduced, it was objected to on account of the blue streaks pervading the 
otherwise white meat, but the excellent quality and reliable yield has kept 
the Mercers in general use. Tliis and other parti-colored varieties are very 
much whiter wlien raised in this latitude than at the North, and if Northern 
seed of these sorts be carried South, the product will be much whiter and 
handsomer than the original seed, taking precedence in market over the 
same varieties of Northern growth. The Mercer seems to be now on the 
decline in many sections, and likely to be succeeded by new varieties of 
Northern growth. 

"The Carter is one of the finest table potatoes ever grown. It is white 
throughout, slightly oblong, with deep under-set eyes, and when boiled has 
a dry, light, fiour-llke appearance, with great delicacy of flavor. It origi- 
nated some twenty years ago with a Mr. Carter, near Pittsfield, Mass., and 
was soon cultivated largely by the Shakers. From them the culture spread 
northward, and is now mostly confined to Washington County, N. Y. 

" The Carter ripens late, and has failed of success in this latitude — is very 
liable to rot, and is now running out where it has succeeded best. 

" The White Pinkeyes, or Pink-eye Kidneys, are an old variety of excel- 
lent quality, rambling growers, generally yielding fairly upon rich and well- 
adapted gfound. 

" Junes, Yellow Pinkeyes, Northern Whites, and Rock Whites are all of 
the same family, or nearly related. They are yellow-meated, watery, and 



Sko. 48.] SEVERAL PROMINENT SORTS OF POTATOES. 787 



sometimes rank flavored. They mature early, particularly the Junes, on 
vhicli account they arc a good deal cultivated, and generally escape the 
rot, and yield fairly. 

" California potatoes arc oblong-shaped, yellow-meated, parti-colored skin, 
great size, innnensc yielders, strong, watery, iinfit for the table (of Chris- 
tians), but are fit successor to the old and discarded Merino potatoes, once so 
popular throughout New England, and still cultivated in some places for stock. 

" The Dikeman is a native of Oneida County, N. Y., where it was started 
from the seed by a farmer whose name it bears. The tubers are round, 
white, with pink c^'es ; it ripens earlier than the Mercer, and generally 
escapes the rot ; is a good yielder, and is extensively cultivated as an early 
potato for this market. It degenerates rapidly, however, in this vicinity, so 
that a yearly renewal of seed from its native locality is necessary. 

" Westoi n Reds are one of the best of the yellow-meated varieties, and 
when raised on Long Island or in New Jersey, are very fair table potatoes. 
Tliey arc in large demand for shipping, and are exported to Bermuda for 
seed, their product — the highly prized Bermuda potato — being returned to 
us in the spring. It is remarkable that all other varieties tried in the Ber- 
mudas have failed. 

" The Black Mercer was introduced into New Jersey some years ago from 
Western New York. It is sha]^>ed much like the Mercer ; the flesh is 
entirely white, the skin very dark and thick. It is very late, requiring the 
whole season to mature ; yields largely, producing twice as much as the 
Mercers. If peeled before cooking, the quality is good, particularly in the 
spring, though not so dry and light as the Mercer. The dark skin is preju- 
dicial to the sale, and it has rotted badly some years, so that many are now 
abandoning its cultivation. 

"The Buckeyes have been grown in Monmouth County, N. J., with 
remarkable success. They are handsome, round potatoes, white throughout, 
except a little bright pink at the bottom of the eye ; cook dry, mealy, and 
fine flavored. They were introduced from Ohio to the vicinity of Rochester 
by D. S. Whitlock, from whom J. S. "Whitlock, of Monmouth County, N. J., 
obtained seed and planted three acres of sward ground, which averaged 250 
bushels per acre ; on corn stubble he had an average of 165 bushels per acre. 
His brother, G. S. Whitlock planted three acres corn stubble which averaged 
200 bushels per acre — in both instances giving a yield more than double 
that of Mercers in the same fields. While all other varieties in the same 
neighborhood rotted badly, this was sound, and brought the highest price 
in market. 

"The Prince Albert is a seedling imported from England, and introduced 
into Massachusetts a few years ago ; in shape oblong, a little flattened, 
entirely white, with very few eyes, which lie upon the surface, scarcely 
indenting the thin, smooth skin, being one of the most beautiful potatoes 
ever grown, ripening early as the Mercer, of handsome size, sometimes very 
large, and very productive. 



788 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



" The Peach Blows and Shepard Keds are seedlings from the "Western Keds 
started by Mr. Shepard, of Saratoga County, N". Y. They are round, with 
whitish-yellow meat and deep eyes. The former have a parti-colored skin ; 
the latter a rough red skin with pink streaks in the outer portions of the flesh. 
The Peach Blows are very fine table potatoes, cooking dry and light. They 
have been grown to some extent in Monmouth County, N. J., with promis- 
ing success, though they did not attain the size of those raised at the North. 
The quality, however, was decidedly improved by change of climate and soil, 
being smoother, whiter, cooking dryer and lighter, and selling fifty cents 
per barrel higher than those of Northern growth. The Shepard Eeds have 
a less attractive appearance. Both varieties ripen late, and like all late 
potatoes are more liable to rot than the early sorts. 

"Dover potatoes are small, round, red, witli deep eyes, white flesh, and from 
their superior quality sell to a limited extent at good prices. They are not 
economical for the table, and we presume their yield is light. They grow 
principally in Rhode Island." 

James F. C. Hyde, of Newton Center, Mass., speaks highly of "Davis' 
Seedling." " This is one of the Very best potatoes grown, taking into consid- 
eration size, productiveness, and hardiness. I do not mean to say it isyof 
the best quality for eating when compared with the State of Maine or Car- 
ter; but I do mean that it is a good eating potato, which, added to all its 
other good qualities, makes it a very desirable variety. Its color is red out- 
side and white inside, slightly tinged with pink just under the skin; large 
size, and very free from rot. This variety originated in Sterling, Mass. It 
is far superior to Peach Blows, Vermont Whites, and Pinkeyes. It yielded 
better than any other out of- the forty kinds I raised last year. 

" State of Maine is a fine eating potato, unsm-passed by any in the 
whole list, not excepting the Riley or Carter. It is not more than half as 
productive as the Davis', but superior in quality for the table. It is white 
outside and inside, and shaped somewhat like the White Chenango (Mer- 
cer). This variety is quite early, being not more than a week later than the 
Chenango, to which it is superior. Should not consider it so profitable a 
variety for the market, except for early, as the above-named variety. 

" Jackson White. A sort of recent introduction, and promises well. I 
have grown it two years with fair success, but have never had it dry and 
mealy as tl)e State of Maine. This is a white potato, nearly round, medium 
size, eyes deeply sunk, fair as to productiveness and hardiness, worthy of 
trial. 

"St. Helena. This is an old and well-known sort that was formerly culti- 
vated in this region, but for some years has been neglected. It now comes 
out nnder other names, such as Laplander and White Mountain Seedling. 
It is a very productive sort, very handsome on account of its good size and 
whiteness. Quite free from the rot. This potato is apt to be soggy, and 
for that reason is not so highly esteemed." 

A Mexican potato, said to have come from seed of potatoes found growing 



— J 

Stfi. 4*4 SEVERAL raOMINEXT SORTS OF POTATOES. 789 

wild in Mexico, has been disseminated somewhat in Western New York, 
within the hist dozen years ; it is highly reconiniended as iiaving a rich 
white flesli, of good quality, with very smootli thin skin and shallow eyes. 
The tops or vines are remarkably small, and from this fact may be planted 
closer in hills than other varieties, or in drills three to three and a half feet 
apart and six inches in the drill. May be cut as small as a single eye on a 
piece, and set four eyes in a hill, one in each corner of a square of four inches. 
Six bushels will be sufficient to seed an acre of ground. 

" Wing's New Mercers. Mr. Benj. Wing, of Kochester, N. Y., says the 
seed came from Vermont. They resemble the old standard Mercer in sliape, 
but have much less of the blue tint in the meat and skin, being nearly white 
throughout. They have a smooth skin, and cook as white and as dry as the 
old Mercers. The vine is larger and more luxuriant; they grow as com- 
pactly in the hills, and have yielded fully 25 per cent, moi'e than the old 
Mercers, on tlie same field, and with the same opportunities. They have 
been called in some instances SLerman's Seedling, or Seedling Mercers. 

"Tlie Keeper Blue is a Western variety of large size, round, with dark blue 
skin and white meat, and of excellent quality. A few jilauted as an ex- 
periment in Monmouth County attained only moderate size, witli light 
yield, ripening rather late ; but the quality of this product surpassed the 
original stock, being in every respect most excellent — equaling the famous 
Carter in its best days. 

"The New Hampshire White, raised in Monmouth County, is a very large 
oblong potato, white throughout. 

"The Wood's Seedling is similar in shape and size, with pale red skin mot- 
tled with white. Both yield very largely, but are not very good table 
potatoes. 

" The yellow-meated, poor-flavored potatoes, such as Western Eeds, Junes, 
Eound Pinkeyes, English Whites, and Rock AYhites, sell at prices 50 per 
cent, below the choice white varieties." 

The State of Maine is a new variety lately introduced, and another from 
Maine, called the Poggy potato, both of which are highly recommended. 

Alleghany potatoes is the name of a new sort, described as excellent and 
free from disease, by D. Edwards, of Little Genesee, N. Y. 

The Wood's potato and Jenny Lind potato are described by John C. 
Policy, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa, as identical, and he gives the following 
as its history, which is valuable information, and proves that old things are 
sometimes sold at extra prices as sometliing new. 

"Isaac N. Wood, a farmer, living in Holland, Hampden County, Mass., in 
the fall of 1845 or 18-1:6, gathered a few potato-balls from the vines of the 
Peach Blow potato, and the following spring planted some of the seeds. 
They grew feebly the first year, the tops bearing very little resemblance to 
those of potatoes. In the fall he harvested about two quarts, varying in size 
from that of a grape to a crow's egg. There were three distinct varieties in 
this first crop. The following spring he planted them in a sandy soil, and 



790 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



raised from one kind about ninety pounds, most of them of large size. The 
two other varieties yielded very little, and were not preserved ; the former 
were carefully stored for seed. Their appearance the second year from the 
original seed was the same as it is to-day ; and it seemed as mature then as 
it was after years of cultivation. It liad the same rough appearance then 
that it has now ; the eyes were numerous and deep-set. The next year he 
cut these ninety pounds of seed in such a way as to leave but one eye on a 
piece, and put three pieces in a hill. The hilJs were one and a half feet 
apart one way, and three and a half the other. Seeding in this way, he had 
enough to plant one fourth of an acre. The ground was dry and sandy, and 
highly manured. I saw them several times during the season, and have 
never seen a greater growth of tops than on that piece. It was impossible 
to tell, by the tops, which way the rows went, even while they were stand- 
ing up, and before they were thrown down by the wind and their own 
weight. He harvested from that piece one hundred and thirty bushels of 
potatoes; some of, them were i-emarkably large, weighing from two to three 
pounds. He used of this crop only enough to test thoroughly their quality. 
The next spring he sold them in small quantities to his neighbors for seed at 
an extra price. My father procured some of the seed, and raised them 
for many years, and always considered them a valuable variety, especially 
for feeding stock. Tliey were not so good for table use as many other kinds ; 
but they grew better toward spring, and perhaps at that season of the year 
they are on an equality with our best varieties. They will go further in 
seeding than any other kind I now remember, and yield much better than 
the average. I think them a valuable addition to the already numerous 
potato family." 

The Woodbury Ked, California, and Early June potatoes, in Litchfield 
County, Conn., Dr. Beckwith of that State says, "were not affected by 
disease. The Woodbury Red yields large crops, but the quality is coarse." 

Mr. Sperry, of Bethany, Conn., considers Merinos, Avhich are also called 
Long Johns, the most profitable potato. He has adopted the plan of plant- 
ing potatoes only on poor soil, to avoid the disease. The drier the land the 
less the rot. Planted on straw between the ridges on corn-land they did 
well ; also laid on the ground and covered four inches deep with straw ; 
the yield was small, but the tubers sound. 

Mr. Brown, of North Stonington, has tried White and Black Mercers, 
Peach Blows, Dovers, Californias ; of these the last rotted the least and 
yielded the best. The Dover is a fine potato, but the yield is very small. 

Mr. Sperry, of Cheshire, has abandoned the culture of the Mercers on ac- 
count of the rot, and regards the Sand Lakes the best ; they arc prolific, and 
an excellent table variety. A peculiarity of this sort is that the tubers form 
on roots at a distance from the hill and fill the whole ground, and do not 
rot. His practice is to dig as soon as the tops die, and keep the tubers ex- 
cluded perfectly from the light. He uses poor, worn-out land, with lime 
and plaster in the hill, and level culture. 



Sso. 48.] IMPORTANCE OF THE POTATO CROP. 791 

Mr. Peck, of Cliaplin, plants on old pasture grounds, using ashes in the 
hill, with uniform success. lie regards the Dovers as the Ijest potato now 
raised in Windham County. lie has raised 75 to 100 bushels of Dovers per 
acre. 

Gen. Pratt, of Kocky Hill, says: "The Scotch Gray was the common 
sort some years since, but of late English Whites, Pinkeyes, and AVliite 
Mercers are the preferred kinds. Potatoes do best on corn-ground, whicli 
was well manured with the corn, the potatoes receiving in tlie hill a talile- 
spoonful of ashes and one of plaster, mixed. In one experiment the potatoes 
rotted less upon ground purposely left full of weeds than where it was kept 
clean. The longer potatoes are left in the ground the better. The Mercer 
potatoes sell highest. Carter potatoes and Ladyfingers, and Dover or Irish 
crop potatoes are good, and the last named keep good till spring." 

Mr. Colburn, of Union, says : " The kind known as Peach Blow potatoes 
■was almost exclusively grown in the northern part of Tolland County, and 
gives it as his experience that early planting and flat culture are best. He 
plants as early in April as possible, and thinks that the crop of an early 
planting is less likely to rot. He disapproves the use of animal manure in 
the hill, and prefers to plant upon land manured the previous year, or upon 
sward ground, with ashes for a fertilizer." 

Si9. Importance of the Potato Crop. — Notwithstanding disease, bad crops, 
and all other difficulties in the way of growing potatoes, the average yield 
per acre is at least one hundred bushels, and the average price in New York 
for years has been about equal to Indian corn, and sometimes as high as 
wheat, and twice as high as oats. They have often been so high that it was 
no object for a baker to use potatoes with wheat flour, and they h^ve actually 
been retailed from the same store, pound for pound, with good wheat flour, 
at the same price. Under such circumstances, the importance of the potato 
crop will warrant us to devote some pages for its consideration. English 
and Irish farmers may well wonder at the statement of the price at which 
potatoes are sometimes sold at retail in this city ; that is, at the rate of eight 
or nine shillings sterling a bushel of fifty-four pounds, and at this price they 
have been used as food in immense quantities for many years. Notwithstand- 
ing the great advance of price, the consumption has enormously increased, 
which may be attributed in part to the immense number of six hundred 
thousand immigrants annually. If we estimate that each individual uses 
but five bushels of potatoes, which is a moderate estimate, it will require 
three millions of bushels to supply this demand. The reason why this 
class use potatoes so largely is because they can be so easily prepared, 
and because the taste for other cheap food, such as corn meal, has to be 
acquired. 

In September, 1861, when potatoes were considered very low-priced, 
owing to an abundant crop just coming on the market, the wholesale price 
was quoted at $1 12 to $1 50 per barrel, and the average quantity in a barrel 
is not over two and a quarter bushels, making them at the lowest 50 cents a 



792 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 



bushel. At the same time wheat was quoted from 91 cents to $1 27 a 
bushel ; rye, 67 ; oats, 28 to Si, Indian cofn, 47 to 65, and good wheat flour 
for family use at $4 50 to $6 a barrel, say only three times the price of 
potatoes, with all their weiglit of water and waste in cooking. Who will 
doubt the importance of tlie potato crop in America at present prices ? 

850. Some General Rules for Potato Culture.— The first grand rule is, plow 
your ground — do not scratch it and call it plowed. We should prefer the 
Michigan plow, run twelve inches deep, with a subsoil plow following in 
each furrow, twelve inches deeper ; and the potatoes planted and cultivated 
on the level system, the work all being done by horse-hoes instead of hand- 
hoes. 

The best potato land is a dry, mellow loam. Do not select muddy soil or 
ground that was manured high last year with unfermented stable or hog- 
pen manure ; and do not use either of these manures on the crop. Remem- 
ber that soil as well as climate has much to do with the nature of crops. 
Gravel or loamy soils are best, especially when they contain a large propor- 
tion of vegetable matter. If potato-ground is well prepared, and then be- 
comes packed afterward, it will not injure the product, but will increase it ; 
treading the hills upon sandy ground will be beneficial. In planting, we 
would use medium-sized whole potatoes, dropped in furrows three inches 
deep, and fill the furrow with loose dirt, well beaten down. 

For manure, use none but the very best compost or guano, thoroughly 
mixed with the soil. Use lime, plaster, and salt, one or all. Twenty bushels 
of salt or fifty bushels of lime per acre would not frighten the potatoes out 
of one year's growth ; and a handful of plaster upon each hill would tell 
you a most interesting stor3^ Freshly dug muck, taken from salt or fresli 
marshes, thrown into drills underlying seed potatoes, will be found to be an 
eflicient manure, while the decomposition of this muck, consequent upon 
the abstraction of some of its constituents by the roots of the growing 
potato, prepare it for minute division in the soil by the next year's plow- 
ing, and thus sandy soils may be made to yield large crops of potatoes, at 
the same time providing themselves with the conditions which will render 
them retentive of manures for all time. Use salt and lime broadcast at the 
first or second tending, mixing with the soil by the cultivator. The plaster 
may be put on at any time after the vines are well grown. Sods or straw 
laid in the furrow over the seed are good, because they maintain an equal 
temperature beneath them. 

The best aspect for a potato field is a northern one, as a southern heats 
too much, and an eastern heats too rapidly after a cold night. Seed pota- 
toes we prefer to plant whole, because it is a law of nature that the tuber 
or seed furnishes food for the young plant. We would plant early, because 
early planting gives the plant a slow, hardy growth in the comparatively 
wet weather early in the season, which fits it to better withstand the sudden 
transition of midsummer. In Mississippi, potatoes are planted in Novem- 
ber. We have planted in February north of New York city, and got a 



Sko. 48.] GROWING POTATOES UNDER STRAW OR TAN BARK. 793 

good crop of early potatoes. Early maturing sorts are the surest of late 
years. In the culture of potatoes it should be borne in mind that they are 
tubers ; that the roots which are thrown forth never yield potatoes attached 
to themselves, the new growth always occurring on the stems, and hence the 
mode of culture should be such that after the proper number of tuliers have 
appeared upon the new growing stem, no others should be induced, so that 
all the pabulum collected by the roots may be reserved for the use of the 
first formed tubers. If this rule be strictly adhered to, all the potatoes 
will be of full size, and we shall not have assorted crops, part large, part 
small, part ripe, and part unripe. As soon as the plants are three inches 
high, turn furrows toward them so that they will be partially covered, but 
do not make ridges. Keep your culture upon tne iiat system. Take care to 
keep the field clear of M'ceds, cost what it will, and you can grow potatoes 
in these latter days with more profit than you ever did in ancient times of 
great crops and low prices. There is no better implentent to use between 
potato rows than a subsoil plow. Planting in drills we prefer to hills ; level 
cultivation in preference to ridges ; but the ground must be deeply prepared. 

851. Culture of Potatoes by the Plow without Hoeing. — A Connecticut 
farmer is successful in the following mode of growing potatoes, doing all the 
work of covering with the plow instead of hand hoe : After plowing deep, 
he laid out the field with the plow for the seed, drawing furrows three 
inches deep, two feet and a half apart ; in these were dropped potatoes fif- 
teen inches apart. They were covered by throwing a ridge over each row, 
four inches above the general level — the potatoes therefore being buried 
seven inches deep. Ten days after the piece M-as cross-harrowed level, or 
nearly so, and then left till the rows could be distinctly seen ; then the earth 
was again thrown in ridges, covering the potatoes ; this was done by plow- 
ing twice to each row ; then, the same day that which was ridged was har- 
rowed flat, there being no more plowed than could be leveled before night. 
"When the plants had attained a hight of six or eight inches, they were 
tilled either with Shares' horse-hoe or with a light plow, according to the 
soil (which in some parts was too grassy to use the horse-hoe to advantage) ; 
by this operation the potatoes were pretty well eartlied up. Afterward the 
horse-hoe was used again as a weedcr, and nothing more done, save to go 
through once and pull the few big weeds which were in the rows. The hand- 
hoe was used in a few spots onl}', where sods on the surface made it neces- 
sary. As the result of this mode of culture there were three acres of pota- 
toes, and not a weed in sight. 

852. Growing Potatoes under Straw or Tan Bark.— E. B. Eamford, of 
England, has issued a pamphlet, giving his method of using tan bark, which 
is briefly stated as follows ; He does not cut his potatoes, but uses the 
largest he can select. The rows are thirty inches apart, and the potatoes 
are put nine inches from each other in the row. The land is plowed only 
eight inches deep. He treads the manure firmly in the furrows, puts in the 
tubers, and covers tliem in with tan refuse, nine inches deep. In 1857 he 



794 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 



o 



raised six hundred and seventy-five bushels of potatoes to the acre, with 
nothing but waste tan as a covering, and not a rotten one among tliem. 

A similar thing has been practiced with straw and with swingling-tow. 
J. M. Smith, of Beaver County, Pa., recommends raising potatoes under 
straw. Plow the ground and manure well. Cut the seed and drop in 
squares two bj' two and a half feet on the leveled surface, and cover with 
straw six inches deep. The crop was large and potatoes good, when all 
around, potatoes planted in the usual way made a poor crop. 

Another farmer says : " Prepare the ground well and plant in drills and 
cultivate once after they grow, and then, while the surface is fresh, cover 
eight inches deep with straw." 

853. Ashes for Potatoes. — Eufus Brown, of Chelsea, Orange County, Vt., 
says that in an experiment tried by him, the gain in the crop of potatoes by 
the use of ashes at the rate of a teacupful to the hill was about a bushel 
and a half of potatoes for each bushel of ashes used. The kind of potatoes 
was the English Pinkeye, and yield two hundred bushels per acre. The 
ground was planted May 7th, with the ashes in holes and a little dirt over 
them. It was plowed and hoed June ISth, the rows being four feet apart 
and hills three feet. Tlie ashes cost twelve and a half cents a bushel, and 
potatoes sold at thirty-five cents, returning full fifty cents a bushel for the 
ashes employed. 

854:. lloeing Potatoes wheil Wet. — A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer 
states that, having noticed how potatoes, when interrupted in their growth, 
invariably pined away and died, if disturbed and bruised when wet with 
dew or rain, he tried the following experiment : He selected a patch in his 
potato-field, had it plowed only once, and then loosened the soil with the 
hoe when the stalks were above ground, and in the heat of the day when they 
were dry. He never touched them afterward mitil they were dug in Octo- 
ber. Tliese stalks kept green, and the yield of potatoes was very large. 
The other portion of the patch was worked three times, when the stalks 
were wet with dew. These blighted early, did not produce half a crop, and 
that of an inferior quality. The ground, seed, and time of planting in both 
cases were the same. 

855. Practieal Opinions about Seed Potatoes and Planting.— Isaac Beck- 
ner, of Goshen, Ind., gives the following as his plan, by which he gets a 
good crop of sound potatoes : " Plant sound seed three and a half by three 
and a half feet ; woi'k them with a small cultivator until they are ready to 
lay by, and then run a furrow in the center of the middle as deep as you can 
with a shovel plow, twice in the same place each way, forming a fine hill. 
Tliese furrows will drain the hills if too wet, and if it is dry, the hill is in a 
good shape to retain the moisture. In this way of tending they will need 
no hoeing, as they will be hilled sufficiently." 

Another farmer prefers drilling the seed. He says the average yield is 
twenty-five per cent, greater. 

Another one not only plants in squares, but is particular to have each 



Sbo. 48.] CUT SEED VS. WHOLE POTATOES. 795 



» 



piece of seed in its proper place relative to position. After preparing the 
ground and marking each Avay with a plow, ho marks a place for each piece 
of seed with a block having four pins inserted at equal distances. Small 
children may follow and drop one piece in each hole, which may then be 
covered with the hoe or rake. By this method your potatoes are neither too 
compact nor carelessly dropped out of place. The after-culture is more 
pleasantly and nicely performed, on account of every plant standing just 
where it should be. 

Another recommends planting the seed very oeep, and proves his theory 
sound by seed accidentally buried very deep, always producing well, and 
the potatoes never rotting. He says : " Potatoes planted near the surface 
are affected by the changes of the weather ; the blistering sun and drench- 
ing rain contribute in no small degree to their decay, while those deeper 
planted are protected from the extremes of heat and cold, of wet and 
drouth." 

General Beatson, of the British army, who commanded at St. Helena, at 
the suggestion of the Royal Agricultural Society tried a great number of 
well-directed experiments in relation to the culture of the potato. He 
found that the proper depth to which the seed should be covered was six 
inches ; that at a greater or less depth of covering the crop was less and 
of inferior quality. He also found that the largest and most perfect pota- 
toes, when used for seed, would give a larger yield from the same number 
of pounds than any other size. He tried tliem of every size, at every depth, 
whole, cut in various sized pieces, the different portions of the potato planted 
separately, the removal of the eyes from the potato, and their separate plant- 
ing, and the result of all these experiments was that the largest-sized pota- 
toes covered to the full depth of six inches, with flat cultivation and con- 
tinued disturbance of the surface of the soil would yield the largest crop. 
Each of these experiments, even in its subdivisions, occupied a space of not 
less than one acre. 

856. Cut Seed vst Whole Potatoesi — There are conflicting opinions as to 
which is best, ]ilautiiig potatoes whole or cut, or whether large or small 
ones are equally good for seed. We give some of these opinions as we find 
them : our own corresponds to that of General Beatson. The following is a 
statement of Professor Nash : " Nothing can shake my opinion in favor of 
planting large tubers. Tiie want of proper food in the soil is often, if not 
always, the cause of the potato rot, as well as poor crops. A mixture 
of four bushels of wood ashes, one bushel of shell lime, one half bushel 
of plaster, one quarter bushel of salt, produced an excellent crop, while, 
right alongside, a crop without this mixture was not worth digging." 

A letter from Cayuga County, N. Y., contains the following statement : 
" For twelve years past we have been in the habit of selecting potatoes for 
seed the size of a black walnut, putting one in each hill, and during this 
time have not had as many as one in fifty affected with disease, except one 
season, when digging in wet weather, we washed them before they were 



796 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 

carried to the cellar, when they rotted at the bottom of the heap. "We have 
usually planted the kind called Dooryard or ^Ylgdons, and on the same 
ground, year after year, manuring once in three years. Other varieties have 
also done well for us with the same treatment, though the rot has been so 
prevalent in th'? neighborhood. As to cutting out eyes of potatoes to plant, 
it IS only a theory that may succeed, but it is not according to the laws of 
science. I therefore contend for planting whole jjotatoes. Cut potatoes are 
more liable than whole ones to become diseased. With regard to planting 
small potatoes, I have proved by experiment that small tubers of the size 
of English walnuts will produce as good a crop as larger ones." 

On the contrary, John G. Bergen (a Long Island farmer) says : " I have 
always advocated cutting potatoes, and my experience has always sustained 
the theory. True, the circumstances of all experiments may vary the re- 
.sult. My experiments have produced me the best crops of marketable pota- 
toes. If a potato is cut in the sun or dry atmosphere, a skin immediately 
forms over the cut part. I have not tried cutting out the eyes, but I do not 
see why they may not produce as well as from whole tubers. As to the size 
of tubers, I tried a bushel of the largest, and found that they were earlier 
and produced a better crop. The best farmers make three sizes, rejecting 
the smallest, and plant sizes together, and find that they ripen more evenly, 
and the largest end always ripens earlier, whether cut or not. This is an 
object with gardeners who grow potatoes for market, and find it an object to 
get the crop very early — a few days making a great diflference in price." 

Here is the statement of a Michigan farmer, which exactly coincides 
with our own experience : " On the 30th of April, 1851, I planted, on one 
square rod of ground, in seventy-two hills, seventy-two small potatoes, from 
the size of a hickory nut to that of a hen's egg. The seed measured about 
two quarts, and weighed three and a half pounds. To plant an acre in this 
manner would require ten bushels of seed. On the same day, on a square 
rod adjoining, I planted seventy-two large potatoes, in seventy-two hills, 
placing one in each hill, without cutting. The seed measured more than a 
peck, and weighed fifteen pounds. On the 20th of August I dug both 
patches. The product of the small potatoes was five pecks, weighing eighty- 
four pounds, which would give a yield of two hundred bushels to an acre. 
The product of the large potatoes was one hundred and fifty-eight pounds, 
measuring nine pecks,. which would give three hundred and sixty bushels to 
the acre. The vines averaged four to each hill, while those of the small 
potatoes were only three. The vines from the lai-ge potatoes grew much 
faster and larger than the other, but in the size of the potatoes there was no 
great diiference. 

Prof. Mapes says : " I tried the experiment of cutting out the eyes for 
planting, with a gouge. These were planted, after being rolled in plaster 
or partially dried, and the potatoes were used as food. I found that the eyes 
of one bushel of potatoes occupying the same amount of ground, and all 
other circumstances being equal, planted alongside of a bushel of whole 



Sso. 48.] EXPERIMENTS "WlXn LARGE AND SMALL SEED POTATOES. 797 



potatoes, would yield the same number of potatoes, but not of the same 
weight or size ; their keeping properties were not so good, and they were 
more early attacked with disease.'' 

The following are brief opinions of Connecticut farmers : Mr. Sperry, of 
Cheshire, prefers seed split lengthwise. 

Gen. Pratt thinks cut seed better than whole — be cuts in two or three 
pieces, and thinks small seed will eventually deteriorate the crop. 

Mr. Sperry, by planting small seeds, obtains the largest tubers. lie thinks 
too much seed is generally used. 

Mr. Colburn sees no difference from whole or cut seed. 

Mr. Brown prefers tubers the size of an egg, and four stalks in a liill. 
lie sometimes plants chits instead of whole seed. 

Mr. White, of Manchester, cuts an egg-sized potato in four pieces, and 
uses but two in a hill, planting 3^ x 3 feet, or 3 x 3, upon pasture land, with- 
out manure, using plaster after hoeing. 

An advocate of cut seed says: " We do not need many sprouts in a hill, 
and we do not get many, however many eyes we plant. If we plant whole 
tubers, one vigorous stalk grows, and we get the same result from a single 
eye. I would never plant cut potatoes without first rolling the seed in 
lime, or something to dry up the juice." 

Our own opinion we give in conclusion as follows : for seed, we should 
use medium-sized tubers — less tliau is usual in the hill. If the stalks are 
abundant, invariably they are not vigorous, and produce small potatoes and 
a poor yield. • 

The seed-ei.d of potatoes, we liave no doubt, is equally valuable as any 
other part for planting, if cut so as not to have too many eyes and sprouts 
huddled together; yet we have known some over-nice planters cut off and 
throw away the seed-end as worthless, just as some do the but-ends of ears 
of corn, without being able to assign the reason wherefore. Wc are in favor 
of planting potatoes in drills, as well as almost every other farm crop. To 
sum tip : Plant potatoes on dry land, deep plowed and subsoiled, manured 
with compost in the drill, or covered and mixed with all the surface-soil 
with a cultivator harrow. Plant medium-sized tubers in medium quantities 
if whole ; or cut so as to divide the eyes equally, and take pains to drop them 
carefully and with regularity. 

857. Accurate Experiments with Large and Small Seed Potatoes. — K. K. 
Kenny, of Lorain County, Ohio, says : " About the first of May I made a 
small piece of ground very mellow, and planted it with care in the follow, 
ing order : 

•' 1. Two rows, of six hills each, with pieces from medium-sized tubers, 
each piece having one eye, and four pieces in a hill. 2. Two rows, with 
whole medium-sized tubers, one in each hill. 3. Two rows, with eyes hav- 
ing very little of the tuber attached, four in each hill. 4. Two rows, with 
small tubers, four in each hill. 5. Two rows, with eyes from the seed-end 
of each tuber. 6. Two rows, with eyes from the stem-end of the large 



798 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



[Chap. X. 



tubers. 7. Two rows, with small, unripe tubers, taken up while quite green, 
on purpose for trial. 



' At digging-time, the following M-as the result : 



Weight or 
No. teed. 
Ibfl. oz. 
1.... 1 9 
2... 8 1 
3... 5 
4.... U 



Average No. 
of tubers 
in hilL 
... 9 . . 
... lOi .. 
... 8| .. 
...15 .. 



Av. weight 
in 12 hills, 
lbs. 
28$ ... 

30 ... 
24 ... 

31 ... 



Yield 
per acre, 
bush. 
150 
. IGO 
. 128 
. 165 



Weight of 
No. seed, 
lbs. oz. 
5.... 1 2 . 
6.... 1 12 . 
7 



Average No. 
of tubers 
in hill. 
. . lOi . . 
.. 12i .. 
.. 5i .. 



Av. weisht Yield 

in 13 hilla. per acri 

lbs. ■ ■ 

34 



27J 



buali. 
l'.)-2 
218 
146 



"I do not suppose that the same result would always be obtained, but this 
being from actual experiment is of some little value. Those who advocate 
the planting of eyes, as in No. 3, usually dry them. Mine, however, were 
not dried, but planted when newly cut. No. 7 would probably compare 
better in a dry season ; the vines were altogether more vigorous, and appa- 
rently more healthy. I also drew some young vines, as is usually done Avith 
the sweet potatoes, and transplanted them. From these I obtained beautiful 
tubers of nearly equal size. This suggests the idea of forcing the potato in 
a hot-bed, and transjilanting when all danger of frost is over, thus securing 
an early crop. The variety used was the Nishanock." 

858. Planting without Plowing. — The following item of information, -we 
think, must be looked upon as a valuable discovery by a tolerably large class 
of American farmers, who are habitually behindhand with their spring work. 

"We can not say that we are entirely satisfied that planting without 
plowing is worthy of commendation or adoption b}' those who can and 
should do better. Our informant says : " The best, or ne.xt to the best, crop 
of potatoes he ever saw was raised by a neighbor whom he saw planting 
on old corn-ground, by merely pulling over the stubs of corn and dropping a 
potato in the hole, and then crowding the corn-hill back and stepping upon 
it. The land was not plowed to begin with, but after the planting treated 
as usual. No manure was used, and the potatoes (pinkeyes) were the largest 
and best he had ever seen." 

Upon mellow land, where the corn had been manured in the hills, and in 
cultivation hilled up, it is possible that the result might be as above stated, 
if the ground between the rows was afterward deeply and thoroughly plowed 
both ways. 

859. Planting Potatoes from Sets. — A farmer who has long practiced growing 
potatoes from sets, gives the following directions : " Put the seed in drills 
just wide enough apart to hoe between, and when the sprouts are up four 
or five inches, draw them and transplant where they are to grow, three 
sprouts in a hill. My second crop, May 26, is now nearly ready for trans- 
planting. This method has many advantages over the old one, especially as 
the young plants are as hardy as cabbages, and can be planted with as 
much speed as tubers. One bushel of seed goes as far as ten in tlie old way. 

" You can have your ground fresh plowed at the time of transplanting, and 
thus get a good start of the weeds, and no small potatoes ; they are of uniform 
size." 



Sko. 48.] MICHIGAN THEORY OF WINTERING POTATOES. 799 



860. Planting Potatoes in Autumn. — Egbert Lanpher, of "West Lowell, Lewis 
County, N. Y., says ho lias successfully tried the exjicriment of wintering 
potatoes in the hill where they are to grow. lie thinks it also a groat pre- 
ventive of the rot. lie says : " I cleared a piece of new mucky land, and 
planted two bushels, and hilled them, so that they did not freeze during the 
time that the ground remained bare of snow. The next sjiring I planted 
on the same kind of land, by the side of those planted in autumn. Those 
planted in autumn remained green two weeks longer tlian those planted in 
the spring. I saved the crop, and used them for seed next spring. I put 
them up in pits or small holes, from three to seven bushels in each, not 
piling them over one foot thick, so that they would not heat each other ; and 
now I have from last year's crop as fine potatoes as any man ever need 
wish to eat. My belief is that potatoes should be planted in t/ie full of the, 
moon., as early as they can be planted in the spring, and remain undug as 
long as possible, and those intended for seed should be mixed with dirt, 
through the winter ; they never should be put in largo piles."' 

All this we agree with except the moon part of the story. It is a curious 
fact that in the year 18C0, in a country boasting of its enlightenment, men 
of fair intelligence and good sense in other matters should still cling to that 
antiquated and thoroughly exploded old notion that planting potatoes " in the 
old of the moon" could, by any possible chance, have any effect upon the crop. 

Another person says : "With a view to obtain new potatoes earlier than 
by the usual process of spring planting, I prepared a small patch in my 
garden, as follows : 

" Dug trendies nine inches deep, two feet and four inches apart — strewed 
on the bottom long stable manure— set Early Junes, whole, eight inches 
apart ; then another layer of long litter, fresh from the stable, and filled up 
with four inches of soil. All this, November 18th. 

"As soon as the surface froze hard, I spread a light layer of straw. The 
sprouts appeared above ground on the 4th of May. Dug between rows, 
and planted Early York cabbages. On the 26th of July dug potatoes, 
leaving cabbage almost headed. The yield was good, but as an early crop 
the attempt was a failure. Potatoes of the same kind planted on the 3d of 
April came up and matured ten days earlier." 

861. Tlie Roberts, or Michigan, Tlieory of Wintering Potatoes.— A few 
years ago, a new theory about potato seed was promulgated by a Mr. 
Koberts, of Michigan, which attracted much attention, and as it is a very 
reasonable one we put it upon permanent record. It is simply to let the 
seed remain as the tubers grow in the ground, by which they seem to ac- 
quire vigor and hardihood to resist any killing efiects from bugs or any 
other blighting cause. 

His plan is certainly worth a trial, as the quality of the potato is un- 
doubtedly improved by the process. The following is Mr. Koberts' plan in 
detail : 

" Select one fourth acre of arable land, on which water will not stand, on 



800 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

an eastern slope (new land is the best for this use), prepare it early in the 
spring, furrow four or five inches deep and two feet apart. Select seed 
roots that are about the size of a hen's egg, that have touched the ground 
during the previous winter. Do not cut them ; drop one every six or ei"-ht 
inclies apart in the furrows ; cover them by filling the furrows, and then 
put a top dressing of two inches of straw or forest leaves on each row. 
When the tops are two inches high, pass between the rows with a shovel- 
plow ; follow with a hoe, destroying the weeds and leveling the ground ; 
do not I'.iU. Do nothing more until the ground begins to freeze; then 
cover with half-rotten straw, chafi", or forest leaves, three or four inches deep. 
Your potatoes will now have a chance to ripen and rest during the winter. 

"The spring following, dig your potatoes, and plant a field crop for culin- 
ary use in drills four or five inches deep and three feet apart ; drop a potato 
every eight or ten inches, cover by filling the furrows ; cultivate or hoe 
twice, and plant another seed patch as above directed. In this way you 
will get the greatest yield and best quality. Continue a similar practice 
from year to year, and judging from my own experience, I believe you will 
find your potatoes yearly increasing in yield and quality. 

" The third year you may increase your field crop by plowing in fine 
manure. You have now had nature's course pointed out to you ; her laws 
are truths ; and I humbly believe I have given them a just exposition. All 
who follow my directions will, the second year, see many seed-balls on the 
vines. Seed of every variety should be fully matured, i. e., not harvested 
until fully ripe. That which approaches the nearest to perfection should bo 
selected for seed, and all roots for seed purposes should remain in the 
ground where they grow until they bear seed ; this coarse will make the 
seed mature earlier, and make it the most perfect of its kind." 

862. Storing Potatoes iu Winter. — There is no better way than covering 
potatoes in piles to preserve them through winter, care being taken not to 
cover them too warm, nor so shallow as to endanger freezing and thawing. 
They will bear freezing once slightly without injury, if thawed in the earth. 
Put about twenty bushels in a pile, on a smooth spot where no water can 
reach the bottom of the pile, and cover six or eight inches deep with straw 
and a little earth, making it a foot thick and compact, before the ground is 
frozen, and outside of that put a coat of litter, and hold it on with a few 
shovelfuls of earth, or some brush, or poles, or boards. If much warm 
weather occurs after the heap is covered, it must be ventilated. This may 
be done with a wisp of straw extending through the earth covering. 

When potatoes are stored in a cellar, we recommend them to be put in as 
large bodies as possible, in the darkest part of the cellar. Potatoes never 
should be exposed to the light ; and they never should be heated in the 
sun. They should be stored cool, as fast as unearthed, in cellar or piles, 
where they are to be kept through the winter, and at once covered from the 
drying winds and light. It is not important that potatoes should be stored 
dry. Taken from the field in a rainy day, in a muddy condition, they have 



Sko. 48.] COST AND MODE OF GROWING TWO CROPS OF POTATOES. 801 

kept well. One man dried his potatoes in the snn, and stored them warm. 
In a few days the pile was steaming and the center in a state of decay. His 
remedy was to spread them out upon the cellar bottom to cool, and sprinkle 
gypsum, two bushels to a hundred bushels of potatoes, which gave them the 
condition tliey would have had if stored on a damp day. Potatoes would keep 
better if buried with earth, filling all the interstices between the tubers, 
keeping them cool and dark. That is the great secret in storing potatoes. 

863. To Keep Potatoes from Sprouting. — "To keep old potatoes from 
growing, use boiling water, in a tub, with as many potatoes as the water 
will entirely cover ; then pour off the water, and lay up the potatoes on 
boards, in a dry place, only one layer deep." 

In Scotland, " diluted ammoniacal water, in the proportion of an ounce 
of the liquor of ammonia to a pint of river or rain water, has of late years 
been successfully employed for checking the vegetative power of potatoes 
and prolonging their suitableness for food. Potatoes immersed four or five 
days in this liquid retain all their edible properties unimpaired for a twelve- 
month, improved in flavor and mealiness. The effect of the liquid is to con- 
solidate their substance and extract their moisture. After immersion the 
potatoes should be spread so as to dry." 

864. Cost and Mode of Grotring Two Crops of Potatoes.— The following 
statements show the cost of growing crops of potatoes on Long Island. 
John McKunn, of Gravesend, says : " My ground was plowed deep, mellow, 
and furrowed two and a half feet apart. I then sprinkled three hundred 
pounds sifted Peruvian guano in the bottom of the furrow, and on top of the 
guano four loads of stable manure, and then, after cutting thirteen bushels 
of potatoes to two eyes, dropped them fourteen inches apart on the manure, 
and covered three inches deep. As soon as they were well up, I j^lowed 
and hoed them, and twice afterward, avd then fastened a wooden mold-board 
six inches wide upon the top of the iron one, extending ten inches back of 
the plow, so that the dirt was thrown quite up to the vines, covering all 
weeds. This comprises the whole labor of cultivation : 



Four loads ptable manure, at $1 per load. 4 C( 
Digging 245 bush, potatoes, at 6c. per bush . 14 7(! 



Total $41 45 



Cost of plowing, per acre $2 00 

Cost of planting, per acre 3 00 

Cultivating the game 3 CO 

Cost of 13 bushels seed, at 50c. per bushel . 6 50 
Cost of 300 lbs. of guano, at 2Jc. per lb. . 8 25 

— 245 bushels potatoes sold for 50 cents per bushel, $122 50. 

" The variety was Red Cups, a fine potato, cooking white and dry. Potato- 
ground I sow with wheat, and seed it down with grass, using a small ad- 
dition of manure, with a fair prospect of a good crop." 

John G-. Bergen, also of Long Island, under date of August, 1860, giyes 
the following statement of result of planting seven acres of potatoes — ex- 
penses — mode of cultivation — crop — marketing and proceeds, gross and net. 
Location, Eighth Ward, Brooklyn. Soil, sandy, sandy loam, loam, clay 
loam, clay and gravel with all shades of admixture. Land all manured be- 
fore plowing with a broadcast application of either New York city street 

61 



802 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



[Chap. X. 



manure or seaweed. Variety planted, Dikeman, except three quarters of 
an acre Mercers. The plowing and planting all done between the 9th and 
26th of March ; the planting between the 15th and 26th of March, inclu- 
sive. Depth of plowing, eight inches, except one quarter of an acre sub- 
soiled to the depth of sixteen inches. The crop dug and sold between the 
2d of July and the let of August, 1860. Vines exceedingly green and 
potatoes about half grown when digging commenced, and, with the excep- 
tion of about a half acre of the last dug, the vines continued green. Crop 
1,590 bushels prime potatoes, 85 bushels culls, and 26 bushels small, hog 
l)Otatoes ; total 1,701 bushels. The crop would probably have been increased 
25 or 33 per cent, if all the potatoes had fully matured before harvesting. 
The yield was 2-43 bushels to the acre. Amount sold, $1,190, or $170 per 
acre. The ground since all ])lanted with second crops. 

The potatoes before planting were all cut from two to six pieces, depending 
upon size, and were planted in drills — the drills were three feet apart, and from 
three to four inches deep — the sets were placed about fifteen inches apart. 

Well-rotted horse and hog manure was placed in the drills and the seed 
placed on the manure. The potatoes and manure were covered with a small 
one-horse plow running it on both sides of the drill, throwing up the ground 
in the fcrm of a ridge over the drill. "When the sprouts were within 
two inches of the surface, the ground was dragged nearly level with a light 
wooden-tooth harrow. As soon as up, the potatoes received a light dressing 
with the hoc without liilling, having previously been plowed from the hill 
with a small iron mold-board plow, run twice through the row. When about 
six or eight inches high the plowing was repeated, reversing by throwing to 
the hill. This was followed by another light hoeing, without attempting to 
raise up the ground to the vines, the plowing, however, having the effect to 
hill up to some degree. A few days later, before the vines closed up the 
rows entirely, a small cultivator was drawn once througli every row. This 
process left the land almost entirely free of weeds, at the time of digging, 
which was all done with the potato-fork. All of the ground was cropped 
the previous year — most of it being sod or grass land. The potatoes when 
dug were at once picked up in baskets and sent to Washington Market. 

Some abatement may be made in the. number of bushels, as the cultivation 
is based on three bushels to the barrel, which is above the true measure. 

EXPENSE PEK ACRE. 



17 loads manure to the acre — broadcast — 

at $1 per load $17 00 

Cost of cartage and spreading manure ... 6 00 
12 loads horse and hog manure to the 

drill, at $2 25 27 00 

Team and men to apply the manure 4 00 

12 bushels seed and preparing it for plant- 
ing 10 00 

Plowing, harrowing, and marking out 

ground 4 00 

Two hoeings — i days for one man, at 76c. 3 00 
Dropping potatoes and covering mth horse 
and plow 2 60 



Plowing between drills ; harrowin,? ridges 

down with wooden-tooth harrow $3 60 

Digging, at 4J cents per bushel 10 93 

Carting to Washington Market a,nd fer- 
riage and loading 10 00 

Commission for selling $170, 10 per cent. 17 GO 



Total expense $11-1 93 

Amount sold per acre $170 00 

Direct expenses 114 93 

Apparent profit $55 07 



Ssa 48.] EXPERIMENT IN PLANTING POTATOES. VARIOUS DEPTHS. 803 

The potatoes were dug by contract per bushel ; they miglit have been 
gatliered much cheaper by ordinary farm-laborers employed by the month 
and boarded by the proprietor. 

No allowance is made for interest of value of land, and of the other 
capital employed in producing the crop, and the wear and tear of imple- 
ments, baskets, etc. 

The land, after a potato crop is taken off, is left in better condition than 
!>Gfore — the second crops receiving no additional manure, except sometimes 
a light application of guano. 

865. Experiment iu Planting Potatoes Various DepthSt— Variety, Mercer ; 
planted May 12, 1859. Du<j Sej)tc7nher 7th. Vines dead since the middle 
of August. Planted one moderate-sized potato to each hill, and inanured 
aZihe in hills. Yield reported ly John G. Bergen, of Brooklyn, as follows: 

lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. Average. 

2 hills, 2 inches deep— each hill weighed separately 2 J •• 1.37u 

3 hills, 3 inches deep — each hill weighed separately IJ 1 IJ 1.416 

2 hills, 4 inches deep — each hill weighed separately l| 2 1.875 

3 hills, 5 inches deep — each hill weighed separately ij 1 1 1.16G 

4 hills, 6 indies deep — each hill weighed separately 2 \\ \\ IJ 1.G2.5 

4 hills, 7 inches deep— each hill weighed separately ^ \\ \\ IJ 1 1.4375 

3 hills, 8 inches deep — each hill weighed separately ... ^ l| 1 J 1- 

3 hills, 9 inches deep — each hill weighed separately It H J 1.166 

3 hills, 10 ijiches deep— each hill weighed separately .. .. l| 1 \ 1-25 

3 hills, 11 inches deep — each hill weiglied separately 1 Ij li 1.25 

3 hills, 12 inches deep— each hill weighed separately 5 i ll 1-083 

4 hills, eye-end cut, one piece. 5 inches deep, 5.V lbs 1.375 

4 hills, miiljle cut, one piece, 5 inches deep, 6 lbs 1.25 

4 hills, stem cut, one piece, 5 inches deep, i\ lbs 1.062 

2 hills, one potato each, with plaster, 5 inches deep, 3} lbs 1.875 

2 hills, one potato, plaster and a.shes, Z\ inches deep, Sj lbs 1.625 

2 hills, one potato, ashes, 5 inches deep, 3J^ lbs 1.625 

" It will be observed that the best results followed the 4-incli plantings : 
and next in order, 6-inch, 7-incli, S-inch, and 2-inch ; while 5-ineh, which 
is between these numbers (and which I think is the right depth for our soil), 
produced less than any, until we reach the 8-inch plantings. The results are 
not uniform ; for instance, one hill, 12 inches deep, produced 1~ lbs., which 
is larger than the average of any except tlie -l-inch planting ; and so with 
other individual cases. The experiment is not conclusive, not being made 
on a sufficiently large scale, though carefully made. The yield was light in 
every case, but this was from other causes, and does not aflfect the general 
result. In all experiments of this kind, the size and quality or condition 
of the seed should be as near alike as possible. I deduce from these experi- 
ments, and from observation, the following, as bearing on this question : 

" First, Time. — The depth of planting potatoes should be varied accord- 
ing to the time of planting, and possibly according to the character of soils. 
Early planting, except to protect from freezing, requires the least depth. 

" Second, Vanety. — -Tliose that mature early require the least depth. The 
habits of varieties differ, and the treatment should vary accordingly. 

" Third, Season. — Much depends upon the season, whether wet or dry, 
or medium. This can not be known beforehand, and hence a medium deptli 



804 ROOT. CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



should generally be adopted. This, for early varieties planted early, and 
•which generally mature on Long Island soils before the crop is severely 
affected by drouths, should not be over three or four inches, and for later 
varieties from five to six inches." 

866. The Potato Disease that Causes Rot.— We will not inflict the reader 
■with a homily upon this over-written subject. Neither cause nor cure of 
the disease has yet been discovered. The signs of the disease usually are : 
A -wilted leaf on the young rosettes of the plant, which are the tenderest 
parts ; steel-blue points on some of the older and outer leaves, and yellow 
iron-rust stains on the inner leaves ; mildew, which quickly follows these 
sicns, and which, if not arrested, kills the whole plant. These signs are pro- 
duced by cold and wet weather and hot, muggy atmosphere. In cool weather, 
the flowers fall without setting fruit ; iij hot and damp weather seed-balls 
set freely, but, with the whole plant, fall a prey to mildew. The only 
remedy is to cultivate as well as we know how, choosing new and hardy 
sorts of potatoes, plant early, and trust to chance for the rest. The mowing 
of tops has been tried over and over again, sometimes with success and 
sometimes the reverse ; and so have other remedies, each of which has in 
turn been proclaimed a specific. A prize essay in the Eoyal Society's Jour- 
nal for 1858 gives us to understand that deep planting is the true and only 
remedy ; and yet we have planted deep — and so have thousands of others — 
and lost the crop. 

It is said that very wet, cold seasons, such as 1857, or hot, damp ones, 
like 1850, 1851, and 1855, cause rot ; so do sudden alternations of tempera- 
ture — for instance, from dry, hot weather to wet, cold, and windy ; and 
these changes destroy the cucumber, squash, melon, tomato, and egg-plant 
as well as the potato. The years 1S17, 1818, 1851, 1858, and especially 
1852, were favorable ones. 

If we plant in drained lands, or upon ridges where the water will not 
stand, the crop will rot less than in wet ground. The theory is that warm 
rains and a scalding sun produce the rot more than any other one cause. 
This theory is equally untenable with the thousand-and-one others. There 
is no cure for the disease— there are preventives. The one most easy of 
trial is early planting, dry soil, no stable manure, but other fertilizers, such 
as well-rotted swamp muck, or compost, lime, salt, plaster, phosphate, guano, 
potash, or wood ashes. It does not answer to allow vines to be so late that 
early frosts find them still green. Unfermented manure produces late 
growth of vines, and this as well as wet ground and late planting, leaves the 
vines green and liable to the influence that kills the tops and rots the roots. 
As preventives, use seed of hardy varieties, planted early on dry ground, 
liilling-up to shed rain, and sow plaster, lime, and sulphur on the tops. Lime 
on carbonaceous soil has the effect to make the vines less succulent and 
more hardy, and that may account for its prevention of rot on such soil. 
After all the discussion, we know nothing about the potato disease ; but if 
we plant early we are more likely, or at least so far have been, to get good 



Sko. 48.] THE POTATO DISEASE THAT CAUSES ROT. 805 



crops. Yet this may fail. Another point of a practical nature is this: 
that if we prepare our ground ■well, and feed it such iugredients as the 
crop needs, we arc more sure to get a good crop than by the opposite 
course. 

The theory that the disease of potatoes is caused by insects has been advo- 
cated as a fixed fact. One writer says: "A little black bug, not much 
larger than the head of a pin, leases an almost undiscoverable substance on 
the potato leaves, which turns black and kills the vines, and the rot of 
the tubers follows." lie thinks some bug deposits a poisonous substance 
upon other vegetables, injuring them very much for food. 

Another one says: "The potato rot is unquestionably caused by an in- 
sect, resembling both the musketo and the common house-fly, which depos- 
its its larvae in the stock near the ground, and which does not make its ap- 
pearance before August and September. It passes over some entire fields 
in the same neighborhood, some hills in the same lot, and some stalks in the 
same hill. The weather has no eficct except to quicken the activity of the 
insect or to hasten decomposition after it has commenced." 

" Unquestionably caused !" Is it? Let us see. Dr. Asa Fitch is good 
entomological authority. Now hear how he upsets this unquestionable 
cause. He says : 

" The cause of the rot is supposed to be an insect, and numerous experi- 
ments are given to confirm this view ; the insect itself is described at length. 
Its name, with the spelling corrected, is the Phytocoris Uneolaris of Beau- 
vois, and is supposed to be identical with the insect described by Say as the 
Capsus ohllneatus. Now if the theory that the potato rot is caused by this 
insect is correct, there are these difficulties, which must occur to any one 
acquainted with entomology : 

" 1. The insect referred to has always been known in this country, and 
was probably quite as numerous fifty years ago as it ever has been since. 
From the earliest times the farmers have found it infesting their potato 
fields, and have consequently given it the common name of ' the potato 
bug.' Why did it never cause the rot until so recently ? 

'^2. The insect referred to has never infested Great Britain — the only ex- 
amples of it seen there, so far as we can ascertain, having been carried 
thither as curiosities in collections gathered in this country. Why did the 
potato rot appear there ? Could the devastations of the insect in the crops 
of America have caused the rot that carried off all the potatoes in Ireland 
one or two years before?" 

The disease that causes the potato rot is not a new one. A friend sends us 
the following " extract from a German paper," which says that " potatoes 
were iii'st introduced into Europe in 15S3 ; fifty -nine years afterward the rot 
commenced ; eighty years after its introduction no good seed was to be had. 
In 1G96 new seed was imported from Peru ; forty-five years after this the 
rot again commenced, and in 1779 no good seed was to be had. In 1797 
new seed was again imjjorted, and it did not get into general use until 1802 



806 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

or 1803." If this is a fact, it should be fully proved, and that would prove 
the necessity of frequently renewing the seed from the original locality. 

867. Substitutes for Potatoes. — Must we give up the cultivation of the 
potato ? And if so, what will be the substitute ? Tliis is a question worthy 
of consideration ; for althougli we do not believe that we shall give up their 
cultivation, we may discover something else worth trying — something which 
may prove valuable as a farm crop. Already we have had the Chinese yam 
introduced and grown to some extent, and talked about being grown to a 
very large extent. Several varieties of lotus have also been proposed as 
food plants. 

868. The American Lotus as a Substitute for the Potato.— The Ajmo or Ovate 
Aracacha having been named as worthy of attention as a food plant, a cor- 
respondent of the Homestead names " the Nelximhium lutenum, or great 
mit-bearing lily, which, in his estimation, surpasses all other aquatic plants 
of the United States in beauty and utility. It gi-ows abundantly in the shal- 
low and stagnant waters of our Southern, and Western States, and has been 
found ilourishing as far north as the bays and inlets of Late Erie. It is 
properly the lotus of North America, yielding a collection of tubers, much 
like the sweet potato, at its roots under the water, and also a liberal supply 
of nuts at the top of its stem. The nuts are all ripe at the same time, are 
about the size and color of medium white-oak acorns, so that they might 
easily be mistaken for them. The nuts are used as food like the chestnut, 
and are a valuable substitute for coffee. The writer has gathered twenty- 
one perfect nuts from a single stem. By the extensive culture of this noble 
plant many of our pestilential pools and marshes, instead of exhaling poi- 
sonous malaria, will at once become fountains of life-giving fertility." 

869. The Dioscorea Batatas or Chinese Yam as a Substitute for Potatoes.— 
The degree of success in the cultivation of this root as a substitute for pota- 
toes has been very widely different, some condemning it as a worse humbug 
than " Rohan potatoes," while others have lauded it so high that it has cre- 
ated doubts of their veracity and its value. In ISTo. 56-i we have treated it 
so fully that we need add but little under this head. 

A letter ft-om M. D. Darnall, Eainbridge, Ind., January, 1858, says : " In 
the spring of 1856, I obtained five small tubers or seed bulbs. These were 
carefully cultivated, and in autumn I had five hundred tubers and eight large 
roots. I planted next spring eight hundred hills, and raised sufiicient tubers 
and large roots for planting one hundred thousand hills. I have two bushels 
of tubers, which are not much larger than full-grown marrowfat peas ; and 
over one thousand large roots that may be divided into from fifty to one 
hundred pieces each, capable of germinating. Tlie tubers are raised by cut- 
ting the vines and planting the leaves in July and August. My roots vary 
in length from fifteen to thirty inches, and from one half to two inches in 
diameter. I have had them cooked in several ways, and find them to possess 
all the qualities that have ever been claimed for them." 

870. Sweet Potatoes— Where tliey can be Grown.— "We can well remem- 



Sso. 48.] GROWING SWEET POTATOES. 807 



ber when this plant, the Convolvulus laiatas, Avas considered as much a 
Southern production as cotton is now, and when the commercial designation 
was " Carolina potatoes." It would then have been considered foolish to 
attempt to grow sweet potatoes north of latitude 40° ; now it is quite com- 
mon, though not generally as a field crop. They are raised very extensively 
along the eastern shore of the Delaware, on the light sandy soil that extends 
thirty miles southward from Camden. The princijjal markets arc Philadel- 
phia, New York, Boston, "Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore. The varie- 
ties cultivated are Nansemonds, Early Yorks, and Bermudas. The first- 
named grows large, long, and rougher than the second, yields abundantly, 
but does not suit the Philadelphia and Wilmington markets as well as the 
Early Yorks, which are marketable earlier, and grow more smoothly and 
compactly, and are the most generally cultivated. The third, a new variety, 
received from Bermuda, of a light red color, coarse and rough, is inferior to 
the first two for the table, but attains a marketable size earlier than they do, 
and produces a much larger j-ield. The isothermal jiosition of this valuable 
plant has been gradually advancing, until it is now diflipult to say where its 
northern line is or will be. 

O. S. Murray, of "Warren County, Ohio, who is an extensive propagator 
of sweet potato plants, says : " Sweet potatoes can be grown successfully in 
much higher latitudes than has heretofore been generally supposed. Tliey 
have already been produced, well matured, in "Western, Central, and Eastern 
New York ; in Connecticut, in New Hampshire, in Addison County, Ver- 
mont, nearly as far north as the center of that State. In Iowa they are raised 
to considerable extent, and something has been done with tlieui in "Wiscon- 
sin. I have been a successful cultivator of sweet potatoes a dozen years iu 
Southern Ohio." 

Messrs. Eastman & Snell, of Maineville, "Warren County, Ohio, say that 
a crop will grow and yield well in any ordinary dry soil, provided it is well 
pulverized with plow and harrow ; and whether the ground is old or new, a 
light coat of well-rotted manure is preferable. If the soil be very strong, 
the vines will be large, but the yield of tubers indifferent. 

Warren County is situated upon the high lands of Ohio, back of Cincin- 
nati, between latitude thirty-nine and forty degrees, where the soil is no 
more favorable for growing this excellent food than it is in a great many 
other places in the same range of latitude in which sweet potatoes can be 
grown with profit to the cultivator, and as they can with pretty fair success 
up to forty-one degrees, the latitude of New York, and with varying suc- 
cess one or two degrees above that. 

The best variety for the North is called the Nansemond, from the name 
of the county in Virginia whence it was taken to New Jersey. Joseph 
Evans brought it into Warren County, Ohio, many years ago, where it has 
been successfully cultivated ever since. One peculiarity of this variety is, 
it is mature and good for use at every stage of its growth. Another pecu- 
liarity is its adaptation to a great variety of soils — even loamy clays, quite 



808 KOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Cum-. X 



heavy with clay, if lying elevated. Almost any soil that will produce com 
well will produce this — except low, alluvial grounds, where there is too 
much vegetable mold, that causes excessive running to vines. 

871. Making Seed Bed and Growing Plants. — Mr. Murray says : " We 
have never used glass for these plants, preferring to give them as much air 
as possible, making them the more hardy. Put the seed in the bed about 
the middle of April ; transplant after they have been above ground two or 
three weeks, or any time before they commence running. Place the potatoes 
in the bed so that tliuy will scarcely touch each other — a bushel on from 
twenty-five to thirty square feet, from the 1st to the 25th of April. Plants 
can be packed so as to keep perfectly good for fifteen to twenty days while 
transported from the seed beds to other parts of the country. 

" The best method of sprouting sweet potatoes is in the ordinary manner 
of a manure hot-bed. This bed is made by building up the sides with plank 
and filling in to the depth of fourteen inches with fresh hard stable manure. 
The manure should be packed as hard as possible, then cover over to the 
depth of two inches with light soil, then, after laying on the potatoes, cover 
them to the depth of four inches, with light sandy soil or loam. By cover- 
ing the potatoes deep, the stems are longer and much more hardy and 
thrifty. 

" Cover the bed with coarse hay, two or three feet deep, to prevent the 
heat from escaping, and the rain from wetting it. Take off the hay in the 
heat of the day, from nine to three o'clock, if it is warm weather. When the 
bed begins to heat it must be examined by running the hand into it — a 
moderate warmth is all that is necessary — more than that will be injurious, 
and must be counteracted by leaving off the cover at night, or by applying 
cold water. When the plants appear, and afterward, they must be watered 
daily, unless the bed should be too cold to allow it. Warm water from a 
pond or ditch is best. 

"As often as one growth of plants is pulled, another takes its place. 
Care must be taken, when pulling the plants, to hold the potato firmly in 
the bed by pressing on it with the left hand." 

872. Setting the Plants.— Put the plants in the ground from the middle of 
May to the middle of June. In some seasons you may commence earlier 
than this ; in some you may continue later. Generally, the best time is 
from the 10th or 15th of May to about the same time in June. 

In setting the plants, care should be taken to have them set well in the 
ridge, fully as deep as they originally stood in the hot-bed, and the soil 
should be well compressed about the roots. Sprouts should be set from 
twelve to fifteen inches apart in the ridge, and when in hills two or three to 
the hill. 

In setting out plants, a boy drops one on each hill, taking two rows at 
once ; a man follows, and taking the plant in his left hand, runs three fingers 
of his right hand through the top of the hill into the manure ; as he with- 
draws them he quickly thrusts in the root of the plant to the bottom of the 



Seo. 48.] GROWING SWEET POTATOES. 809 

liole, and then, -with the thumb and finger of each hand, firmly presses tlie 
earth around the plant. Plants are best set out when the ground is not too 
wet and cold — much better before a rain than after. Some use a common 
mason's trowel in setting, thrusting in the trowel somewhat obliquely, and 
as the trowel rises, the plant in the other hand takes its place. 

Light sandy soil, free from undecomposed vegetable matter, is generally 
selected for the crop. Plow as for oats, harrow thoroughly, mark it out 
thirty-three inches each way for the hills. 

Use animal, rather than vegetable manure — that is, manure from the 
stable, rather than the straw stack. 

The manure for sweet potatoes nmst be well rotted by composing it, or 
otherwise. Marl mixed with it is an advantage. From eight to thirteen 
two-horse loads, according to quality and abundance, are used per acre, a 
one-horse cart-load will make from two hundred and fifty to four hun- 
dred hills, which should be made, or the manure covered as soon as it 
is put in. From four to six good hoefuls of earth are sufficient to make a 
hill. 

S73. Plowing and Tillaare for Sweet Potatoes. — Plow when the land is in 
good condition, no matter if a week or two before time for planting. At 
planting time pulverize well, if necessary with harrowing and rolling (or, 
what is better, drag-crushing), and throw the surface into high ridges by 
turning together two furrows with a two-horse plow, making the ridges 
about three and a half feet apart from center to center. It is not necessary 
for the ridges to be wide, but they must be of good hight, as the potatoes 
will only grow in length as they are accommodated with loose earth ; so if 
the ridges are flat, the potatoes will grow short in clumps. Those wishing 
to raise but a small quantity will probably find it more convenient to make 
their ground into hills with the hoe, about five feet apart. 

Commence tilling with an adjustable cultivator, that can be adapted to 
the breadth between the ridges, and throw back the earth with a wide 
shovel-plow, re-forming the ridges, finishing with the hoe. In using the 
hoe, particularly after the vines commence running, be careful not to strike 
into the ground deeply near the stem, lest you cut off the best of the project- 
ing tubers. 

Mr. Murray says : " All land is the better for subsoiling. We subsoiled 
twenty-five acres for this crop last year, and are sure it paid. New grounds 
produce this crop well, where there is not too much vegetable deposit — not 
turf. Turf should be subsoiled first with another crop — corn or wheat is 
favorable. The cultivation necessary is to keep the ground clear of weeds, 
and should the soil become hard, to loosen the tops of the hills or ridges 
with hoe or rake." 

In New Jersey, the crop is tended with small cultivators and hand-hoes. 
One hand is allowed to attend 40,000 plants, or about eight acres. 

Perhaps no other plant cultivated for producing food possesses such 
tenacity of life — such a fund of vitality to resist and overcome unfavorable 



810 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

circumstances in transplanting as the sweet pototo. The plants can be sent 
in good growing condition a long distance. 

874. Harvesting and Storingi— In harvesting, some use the plow — first cut- 
ting the vines near the stem. After the plowing, four-fingered hooks are 
used for hauling out. When the ground is light, it is about as well without 
plowing to throw out with flat-fingered spading-forks, or even common 
manure-forks. On a small scale, get thera out anyhow, as you do beets or 
carrots. 

In Delaware and Virginia the crop is generally dug with large hoes 
made expressly for that use. "When stored for spring, they are carefully 
placed in baskets, in the field, and then emptied into boxes or barrels, and 
sometimes covered with dry sand, or leaves, or cut straw, but often without 
anything to keep the air from them but the lid of the box, wliich, if tight, ia 
mostly sufiicient ; but they must be kept in a dry, warm room. If the crop 
brings $50 per acre it is sufiicient to pay expenses. All over that is profit ; 
and two hundred and fifty bushels per acre is a large yield. 

At the North they are kept tlirough the winter in cellars, prepared ex- 
jiressly for the purpose and kept warm. On a small scale, with experience 
and plenty of manure, the crop should be, in a good season, from 150 to 200 
bushels an acre, as far North as it will grow. 

Sweet potatoes should always be dug before the heavy frosts in autumn, 
as a frost which would be severe enough to kill the vines would injure the 
potatoes very much for table use. 

In Soutli Carolina we have seen them kept in a very rude way ; simply 
by laying down cornstalks on the ground, and then covering with stalks, 
and perhaps a little earth. Frequently large jJiles are made, and over 
them rails set up in form of a roof and covered with straw. Sometimes 
pits are dug and a tight roof made, and the potatoes stored in pine straw. 
The greatest difliculty in growing sweet potatoes at the North is in keeping 
theua over winter. They will ouly keep in an atmosphere that is of even 
and mild temperature, and entirely dry. 

875. The Jerusalem ArtichokCo — The culture of the Jerusalem artichoke 
{Helianthus tuherosus) was introduced into England in 1617, but it is seldom 
cultivated, except in gardens. It will grow in any soil that is not too wet 
and cold, yielding a large amount of nutritive matter with little labor. It 
can not be grown in any series of rotation ; for if the ground is once stocked 
with roots, it is almost impossible to clear them out, and they will come up 
like weeds, even if the land is seeded down to meadow or pasture. In Oln'o, 
many good farmers bear evidence to its value for feeding stock. Tiie usual 
method of cultivation is to plant the tubers in rows, three and a lialf or four 
feet apart, and eighteen inches to two feet in the row, and cultivate between 
the rows, as you do corn. The tops soon cover the ground and kill out the 
weeds, and no farther culture is given. In the fall, after the tops have died, 
the roots are either dug up or the hogs are turned into the field. Commonly 
a portion are taken up, and the hogs are allowed to follow and dig up the 



Sko. 48.] THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 811 

remainder. Enough are always left to seed tlie field for the next season. In 
tliis way the same piece of land will bear a succession of crops of this plant 
witliout further seeding. The hogs dig or plow tlie soil very deeply in au- 
tumn, which destroys any grubs that may be injurious, and fits the land for 
ihc next crop. 

Cattle, as well as hogs, relish the roots. In France they are usually fed to 
sheep, with excellent results. In the Joicrnal cV Agrneultxire Pratiqxie for 
April, 185S, M. Doniol gives the results of his cultivation of this plant on 
inferior soil for fifteen years. He fed off the stems and leaves with sheep in 
October and November, and then dug the tubers, feeding the sheep with 
them, either on the ground or in the pens. lie bought the sheep in Octo- 
ber, and calculated the value of the crop from the increase in money value 
of the stock. Half a hectare (one and a quarter acres) was sufficient to 
keep eighty sheep from that time iintil the following April, and the increase 
in value of the sheep was eight francs per head, or 640 francs ($111 04), the 
value of the acre and a quarter of artichokes on poor land. From this 
must be deducted, however, the cost of culture of the crop and care of the 
sheep, but botli are necessary under all circumstances. It seems that the 
sheep obtained no other kind of food ; and it is good evidence of the nutri- 
tive qualities of this root that they were able to increase in value upon it. 
Had M. Doniol given the weight of the sheep when newly bought, and the 
time of sale in April, his article would have been of more value. 

This plant has about the same amount of Tvater in its organic composition 
as the potato (76.3) ; but instead of the large amount of starch which is in 
the latter, there is almost an equal quantity of sugar (14.80) in this, and the 
nitrogen compounds are nearly the same in quantity (2.38) ; but these 
amounts vary in tubers raised on different soils and the amount of cultiva- 
tion they have received. Enough, however, is known to show that these 
roots are worthy of attention, not for feeding exclusively to stock, but along 
with dry feed during the winter. Thus used, they will prove highly advan- 
tageous. They sliould be grown on land which they can occupy for a suc- 
cession (if years, tiiat from some cause is not well adapted to the culture of 
the more regular crops. If occasionally dressed with a good coating of ma- 
nure, they will soon repay the expense. Ten, and even fourteen, tuns (tops 
and roots, we suppose) per acre have been obtained in France, but in this 
country a much larger yield has often been secur-ed, so that a greater num- 
ber of sheep could be fed on an acre in Ohio than in France, and the profit 
would consequently be much greater. This root should take a position 
among the crops raised in this country for green feed in winter and early 
spring, when stock need it most to keep them in good health. 

In Mississippi we found this root upon many tables of good planters' 
houses, dressed in the same way that mashed turnips are, and it is by no 
means a despisable dish. After a little use it is generally well relished. 

876. Turnips— Imporlauce of the Crop— Tultivatlon and Use [see No. 521].— 
It sounds strangely to an English farmer to hear Americans underrate the 



812 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

importance of the turnip crop— a crop that he looks upon as the main stay 
of agriculture as much as Indian corn is here. Turnips are not so important 
here as there, but would be considered much more so than they are now if 
more grown. Some of the Orange County milk d-airymen have raised tur- 
nips to a limited extent ; but many think they can not raise them at such 
cost as will warrant feeding them in preference to grain or other dry feed. 
And some are of opinion that turnips cause a large flow of milk, but it is 
thin and watery, and will generally have a peculiar taste that renders it less 
salable. This may be in some measure true, but if milch cows can not be fed 
upon them, other stock can, and cheaper than upon almost any other food of 
equal value. 

In the year 1860 we grew a fine crop of red-strap turnips, sown broad- 
cast, after other crops, and wintered two cows almost exclusively upon them, 
feeding hay but lightly, and but little meal. Tlie bulky food was cut corn- 
stalks. These cows gave a good mess of milk, and after the first two weeks 
the turnips did not injure the flavor materially. In the spring one of these 
cows was dried oft' and fed meal two or three weeks, and sold to the butcher, 
and was really good beef. This proved that turnips have some fattening 
qualities. 

The best use, however, for turnips is to feed sheep. In England they are 
fed on the field by hurdling sheep, on small portions at a time, and as long 
ago as when Stephens wrote his " Book of the Farm," were considered 
worth $25 an acre for this purpose. The sheep eat off the tops and crown 
of the root, and then a man goes over with a turnip picker and pulls out 
the bottoms so they can eat the whole without waste, and at the same time 
enrich tlie soil. Turnips are most commonly sown in drills in England, and 
in this country broadcast. There, the bulk of the crop is fed as indicated 
above, and the feeding continues all winter ; but in all the Northern States 
the winters are too cold for this ; and where they are sufficiently mild, 
the summers are so hot that turnips are not a good crop. They are so 
in all the States north of Virginia, notwithstanding the trouble of storing 
them for winter. 

The best manure for turnips is bone-dust, or superphosphate of lime, or 
guano. AVith manure on well-prepared land, from three hundred to one 
tiiousand bushels per acre is a common crop. The best soil is on newly- 
cleared forest or reversed sod, not too clayey ; but they will grow well on 
pretty stiff clay if finely pulverized. 

Turnips of great size are sometimes grown, weighing eight or ten pounds, 
and measuring two and a half or three feet around ; but those of smaller 
size are esteemed the best — say one to four pounds. 

In sowing turnips, great care should be used not to get the seed too thick. 
This is the greatest fault of ninety-nine out of every hundred persons em- 
ployed to sow turnip seed. The common rule is a pound to the acre. That 
rule comes fi-om England, where the seed is drilled, and if all of it grows, 
about nine tenths of the plants are thinned out. 



Seo. 48.] CULTIVATION' OF TURNIPS. 813 

The time for sowing in all the Northern States is pretty well indicated by 
the old distich : 

" On the twcnty-tifth of July 
Sow your turnips, wet or dry." 

Turnips sown broadcast too thick to grow may be thinned with the har- 
row, after they are up enough to show, without injury to tliose that remain 
untouched by the harrow teeth. Indeed, it is a pretty good way to put 
them iu rows as though planted with a drill. It also kills a great many 
weeds, and loosens the crust that forms over some land, so that the plants 
left take a rapid start and grow much better than they otherwise would. It 
is not a bad plan to treat corn in the same way ; and we certainly have seen 
winter wheat highly benefited by a thorough harrowing in the spring. 

The greatest trouble that farmers experience in turnip-growing in this 
country is from a small insect called the turnip-fly. We believe the best 
remedy is to prepare the ground in the best possible manner, and use some- 
thing that will give the plants an early, rapid start. Poudrette is good for 
this purpose. So is guano, by which we mean pure No. 1 Peruvian guano. 
We have found a liberal use of salt highly beneficial ; say five bushels per 
acre. We think it one of the best remedies for preventing the ravages of 
the turnip-fly ; and we have never «ecn a sign of the disease known as 
" fingers and toes," whore we have used salt liberally ; and we are satisfied 
that the bulbs grow not only heavier and healthier, but that they are more 
nutritious. 

The disease known as " fingers and •toes" probably aifects ruta bagas more 
than round turnips, though it sometimes spoils the latter. This disease is 
said to have originated in Scotland forty years ago. The bulbs become de- 
formed and grow into excrescences, rendering the crop worthless. Some- 
times they run to fibrous roots, and sometimes they are filled with insects. 
Sometimes the excrescences resemble warts all over the bulb, drying the 
center to a brown, spongy mass. The solid matter of a healthy white turnip 
is seventeen per cent. One of these forms of disease of the turnips resem- 
bles the potato rot, and has done great damage. 

877. Storing Turnips for Winter Feeding.— Where a farmer has no barn 
cellar, it is no trifling job to store a large crop of turnips, and that is one 
of the causes that prevents their cultivation to the same extent as in Eng- 
land. They can not be left out to be eaten where they grow in the grazing 
and stock-feeding States, nor kept for winter feed, unless safely stored in cel- 
lars or pits. The easiest way to save them is to lay them on dry ground, 
slightly inclining south if possible, in piles like hay windrows, about three 
feet through, and cover with straw, sedge, or cornstalks six inches thick, and 
earth eight inches, with straw ventilators every ten feet. Another good plan 
is to put them in round piles, each of thirty bushels ; but it makes more 
labor, yet has the advantage that a pile can be opened and taken in before 
freezing in a cold day, and without exposing the remainder, as in the long 
piles. 



814 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

All turnips stored for winter use should be trimmed of tops and tails. A 
knife that will weigh half a pound, and is eight inches long in the blade, is 
the tool to trim with. Held all the time in the right hand, the operator 
seizes a turnip with the left by the top, and cuts ofi" the tap-root witli one 
blow, and at the same time tosses the turnij) and catches it with the top 
toward the knife, with which he cuts off the top by another blow, and at the 
same time tosses the turnip into the cart, basket, or pile. One smart work- 
man at topping will do more than three poking ones who always pick up a 
tm-nip wrong end foremost. If you do not care to cut the tops very close, 
or if you can stand so as to let the turnip fall in the right place, you need 
not let go the first hold, but cut both tail and top, throwing the latter in a 
pile instead of throwing the bulb. 

Never pull turnips nor handle them in wet weather. 

87S. Ruta Baga Turnips.— All that we have said about the value of tur- 
nips, and preparation of ground, manure, cultivation, pulling, and storing, 
will apply to ruta bagas, excej^t these should always be grown in drills, 
and hand-weeded and thinned. They must also be sown earlier — never later 
— than July 1, and generally not later than June 15. 

It is a good way to prepare the land for ruta bagas, after it has been 
plowed and cross-plowed, and mellowed, and rolled, to take a small plow 
and throw up ridges, say two feet six inches apart, rake tlie tops smooth, 
and plant the seed with a drill harrow. As soon as the weeds get, to be half 
an inch high, run a one-horse subsoil plow midway between the rows, to 
loosen up the soil thoroughly, and then M'ith Knox's root-cleaner or horse- 
hoe, extirpate the weeds. The only hand-hoeing necessary will be in the 
row to thin out plants. "When the crop is ready to be dug, run a large sub- 
soil plow close alongside the row, and the roots will be so loose that they 
can be pulled up with the greatest ease and thrown into heaps, whence they 
are carted directly to the pit made for them on the dryest part of the field, 
and there topped and buried. 

These turnips will grow upon a greater variety of soils than the round 
turnip, but the one best suited for a good crop is a rich, alluvial, sandy 
loam. 

It is advisable to set the gauge of the drill so as to scatter the seed very 
thick in the row, and thin tliem out to stand ten or twelve inches apart, 
using the plants where too thick by transplanting them to fill up vacancies. 
In a small way, these turnips may be sown in a seed-bed and all transplanted 
like cabbages. 

The vitality of ruta baga seed endures for several years, but it is not safe 
to use old seed of white turnips. 

The soil and kind of fertilizer used have a great deal of influence upon the 
quality of turnips. Some are worth double the value of others, either for 
the table or cattle-feed. As a general rule, all applications of bone manure 
will be paid for in quality if not quantity. About 15 bushels of bones, or 
600 lbs. of superphosphate, or 200 lbs of guano per acre, is a fair dressing. 



a 



Seo. 48.] CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 815 

In England, turnip-growers manure bigh — 15 or 20 full horse cart-loads of 
strong stable dung, well rotted, to an imperial acre for ruta bagas, and 
about two thirds the quantity for white turnips. 

"We have had turnip seed lie three weeks after sowing in a drouth, without 
vegetating. At such a time, if there had been moisture in the earth enough 
to cause the seeds to sprout, it would have been fatal to thetn, and we 
should have prepared the ground anew and sowed more seed. In all English 
publications the term " Swedes," or " Swedish turnip," is made use of, and it 
is sometimes confounded with the ruta baga, because it is spoken of as a long 
root ; but it does not appear to be identical with the variety grown in tliig 
country under the name of ruta baga. 

The Swedes, "White Globe, Yellow Globe, White Stone, Eed or Purple 
Top, are all good varieties of field turnips, and can be grown with less labor 
than ruta bagas. A bushel of turnips weighs about 42 to 45 lbs., and it 
is stated that English sheep-feeders allow 18 to 23 lbs. a day to a young 
sheep, and 24 to 37 lbs. a day to a full-grown sheep ; and that a fatting ox 
will eat a tun a week. 

879. Carrots as a Field Crop. — "We have already spoken of carrots in the 
garden (527), where they should always be grown, for they really arc a most 
valuable article of food. Perhaps the reason why they are not more esteem- 
ed as esculents is because the kind grown in the garden is that which should 
only be grown in the field as food for domestic animals. Perhaps the best 
for table use is the " short-horn" carrot, but we esteem the long orange 
carrot the best for field culture, unless the crop is intended for some city 
market, and then Ave would grow the short-horn variety. Tliere is no doubt 
of the fact that this carrot can be profitably grown as a field crop for market- 
ing, near cities and large towns. Whether it will pay to raise carrots for 
feeding stock, is a question often asked. "It don't pay," is an assertion 
often made. That it does we assert, without fear of contradiction, in aU 
places where corn costs fifty cents a bushel to produce it, as it does upon 
many farms in the Eastern States. In Illinois, where corn is so very easily 
produced, and bears so low a price, it may be true that carrot growing is not 
profitable. Still, cheap as grain may he, as feed for stock, it will sometimes 
pay to feed carrots on account of the improvement in health to the animals 
consuming them. 

We consider carrots a very sure crop on suitable soil, properly pre- 
pared ; and for stock, when taken in connection with other feed, they are 
invaluable. They are not only healthy, but will fatten cattle, sheep, and 
horses. 

One farmer who nas grown carrots for stock feeding for twelve years, says : 
" I have fatted and sold four head of cattle this winter on carrots, with one 
quart of meal sprinkled on them at a feed, together with cornstalks. One 
was a Durham cow, which was milked all the while until sold for beef, and 
was fat. This was an experiment, and proved satisfactory — that cows can 
be fatted on carrots and meal, and milked at the same time ; at no time was 



816 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



the meal over two quarts per day. I also have six other cows, all of which 
give milk of the richest kind, and a good ilow of it, that are fed on carrots 
ouce a day, and once on poor cornstalks and clover hay." 

From 700 to 800 bushels per acre is an ordinary crop, with good land and 
good culture, and 1,200 bushels may be raised by high cultivation. Allow- 
ing 250 pounds of carrots, which is conceded by practical farmers to be equal 
to 100 pounds of hay, and at 50 pounds to the bushel, we have at the highest 
above rate of yield the equivalent of 12 tuns of hay per acre, which will take 
seven acres of good meadow to equal. 

880. Suitable Soil, and its Preparation for Carrots. — The most suitable soil 
for carrots is a light, rich, sandy loam. Manure, if used, should be well 
rotted ; otherwise the roots grow forked. "What we call cheese manure is 
best — that is, manure that cuts in the heap like a soft cheese. Take a rich 
piece of sward, where the soil is deep, the longer seeded the better. Cover 
witli manure ; plow with a double plow ; roll and drag fine the last of March 
or the first of April. Let it lie till the first week in May ; then gang- plow 
and drag fine again, to kill weeds, and sow immediately two pounds of seed 
per acre. If you have not a suitable piece of sward, the next best is land 
that was cultivated the previous year in potatoes. "Whatever the land used 
may be, give it at least two plowings, cross and lengthwise, and three har- 
rowings. It must be made loose — no lumps or stones. If you have got a 
roller, apply it after each harrowing. Some lands may require plowing 
half a dozen times, and will pay for all the labor. New ground will give 
you the best quality of carrots — old ground the largest roots. 

The prevailing system of carrot culture, to make drills by throwing two 
light furrows together, leveling them and sowing on top, is very erroneous, 
By this the roots and fibers run to the sides and are killed by the hot sun. 
In England, Ireland, and Scotland this plan is preferable, in consequence 
of their climate being moist and the soil being very heavy. This borrowed 
system should be discarded by all who wish to get good crops of cai'rots, 
turnips, and mangel-wurzel. 

881. Sowing Carrot Seed. — One who grows carrots as a market crop, en- 
tirely by hand labor, gives the following directions : " I have a marker or 
large rake made of three-inch scantling — a handle in the center, with a brace 
on each side to guide and strengthen it. In this six wooden teeth one inch 
in diameter, six inches long, are set at twelve inches apart. One man 
works this, opening five drills at each through, as one tooth must be kept in 
the last-made drill to keep your rows straight. When marked, one man 
will sow an acre a day, at least, of those drills. I then sow radish seed in the 
same drills for market. They do not interfere in any way with the carrots. 
I have this season sold radishes enough from the carrots, at one dollar per 
hundred bunches, to pay for the whole working." 

Another experienced carrot-grower says : " I always sow by hand, as I 
find it cheaper and better than by any machine I have yet seen, and any 
one can do it. If I sow at thirty inches apart, I take a piece of wood four 



Sko. 48.] 



CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 



817 



inches wide and two inclies tliick, drive a staple in the end so as to hold the 
point of the plowshare, and then mark with small plow and one horse. As 
they are mnrkod I sow the seed, which should be rubbed in sand before 
sowing. I should advise the soaking of seed, but to inexperienced hands 
oi>c hundred chances to one but they would let it rot. By sowing your seed 
dry, you run no risk. When sown, take some twiggy branches and tic them 
together, just large enough for one man to pull easily, and run this length- 
wise and crosswise of your carrot rows. This is sufficient for covering the 
seed." 

Another thinks it is of great advantage to germinate the seed before sow- 
ing, by mi.\ing it with fine sand. The mixture is laid in a heap, and occa- 
sionally watered for two or three weeks, and then sown in drills. By this 
plan the seed may be sown later and the plants come up quickly, and are 
enabled, in a measure, to get tiie start of the weeds. 

882. Cultivation of the Carrot Crop. — The first thing to be considered is 
whether you intend to work them with manual or horse labor. Close to a 
city, or where help can be had when wanted, manual labor, when judiciously 
managed, or when you have only a small farm and wish to make every acre 
produce double, will not be found unprofitable, although it is a crop that 
requires a good deal of attention, and the amount of hand labor required, 
where that is wholly depended upon, we believe deters many people from 
engaging in the business of growing carrots. We wish to impress upon all 
such that hand labor, except to a limited extent, is not indispensable. Nearly 
all can be done liy horse-power, or better by a trained mule. In the first 
place, plow deep ; subsoil deeper, if to be planted by hand ; marking with 
a subsoil plow instead of a toothed marker will be found profitable. 

Sowing radishes with carrots enatdes you to see the rows sooner ; then if 
to be horse-hoed, commence at once, so that the weeds shall not get the 
start. It is easier to kill ten little weeds than one big one. If the crop is 
to be hand-hoed, then as soon as the plants are up sufficiently to trace the 
rows, grind up your hoes sharp, and commence by hoeing between the rows 
as close as possible to the plants, and be sure to cut across the rows and 
leave the plants the width of your hoe apart, and if you are a good farmer 
there will not be many weeds left, because you will not try to raise carrots 
on a piecft of land full of seeds of weeds and foul stuff. After about two 
weeks hoe in like manner, and what weeds are left pull with your fingers, 
and leave the carrots about seven or eight inches apart. You will not find 
it half as troublesome a crop to grow as most farmers imagine. One carrot-, 
grower says the great and principal ol)jection to carrot-growing is the thin- 
ning of them. Hand-thinning is not indispensable. Of course the carrots are 
not Eo large; for feeding, small ones are as good; for selling by measure, 
larger ones are better, as they fill up and leave very leaky crevices. At 
present they are frequently bought by weight, as all roots and fruit should 
be bought. • 

883. Harvesting, Storing, and Value of Carrot Crops. — A great deal of 



818 



ROOT OPwOPS AND SUGAE CROPS. 



[Chap. X. 



the work of harvesting may be done by a horse and plow, either by turning 
' a furrow away from each side, or by running a subsoil lifter along the rows 
to loosen the ground and make the digging and pulling easier. Then a man 
with a fork works out a row very fast. Where it is not an object to crowd 
the crop upon a small space, we recommend the drills thirty inches apart, 
and this gives good room to plow them out. In commencing, take out one 
row in the middle of the plat with the spade, and then plow down one row 
and up the other, and have hands to follow aud pull and throw in a row in 
the center. 

In storing carrots outdoors, put them on the surface, in a dry place, in 
long piles. Lay them four feet wide at bottom and four feet high, tapering 
to the top to one foot wide, keeping the crown or top at the outside, cover- 
ing all with one foot thick of straw, and on this eighteen inches of earth. 
The covering of course depends on the climate where raised. Leave a 
chimney every twelve feet apart to allow the heat to evaporate. This is 
done by placing a sheaf of straw on top and filling the earth to it. In 
storing, a few bushels of the best should be selected for seed, and put out in 
March or April in drills three feet apart, and one foot from plant to plant, 
the crowns one inch above the surface. As to the yield per acre, this alto- 
gether depends on your land, manure, working, and the season. 

One farmer says : " I know that carrots can be raised for five cents per 
bushel, and think they can be raised for less. Let's figure a little : 

Gauging; rows $1 00 



Use of one acre $7 00 

Manure 10 00 

Plow, roll, and drag 2 00 



Seed and sowing 3 00 

Hoeing and harvesting 20 00 



Whole expense $43 00 

And this is liberal for one acre. Estim|(ting the crop at one thousand bush- 
els this would give us a cost of 4:j\ cents per bushel on the average, and 
the value of the crop, at 12^ cents per bushel, which is low, will be $125, 
a profit of $82." 

881:. Carrots aud Rye on the same Ground. — "We have never seen this 
practiced, but having seen it suggested, think well of it, and call attention 
to the plan. The ground is well prepared in autumn, as though for carrots, 
and is then sowed with rye. In the spring the carrot seed is sown with a 
drill or a marker is used, and the seed put in by hand. Of course nothing 
is done till the rye is harvested, when a cultivator or horse-noe is run 
through, or the stubble turned by two light furrows, turned from the row, 
and the plants thinned by hand-hoe. As soon as they get a good start, the 
furrows are turned back ; afterwards the horse-hoe may be needed to run 
throu<Th once or twice. It is necessary to put in the seed earlier than for the 
ordinary field crop, which is usually after corn planting. If we were about 
to adopt this plan of growing rye and carrots, we would drill the rye, leav- 
ing out a drill every two and a half feet for the carrot rows ; and the rye 
we would mow for feed instead of saving ^t for the grain. If corn were 
planted in May, and rye sown in October, and carrots in April, three full 



S«o. 48.] PARSNEPS AND ONIONS AS FIELD CROPS. 819 

crops could be harvested in two years and tlio ground prepared for another. 
Of course this kind of pushing would require high manuring and good cul- 
tivation. 

Let it always be remembered that all root crops require deep plowing, 
heavy manuring, a thorough pulverization of the soil, and good after-culture 
to keep down the weeds, and they then leave the land in fine order for 
spring grain, to be seeded down with grass or clover. 

Root crops prepare the ground for all other crops. Barley succeeds bet- 
ter after roots than after any other cultivated crop ; and it is noticed that 
grass always takes well after turnips. 

8S5. Parsneps as a Field Crop. — All that we have said of carrots, except 
storing for winter, will apply to parsneps. Instead of digging and storing, 
let them stand where they grow till spring, and then dig and feed them 
from day to day, and they will make butter, beef, or mutton faster, in pro- 
portion to cost, than any other feed. If the roots are small in autumn, and 
a snow falls before the ground freezes, they will continue to grow, and will 
sometimes double in size. They must be dug before commencing a spring 
growth. There is no more productive root crop than parsneps, and we do 
not think there is any of more value during the month in which they can 
be raised daily from the ground in spring, and fed to any kind of stock. 
They are very valuable if cooked, for pigs. 

886. Onions as a Field Crop. — We have already spoken of onions in the 
garden (532), but they are grown to such a large extent as a field crop, that 
we may give some of the best information upon the subject that we can 
select ; and first, of the soil and preparation. 

The following statement is made by a large onion-grower, J. "W. Proctor, 
of South Danvers, Massachusetts. He says : " Any soil, of substance equal 
to 40 or 50 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, will grow onions — the better 
the soil the better the crop. Plow to the full depth of the soil, and liberally 
manure. Plant with corn and carrots, until completely pulverized. Plow 
early in the spring, and thoroughly intermingle the manure with the soil. 
Let all obstructions to the free distribution of the seed be removed, and the 
ground thoroughly prepared for the reception of the seed, which is distrib- 
uted by machines in rows fourteen inches apart, as true as a line can be 
drawn. This is essential, because of the facility afi^orded for the use of the 
onion-weeder. After the laud has been once thoroughly plowed and culti- 
vated, shallow plowing is usually practiced — say not deeper than can be 
convliiiently done with one horse — from four to six inches. The next ma- 
terial point is to get the land ready early. No good cultivator permits weeds 
to grow among his onions, and consequently is specially careful that the 
seeds of weeds shall not be scattered upon the land, either in the manure or 
otherwise. A bunch of purslane may destroy a peck of onions. 

" You must keep your onion field entirely free of weeds, and then you 
may expect 500 bushels an acre, raised at less cost and greater profit than 
potatoes. 



820 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



"The best soil is a sandy loam of a somewhat dark color. Onions will not 
^o well upon clay, particularly if it is a white clay. The surface must be 
absolutely free from lumps, stones, and sods. A good crop, however, may 
be grown upon an inverted sod, even the tough one of the Western prairie. 
All varieties of onions are grown more or less, but chiefly the Silver-skin, 
which give the most profitable results in this section. 

"Never plant old seed, and the nearer the surface you can place your seed, 
if barely covered, the more perfectly it will vegetate, and the better the 
bulbs will be, as they naturally grow on the surface, not under it. 

" Good cultivators grow their own seed ; and they select, for this purpose, 
onions of the form they wish to grow, and set them where no bad seed can 
intermingle, as much depends upon procuring and preserving the seed pure. 
As well may you hope to grow figs from thistles as good onions from poor 
seed." 

8S7. The Fertilizers best fitted to rromote the Growth of the Oiiioa.— Good 
stable manure, old and well fined, is always a healthy dressing. Let it be 
applied generously — six, eight, or ten cords to the acre. " Muscle-bed" is a 
good application for onions. Guano does very well ; but there is nothing 
quite equal to barn manure, thoroughly rotted and fined, spread upon the 
surface, so as to give a quick start to the crop. Success depends very much 
upon an early start, as early onions are much better protected from every 
class of blights, and especially from that chief of devourers, the maggots. 
Ashes, leached or not leached, are a good application, and are very much 
used by onion-growers. 

The first difiiculty in the way of raising onions is the worms. The next 
trouble is the weeds, and on this account swamp muck is admirable manure; 
it will contain no seed. 

888. Remedy for Onion Worms. — Benjamin CliS'ord, of Norwich, Vt., has 
discovered that tar is an effectual preventive against the fly that produces 
the onion maggot. An equal quantity of hot water and tar Avas stirred 
together, and after standing a few hours, the fluid part was sprinkled upon 
the onions on one of the beds. This application was made in June, when 
the young plants were first attacked by the fly, and the process repeated 
about two weeks afterward. The result was a fine crop upon that bed, 
while upon the other not a single onion was raised. 

Dr. O. "W. Drew, of "Waterbury, Vt., writes us that the onion crops of 
that town had failed to such an extent for years that the people had to get 
a supply from Boston for their own use, instead of growing them fc* sale, 
as they did before the worms became troublesome. He says : " When the 
plants get three or four inches higli they begin to turn yellow anrl die, and 
the bulbs become rotten and full of maggots. Many experiments have been 
tried with lime, salt, ashes, and plaster, without benefit. Last spring (1861) 
I sowed a bed with red onion seed, and when tlie plants were about four 
inches high, I found that they were afieeted as usual, and I poured a full 
stream of boiling water from a large tea-kettlo spout directly upon each row, 



Sbo. 48.] qPANTITY OF ROOTS AN ACRE WILL PRODUCE. 821 



and repeated the application, and the plants, instead of being killed, were 
refreshed, and looked as bright as though they had had a May shower, and 
no more died, though the worms did, and I grew as fine a crop of onions as 
I ever had in the most successful years. The remedy is apt to deter timid 
people from applying it, but 1 assure them there is no danger, and it is 
effectual." 

If this should prove to be a remedy in other cases, it will be almost in- 
valuable to those who cultivate onions as a crop ; many who have depended 
upon them as no inconsiderable item of annual income, have been obliged 
to abandon their cultivation. 

It appears that the fly which produces the maggot which has so seriously 
damaged the onion-growers, belongs to the same tribe of insects that deposit 
eggs in manure, and it is therefore recommended to nse no putrescent fer- 
tilizers for onions ; nothing of animal production, unless it may be guano or 
bone-dust. 

889. Proflt of Onion Culture. — ^The production of a good crop of onions 
is estimated at five hundred bushels per acre, and the cost in Massachusetts 
is stated about as follows : Cost of preparing one acre of land and planting 
the seed, $10 ; six pounds of seed, S3 ; manure, 830 ; cultivation and har- 
vesting, $40. Total, §83. The harvesting is done by raking the onions 
into rows with an iron tooth-rake about the first or perhaps middle of Octo- 
ber. The planting should be done a week or ten days before corn. At one 
dollar a bushel, it will be seen that a good yield gives a handsome profit to 
the cultivator, and ^Xvhere the insect is not troublesome, the crop is about as 
sure as a crop of Indian corn, and it may be cultivated upon the same spot 
for an indefinite period. 

890. California Wild Onions. — It has been stated in California papers that 
onions growing wild have been discovered in that State, an inch and a half 
in diameter, covered with a thick husk like the soap-root. They are palata- 
ble and even preferable to garden onions, and it is thought may prove a 
valuable addition to the cultivated varieties. "We give the statement as a 
hint to onion-growers to try this variety in a cultivated condition. 

891. The Quantity of Roois an Acre will Produce.— Some persons wish to 
know how much feed can be <_i'.ilained from an acre of any kind of roots. 
This they can determine by weighing a few of an average size and then cal- 
culating the number per acre. In this calculation the following table will 
be useful. It shows the number, weight, and, measure of the growth of an 
acre planted at various distances apart : 

Dial, between Dist. of planU No per "Weight of BnsbeU 

^he rows. In row, acre. each root per acre. 

2 feet 1 foot 21,780 12 lbs 4,356 

do do do 10 3,630 

do do do 5 1,815 

do do do 2 726 

do 2 feet 10,890 12 2,078 

do do do 10 1,815 

do do do 5 , 707 

do do do 2 363 



822 



BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



Chap. X. 



Dist. between 
the rows. 
3 feet 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

• do 

do 



Dist of plants No. per "VTeight of 

in row. acre. each rooL 

. ... 1 foot 14,620 12 

do do. 10 

. . . . do do 5 

do do 2 

. . . .2 feet 7,260 12 

do do 10 

. . . . do do 5 

. . . .3 feet 4,840 12 

do do 10 

do do 5 



Bushels 
per acre. 
..2,940 
..2,420 
..1,210 
.. 484 
..1,452 
..1,210 
. . 605 
. . 968 
.. 806 
.. 403 



This calculation of measure is based upon sixty pounds per bushel. The 
table shows that it is not necessary to have roots very close together in order 
to raise large crops. For instance ; if the rows are three feet apart, and the 
plants two feet apart in the row, with no vacancies, and the roots average 
ten or twelve pounds, the crop will be large. It also shows the importance 
of having the ground all occupied, as the yield will be seriously diminished 
when this is not the case. 



SECTION XL1X.-S0RGHUM SACCHARATUM-CHINESE SUGAR-CANE- 
AND SORGO SUGAR-MAKING. 

(ITHEN a few years, the seeds of the plant generally 
known as Chinese sugar-cane, and that of Imphee, 
or African sugar-cane, have been disseminated over 
the United States, and cultivated with various de- 
grees of success. To sum up reports, in short, we 
should say that in all good Indian corn soil, where 
that crop can be grown to average forty bushels an 
acre, a crop of sorgo can be grown with profit, if 
the grower is provided with conveniences for con- 
verting the juice into sirup, the quality of which 
is excellent. 

"W. Mathar, of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, says: 
" I will give the figures, and state, from experi- 
ment, that sugar-cane is profitable to raise for family 
use : 581 rods of ground, planted May 27, 1858, harvested October 27, pro- 
ducing 425 gallons, yielding 91 J gallons of molasses, worth 63 cent* per 
gallon." 

The Davenport (Iowa) Times states that one farmer has made sirup at a 
cost of sixteen cents a gallon. In many places in States where apples 
abound, the old-fashioned cider-mills have been used to grind cane with 
success. 




Sko. 49.] CHINESE SUGARCANE— PLANTING AND CULTURE. 823 

Such facts as seem important to be known to farmers about this plant, we 
shall give in this section, followed by others about maple-sugar. 

892, Soil and Situation for Sorgo.— E. F. Newberry, of Montgomery 
County, 111., in the Prairie Farmer of April 18, 1861, gives a number of 
facts in regard to this matter, applicable to its culture in Illinois, from which 
we extract the following : " The important point of selection of soil has been 
almost wliolly overlooked. It has generally been supposed that the larger 
the stalk the greater the yield of saccharine matter, and of course the rich- 
est, deepest mold has been selected for its growth. This is a great mistake. 
I will illustrate by a little experiment of my own. Part of my cane grew 
on a southern slope of very moderate richness, and part on a bottom the 
very reverse in fertility. The stalks in the latter position were of much 
larger growth than those in the former, yet the first produced more sirup per 
acre and of a superior quality. Besides, I found no difficulty in procuring its 
granulation, while the latter would not crystallize. The soil of the slope was 
a reddish brown, slightly intermixed with sand. The cane brought to my 
miirby my neighbors from the borders of the prairie and from timber land 
invariably excelled in quality that grown in the deep, rich soil of the center 
of the prairie. 

893. " Preparation for Planting. — ^The ground should be put in perfect 
tilth to receive the seed, as the plant when young is quite feeble. As 
regards manure, the present richness of the soil should be the guide taken 
in connection with the facts stated above concerning the overgrowth of 
stalk. 

891r. " Time of Planting. — Experience has proved that the seed can safely 
be sown a week or ten days earlier than corn ; and as the manufacturing 
season is short, every day wo can add to it is precious. A piece planted the 
25th of March made the best cane in the prairie. A mild frost inflicts no 
injury. Cane planted the 16th of April was ready to grind the 21st of 
August, in Montgomery County, near the center of the State. Seed should 
be sprouted before sowing, and a week can be thus gained. As there is a 
period, embracing from four to six days, in which the cane is in a greater 
degree of perfection for manufacturing, I would strongly urge sowing in 
such succession as will insure its being worked up during that period. The 
cultivator will of course take into consideration his facilities for working up, 
in regulating their succession. I regard this as one of the most important 
points in the whole business. The sirup made at such period will, if prop- 
erly managed, be of a beautiful transparent color, entirely free from any 
foreign taste or smell. Besides, this is the only time that crystals can be 
produced with any certainty. I have no doubt that the occasionally suc- 
cessful attempts at granulation which have occurred from year to year 
have resulted from accidental manufacture within this period. When the 
first frost comes, all the cane which remains should be cut and care- 
fully protected from the weather by being placed under a shed or cov- 
ered over with straw so that neither the sun nor wind can act upon it. 



824 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

By covering so as to prevent freezing, good second-rate sirup, but not 
sugar, can be made until the first of December, and thus lengthen the 
manufacturing season a whole month. It will not do to carelessly throw 
the stalks in a pile in the open air, expecting them to keep good for a 
month. 

895. "Manner of PIanting« — Enough seed should be sown in drills three 
feet apart to insure one plant every twelve inches. Thinner than this I re- 
gard not only as a waste of land, but as rendering the stalks liable ,to too 
great a growth, which is an injury. Shallow sowing (from 1 to li inches) 
insures speedy germination most certainly. Cultivate carefully with the hoe 
and cultivator. 

896. " Stripping and Toppingi — The cane should be stripped at least one 
week before using. Tiiis course certainly does enricli the cane, and also ren- 
ders it easy to save the blades for fodder, which should be bound and shocked 
between the rows. The stripping can be performed either with the two 
hands encased in buckskin gloves or by means of a wooden knife about five 
feet long. Our experience led us to prefer the hands, as we could strip a 
stalk, and sometimes two or three, at a single stroke and retain the leaves 
i-eady to bind, saving thereby considerable labor. The cane should not be 
topped until ready for cutting. If this is performed sooner, the formation 
of sugar is immediately checked by the efforts of the cane to replace the 
lost heads or panicles. Some which I topped at the time of stripping, ten 
days before cutting, yielded juice which contained only twelve per cent, of 
sirup, while that from cane untopped until the day of using, yielded eighteen 
and twenty per cent. Neither would granulate. It can best be topped by 
hauling to the mill and laying the heads evenly and cutting them off with 
a hatchet. , 

897. " Time of Cutting. — Do not cut until the very day of using, if it can 
possibly be avoided. From the day it is cut it commences to deteriorate. 
This is a fixed fact. A change in the chemical constituents immediately be- 
gins which soon destroys the granulating power, and if the weather liappens 
to be warm, brings on acetous fermentation. 

898. " Most Favorable Period for Manufacture.— This commences when the 
seed is fully in the dough and continues until it is nearly ripe. Cane fully 
ripe a month before frost, was allowed to stand uncut and commenced grow- 
ing acid, so as to require neutralizing agents, and both color and taste were 
injured. Acidity can be thoroughly neutralized by using sufficient alkali. 
In some very acid juice a tablespoonful of strong soda was required for a 
gallon of sirup. For a few days there was a decided smell of the alkali, but 
it presently passed away and the sirup proved to be quite a good article, and 
a portion of it has grained in the barrel. 

899. " Manufacturing Sirup. — ^The first consideration is a good iron mill, 
with which one horse can grind cane enough in twelve hours to make forty 
or fifty gallons of sirup. Hedge's mill is the most reliable, and it should 
be placed so that the juice will run to the boilers; and of all that I have 



Sko. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CANE— YIELD AND PROFIT. 825 



seen, I prefer Cook's, though I do not believe it makes as beautiful sirup as 
the common pan and kettle. If pans arc used, make them of galvanized 
sheet iron, from seven to ten feet long. Turn up the sides and ends of the 
sheets about two inches and finish by nailing them to solid plank ten indict 
high, so as to form an oblong water-tight box with iron bottom. As many 
as you wish may be set in furnaces, the horizontal flues of which shoultl 
meet in one perj^endicular chimney. The juice should be clarified in these 
and afterward boiled down until nearly done, when it should be removed 
and the operation slowly finished in a cast-iron kettle. The reason I prefer 
to finish in a kettle is this : When .the sirup is completely done, it can be 
ladled out without the risk of scorching, which is so imminent in using the 
thin, flat pan. 

900. " Clarifyini; Agents. — Of these there are several. Lime-water made 
from fresh lime is about as good as any. Our finest sirup was cleared with 
some refuse saleratus which had been thrown away by a merchant here as 
worthless. It did not injure the color in the least. Carbonate of soda an- 
swers very well, but colors the sirup somewhat. Sugar of lead is a splendid 
clarifier, but it is poisonous. 

901. " Profits of Sorgo Grinding. — These vary from $50 per acre to $100, 
just as the business is managed. One large mill in an adjoining county 
broke up its o\vners ; twenty-five acres of cane remained uncut in their field, 
and the quality of sirup was so poor that they could not sell it until it was 
refined. Others on a small scale realized quite a per cent, on the outlay and 
labor. The result of my own was about thus : Wlien the mill, which was a 
very poor one, ran steadily, the profits were $8 a day of ten hours. My 
Cook's evaporator cost $47 50, and Douglass' mill $68, freight included. 
The season ought to commence, at the latest, on the first of September, and 
continue for two months, or even longer, if the cane is properly taken care of, 
and success in a domestic way is iindoubted ; but we do not know enough 
about the business as yet to render it safe to invest any great amount. With 
more experience, we can supply our own State with sirup, and sugar too, I 
have no doubt." 

902. Sorgo as Food for Slock. — Upon this point Mr. Newberry says : 
"My horses, cows, and hogs have all had access to the pile of bagasse, and 
they eat it greedily. My milch cow will not touch hay or Hungarian grass, 
and she is in as good order as it is possible for jt milch cow to be. My 
horses require very little fodder, and even the pigs chew away with com- 
mendable zeal." 

Another Illinois farmer wrote to us in December, 1860, as follows: " Onr 
horses, mules, and cattle have had no other fodder since cane came in, and 
the more mature the better they seem to like it. I tried cutting and curing 
the immature cane last year, and found it a failure. The mature cane is the 
form in which my experience would lead me to use it for fodder. The 
proper way is to cut and shock like corn. We have been feeding it all 
winter so fat ; the only preparation is to cut the long stalks in two so as 



826 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

to get them in the manger ; the animals take care of it after that. The 
effect on milch cows, judging by our own, is very satisfactory. "We have 
a very comfortable supply of milk from one cow, and her main feed is 
sugar-cane." 

903. The Yield per Acre.— He also writes : " Our yield per aero did not 
come up to the general estimate ; about one hundred gallons per acre was 
our product. "We are satisfied our mill took out from 60 to 75 per cent, of 
tlie sap. "We had a portable eight-horse- power engine and boiler, and a 
cast-iron mill, having two rollers fifteen inches in diameter and length, with 
set screws. Our evaporating apparatus was made of American sheet-iron, 
imitation of Russia, and consisted of three pans of capacity to hold over 
three hundred gallons of sap. "We broke dawn in two respects : first, our 
machinery was inadequate to work up our crop ; and second, we failed to 
make a perfectly satisfactory article, nearly all having a scorched taste. 

904. " Keeping the Cane and the Juice. — "We have demonstrated that 
cane cut up and shocked like covn, before frost, will keep perfect for a 
month after. Some of the most perfect sirup we have made was from 
cane a month old. But if the unripe cane stands until killed by frost, the 
thing is done for ; two days of warm weather will then sour it ; but the sap 
does not run into decomposition immediately. We ground out for one of 
our neighbors, four miles off, enough to make eighty gallons of sirup ; the 
sap was taken home, and in the course of the next two days was worked up. 
This was not all ground at one time, but four or five different times. The 
sirup thus made was the most perfect of the season." 

905. Fruits of Experience in Growing Sorgo.— The above writer says : 
"In conclusion, our experience (and we have bought it pretty dear) has sat- 
isfied us that the manufacture of the sorgo can only be made profitable 
in two ways — either in large establishments, with perfect machinery and 
skill, or on a small scale by farmers, for their own use. The latter is the 
most favorable view, as to its prospective value at the North. "We have no 
doubt human health and happiness will be largely increased by the improve- 
ment in diet which will result from bringing this valuable article of food 
within the reach of all. I am entirely satisfied of the fact that it can be 
grown in this latitude (41° 25') successfully. The difficulty is making the 
manufacture of the cane into sirup profitable after it is grown." 

906. Chemical Character and Analysis of Sorgo.— A writer in The Farmer 
and Planter, Columbia, S. C, says : " Careful experiments made by distin- 
guished chemists during the last year have settled the point that the sorgo 
belongs to the family of grasses which secrete ' glucose' or fruit sugar— not 
crystallizable, or cane sugar. Tlie value of cane sugar, compared to glucose 
or grass sugar, is three to one. "We may give up, then, the hope of making 
sugar profitably. Carefully conducted experiments during the last year, how- 
ever, have satisfied the writer that a very good sirup can be manufactured 
at the rate of fifty cents per gallon, and for even less, by the small farmer 
who is not entirely engrossed with the cotton crop. This will prove an in- 



Sbo. 49.] CniNESE SUGAK-CANE— ANALYSIS. 827 



estimable blessing, l)ringing it ■within the means of almost eveiy farmer 
owning a horse and an acre of ground, to provide the family with a luxury." 

This corresponds with our continually expressed opinion, tliat it was not 
worth while for those who grow the cane to think of making sugar, but con- 
fine the manufacture entirely to sirup. 

Dr. Augustus Yoelcker, of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, 
England, has published some analyses of Chinese sugar-cane grown on th<i 
college farm. The analysis was made September 26, 1859, with the whole 
plant, with the following result : 

In natural Dried at 
Blatc. 212° 

Water 81.80. ... — 

, i Albumen 37. . . . 2.03 

I Other soluble protein compounds 1.16. . . , 6.36 

Sugar 5.85. . . , 32.16 

Wax and fatty matter 2.55. . . , 14.01 

Mucilage, pectin, and digestible fiber 2.59. . . . 14.26 

Soluble mineral matters 74 ... . 4.06 

■)■ Insoluble protein compounds 66 3.62 

Indigestible woody fiber (cellular) 4.05 22.25 

Insoluble mineral matters 23 ... . 1.26 

100.00.... 100.00 

•Containing nitrogen 245. . . 1.34 

fContaining nitrogen 106. . . .58 

Total quantity of nitrogen 351 . . . 1.92 

"Tlie sorgo contained nearly 6 per cent, of sugar, which is abont the 
same proportion as in carrots. The canes proved sweeter near the ground, 
some of the stumps yielding 7.65 per cent, of sugar. Stems cut about twelve 
inches from the ground yielded 3.60 per cent, of sugar — not quite half the 
quantity found in the lower part The proportion of sugar and crude fiber 
was : in stems cut two inches above ground, per-centage of sugar, 7.65 ; per- 
centage of crude fiber, 6.50. In stems cut twelve inches above ground, per- 
centage of sugar, 3.60 ; per-centage of crude fiber, 13.01 ; while the principal 
or main stem was quite sweet, the stolons or side shoots were still bitter. It 
thus appears that all do not ripen together ; the central or oldest stem is 
perfect before the lateral shoots." 

Dr. Yoelcker found the unripe canes in August contained no sugar what- 
ever. He says : " The taste of the plants on the 23d of August was anything 
but sweet. I did not expect, therefore, to find much, but I was unprepared 
to meet with a total absence of sugar." 

907. Effect of Frost on the f ancsi — As most of the directions about harvest- 
ing the canes say that they must be cut before frost, we give the following 
counter statement from Preston Eyre, Darlington, Penn. He says : " A 
neighbor allowed his cane to stand about one month after it was frozen 
entirely dead; he then cut it ofi" in the morning, when the juice was frozen 
solid, and laid it in the sun, and in the afternoon expressed the juice with 
iron rollers ; the result was 165 gallons of juico, 5 of which made 1 gallon 
of excellent sirup, even superior to my own, which was cut before freezing. 

" I cultivated a small patch in my garden ; I cut it off before the frost 



828 EOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



affected it; I expressed the juice with iron rollers the same day, and had 30 
gallons ; boiled it down next day and had 5i gallons of sirup ; it had some- 
what of a green taste, which I think is destroyed in the process of freezing ; 
for let the season be ever so favorable, there will be some stalks not matured, 
but by freezing they are assimilated and lose that green taste so perceptible 
in the immature cane. 

" I have tasted several samples of sirup, and the best was manufactured 
from cane which stood several days after being frozen hard, and made with- 
out using lime or any other acid-destroying agent. My conclusions are, that 
the cane does not lose any of its saccharine qualities by freezing, but they 
are rather improved." 

Col. A. T. Morris, of Indianapolis, gives a detailed account of his success 
in making sirup. He says : " I made two efforts, both unsuccessful, to pro- 
duce sugar. I suppose that my want of success was mainly owing to the 
fact that the cane had all been frozen. The effect of the frost was to diminish 
the quantity of juice ; also to neutralize, to some extent, its acid pi-operties, 
and slightly increase its density, as indicated by Beaume's saccharometer. 

" The juice of my unripe cane, before frost, marked seven degrees, Beaume ; 
that of the ripe cane, nine degrees. After the frost, the juice marked ten 
degrees." 

908. Yield per Acre in Indiana^ — " Myself and friends have made about 
1,500 gallons of sirup. My cane yielded 225 gallons of very thick sirup to 
the acre — requiring about six gallons of juice to one gallon of sirup. That 
grown by others yielded at the rate of 320 gallons per acre. I think 300 
gallons may be relied on here as a fair average crop." 

Col. Morris says : " I tested juice from several fields in this vicinity, and 
invariably found that the small, thoroughly ripe cane produced the strongest 
juice — the large, vigorous growth was very generally inferior from one to 
two degrees. I also found that the bottom of the stalk was not as sweet as 
the middle, nor the middle as sweet as the top. The juice from each third 
of the stalk indicated one degree more for the top third than the middle, and 
this one more than the bottom." 

909. How the Sirup was Made, and its Cost.—" I filtered the juice, as it 
came from the mill, through finely powdered charcoal, placed in a barrel 
with a false bottom, covered with blankets, in the manner used in rectifying 
whisky. The juice thus filtered was boiled in the usual way, and produced 
a sirup, I think, equal to any I ever saw. This process I found to require 
too much labor and time. The charcoal soon became impervious, and had 
to be renewed, rendering its use too troublesome and expensive when a 
large amount of sirup was to be made. 

" After filling the large pan from the mill, I mixed in it a sufficient 
quantity of lime-water to nearly neutralize the acid in the juice, using litmus 
paper as a test. I also mixed, at the same time, about three pounds of ivory- 
black and one half dozen of eggs to every 100 gallons of juice, stirring all 
together thoroughly. The juice was then heated to near the boiling point. 



Sbo. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CAKE— FEEDING IT TO STOCK. ' 829 



and the fire then removed from the furnace and the juice not disturbed until 
sufficiently cool to bo in a (quiescent state. The scum was then removed, 
and the remainder drawn ofl' tlirongh a flannel bag into the other pans for 
boiling. Before boiling, a small quantity of dissolved borax was added, 
after which it was boiled moderately and skimmed, until the quantity was 
evaporated to about one third of its bulk ; then the boiling was as rapid as 
possible, until the sirup was produced. By this process, I have made an 
article which is very generally considered nearly, if not quite, equal to the 
best of the golden sirup in our market. 

" I attempted to boil the juice in ordinary iron kettles, arranged in a fur- 
nace, in the way usually adopted here to manufacture maple-sugar, but 
found it impossible to avoid burning the sirup against their sides. I then 
procured four pans, with cast-iron bottoms and wooden sides. Three of 
them were two and a half feet wide and three and a half feet long, with sides 
fourteen inches deep ; and one five feet long, and sanie width and depth as 
the otiiers. I placed three of these pans in one furnace, made of brick, and 
placed the largest one in a separate furnace at right angles to the first. The 
smoke-stacks of the two were placed together. The bottom of the large pan 
was put on a level with the top of the small ones, so as to draw out its con- 
tents, by a stop-cock, into the adjoining small one. With this arrangement, 
I could concentrate about 400 gallons of juice each day, consuming about 
three fourths of a cord of wood. 

" It cost about twelve cents per gallon to make my sirup, estimating the 
fodder and seed to pay for the labor of cultivation, and not allowing any- 
tliing for interest on the cost of the mill and boiling fixtures." 

910. Best Mode of Growing the Cane and Feeding it to Siock.— Upon this 
question Col. Morris says : " My experience and observation induce the be- 
lief, tliat the best mode of growing the cane is to thoroughly break up and 
harrow the ground, then cross off at right angles, with something that will 
merely mark the surface, giving hills three and a half or four feet apart. 
Allow about six seeds to grow in each hill, and pull off all suckers that come 
from the root too late to ripen as soon as the main stalk, and strip from time 
to time all heads that make their appearance at the joints of the stalks. 
This method of planting will allow the use of the cultivator earlier, with less 
liability to cover up the young cane, diminish the amount of hoeing, and, I 
think, would require but little if any more labor than a corn crop. By pull- 
ing off the suckers that start too late to ripen, and the seed-heads that ap- 
pear at the joints, I think the vigor and perhaps the quality of the growing 
stalks would be increased. 

"About the 1st of June I planted two acres in drills about four feet 
apart, running north and south, planting one seed every eight or ten inches. 
The soil was not rich, but light and sandy. I hoed and plowed twice. Its 
growth, after being plowed, was very rapid, and most of it was ripe about 
the middle of October. From two to five full-sized canes grew fron^ each 
seed ; perhaps the average would be three. The average hight was about 



830 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Cha-p. 5. 



ten feet, and the average diameter about one and a half inches at the ground. 
I made no attempt to ascertain the amount of fodder and seed yielded 
per acre, but have fed both — also the ripe and unripe staPks — to horses, 
cows, and hogs. They eat every part of the cane greedily, and, so far as I 
observed, seemed to thrive on the food equally with any other. 

" "While making sirup, I fed the scum to my hogs, but on one occasion 
suffered it to remain in a barrel about twenty-four hours before feeding, 
when I found vinous fermentation had commenced, and it produced its 
legitimate effects — making some twenty hogs seriously drunk." 

911. A Cheap Boiler. — " It is constructed as follows : The sides are of plank 
one and a half inches thick, one foot wide, and four feet long. The bottom and 
sides are of a continuous piece of sheet iron, six feet long by two feet wide, 
the ends of the iron turned up to ibrm the ends ot the boiler, nailed on the 
wood. It is four feet long and two wide, holding eight cubic feet, and pre- 
senting an evaporating surface of eight square feet. I rest the edges of the 
boiler on brick-work, the fire passing lengthwise under the bottom. Its cost 
was not over two dollars." 

912. A New Plan of Extracting Cane Juice.— H. G. Bulkley, of Kala- 
mazoo, Michigan, has made a successful experiment upon a new plan of 
extracting Chinese cane juice, and recommends it to others, as it saves the 
cost of a crushing-mill, and enables parties provided with ordinary farm im- 
plements to make a full supply of sirup for family use at a very little ex- 
pense. Tlie plan is to cut the canes in a straw-cutting machine, and then 
steam them until quite soft and press out the juice in a common cider press, 
and then proceed with tlie evaporation as with maple sap. Boiling the cut 
canes will answer where no conveniences for steaming exist, though steam 
i£ preferable, and any ingenious man can make a steamer out of a cask, an 
old gun-barrel, a common kettle with a wooden lid cemented tight with 
clay and cow-dung mixed into a paste. But, after all, if the steaming pro- 
cess should prove more economical than grinding the green stalks, it will be 
found preferable to erect works designed for the purpose especially. Mr. 
Bulkley says that he pressed his steamed stalks while hot, in a small cider 
press, making them dry enough to burn ; and made twenty-five gallons of 
good sirup by the work of two men and a boy in two and a half days. 

913. Description of Cane Mills. — The best cane mills are ponderous iron 
rollers, some fi%^e feet long and thirty inches in diameter, lying parallel, two 
at bottom and one at top, touching both the others, the canes being mashed 
by the first contact and squeezed dry, or as nearly so as possible by the sec- 
ond contact. The canes are fed to the mill upon a long apron or cane carrier, 
the whole driven by a powerful steam-engine. 

The next best mill is one of similar form driven by horses. Tlicn there 
are upright mills of two rollers, both of wood and iron, in the South, of va- 
rious degrees of excellence, some of which do not save half the juice. 

Good small iron mills, for horse-power, for grinding the canes of sorgo, 
have been built in Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Without a good mill it is 



Sbo. 4S.] CHINESE SUGAR-OANE— BOILING THE JUICE. 831 



as useless to attempt sugar-making, as it would be to attempt cider-making 
without a mill to grind the apples. Cider may be made by mashing apples 
between two stones, and squeezing out the juice in any rude way ; and so 
may sirup be obtained in the same rude way from sorgo, but the process 
will not be a profitable one. 

An iron mill for family use on a small scale is described as follows: A 
pair of iron rollers, 7 inches diameter and 12 inches long, set in a frame one 
eighth of an incli apart, with spout to catch and collect the juice, and a 
crank turned by hand. 

Gl-i. Boiling the Juice< — Boiling must be done in the same careful manner 
that good maple-sugar makers pursue. As soon as the juice begins to boil, 
the albumen of eggs, blood, or milk will coagulate and rise, bringing with 
it most of the vegetable mucilage, gummy matter, and dirt, which must be 
carefully skimmed off, but not before it really does boil, which it will do at 
215 degrees Fahrenheit. It will be best to take the kettle from the fire, or 
put it out, as soon as the scum has arisen, and let the juice cool a few min- 
utes befor-e skimming it. You may then boil again, until nearly half evap- 
orated. The true rule is for the saccharometer to mark 15 degrees Beaume. 
It marked in Mr. Lovering's experiments 8 degrees to 12 degrees in the clear 
juice before boiling. 

After this second boiling, the juice should be cooled to 160 degrees Fahr- 
enheit, and more eggs, blood, or milk added, and again brought to the boiling 
point, and again stopped boiling and allowed to become quiet and then 
skimmed. 

Decolorization is the next process. This is done by decanting the liquid 
through granulated burnt bones (animal charcoal), from three to five feet 
deep. It may be filled into any long, narrow vessel, set on end, through 
which the liquid is to be leached. This filter must be prepared as a careful 
housewife prepares her leach, so that no ashes will be washed down into the 
lye. A board with holes in it, and a piece of wire gauze, may be fitted in 
the barrel above the bottom, and the bone-black thoroughly wet with hot 
water, and that drawn off before putting in the juice. A thin blanket may 
be used instead of wire gauze. 

Boiling down the filtered liquid is the next point, and this requires care 
and skill, combined with experience. Nothing else will answer ; for, 

" If we do not boil enough, the sugar contained in the solution will not 
crystallize when cold ; or, 

" If we boil too much, the molasses will become so thick when it cools, as 
to impair the crystallizing of the sugar, and can not be separated from it. 

" But how shall we know when to stop the boiling? 

" By the heat of the boiling liquid, as marked by the thermometer. 

" Pure water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit's thermometer. You can not 
make it hotter without changing it to steam. 

" The sorgo juice, being a solution of about fourteen per cent, of sugar and 
molasses, etc., in water, becomes three degrees hotter before boiling, and 



882 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

boils at 215 degrees Fahrenheit. As the water evaporates, a greater heat is 
required to keep the concentrated juice boiling; in other words, the juice 
grows hotter and hotter. When it reaches the heat marked on the thermom- 
eter 238 degrees Fahrenheit, there is just enough water left to enable the 
sugar to separate from the molasses when cold." 

A thermometer is therefore an essential implement in sugar-making. 

The -water being evaporated, the sugar will crystallize as the sirup cools, 
if all the processes have been conducted perfectly, and if not, you will have 
instead of sugar an excellent molasses. Sometimes that, if kept exposed to 
the air, will half or more crystallize, weeks after it is put away. 

915. Will the Sorgo Juice Make Sugar ?— That question is settled that it 
will, notwithstanding all that has been said about its containing no true cane 
sugar. Mr. Joseph S. Lovering, the great sugar refiner of Philadelphia, has 
furnished the evidence that it will make sugar ; not only raw sugar, but per- 
fectly Avhite, granulated, sound refined sugar. A good many other persons 
have also made sorco sugar. 

Among others, a gentleman living in Evansville, Ind., wrote me that from 
sixteen gallons of juice he made between ten and eleven pounds of gran- 
ulated sugar by following the process given in the " United States Dispen- 
satory," page 633. We have now before us a handsome sample of sugar, 
made by Mr. Miller, of Laporte, Ind., in a boiler contrived by him, made of 
cast iron, circular form horizontally, with a division in the center, and set 
on a pintal, so that it can be turned off the fire as easily as a kettle is swung 
from the fire in the old kitchen fire-place, when hung upon a crane. Still 
we doubt whether in the ordinary mode of household manufacture, good dry 
sugar can be easily or ])rofitably made from sorgo juice. To make sugar, 
either from the sorgo or the tropical cane, successfully and cheaply, re- 
quires costly apparatus. The principal difficulty is getting rid of molasses. 

One man details his experience as follows : I brought the juice to the boil- 
ing point slowly, skimming as the impurities arose to the surface. After re- 
moving the first thick scum, I boiled as fast as possible, until the sirup began 
to thicken ; then slackened the fire and evaporated slowly, until the sirup 
would barely run Avhen cold. It was then put in vessels and set aside. In 
two or three days the mass was filled with crystals. This was all very easy, 
so far, but I found the draining tedious. This I did by putting the mass in 
a conical bag, made of thin cotton cloth." 

As every family, with the hand-mill above described, can grind cane 
enough at odd time to make a barrel of choice sirup, let that suffice, and 
leave sugar-making to large establishments ; for it requires more apparatus 
than it does for maple sugar. 

The experiments of Mr. Lovering were very minute, and conducted with 
great accuracy, and proved to his satisfaction that a fair crop of sorgo will 
give 625 lbs. of sugar to the acre, of as good a quality as a fair average of 
cane sugar. He published his experiments in detail in a pamphlet, and that 
was republished in the N"ew York Tribune, and in several other papers. It 



Sec. 49.] 



CniNESE CANE SUGAR-MAKING. 



833 



is too long to print in whole in this book, and we only give his conclnsions 
in form of a synopsis : 

'■'■First — That it is obvious that there is a culminating point in the devel- 
opment of tlic sugar in the cane, which is the best time for sugar-making. 
This point or season 1 consider to be when most if not all the seeds are ripe, 
and after several frosts, say when the temperature falls to 25° or 30^ F. 

'■•Second — That frost, or even hard freezing, does not injure the juice nor 
the sugar, but that warm Indian summer weather, after the frost and hard 
freezing, does injure them very materially, and reduces both quantity and 
quality. 

^'■Third — That if the cane is cut and housed, or shocked in the field when 
in its most favorable condition, it will probably keap unchanged for a long 
time. 

'■'■Fourth — That when the juice is obtained, the process should proceed con- 
tinuously and without delay. 

'•'■Fifth — That the clarification should be as perfect as possible by the time 
the density reaches 15° Beaume, the sirup having the appearance of good 
brandy. 

"■Sixth — Tliat although eggs were usea m these small experiments, oji 
account of their convenience, bullock's blood, if to be had, is equally good, 
and the milk of lime alone will answer the purpose; in the latter case, how- 
ever, more constant and prolonged skimming will be required to produce a 
perfect clarification, which is highly important. 

'■'Seventh — That the concentration or boiling down, after clarification, 
should be as rapid as possible without scorching — shallow evaporators being 
the best. 

" With these conditions secured, it is about as easy to make good sugal 
from the Chinese cane as to make a pot of good mush, and much easier thaj 
*o make a kettle of good apple-butter." 

"We dissent from his last proposition, and conclude by recommending 
farmers to confine their operations to making sirup. That they certainly 
can make, of superior quality. 

91G. Sorghum that has No Sacchariim. — "We have no doubt of the fact that 
two kinds of seed have been disseminated through the country so identical 
in character as to deceive the most careful observer, and producing canes 
so identical in appearance as to be undistinguishable, yet one aflbrds a sweet 
juice, convertible into sugar or sirup, while the other has but little more sac- 
charine property than broom-corn, which is also a sorghum. 

This false cane is the Sorghum vidgare, called in some sections Turkey 
corn, Guinea corn, chocolate corn. This is a trifle earlier, and grows high, 
erect canes, which are erect because they are light. The sweet sorghum 
canes are heavy because they are loaded with sweet, and frequently for that 
reason, and for their high and slender growth, are prostrated by the winds. 
One plant of the false sorghum is sufiicient to adulterate a whole acre of the 
true in this way. The sorghums blossom first on tlic uppermost part of the 



834 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

panicle, and then by degrees follow the panicle to its base, where it ceases. 
It beiug a long time in blossom, the pollen of the false, by the winds and 
insects, has the first and best opportunity to impregnate the true as soon it 
begins to blossom. It can readily be seen how easily a whole field of seed 
may be adulterated by a few seeds of the false intermingled, without the cul- 
tivator having any knowledge of the fact, until a subsequent crop ; and when 
it is considered that the seed is identical in appearance with the true, the 
mischievous consequences can readily be appreciated. 

"However this adulteration may be, sufficient facts are elicited to warn 
the Northern cane-planter to beware of a cheat that can only be detected 
after his toil has matured a crop of either sweet or tasteless canes. This 
tasteless cane was a common plant in Connecticut forty or fifty years ago, 
and during the war of 1812 it was cultivated for its fancied value as a sub- 
stitute for cofi'ee ; and it is now asserted that at that time there were sweet 
canes as m'cU as those not sweet, and many persons believe that the true 
Cliinese cane was grown at that day, without any knowledge on the part of 
the cultivators of its being a sugar-producing plant." 

It certainly requires the utmost care on the part of cultivators to keep 
the seed pure. Every one must utterly debar the cultivation of Sorghum 
vuJgare on his own premises, and as far as possible on his neighbor's ; and 
if by chance his cane has become adulterated, discard the seed, and procure 
that whicli is pure, at whatever cost. 

917. Cost of GrowiHg Sorgo and Corn Kqual.— A farmer of Chester County, 
Penn., has carefully ascertained the cost of growing sorgo to be the same as 
growing corn. The profit is greater. lie says: "My calculations of the 
profits of sorgo are as follows: 

One acre will produce 1,500 gallons of juice, ■which at 4 gallons for 1 will pro- 
duce 37u gallons sirup, which at 30 cents per gallon is SI 12 50 

And 30 bushels seed, worth 40 cents per bushel 12 00— $124 50 

Deduct croj) of corn, 50 bushels per acre, worth 60 cents per bushel delivered 

at market 30 00 

Leaves a difference in favor of sorgo $94 50 

"The cost of raising the corn and sorgo until both are ready to cut from 
tlic ground — the one to husk and the other to express the juice — is ex- 
actly equal. The hutking, cribbing, shelling, and getting to market the corn 
will probably cost quite as much money and labor as it will cost to express 
the juice of the cane and convert it into sirup. 

918. Stock Iiyured by Eating Sorgo Bagassci — The statement given by 
some sorgo growers and manufacturers, that the bagasse is good feed for 
stock must be received with some caution. An item published in 1860, in 
the Independence (Iowa) Guardian, gives an account of the destruction of 
seven head of cattle, belonging to I. G-. Freeman, from eating the refuse of 
Chinese sugar-cane, after it had been compressed in the mill. The coating 
of the stalks is of a very vitreous character, and in the stomach it produced 
violent inflammation. A post-mortem examination in that case revealed 
this as the cause of death. 



Sec. 50.] 



MAPLE SUGAR-MAKING. 



835 



919. Sorgo Sirup Viuesdr. — In regions where cider vinegar can not be 
made easily, a very good substitute maybe obtained from the juice of sorgo. 
Tlie qualit)' will be improved by boiling it about one half away, though wo 
believe a pretty fair vinegar has been made from the juice without boiling. 
It may be exposed to the air in open vessels, and should be frequently stir- 
red to allow the atmosphere to come in contact with it, because it is by the 
oxygenation that vinegar is formed of any fruit juice, which converts the 
sugar into acetic acid. Yinegar-makers leach cider through barrels filled 
with shavings of some sweet wood, such as beech or maple, for the purpose 
of exposing every drop to the action of the air, to hasten the oxygenation, 
and the same plan may be advantageously adopted in the manufacture* of 
vinegar from sorgo. 



SECTION L.-MAPLE SUGAR-MAKIXG. 

HE Acer saccharinuin has long yielded sugar to the 
pioneers of American settlers in the forest. Charlerois, 
^^L_j in his history of Canada, written in 1721, speaks of 
'^'^'CT ^'"^ manufacture of sugar from maple-trees, and 
i gives the process, and says it was first produced by 
the French immigrants, who taught the art to the Indians, 
who were previously ignorant of it, though the reverse 
of this has long been believed ; that is, that the settlers 
found the Indians alr6ady in possession of the secret, and 
learned the art of them. Although there are none of the 
difficulties in the way of converting maple sap into sugar, 
that we find in sorgo, we believe it is better economy to 
convert the sap into sirup or molasses, where maple orchards 
are convenient to large towns, which will always aff'ord a market for a real 
nice article of maple sirup at a high price. We have already given full 
directions as to Chinese cane, which will make excellent sirup, and will only 
make poor sugar, and that with much difficulty. Maple sirup is more easily 
converted into a very palatable but not very sweet sugar. It is never, at 
best, worth over two thirds of the price of pure cane sugar for family use, 
while the sirup is quite tlic reverse. We had rather have a gallon of maple 
sirup than a gallon and a half of golden sirup, or two gallons pf Orleans 
molasses. Although maple siruj) is made with very little trouble, it requires 
much experience and great care to make good maple sugar. 

Since the sugar-maple is one of the handsomest of all of our beautiful 
American forest trees, and is as easily grown as an apple-tree, it is some- 
what surprising that it is not more cultivated, and its delicious products more 




836 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



used by farmers' families. To aid in this, either from cultivated or natural 
trees, we shall give in detail the process of maple sugar manufacture. 

To those to the manner born, or bred in the camp (of sugar-makers), we do 
not suppose we can oflfer acceptable advice about the how to do it, or " how 
not to do it ;" but to a few others, who have not yet learned the best way to 
conduct the maple-sugar business, we think we can say a word that will be 
useful. In the first place, get ready. For that, there is a very good time ; 
it is no^o • yon never will find a better one. 

320. Preparation for Sugar-Making. — No matter what is the season of the 
year, if it is mid-summer, or mid-winter, and you intend to tap your maple- 
tr&es next spring, you can get your spouts, pails, sap holders, kettles, sugar 
molds, sirup casks, etc., ready. At any rate you can road this article upon 
maple sugar-making and learn how. 

921. Tapping the Trees. — Never tap your trees with an ax, even upon 
land that you are going to clear, because you may not live to clear it, and 
your successor may desire to save some of the trees that your wrong act has 
spoiled. Besides, boxing may teach your son the wrong way to do it. 

The right way is to bore the trees on the sunny side, two feet or more 
above the earth, with an auger not over one inch diameter, and at first not 
over half or three fourths of an inch into the M'ood, with a slant upward. 
This hole may be deepened or increased in diameter after the surface be- 
comes so dry that the flow of sap is checked. The ri(/ht time is when the 
winter is so far over that we begin to have freezing nights and thawing days. 
Then be ready for sugar-making. 

922. How to Make Spouts, and How to Use Them.— To conduct the sap into 
the buckets, use iron spouts which will cost you only the price of thin inch- 
and-a-quarter wide hoop iron, cut in lengths of two to four inches by your 
own hands with a small, cold-cutting chisel, using the end of a hard-wood 
block for an anvil. Now grind one end sharp before you make them into 
troughs, which you can do almost as fast as you can count, as follows : Bore 
an inch hole through a hard log and saw it asunder so as to leave half of the 
hole in one end ; drive two nails upon one side, an eighth of an inch from 
the edge for a gauge ; lay the flat piece of iron over this hollow, and a round 
bolt on it, aud hit that with a stout hammer or an old ax. You can im- 
prove upon this by extemporizing a liand-press, both for cutting and shaping 
your spouts. You need not go to a blacksmith's, and you can not make 
wooden spouts half as fast, and they will not last half as long. 

Drive your spouts into the bark only, and when the season is over, pull 
them out and store away, unless you intend to die before the next year. 

Instead of boring a first or second time, you may use a gouge, cutting out 
a clean chip. This will not injure the tree. Boxing or boring with a slant 
down, holds water and produces decay. 

This is our opinion about spouts. Now here is somebody else's opinion, 
which may be equally good. He says: "There are two objections, in my 
mind, to the iron spout. The iirst is, it leaves the hole entirely exposed t« 



6eo. 60.] MAPLE SUGAR-ifAKING. 837 



tlie air, and the surface soon becomes dry, and the flow of sap is cLeekcd. 
The hole should be closed as nearly as possible, without obstructing the flow 
of sap. For this reason I prefer the wooden spoilt ; and the expense is no 
more. There are in most towns in New England, shops and machinery 
where spouts can be made from spruce or pine at a cost of not more 
than one dollar per hundred. Where there is no such facility, they can be 
made in long winter evenings from elder or sumac, which grows on nearly 
every farm, with no other tools than a saw, a jack-knife, and a piece of wire 
with a handle on one end to remove the pith. 

" My second objection to the iron spout is, when driven into the bark it is 
liable to fracture it and cause an unnecessary wound to the tree."' 

Wooden spouts can also be made of any free-splitting wood, cut ten inches 
long and one and a quarter inches thick, which is split by a gouge or crooked 
iron, to give the right shape. Always commence splitting each block in 
the middle, and work it so till each piece for a spout is thin enough. One 
end is to be sharpened, and the hole made with a gouge, and the spout driven 
in as recommended for the iron spouts. Some bore holes slanting downward 
and drive a plug-spout in the hole. Still there is nothing, in our opinion, so 
good and cheap as iron spouts, made of scrap sheet iron or hoop iron, swaged 
to a trough shape, and ground sharp at one end, so as to drive into the bark 
— never through it — below the cut from which the sap is to flow. This cut 
may be made with an auger, gouge, or even an ax, if care is used to make 
only such a smooth, shallow cut as will soon heal over. Chopping great, 
rough holes into trees to get the sap is an act as foolish as killing the goose 
that laid the golden egg. 

923. Sap-Buckets. — The best sap-buckets, and in the end the cheapest, are 
made of tin, to hold four gallons, and just enough tapering to pack together, 
with a loop in the rim-wire to hitch upon a wrought nail, driven into the 
tree. Such buckets should not cost over 25 cents each — perhaps not over 
20 cents. They should be stored dry, in a dry place, in piles bottom up, 
and be good for your grandchildren. 

Painted pails make cheap, good sap-buckets. You can hang them by the 
bail upon a nail set slanting, or else by a piece of small wire twisted in one 
ear. 

Home-made pails can be made without much cost during the winter, if 
you have any genius for coopering, and will use the surplus heat of the 
stove or brick oven to season your stuff. Leave one stave long enough to 
bore a hole to hang upon the nail. Do not depend upon things that you 
can pick up to catch sap, and if you catch a fellow upon your premises 
making sap-troughs, take a birch sprout and start the sap out of him. 

One old sugar-maker recommends making tin sap-buckets of a square 
form, of two sheets for the square sides and half a sheet for the bottom, with 
just taper enough to fit together when in store. Tlie tin should be rolled 
around a wire at the top, with a loop to hang by, or else with a hole under 
the wire large enough to hang over a wrought nail head or stub horsenail. 



L 



83S ROOT CROPS AKD SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X 

We say wrought, because they must be pulled out of the trees when the 
season closes. 

If sap-buckets are not home-made, then tin is undoubtedlj the most eco- 
nomical, and they may be kept clean more easily than any other kind, and 
never impart any sourness to the sap, and would soon pay for themselves 
in the increased value of the fine sugar and molasses aiibrded by their use. 
When sap-buckets are hung upon the tree, as they always should be, the 
spouts will rarely need to be over three inches long, and being close to the 
top of tlio bucket, the sap will not be blown away and lost, as it frequently 
is in falling a foot or two. 

92-i. Storing the Sap. — It is very bad economy to neglect providing a suf- 
ficient reservior for sap. In some wooded regions, where suitable timber 
can be had, a trough that will hold four or five barrels can be dug out with- 
out any expense, for the man who is tending the first boiling can do the 
work. Where a trough can not be made conveniently, a vat can be made 
of plank, set in a frame to key up tight with wedges. Sometimes a molasses 
hogshead can be obtained conveniently. A liquor cask will answer if it is 
brought home some weeks before wanted, and fillod M'ith water. If you can 
arrange your storage vessel to stand above the level of the boiler, it will 
save much trouble, as you can thus run the sap through a trough into the 
boiler. 

925. Boilers and Boiling Sap. — Sap-kettles are antiquated. If you possess 
any of these, use them for the storage of sap, or concentrated sirup, and get 
a set of sheet-iron pans. These you can also make yourself. See how 
cheaply. Buy good stove-pipe iron in large sheets ; punch two rows of 
holes, not in exact straight lines, around the edge, one row close to it and the 
other an inch and a half from it. Nail this upon a frame made of one-and- 
a-quarter-inch stuff, six inches wide, Avitli one row of nails, which should be 
large-headed tacks or small wrought clout nails, in the edge of the frame, 
and the other in the sides, upon which the edges of the iron are turned up 
all round. You may, if you fear having an untight joint, use a little white 
lead, but it is not generally necessary. An old sugar-maker thinks copper 
bottoms would be more economical in the long run. 

A boiler has been patented that is made in such a way that by a motion 
given to it, the sap is made to flow into a series of troughs over the heated 
flues, in a small stream which evaporates rapidly. A man who has made 
sugar in Ohio since 1851, says : " I prefer heavj^ cast-iron kettles to sheet- 
iron pans, but would like them if of oblong shape with straight sides and 
ten inches deep, set over an arch. I use four eighteen-gallon kettles, and 
Jiave often boiled down and sugared off" 100 pounds a day ; of course work- 
ing all niffht. 

" We gather our sap in tight barrels. Two make load enough for a yoke 
of oxen to haul on a sled. We have a convenient place, so that one man 
can roll up and empty into the reservoir. Two hands can gather twenty 
barrek in half a day. We boil in all the kettles, having spouts to conduct 



6eo. 50.1 • THE PROCESS OF MAKING SUGAR AND MOLASSES. 839 



sap into each as fast as it boils away. It is too much work and exposure to 
heat to dip from one kettle into another, and nothing is gained by it. "When 
we first start our four kettles, we can boil away two barrels an hour. After 
the sap gets sweet, it will not boil away so fast. We boil in about enough 
for ten pounds to each kettle, and then boil down to sirup, strain off, wash 
and scour tlie kettles, and fill up again. By boiling too long we lose time 
and spoil the sirup. Great care must be used to keep the sirup clean. If 
necessary, use milk or eggs to clarify with. I do not recommend claying 
sugar, and all for sale I make in cakes — it brings more." 

920. The Furnace and Setting Pans. — Build two straight walls as long as 
all the pans you will use, and a little less wide apart than the width of your 
pan, raising at the end of each pan so that the second will discharge the 
juice through a cock or spout closed by a valve or cheap gate. Wliere the 
ends of the two pans meet, there must be a flat stone, or brick-work, or iron 
plate. There is no occasion to build the pans fast in the furnace— they are 
more convenient movable. If you have pans enough to use up all the heat 
in its passage under them to the chimney, you will be surprised to see how 
rapidly the water evaporates. You must fill in the bottom of the flue so as 
to keep the fire up to the bottom of the last pan. 

9-27. The Process of Making Sugar and Molasses. — When the sap is boiled 
to the right point, which experiences teaches, draw it from the last pan and 
strain it through flannel, or cloth of somewhat close texture, into a clean 
kettle or tub, and let it cool. The tub is the best, with a cock half an inch 
above the bottom, so as to draw off the clear liquor, leaving the sediment 
that passed through the strainer to be re-filtered. In the decanted liquor, 
put a quart of milk, or, still better, a pint of milk and two or three eggs to 
ten gallons, and heat slowly and skim carefully. The eggs should be well 
beaten with the milk, and thoroughly stirred into the sirup before it is 
heated. The kettle should not be over half full, and should be on a crane 
so as to swing oft' suddenly, or if set in an arch, with a furnace door and 
damper, by which the fire could be controlled in an instant, as upon this 
depends success ; and great care is necessary to prevent scorching after the 
sirup begins to grow wa.xy, from which time until it is sufiiciently boiled, 
the fire must be very gentle and under control. 

Waxy sirup will make drained sugar, leaving a considerable residue of 
molasses to be re-boiled or kept for use. Brittle, waxy sirup is required to 
make cake sugar. For dry grained sugar the sirup must be concentrated 
before stirring, until when dropped upon snow and suddenly cooled, it is 
nearly as brittle as rosin. To make white sugar, the sirup when strained 
must be passed through animal charcoal several feet thick. 

Filtering through pulverized burned bones — animal charcoal — removes 
the coloring matter and other impurities. Charcoal is a purifier and acts 
both chemically and mechanically, but when made of wood it absorbs and 
wastes the sirup. Sand is only a mechanical strainer. Neither will injure 
the quality of the sirup, but only animal charcoal can be recommended. 



840 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. ' [Chap. X. 

Sugar is also made white by filtering white sugar through it, in draining 
molds. That is simply mechanical — washing the molasses from the grains. 
It is also whitened by covering the molds with a coat of plastic clay. 
"Whitening is not at all important, if the sirup is well strained and clarified 
with albumen, and the sugar not scorched. It will then be rich, clean, and 
possessed of that delicious maple flavor that constitutes its greatest value, 
whether white or brown. 

Waste nothing. Wasli all the sweet out of everything, and reconcentrate. 
Study economy in everything. Upon this alone depends the success of 
sugar-making. Do not suffer a hand employed in your sugar camp to ever 
carry such deadly weapons as guns and rum bottles, nor articles so destruc- 
tive to success as cards, dice, dominoes, and novels. You must watch and 
work, and then you need not doubt success. Sugar-making is pleasant, 
healtliy, hard work. A camp is no place for lounging. 

Wliile boiling, large quantities of sap should not be poured in at a time, 
as that will stop the boiling and make irregular work ; but a reservoir 
should be placed above the boiler, into which a faucet should be inserted, 
and the sap allowed to run in a constant stream, which a little practice will 
enable the operator to regulate to correspond exactly with tlie evaporation. 
A stop-cock should also be placed in the boiler to draw off the sirup. 

A correspondent writes from Windsor, Vt., as follows : " Two sheet-iron 
pans, four feet long and two feet wide, set in a brick arch, one forward of 
the other, will be sufficient for a sugar orchard of 300 trees, and will boil 
the sap to sirup in about twelve hours. Put the sirup, after straining 
through flannel, into a cask, and let it stand two days. Then draw it off 
and boil it down in one of the pans. I have seen sugar made in this way as 
white as loaf sugar. In my opinion, milk or eggs should never be put in 
sirup, as I can not see why any advantage should result from it ; and I know 
it has been practiced with injury to the sugar, and waste, as considerable 
sweet is thrown out with the milk and egg." 

We can not see how the milk and eggs can injure the sugar, since the 
office of any albuminous substance added to the sirup is simply to gather up 
and hold all such impurities in such a manner that they can be easily re- 
moved. In short, dirt that is so fine that it can not be strained out will 
attach itself to the white of an egg, so that it can be lifted out with a skim- 
mer as easily as a potato. There is no need of waste of any sweet, because 
it can all be washed out in sap or partly concentrated sirup. 

92S. Makiug Sugar oa a Small Scald — J. Herrick, of Lyndeborough, N. H., 
wrote to us in 1857 as follows: "My orchard consists of seventy-five trees 
of second growth, scattered along walls or in a pasture of fifteen acres. I 
tap with a three-fourth-inch auger four feet from the ground, and hang the 
bucket by a ring, on a hook driven into the tree so close to the spout tliat 
the wind will not waste the sap. I tap at this hight that cattle can not dis- 
turb the bucket. Some might object on the ground that the lower a tree is 
tapped the more sap will run. This is not the fact, for the sap will flow as 



Seo. 50.] THE PROCESS OF MAKING SUGAR AKD MOLASSES. 841 



freely by cutting off a topmost branch as it will from a root of the same size 
laid bare in the ground. And again, any one may learn this fact from the 
red squirrel, who, by the way, is a famous sugar-maker, and knows when to 
tap a tree and where to do it. He performs his tapping in the highest per- 
pendicular limbs or twigs, and leaves the sun and wind to do the evaporat- 
ing, and in due season and pleasant weather you will see him come round 
and with great gusto gather his sirup into his stomach. 

"I make only molasses, and clarify in the following manner: I take the 
sirup when of proper consistence, and while hot strain through a thick cloth 
into the kettle for clarifying; and when cool, for every four gallons put in 
one egg and a half pint of new milk, well beaten together and mixed with 
tlie sirup. Lot no further agitation be had by stirring. Raise the heat grad- 
ually to boiling point, and all the impurities will rise at once to the surface, 
and must be quickly removed with a skimmer as long as any comes up ; this 
will leave a sirup perfectly clear, to be evaporated either to molasses or 
sugar. If the egg and milk are put into the sirup when hot, the albumen 
of each is charred so that it will form no adhesion with the impurities, and 
of course will not rise together to the surface. I think that the rapid evap- 
oration of the sap, in sheet-iron pans, will make a more clear and light-colored 
sirup than when done in deep, thick kettles; at any rate, it can be done at 
half the expense of time and Wood. Mine has been a small enterprise com- 
pared with many in this town who have orchards that number three or four 
hundred trees. Six years ago I constructed a building for boiling, the whole, 
including a brick furnace and sheet-iron pan for evaporating, at a cost of 
$20 ; 75 buckets cost $10, which makes the whole capital $30. My son has 
done all the labor of gathering and boiling this season, at a cost, including 
ox help, of $8. I have used 1^ cords of hemlock wood at $1 75 per cord, 
$2 02 ; and have made 29 gallons of molasses of a consistence that it shall 
not ferment in the hottest of weather. This is selling here at this time for 
$1 3-t per gallon. The result of my orchard is as follows : Interest on cap- 
ital, $1 80 ; labor, $8 ; wood, $2 62 ; total, $12 42. 29 gallons molasses at 
$1 34 ; total, $38 86. Deducting labor, wood, and interest leaves $26 44, 
as the result of about eight days' labor." 

Maple sugar-making is truly a domestic institution. A woman in Van 
Buren County, Mich., made Gl lbs. of sugar and 2 gallons of molasses from 
13 trees, the sap of which she boiled on the cooking stove. From 290 trees, 
in the above county, one family made 1,800 lbs. of sugar and 40 gallons of 
molasses. From 90 trees, another family made 400 lbs., besides a supply of 
molasses for family use. One Vermont boy, 16 years old, in a camp of 163 
trees, not favorably located, but with good appliances, made 600 lbs. of 
sugar. One of his neighbors made 20 lbs. of sugar one season from one tree. 
From 62 trees tapped late in the season, two small boys, with a kettle on a 
crotch and pole to concentrate the sap to sirup, made 321 lbs. of sugar. One 
man made $75 worth of sugar from trees that he planted for shade along 
the walls. Another man tapped a few trees left in the clearing near the 



84:2 KOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



house, and his wife made sugar and sirup enough for the family all the year. 
A letter from Hughesville, Pa., says : " Myself and brother, two boys, have 
made 400 lbs. of sugar, besides molasses, this season, carrying our wood 
and sap mostly without team, or any sugar-house, or any conveniences, and 
losing a good deal of sap, besides suffering the want of diy wood." 

920. Is Maple Sugar-Making Profltabic ?— Manlius Engle, of West Almond, 
Alleghany County, New York, says he has been a sugar-maker all his life, 
and that the business is not only pleasant and health-invigorating, but profit- 
able. Ho says : " The average from 200 trees during the past six seasons 
has been 1,300 pounds, and the net profits have averaged $125 per season. 
During the season that has just closed, 3,200 pounds of hard caked sugar 
have been manufactured from 300 trees, and sold in Angelica at 12i cents 
per pound. This gives $400 as the gross proceeds of the season, from which 
deduct the following : 

Two months' labor by self, at $22 per month $44 00 

One month's labor of yoke of oxen 18 00 

Paid for cutting 24 cords of wood 12 00 

Half the interest on 20 acres of land, at §10 per acre 7 00 

Interest and wear on sugar apparatus 9 90 

For clariliers, correctives, and incidental expenses 4 00 

Total expense SH4 90 

Net profit 305 10 

"The sugar orchard from which the above results were obtained is located 
on the summit of a ridge about 1,400 feet above Lake Ontario, and consists 
of 300 trees, mostly of large size, scattered over about twenty acres of ground, 
the soil of which is a deep yellow loam resting on a gray slate bottom. I 
boiled five kettles, and every twelve hours boil one kettle down to tliin mo- 
lasses, which is stored in barrels. I use milk and white of eggs, and a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus in each kettle. From my experience, others may see 
what one man can do in the maple-sugar business. The reason why so many 
fail to make it remunerative is want of diligence and economy. There is no 
use for rifles, cards, dice, dominoes, novels, or rum bottles in a sugar camp. 
A tree should never be cut or bored more than two inches deep. Taking 
the average of years, 30 maple-trees will supply a family of six persons, 
and there are but few farmers that have not or might not have that number 
of trees without cost for land." 

A sugar-maker of Monkton, Yt., gives the following results to show the 

profit of sugar-making in that section : 

Dr. To Z\ cords of 4 feet seasoned maple wood, at $2 per cord $G 50 

I^bor — 4 days preparing, tripping, cleaning up, s.ud 16 days collecting, 

boiling, etc 20 00 

Interest on capital in boiling-house, tubs, and parifl, at 10 per cent 6 00 

Interest on 5 acres of land, at S60 per acre ($250), at 10 per cent 15 00 

Total $47 50 

O. By 800 lbs. of sugar (allowing 7 lbs. of sugar to <K^^M of the 3 gallons of mo- 
lasses made) , at 12i cents per pound glOO 00 

Profit $52 50 

At 6 cents per pound the receipts would be only $48 00 



Sec. CO.] PKEPAKING SUGAU li-Qli MARKET. 843 

The above crop was made from 195 trees, the largest of 500 second-growth 
trees, such as were not used in 1S56, tapped with a live-eiglith-inch auger, 
and the sap boiled in four sheet-iron pans, 24 by 28 inches, 4 inches deep ; 
one of which was, by way of experiment, covered, with very beneficial 
results. " 

930. How Miifli win Maplc-Trccs Troducc ?— The yield of the spring of 

1S5S in Vermont was estimated by one writer at a trifle less than three 

pounds per tree, which, he says, is the average of years, and that the yield 

of 1857 was extraordinary, and perhaps without precedent, being overlive 

pounds per tree. A sugar orchard of 100 trees, belonging to AVm. Scarls, 

Eaton County, Mich., yielded one spring 950 lbs. of sugar, at the rate of 9J- 

lbs. to a tree. In Vermont, thirteen sugar orchards (1,600 trees) in Eandolpli 

made 6,100 lbs. of sugar. Wm. Davis, of Pittsfield, made 1,000 lbs. from 

153 trees. L. Carpenter, Tiutland, made 1,000 lbs. from 160 trees. One 

sugar orchard that lias been eighty years in use, tapped with a three-quarter 

auger, one spout to a tree, yields each 6 lbs. Another orchard, tapped with 

two or three spouts, yields but 3i lbs. per tree, in consequence of injury from 

long time over-working. In Hancock, J. G. Kobinson made 2,362 lbs. from 

225 trees. A sugar place in AVashington, Mass., containing 100 trees, owned 

by L. Johnson, produced one season 975 lbs. of clean, nice sugar, nearly one 

lialf of which sold for 16 and 18 cents per pound. The sugar was made by 

Mr. Arannah Mattoon, of "Washington, aged 69 years. From a moderate-sized 

tree, standing in ojjcn ground in front of the residence of the Kev. David 

King, of Vernon, Trumbull County, Ohio, his wife made 34 lbs. of very fine 

sugar one season. It is thought if all the sap had been carefully saved it 

would have given 40 lbs. 

931. Ratio of Sugar to Sap. — A letter before us gives the ratio of sugar to 
maple sap as follows : Sap concentrated 30 times makes what we call good 
sirup, and this sirup concentrated three eighths makes grained sugar, hard 
enough when taken out of a jar to require a stiff knife, which, as I calculate, 
is that sap concentrated 50 times in sugar. 

1 quart w-.^-r ^vnighs 2 lbs. 2 oz. | 1 quart sirup weighs 2 lbs. 8 oz. 

1 quart S-.p v.eiglis 2 lbs. 1 oz. | 1 quart sugar weighs 2 lbs. 9 oz. 

932. Prepariug Sugar for Market. — Large quantities for the New York 
market are made in cakes. The size and shape of the cakes will often make 
a diflEerence of one or two cents a pound. We advise all who intend to make 
sugar for sale, to provide a set of tin molds, so as to make well-proportioned, 
square-sided cakes, in paralellogram form, of exact, marked weights, from 
ten pounds — never larger — down to four ounces, or perhaps twelve and 
twenty-four cakes to the pound, for retailers to sell at one and two cents 
each. Sugar made as directed and cast in such cakes, and those packed 
nicely in boxes and sent to commission houses here, can always be sold at 
high prices, and when the maker becomes known, his sugar will be espe- 
cially in demand. 

One sugar-maker thinks it is not profitable to make cake sugar. He says: 



844 BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Cuap. X. 

" It is better not to make it into cakes at all, except for those that are near 
market or haye an agent there, and then only in the first of the season, when 
it brings a high price. It is true that sugar made into cakes brings a higher 
price to the retailer, wlien sold by the cent's worth, as it often is, at the rate 
of twenty-five or thirty cents per pound, but the producer gets no more, nor 
as much, counting the extra work, to say nothing of the shrinkage there is 
in concentrating the sirup into sugar, as he would for drained sugar. By 
drained sugar, I do not mean this black, hard stuff which we sometimes see 
in market, but sugar as light as the best white Havana, and nearly as white 
as refined sugar, and which can be made without any filtering process by 
boiling in copper boilers and clarifying with milk and eggs. 

" I have scarely ever made a hundred pounds of sugar in any one season 
in any other way, and the result was I got from twelve to seventeen cents a 
pound, while my neighbors got but ten cents. But this is not all the loss in 
making it into cakes ; every one knows that has had experience, that there 
is a loss in shrinkage of from three to five per cent, in the process of evap- 
orating the water in the usual Avay, and the lower the sirup is concentrated, 
in the same proportion is the loss or shrinkage, so the difi'erence is from one 
and a half to two per cent, in favor of strained sugar, while it is. almost im- 
possible to concentrate the sirup to dry-grained sugar without scorching or 
destroying its flavor. From actual experience I find the result as follows : 

" Suppose 100 lbs. of sugar in the cake to be worth $10, the same made 
into drained will give you 87 lbs. dry white sugar worth 13 cts., $10 44 ; 
li gallons molasses worth 75 cts. per gallon, or 6i cts. per lb., $1 12i ; 
making a total of $11 56i — showing $1 56i per hundred in favdV of drained 
sugar." 

933. Plant Maple-Trees. — It appears to us that we have said enough to 
induce reasonable men to plant maple-trees. If exposed, you can tap them 
above the reach of animals, and Jiang your buckets as we have directed, 
and the flow will be just as great as tliough tapped down at the roots. No 
tree can be planted with more certainty of profit than the sugar maple. Its 
form and foliage are beautiful ; its shade delightful ; its sap delicious and 
healthful in all stages, from the water that flows from the tree to its houey- 
like sirup on the hot buckwheat cakes ; and its sweet products, if made as 
we have directed, will always be salably profitable. Maple sirup would 
outsell tlie very best golden sirup at any time in this city, if it were here for 
sale ; and maple sugar is sold, tuns of it, every year in the confectioner's 
shops and in the street, to be eaten like candy, at 30 to 50 cents a pound. 
Tliere will always be a market for any surplus that the country can produce, 
but that is not the grand object with us in urging its increased production. 
It is because it will greatly increase home happiness — the farmer's home. 
It is for that that we ask you to plant at least one maple-tree. 



CHAPTER XI. 



FOEESTS AND FENCES. 




SECTION LI.-TKEES AND TREE PLANTING-WOOD OR COAL FOR FUEL. 

'' MERICA will soon be denuded of forests, unless 
we plant trees. Woodland in the oldest States is 
scarce and dear, and but for coal, fuel would be 
almost beyond the reach of the city poor. We 
should plant trees for timber, if not for fuel, and to 
improve the health of those regions naturally desti- 
tute of trees, for they are capable of changing arid 
wastes to fruitfulness. Stripping the land of wood 
has produced great changes within the short period 
since the Pilgrims landed. England is already plant- 
ing trees. How long before America must follow her 
example ? Let us consider. 

934. What Trees for a Plantation.— To break the 
prevailing wind, there is no better tree than our com- 
mon white oak, and none that looks more cheerful in winter. Its bleached 
leaves still adhering to the branches have a warm look and give an idea of 
shelter. Maples of all sorts are positively beautiful in green foliage, or after 
the leaves are variegated by autumn frosts. Black and white walnuts are 
both handsome and hardy, and produce fruit very agreeable to the children. 
Elms are good trees, and give us a pleasing impression of strength as their 
long limbs wave through the air. Chestnuts make a fine addition to a plan- 
tation, but their blossoms and burs are objectionable near the house. Hick- 
ory-trees should never be neglected in filling up a plantation ; they can be 
transplanted by going the year before and cutting the tap-root. If you 
would attract birds to your lawn, you must plant cherry-trees here and there. 
In planting, let the rule be to put all small growing trees nearest tlib house, 
rising graduall}' to the highest in the back ground. 

935. Adaptation of Trees to Particular Locations.— In all tree planting, 
adaptation should be kept prominently in view. The kind of tree best 
adapted to one situation Avould be the worst in another. The coniferous 
tribe — pines, firs, larch, spruce, hemlock, cedars— as a general thing, are best 
adapted to exposed situations and to barren sands. A sandy soil usually 
contains the food best adapted to trees like the pine. There is no part of the 
United States that does not produce several varieties and species of valuable 
and hardy conifera. But the tree which is most hardy and best adapted to 



846 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. SI. 

a particular locality is not necessarily indigenous to it. This is e%-idenced 
in the case of the ailanthus, a tree that grows vigorously in the crevices 
of rocks, or in drifting sands, or in the city pavements. Its growth upon 
New York island is unequaled by any other tree. Its roots are some- 
times thirty feet in length, and it has a trunk and branches of correspond- 
ing size after it has been planted only a few years. It was brought hero 
from the South Sea Islands, where it seems to be completely at home in 
dry banks of coral sand. This tree, not only because it grows so rapidly, but 
because it makes excellent fuel, and because it originated upon a sandy sea- 
coast, will probably prove one of the most valuable in the world for coast 
planting. If not so much so as the pine, it will doubtless serve well as a 
first growth, acting as a nurse to pines, larch, or cedar. Another rapidly 
growing foreign tree in all the Southern States is known as the China-tree, 
the wood of which makes excellent cabinet work. An objection to it as a 
street shade-tree is the abundant crop of berries, Avhich no animal will eat. 
Tlie objection to the ailanthus is the odor of its blossoms, which may be. ob- 
viated by propagating with grafts from trees which bear pistillate flowers, as 
the odor only comes from the pollen of staminates. 

.Another hardy foreign tree is the paper mulberry, from China and Japan, 
where its inner bark is used for the manufacture of paper, and also for cloth- 
ing. In the heat and dust of Xew York there is no tree that keeps so per- 
fectly clean, fresh, and free from dirt, impurities, and insects as this. 

In planting hills, mountains, or sloping sea-coasts, there is one rule that 
admits of few exceptions. Plant around the bottom first, and as planting at 
intervals of a few years is continued, and the summit is gradually approach- 
ed, the lower and older trees act as a screen, and produce moisture and an 
amelioration of the atmosphere that are certain to serve as a protection to 
those on the highest and most exposed ground. Sometimes one sort only 
will be adapted to a given locality, but as a rule, there are several advan- 
tages in planting two or three species at once. It is not always possible to 
know which of several is best. Sometimes one sjjecies will grow fast, and 
will form a nurse for a slower-growing, longer-lived, and more valuable tree, 
which will remain after the first has disappeared. 

For house surroundings, which add greatly to the beauty, comfort, and 
health of a place, and for roadside planting, we M'ill give the names of a 
few hardy trees. 

930. Descriptive List of Hardy Trees.— Norway Maple.— This is one of 
the finest of all deciduous shade-trees. A round-headed, Jensely-leaved, 
vigorous and healthy tree, with deep green foliage, one of the first to come 
in leaf in the spring, and among the last to drop in autumn, succeeded after 
a frost by hues of the most beautiful coloi-s. It is far superior to the popular 
silver maple, which afifords by no means so dense a shade, and which is 
liable to breakage of limbs in every high wind. To make a good shade-tree 
of the silver nuiple, in the country, it should have a rich soil, inclined to 
moisture, and be liberally headed back. 



Sec. 51.] DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF TREES. 847 

Sugar Maple {Acer saccharinmn). — One of the chief beauties of this tree 
is in the very graceful appearance it presents with its straight, slim trunk, 
when suruiouuted by its deuse and reguhvrly formed head of green. Rather 
slow in growth, late in putting out, in autumn foliage deep orange and 
red. 

Swamp Maple. — A native, and a very pretty tree on a lawn with its 
scarlet flowers and fruit, but liable to persistent attacks of the borer. 

The Ashes are not general favorites. They are late in putting forth, 
among the first to drop their leaves, and liable to the borer. 

Black "Walxut {Juglans nigra) is worthy of a jjlace in the farmer's yard, 
both for shade and fruit. 

Pauloxia Impeeialis, of Japan. A few years since a rare tree, and one 
which has been greatly over-estimated. It is a rapid gi-ower, closely allied 
in habit and appearance to the catalpa, but becomes a much larger tree. 
Has a large leaf, with a light blue flower of a peculiarly disagreeable odor, 
but which perfumers use. Like the catalpa, it is late in putting out, and 
among the first to drop its leaves ; accumulates much litter during the sea- 
son, has an ugly seed pod which hangs on the whole year, and withal pre- 
sents during Iialf the year a bare-armed, desolate appearance. 

Sassafras {Laurns sassafras). — One of the prettiest of our small native 
or foreign trees. The suckers which it is liable to throw up, and which have 
caused most persons to object to it as a lawn tree, are easily kept down. 

Honey Locust {Gleditschia triacanthus). — A tree of most rapid growth, 
but with thin foliage, and therefore a poor shade-tree, and very liable to 
attacks of the borer — throws up a great many suckers, and is apt to lose its 
limbs in a high wind. 

TcLip Poplar {Liriodendron tulipifera). — Slow of growth and difficult to 
transplant, but one of the noblest of our many noble-looking American trees. 
In planting trees, a common error we make is to plant them too near the 
house, or walk, or road, or fence, forgetting to allow for the groM'th of the 
tree in after-years. 

Evergreens. — The ^Norway spruce {AMes cxcdsa) is one of the most 
healthy, rapid growing, and handsome trees, and never much out of place 
wherever planted. 

The Scotch Pine or Fir {Phms sylvestris). — A rapidly growing, rather 
coarse-looking tree, but of a very fine dark hue after passing its youthful 
days. It is liable to lose some of its limbs after a heavy sleet or snow. 
Being of coarse habit, it looks best at a distance from the house" or road. 

Silver Fie. — A fine ornamental tree with its horizontal limbs and briglit 
silvery foliage. 

Balsam Fir.— Very handsome in its youth, but with age, in exposed places, 
loses its beauty. 

Hemlock Speuce. — Perhaps the most beautiful and graceful of all ever- 
greens, but not as great a favorite as the Norway spruce. 

The Chestnut {Castanca) is one of the most valuable trees that we know 



848 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI- 

of, and it is easily grown from seeds. If they are paciked in sand as soon as 
mature, they may be transported a long distance, and should he planted in 
pots or seed beds. 

The Yellow Locust {Hohinia pseudacacia) is a very valuable timber tree, 
which can be grown from the seeds, no matter how old they are, if scalded 
in boiling lye. 

Linden, oe Basswood {Tilia Aviericana), is a beautiful but neglected tree. 
The large leaves on its branches make it an agreeable shade in summer, 
and in the spring its profusion of blossoms, so grateful to the bees, make 
it a desirable tree to plant around dwellings and pleasure-grounds. 

937. What Has Been Done in Planting Forest Trees.— Amos Otis, of Yar- 
mouth, Mass., is an extensive and successful planter of pine-trees, and he 
gives the following valuable information upon the subject. lie says : " I 
commenced planting the pitch pine in 1832, as an experiment, and have 
since planted 200 acres. The growth is very slow at first, but after the 
third year the average annual increase in hight is about one foot. I liave 
some lots that have averaged a foot and a half upon land that had been 
worn out by repeated crops without manure. A sandy, or a sandy loam 
soil — one that is too poor to sward over thickly with grass — is best. Lands 
that produce no vegetation are unfit. The young trees at first require some 
protection, and will not succeed in a loose, barren sand. March is the best 
month for planting. I have a machine with which a man and a horse can 
plant six acres a day. It plows a small furrow, drops and covers the seed, 
at once passing along. 

"Those wishing to plant pine seed can take a plow and make parallel fur- 
rows about six feet apart, and with a machine, used for planting beets or 
onions, run along in the bottom of the furrows, dropping three or four 
seeds in a place and about a foot apart, covering them not more than half 
an inch. If all the seeds vegetate, there will be ten times as many trees as 
can grow on the land ; but they will die out in the course of a dozen years. 
When I was short of seed, I put the rows eight or ten feet apart, and drop- 
ped the seed about three feet apart in the rows. I have paid from $1 to $2 
per acre for the land, and the seed and planting have cost mo about the same 
sum per acre. Adding interest, I have about doubled the money invested. 
It is a small business, I confess ; but the world is made up of small affairs. 

" AVhen I commenced planting, my neighbors laughed at me, but now they 
arc all planting their old fields. At Middleborough the farmers are plant- 
ing their worn-out soils with the white pine, which is of very rapid growtii. 
When planting with my machine, I rub oflf the wings and clean the seed. 
If you plant yours liy hand, you should not rub ofi" the wings." 

The pine extensively planted on the sea shores of France and Italy is 
the Pinus ^naritima. There are two other species : the Pinus larico, or 
Corsican pine ; and the Pinus Calabri crisis, or Calabrian pine, which is 
also a lofty and beautiful tree, with wide-spreading branches and long foli- 
age, and both these species are vigorous, very hardy, and of quick growth. 



Sko. 51.] AVIIY AND WHEN TO PLANT TKEES. 849 

The French Government has planted immense forests of the American cy- 
press (Taxodium distichum), obtaining the seeds from this country. 

In Germany, American pines and other American forest trees were plant- 
ed, many years since, and immense quantities of their seeds are furnished 
thence, to supply all Europe. Holland has spent many thousands of dollars 
in importations of seeds from this country. 

93S. Why and When to Plant Treesi— Now is the time, no mpttcr when 
you read this article, now is the time to begin to plant the seed, buy the 
trees, cut the grafts, put in the buds, prune the branches, prepare tlie ground, 
dig the holes, or do something connected with the business of planting, trans- 
planting, or growing trees. 

If no more, plant one tree — only one ; it is all wo ask ; it is a small job, a 
)nere trifle of labor for an idle moment ; a moment that may be spent iu 
worse than idle occupation ; a moment that if spent in planting a tree, might 
be the means of raising a monument to your name, or a monument to mark 
a point of history in the country, like that of the Charter Oak, so renowned, 
so honored in the history of Connecticut. True, tliat was planted by One 
who needs no monument, yet lias them by the million ; One whom we should 
imitate ; One whom we may honor by tlic work of our hands, for with them 
we can build a home for the birds and a shade from bm*ning suns for beasts, 
besides gratifying the eye of man with new beauties — the beauty of trees with 
green leaves and flowers and fruit. Therefore we want every hand in which 
tlie warm blood of manly life flows to plant a tree — one tree. Not while 
the ice and snow hold dominion all over our Northern region, but while 
there is time to think, to promise, to determine, to begin to warm into life 
yourself, or else you never will come to the point of bringing into life one 
tree. "While you sit around your warm winter fires, which you would not 
have without the products of trees, while you look out upon the almost tree- 
less landscape ; while, if you live in towns, you see a hundred brick houses 
where you see one tree ; while, if you live in the country, you see mile after 
mile of lanes, and remember that last summer there was not a single shade 
in all that distance; and while, too, you read of the scarcity and high price 
of fruit, think how many more trees you might grow if they were once 
planted. "We conjure you to resolve now, to-day, this moment, that when 
the ice melts and the ground softens, and the spring birds begin to sing, that 
3'ou will plant a tree — one more tree ; either for fruit, or shade, or ornament ; 
and let it grow free shade, free flowers, free fruit, in a free soil, and let it 
be the Tree of Freedom. Do not restrict the planting to the head of the 
family, but let every man, woman, and child plant a tree — a tree to mark 
the date of the passing year. Think of it; do not let the year pass without 
adding one more to our cultivated trees — one more monument to remind 
you of fleeting time; one more guide-mark by the roadside of life, that may 
in future years give you new aspirations of love for a free country, and for 
a people who planted trees. 

Plant them by the roadside — plant them in yards, streets, lanes, lots — 

S4 



850 rORKSTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



wherever jou can find room for a tree to give shade or bear frnit. Tliere 
is no better time than November to plant hardy fruit-trees, and every linn- 
dred dollars that may be spent in planting such trees along the highway of 
a farm that has a public traveled road running through it will add a thou- 
sand dollars to the selling price of that farm twenty years hence. Take up 
large trees with plenty of roots, and plant them as though you intended 
them to grow, and they will grow. The public seem to need to be constantly 
reminded that trees will not grow where they arc wanted unless they are 
first planted. All love fruit — all love shade — everybody admires flowers 
and green foliage, and even bare branches in winter are beautiful, yet how 
few lay the foundation of after-years of enjoyment by planting trees, shrubs, 
vines, for fruit, flowers, or shade ! For shade-trees, the maple, elm, oak, wal- 
nut, butternut, hickory, locust, sycamore, willow, pine, cedar, fir, American 
tulip-tree, silver-leafed poplar, for the Northern States ; adding the holly, 
magnolia, live oak, and orange at the South. Remember, too, that eiierry 
and apple trees make magnificent shade-trees, and that so far as possible in 
setting roadside and pasture shade-trees, either those which bear fruit or 
nuts should always be preferred. And lastly, remember that notliing adds 
more to the value of a place than trees, and nothing gives beauty to a coun- 
try equal to shaded roads. 

939. How to Plant Trees. — This is the way. "Whether for fruit or shade, 
prepare your ground weil before you attempt to put a tree in its place. 
Always dig your holes deep and wide, and no matter if the work is done a 
year before you want to use them. A little freshening with the spado and 
some loose soil in the bottom will be found by experience just M^hat your 
tree wants to make it grow. Make it a rule never to injure a single root 
that you can save in taking a tree out of the ground for the purpose of trans- 
planting, and never buy a tree tliat has been taken up without some i-egard 
to the importauce of having plenty of roots and a moderate amount of top 
branches. ' 

Some trees and shrubs, such as the willow, sycamore, or currant, will grow 
from a mere stick cut from a top branch and stuck in the ground, while a 
hickory, or oak, or long-leaf pine can only be transplanted by first cutting 
the long tap-root while it is growing, and then letting it stand long enough 
to form new short roots, which must all be moved with the tree, with as 
much soil as possible adhering ; or by what is termed a ball of earth secured 
to the roots by freezing or mechanical means. 

If your ground is stony, lay a floor of stone around your tree ; if not, cover 
up the surface with straw, old hay, or leaves, or small bushes. This is called 
mulching, and is one of the most useful things you can do to promote the 
growth of your trees. 

In planting an orchard, the whole tract should be deeply plowed and 
manured as a preliminary step. Land is seldom too rich for young trees. 
Ten per cent, of the nursery trees die from bad packing and being long out 
of the ground,' and a vast number are killed by that stupid practice of trim- 



Sec. 51.] TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS IN THE SUMMER. 851 



ming off all the roots and branches. If your soil is thin, make it deep hy plow- 
ing and digging deep holes and carting rich earth to fill them. If your soil 
is stiff clay, change its character before you try to grow trees in it. If your 
soil is wet, you may grow swamp elms and maples, or water willows, or 
sycamore-trees, but it is labor lost to try to grow fruit-trees, for they will 
not live in water. Nothing tends more to the growth of young frees than 
undcrdraining ; and if the tiles arc placed five feet deep, as they alw.ays 
should be, there is but little danger of their beiug closed soon by tiic roots. 
Trees in their growth should be fed with pabulum for the formation of wood 
and fruit. There is nothing better than potash; even coal ashes are bene- 
ficial. Any kind of decaying wood will give food to growing trees. The 
pruned branches of a tree should never be carried off the land. Pile them 
and let them rot, or spread them around the tree. Water your young trees 
every night in a drouth. If possible, wet the tops as well as the roots. The 
earth should always be wet when the trees are planted. Mulching serves to 
keep them moist. Trees that are transplanted with such tops as all trees 
should always have, must be supported by stakes to insure speedy growth. 

OiO. Where to Plant TreeSi — There are so few situations where a tree 
may not bo planted, that it appears almost unnecessary to discuss the subject 
as to where it should be planted ; but there is one position upon every 
farm M-liich, more than any other, will pay for tree planting. This is by the 
roadside. If it is a public road, so much the better ; it will'pay upon any 
of the farm roads. We have never seen a tree lined highway through a 
farm without being impressed with the idea that its value M'as enhanced 
much more than the cost of the labor of planting. We have a vivid recol- 
lection of one of this kind, in the farm owned by John Jay, in Westchester 
Co., jS[. Y., the roads through which are lined by noble elms, planted by his 
grandfather, whose name is famous in American history. Let us add our 
mite of honor in recording the fact that a great and good man planted trees 
by the roadside. Let all boys, who would emulate so good a man as John 
Jay in all his life, follow his example and plant trees by the roadside. Do 
not listen to the selfish proposition that some land owners urge against 
planting trees along the road, that it shades and injures the crops. It is 
only so to a limited extent, where hoed crops are cultivated. If the shade 
is objectionable on one side of the road, it would not be so on the other. 
Besides the highway and farm roads, where trees may be planted, there are 
always nooks and corners about a farm that would support a few trees, all 
of which would add to its value, for they would add to its beauty ; and it is 
that which makes a farm salable. 

So we entreat you to teach your children to plant trees. Among other 
things, teach them their common and scientific names. 

941. Trau$plautiu<{ Everifreens in the Snmmer.— One writer says: "In 
the very hot weather of July, 18.56, I set to work ten men to remove old 
evergreens, viz., yews, junipers, arbutus, laurestines, and Portugal and 
common laurels from four to ten feet high. I made a hole first, not deep. 



852 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



but sufficiently wide to allow all the roots to be laid out straight. lu the 
removal I cared but little for the ball of eartli, but aimed to get all the small 
roots possible. In its new home, cover the roots with fine soil, and tread a 
little to make the plant stand upriglit. Then fill up the hole with water, 
and fill in the soil around the hole carefully as the water sints away. Next 
day tread the soil somewhat firmly, after wliich make a ridge all round the 
edge of the hole, in order, as it were, to form a dish ; fill this with water 
three times during three successive days, then level the ridge down, cover- 
ing the mud over with soil. After this no more water is required at the 
roots ; if the weather be dry, syringe the shrubs overhead three or four 
evenings. Young laurels are treated the same as the large shrubs, except 
that they get no syringing. " In my opinion the months of July and August 
are the very best for removing valuable large evergreens. Treated carefully 
as above they are sure to grow, and they get hold of the soil immediately, 
for the earth is like a hot-bed, into which the young roots soon enter." 

Another one says : " The best time to transplant evergreens is when the 
tree begins to push its cones, or a little after. From the middle of April to 
June, in this latitude, is a good period. A calm, warm, cloudy day should 
be chosen for transplanting. The roots of an evergreen should never be al- 
lowed to get dry, or become chilled when taken up. It is the exposure of the 
roots to such influences that kills so many of these trees. Care also should 
be taken to save all the roots. They are more injured by cutting the roots 
than other trees." 

9-42. Buried Seed of Antediluvian Trees.— The following statement of facts 
made by the late Judge Burnett, of Ohio, in his " Notes on the Northwest 
Territory," says: "In the year 1802, a well was dug at Cincinnati, within 
the central Indian circle, in which, at the depth of 93 feet, two stumps were 
found, one about a foot and tlie other about eighteen inches in diameter, 
standing in the position in M-hich they grew. Their roots were yet sound, 
and extended from them horizontally .and regularly in every direction. The 
surface of the earth over the place where they were found was 112 feet 
above the present low-water mark of the Ohio River. They must have 
grown on the spot where they were found. There is another fact connected 
with this subject worthy of notice. Before the well was dug, not a mul- 
berry-tree had been growing on the premises, thougli they were found in 
the neighboring forest ; yet the next season they sprang up wherever the ex- 
cavated earth had been spread, in such numbers as made it necessary to 
destroy them, and they continued thus to shoot up for a year or two, though 
not one made its appearance on the remote parts of the lot, to which the 
excavated earth had not been carried. This fact produced the belief that 
one of them must have been the stump of a mulberry." 

94:3. The Age of Trees. — The age of trees is a marvelous and interesting 
study. While there are some species that pass quickly away, others live to 
generations that knew not their planting. The elm has been known to live 
350 years ; the chestnut, 600 ; the cedar, 800 ; the oak from 1,000 to 1,500; 



Sko. 61.] 



VALUE OF TREES IN CITIES. 



853 



the yew, 3,200, and the California giants are estimated from 3,000 to 5,000 
years. The Ciiarter Oak at Hartford, Ct., by estimate, was 945 years old, 
measuring nine feet across four feet from the ground. If we take tiiis as a 
fair sample of the growth of oaks, a tree should be about fifteen feet in cir- 
cumference to be five hundred years old. 

"The Riiodes' Oak," in Stonington, Ct., measures about 21 feet in cir- 
cumference, and has an age according to the Charter Oak standard, of 735 
years. All over the country there are other " remarkable old trees." 

In the city of New York there is one known as the Stuy vesant pear-tree. 
Jt was so venerable when the farm, where it was planted, was laid out into 
lots and streets, tliat the corporation inclosed it with an iron fence, and it is 
now, October, 1862, still alive, and three years ago it bore fruit, at which 
time the tree was supposed to be fully 210 years old. It stands at the corner 
of Third Avenue and Thirteenth Street. 

944. Value of Trees iii Cities. — An eminent London physician expresses 
it as his opinion, that if all the trees and shrubs were removed from the two 
or three thousand acres of parks, and from the gardens and private grounds 
of the great metropolis, in one year the bills of mortality would show an in- 
crease of deatlis to the extent of more than fifty per cent. If we consider that 
there are ordinarily in London over 1,000 deaths a week, or nearly GO, 000 a 
3'ear, that the deaths by cholera in 1849, during the worst period of the visita- 
tion, were at no time over 5,000 a week, we see the bearing and influence 
of trees — according to the opinion quoted — on tlic health and longevity of 
the inhabitants of a crowded city. We might as reasonably expect that 
land animals could live without air, or fish without water, as that there 
could be a pure and healthy atmosphere where there are few or no trees or 
rapidly growing plants, or where, in an extended region, animal life vastly 
preponderates over vegetable life. " The winters of Salem (Mass.), instead of 
having been rendered more mild, as conjectured, from tlie eradication of the 
forests, have become colder by 6° Fahr., during the last thirty-three years." 

945. Growing Trees from Seeds— Oaks, Evergreens, Locust, Hickory.— 
Tliere are now growing in England several very fine plantations of oaks, 
from acorns planted either l)y tiie present owners or their fathers. 

There is a noted instance in South Carolina, of successful tree planting, by 
Micajah Buchanan, early in this century. One who visited the place in 
1860 thus speaks of it: "There was a lot of six acres of this new forest upon 
which oaks, pines, hickories, and dogwoods were growing. The pines meas- 
ured two feet in diameter ; fine specimens being free from limbs, and of 
beautiful and thrifty appearance. Several of the oaks measured twenty-two 
and twenty-three inches in diameter, and from sixty to seventy feet in hight, 
smootli and thrifty in growth. Only seed of oaks was planted ; the other 
kinds were self-seeded from the adjoining forest. The success of this ex- 
periment in growing trees shows how easily they may be reinstated when- 
ever it is desirable. But we must not leave nature to do what it is our duty 
to do for ourselves. We should gaiher the seeds, and prepare the soil for 



854 



FORESTS AND FENCES. 



[Chap. XI. 



their reception. Tlie soil for a tree nursery should be as good and well 
worked as a well-cultivated kitchen garden. Tiie proper way to plant small 
seeds of forest trees is to pulverize the soil well, and roll it, and then sow the 
seeds and cover lightly with leaf mold. Great care is required to grow 
forest trees with success. Care must be taken in selecting soils. No wet 
soil, nor a ferruginous one, should be chosen. The young trees, too, must 
be carefully guarded against the depredations of cattle, as all farm stock are 
fond of young shoots of most forest trees. Sheltered situations should also 
be selected for the nurseries. Belts of sheltering trees should always be 
planted in all open places, like the Western prairies. The trees for these 
belts may be grown from seed, in advance, or purchased, or in some cases 
brouslit from their native localities in the forest. 

Hickory seeds and those of similar trees should be sown in autumn, in 
drills twelve or fourteen inches apart, and thick in the row, to be thinned out 
as the trees grow. Squirrels are great pests to the nvirseryman, and much 
care is necessary to guard against their depredations. Manure, and partic- 
ularly that made of leaves, is valuable for tree nurseries. So are ashes. 
"Weeds must be exterminated, or they will destroy the young trees. 

The larch is recommended as a good nurse for other trees, as it grows 
rapidly in almost any soil. Do not plant on a retentive soil in wet weather. 
It is almost as necessary to keep a new plantation clean for two or three 
years as it is to keep the nursery clean. 

Locust seed is difficult to vegetate, owing to the very ..ard shell which 
encases the meat. If it is gathered in autumn and mixed with sand, and 
kept moist, exposed to the weather till spring, it will grow ; or if it is soaked 
several days in hot water just before planting, it will grow. Instead of using 
hot water, yon may iise boiling hot lye, and plant the seed at once, and it 
will vegetate and grow immediately. 

Evergreen seeds may be treated as follows : Keep the seeds of arbor vitse 
dry and cool till spring, and then plant in fine leaf mold in a shady place. 
Norway spruce seed, and pine, hemlock, and juniper, should be kept in boxes 
of sand as it comes from the bank, in a cellar, and next spring plant in shady 
or half shady spots. If planted in sunny situations, the young plants are 
apt to perish. If there is no other shade, erect an awning. The juniper 
family do not vegetate the first year. The common red cedar seed may be 
made to grow by scalding. 

The midherri/, which is also rapidly multiplied from seed, was first grown 
in England in the reign of James I. 

The ^vhite larch, now very abundant, was accidentally taken to Scotland 
in 1737. Mr. Menzies, of Culdare, having procured four of these plants from 
Siberia, gave two to the Duke of Athol, which are still in full vigor at Dun- 
keld, and may bo called the parents of all the larch-trees in the kingdom. 

The plum-tree was brought from Asia in 15S0. The cockspur hawthorn 
in 1692, The maple-leaved hawthorn was introduced into England from 
America in the year 1783. A beautiful variety of the alder was first culti- 



Sec. 01.] AX ORNAMENTAL MEDICINAL TPwEE. 855 



rated in the year 17S0, being brought from Switzerland, Siberia, and other 
cold countries, and the cedar in 1664. Now look at all of these trees in 
England — how extensively they have spread! "Why," said one to an old 
man who was planting acorns, " why do you plant things that never can 
benefit you?" "Because I wish to leave the world better than I found it. 
If others liad not j'lanted trees, I should not have enjoyed their delightful 
and agreeable shade. I plant trees, that others may have the same pleasures, 
and sit beneath their outstretching and shady branches. The man who only 
lives for himself and his lifetime without adding his mite to iiuman enjoy- 
ment, is worse than the veriest miser ; the one leaves his riches, the other 
nothing but his bones — and those dry and withered." 

Is that not a sufficient incentive to every good man to plant trees — at least 
one acorn ? 

9i6. How Seeds are DiiTnscd. — Many seeds are supplied with a feathery 
arrangement, which enables them to rise in the atmosphere and diffuse them- 
selves over creation. This is the case with some of the forest trees, the seeds 
of which waft upon the wind many miles. Others are water-proof, and float 
away upon the water. But what if all seeds should grow? Our farms, with 
all our care, would become a wilderness. 

047. A Rare Ornamental and Valuable Medicinal Tree. — Eare only because 
it is rarely iised for ornamental purposes ; yet it is uircommoidy beautiful, 
of rapid growth, and hardy, and easy to transplant from its native woods, 
where it abounds in all the States south of latitude 41°. Tliis tree is famil- 
iarly known as the Sweet Gum — an accidental name given to distinguish it 
from the Sour or Black Gum {tupclo), which is also known in the New Eng- 
land States by the name of Pcpperidge. The scientific name of the Sweet 
Gum is Liquid Ambar. Both names are appropriate enough. The tree 
exudes a white wax, odoriferous and soft, which hardens and grows dark, 
somewhat like amber, by exposure to the air. The tree is one of the very 
cleanest, so far as regards insects, and its effects upon the earth or air where 
it flourishes most abundantly, with- the exception of covering the ground 
with its curious fruit, which is about the size of medium " button-balls," the 
fruit of the sycamore {Planus occidentaUs). These balls are full of honey- 
like cells that contain the seeds, which may be planted like those of the pine 
family. 

Michaux, the author of that great work the "North American Sylva," 
spoke of this tree as far north as Portsmouth, N. H., but we have rarely seen 
it north of the city of New York, where some native trees arc in Jones' 
Wood ; it is quite abundant in New Jersey, and especially so in all the 
cotton-growing States. It abounds also in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and 
Southern Illinois. It is held in very low repute as a timber tree for the 
farmer's use, though it would make good boards for many purposes. 

It is for shade and ornament alone that we call attention to it, and in that 
respect it is deserving of special notice. It is also of great value as a medi- 
cinal tree. It is esteemed where best known as an infallible specific for all 



856 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. Xl 



complaints of the nature of diarrhea, for the treatment of which a tea is 
made of the bark. From what we personally know of its value in such 
cases, we can not speak too highly of it. 

Hovey, in speaking of this tree, and recommending it, in his magazine, 
says: "The sweet gum forms a large tree, having somewhat the appearance 
of a maple, from thirty to fifty feet high, according to the soil and latitude 
in wliich it grows; the trunk is straight, nearly uniform iu thickness, to the 
hight of twenty feet or more, where its branches begin to diverge. The 
bark of the trees wliile young id nearly smooth ; but as they acquire size and 
age it becomes thick and deeply furrowed, the secondary branches being 
covered with a dry, flaky bark, the plates of which are attached at the edge 
and not on the face, as in other trees. The leaves are smooth and of a yel- 
lowish green, varying in size from three inches to six inches in diameter, 
and they are palmate, that is, they are divided into four deeply cut lobes, 
resembling in shape a star. Tlie male and female flowers appear on the 
same tree, the former being rather inconspicuous, while the latter are oval 
catkins one and a half inches long. These appear in March or April, and 
are succeeded by a globular fruit, bristling with points, and containing one 
or two small, blackish, perfect seeds. The leaves change to a deep red, or 
almost an orange scarlet, immediately after the first frosts, and keep their 
brilliant color for some time. As the tree is so extensively distributed, so it 
. is found in all varieties of soil, from the dry and gravelly bights of the North 
to the deep river bottoms of the South and West. On the unpropitious 
soils it usually does not grow more than twenty or thirty feet high, but in 
favorable localities it attains its amplest dimensions. Michaux measured a 
tree which he found growing in a swamp in Augusta, Ga., that was fifteen 
feet in circumference, with a summit in proportion to the size of the trunk." 
Tlie shape of the leaves is much like that of the maple, and the tree is 
equally hardy and valuable for a shade-tree. When planted in open ground 
it branches low and forms a spreading top. In England, where it has been 
introduced as a rare foreign tree, it is much admired. If better known, we 
think it would be popular here. It might, at least in part, take the place 
of the omnipresent ailanthus. 

948. The Elder— its Virtue. — It is free of insects, and ornamental. It was 
stated in England, more than sixty years since, that no insect or worm ever 
harbors upon the common elder (Sainhucus), and that it is a protection to all 
other plants when grown among them. It is stated also that elder leaves 
ecattered upon insect-infested plants will tend to drive away the pests. 

As a well-trained elder, grown like a tree, is really an ornamental shrub, 
why not try to grow plums in juxtaposition with the elders? If the plums 
failed, you would have the elderberries, which make better wine than most 
of the small fruits used for tliat purpose. 

949. The Sumac. — We perfectly agree M'ith Wilson Flagg, in an article in 
Hovey' s Magazine, that sumacs are, among our New England scenery, some 
of its finest ornaments. The foliage is beautiful in summer, and then come 



Seo. 51.] THE HAZEL. ' 857 

its bright crimson cones and green leaves; then its rich crimson tints in 
autumn, and lastly, the spikes of red berries, that remain after all the high- 
colored leaves have blown away. There are several varieties of sumac in 
this country. Mr. Flagg says of that called "Staghorn" {Rhus typhina): 
" This shrub rises to the dignity of a tree in favorable situations." Yes, to a 
dignity, in Mississippi, of a tree that is used for common split fence-rails, at 
least two ten-feet cuts to a tree. Of another variety, the Rhus radicans, Mr. 
Flagg says : " Its habits are very similar to those of the Virginia creeper 
{A}npt:loj)sis), though it seems to have more tenacity, and to fasten itself 
more permanently to the objects it embraces. It seems to be almost parasitic 
in its habits ; thougli I believe a branch will not survive the severing of the 
connection between it and the root. The numerous radicles with which it 
penetrates the surface of trees and fences, seem adajited only to support, not 
to nourisli, the plant. I regard this as one of the most beautiful woody vines 
among our indigenous plants. Some may bo inclined to give their prefer- 
ence to the creeper ; but the foliage of the creeper is not so elegant, nor 
does it invest the object on which it clambers with so close and compact a 
mass of foliage. It would hardly be advisable, however, to encourage its 
growth, on account of the liability of many persons to be injuriously affected 
by contact with it, though it possesses these noxious properties in a less 
degree than the poisonous dogwood. The leaves are in threes, and by this 
arrangement are readily distinguished from those of the creeper, which are 
in lives. So small is the danger from this plant, that I should never advise 
one to destroy it in a favorable spot, when the different objects were fes- 
tooned with its beautiful green foliage." 

This is the plant commonly known as poison ivy, that is so frequently to 
be found enshrouding an ugly old wall, and giving it the appearance of a 
live hedge. Its poisonous qualities are not very objectionable. As an orna- 
mental plant, it is valuable. See where it hides old walls, stumps, and dead 
trees, making them look alive again. See how it may be used to train over 
hedges or blank walls of buildings, or cover the boles of tall trees. It is a 
plant to be used, not despised nor eradicated. 

950. The Hazel. — Of all other common bushes — so common as to attract 
little notice — the hazel {Corylus Americana) is the most neglected shrub, 
while one of the most worthy of cultivation. Such a modest little bush, too, 
willing to accept as its share of earth's surface the corners of zigzag fences, 
or sides of stone walls, or little nooks about the rocks where the plow can 
not reach. Sometimes the woodland edges are still further bordered out 
with hazel, sometimes growing boldly out into grass or up to the corn-rows, 
and sometimes tapering down from the tallest bushes to mere little timid 
twigs. This is the bordering of many of the prairie groves ; and often we 
find far out in the sea of grass a solitary oak, surrounded with a flourishing 
plantation of hazels, invariably standing as a living declaration to the home- 
seeking emigrant, that here he will find a rich, loamy soil, for in such the 
American hazel flourishes, and in suitable soil it is found in all the Northern 



858 FOREST AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

and Middle States. Instead of despising and trying to eradicate tliis pretty 
little shrnb, we would extend its growth by cultivation. As a border of 
lawn walks, or for a separation of plats, where a high screen is not required, 
it is the best that we know ; for it is a clean-growing one, and can be kept, 
by cutting out the old wood, continually sending up its new, straight shoots ; 
and then it is one of the first in spi-ing to put forth its beauties ; and what 
more pleasing sight than its fruit-loaded branches, exceiJt it is the squirrels 
and children that are equally attracted to gather its sweet nuts. We really 
wish that every unsightly fence or stone wall along the country roads were, 
as some of them in Xew England are, hidden M-ith hazel bushes. It need 
not be said that such thickets would harbor the birds ; it is just one of the 
purposes we wish to promote. 

951. To Prevent Forked Trees Splittiagi— J.T. Moxley, Sheboygan County, 
Wis., rcconiniends to twist or wind together a few of the smaller limbs above 
the fork, which will grow in that position as the tree increases in size, and 
form a natural brace. lie states that he has treated many trees successfully 
in this manner. We have prevented forked trees inclined to split, and 
even secured those that had already commenced to part, by boring through 
with an inch auger and driving in a strong wooden pin. A small iron bolt, 
with a head on one end and a nut on the other end, is even better. The new 
growth will soon cover the pin or bolt. 

952. Timber Made Durable. — We have often seen it stated, that timber to 
boused for ax-helves, flails, mallets, ox-bows, axles, etc., in Germany, ig 
soaked several days iu a strong solution of stable manure, and then smoke- 
dried, which greatly toughens and adds to its durability. As the process is 
so simple, we advise every one to try it for himself. 

953. Use and Value of Dasswood Bark.— The linden {Tilia Americana), 
which is more known under the name of basswood-tree, is a valuable as 
well as beautiful tree — beautiful as an ornamental tree, and valuable for 
timber, and its bark, out of which bass matting is made. This article is 
imported and used extensively in place of our native stock, we suppose, 
because people do not generally know how easy it is to prepare the bark for 
use. It is simply to take the whole bark as it j>eols from the trees when the 
sap flows freely, say about June in this latitude, and sink it under water 
until the liber (inner bark) will peel and separate easily from the coarse 
bark. This soft, tough substance is then dried and stored away for future 
use, and the purposes to which it can be applied are almost numberless. 

95i. Talue of the Ailanthus in Saudy Wastes. — This tree is good both for 
fuel and timber, and one of the most rapidly grown in the Northern States, 
and it has been demonstrated that the most sandy wastes can be rc-clotlied 
with trees by planting the ailanthus. Upon a bare, sandy plain, where 
neither trees nor grass now grow, we are confident that ailanthus-trecs 
may be planted, with only a wheel-barrow load of rich loam to a tree, and 
that in ten years the growth would not only be such that it would hide the 
desolate barrenness of the land, but would make it of a salable value. 



Sec. 5L] 



THE ECONOMY OF FUEI^WOOD ts. COAL. 



859 



955. The Economy of Fuel— Wood vs. Coal.— The following table shows the 
relative value of diliereut kinds of wood foi- fuel : 



ShcIlbOTk Hickory 100 

Pig-nut Hickory 05 

White Oak 84 

Wliitc Ash 77 

Dogwood 75 

Scrub Oik 73 

White Hazel 72 

Apple Tree 70 

Red OaU 69 

White HeecU 05 

Black Walnut 65 

Black Birch 62 



Yellow Oak 60 

Hard Maple 6!) 

White YAm 58 

Bed Cedar 50 

Wild Cherry .' 55 

Yellow Pine 54 

Chestnut 62 

Yellow Poplar 52 

Butternut 51 

White Birch 43 

White Pme 40 



Although all trees of the nature of hickory, the fibers of whieli are densely 
packed, giving great solidity and weight, compared with pine or other 
light woods, are the most valuable for fuel, there is a great difference in the 
value of wood of the same variety, owing to its manner of growth and nature 
of soil where it grew. Trees which grow in forests or in ricli wet grounds 
are less consolidated than such as stand in open fields, or grow slowly upon 
dry, barren soils. There are two stages in the burning of wood — in tlio first, 
heat comes chiefly from flame; in the second, from red hot-coals. Soft 
woods are much more active in the first stage than hard, and hard woods 
more active in the second stage than soft. The soft woods burn with a volu- 
minous flame and leave but little coal, while the hard woods produce less 
flame and yield a larger mass of coal. 

The purpose, however, for which it is needed, must be considered. A 
thorough white pine, compared to hickory, is only as 40 to 100 for heat. If 
a quick fire be needed for immediate warmth, or kindling for coal or other 
wood, the pine is most suitable. For kindling coal fires, we have always 
found a mixture of hard and soft wood good economy. 

Speaking of coal, is it economy for a farmer to burn it ? It is a question 
wortiiy of consideration. It is one that we have already considered, and it 
has made us wonder at the error of some old formers in the vicinity of tide- 
water and rr.il roads, where coal can be had at a low rate, compared with the 
selling value of wood. They stick to the old-time fashion of days when 
wood was the only fuel, and maintain wood lots upon land worth $200 or 
$300 an acre, to furnish their annual supplies of back logs and fore sticks, 
with as much pertinacity as though their lives depended upon nothing but a 
sufficiency of firewood. Do such men ever tJiiuk of relative value ? Prob- 
ably not. Let us show them what we think. 

A tun of anthracite coal (2,24:0 pounds) measures 28 bushels. Its average 
cost at tide-water may be taken at $5 a tun, and hickory wood at $8 a cord. 
The coal is fully equal to two cords of wood of the best quality, and we do 
not know how many cords of such wood as we often find for sale, or such as 
farmers use, which they could sell at $4 or $5 a cord. No man in the vicinity 
of ISTew York can afford to keep woodland or burn wood as a common fuel. 
Prof. Mapes contends that a man can not afford to keep arable land in the 



I 

r 



860 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



vicinity of tliis city, or any other high-priced locality, in apple-trees, much 
less ill forest trees, except just so far as may be agreeable for shade and or- 
nament — certainly not for the purpose of growing fuel. No man can afford 
to hire men to cut and haul wood, and prepare it for the stove or fire-place, 
if it had no other value, where coal is not more than $6 or $8 a tun. 

The most of the farmers in the forest-denuded portions of the country 
have to haul their fuel, on an average, one mile ; and if it is valueless where 
it is growing, it will be worth at home, when cut and piled under cover, at 
least $2 a cord ; and in many cases counting the value at which it could be 
sold in the forest, and actual cost of labor, it will be worth $3 to $5 a cord, 
fitted for tlie stove. Now if good anthracite, or bituminous coal can be 
delivered, as it often is to the farmers twenty or thirty miles around New 
York, at $6 a tun, a fanner can not afford to burn his own wood, because coal 
will cost the least money. Wlierever woodland is valuable, cattle should 
be fenced out, and paths located so as to drive through without destroying 
young trees, and proper care exercised in cutting fuel or timber trees. 

As to giving \ip the old worm-fence, there is no hope of that as long as 
there are ten trees to an acre ; but certainly we can economize by having 
fewer divisions, fewer fences, and straighter worms. And we can economize 
in other ways — we can cut our timber at the season when it will be found 
most durable, and we can select timber the least valuable for fencing, and 
leave the best for more important uses. It is not only necessary for fanners 
to study economy in fuel, as to what shall be used, but if it is to be wood, 
then practice economy in growing and preserving a suitable supply. 

956. How Should Fuel be Seasoned ? — ^The almost universal way of piling 
wood is not the best way to season it. Some kinds, if laid upon the ground 
at the bottom of a pile, will never season — they will rot. That is the case 
with Cottonwood upon the Mississippi bottoms. Everywhere the bottom 
sticks of a pile are less valuable than the top ones. For this there is a 
remedy. Take nature for a guide and set our fuel on end, when we desire 
it to season. 

The following plan is an excellent one to season fuel or to store it, as rail- 
ways sometimes do, to keep several years : Commence with medium-sized 
sticks set two and two along in a row, leaning together, spread wide enough 
apart at the lower ends for a good-sized dog to run between them. Con- 
tinue to lean up sticks outside until the rick is five or six feet wide, with the 
top ends always down. Now lay on the top a few sticks lengthwise to form 
a ridge, and then commence to shingle your pile with split wood, with which 
you can easily form a roof almost water-tight enough to prevent any rain 
from wetting the pile below. There is no position in which fuel will season 
quicker or keep better, remaining sound and dry, and actually increasing in 
value, instead of constantly deteriorating as it does in cord-wood piles. 

Do not continue the old way with no better argument for it than this : 
" It is the way my father did, and he says his father always did so ; and I 
guess if it was not right they would have found it out." 



Sko. 52.] 



STATISTICS OF FENCING. 



861 



This declaration is the end of all argument. It is a bold son that dares to 
do as his father and his father's father never did. Yet, in this matter of 
seasoning fuel, ho should have courage and shake off the shackles of prece- 
dent, and get out of the old hard path of our very respectable (in their time) 
old-fasliioned grandfathers. 

957. Wc Should Plant Trees to Grow Fuel. — Wherever land is sparsely 
wooded, farmers should plant trees for fuel as certainly as corn for bread. 
The most rapid growing trees should be selected, such as ailanthus, locust, 
sycamore, and chestnut. Peach, we have already mentioned (635), and 
doubtless other fruit trees may be profitably grown for fuel. The ailanthus 
and sycamore are both good fuel trees, if the wood is properly seasoned. 



SECTION L1I.-FENCES.-THE COST OF FENCING ; LAWS REGULATING ; 
KIND OF FENCE JIOST ECONOMICAL ; KYANIZING FENCE POSTS ; 
FARM GATES ; HEDGES ; WIRE FENCES ; STONE WALLS. 

NALCCLATING the cost ot fencing is the only way 
that we can arrive at improvements in its economy. 
Those who have never considered the subject can not 
believe the facts ; such, for instance, as that published 
by Nicholas Biddle, made from careful estimates, that 
the " fence tax" of Pennsylvania is ten millions of dol- 
lars a year ; or that of H. L. Pell, tliat tiie farm fences 
of the United States cost $1,350,000, and that the an- 
nual charge upon farms to maintain fences is equal to 
$250,000,000 per annum. These are startling statements, 
but who can show that they are not facts ? They are at 
least worthy of consideration from all farmers. Hon. 
Joseph Blunt, who was a very observing man, and dur- 
ing all the latter years of his life devoted a great deal of attention to the 
question of improvements in farming, estimated that there were in the year 
1S59, in the State of New York, 15,000,000 of acres under fence, and that 
this area was divided into 750,000 fields, requiring 120 rods to each field, 
making 90,000,000 of rods of fencing in the State. 

He calculated the average, cost of the fencing at the very low rate of 
seventy-five cents a rod, and that the average duration was not over ten 
years. His estimate makes the first cost $07,500,000. Interest and annual 
repairs may be reasonably calculated on the cost at ten per cent., which 
makes $6,700,000. Dividing the cost of reuewal through ten years, makes 
a like sum, and gives an annual cost for fencing the State of New York, 
$13,400,000. 




862 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XL 

lion. T. C. Peters, of Darien, Genesee Co., -who as one of the State assess- 
ors has liad great opportunities to obtain facts in relation to farm fences, 
made tlie following calculations, which were presented to the State Agri- 
cultural Society, October, 1862. He had devoted much labor to the calcu- 
lation, because he thinks it necessary to enlighten farmers upon the subject 
of legislation in relation to fences, as the time is rapidly approaching when 
something must be substituted for rails, or else a different system adopted 
with stock. 

In calculating the length of road fences, he assumed that the average is 
one mile of road to each mile square of land in the State, and Burr's Atlas 
makes the area over 28,000,000 acres. 

The State census gives : Improved acres, 13,657,490 ; unimproved acres, 
13,100,692; total, 26,158,782. 

The town assessors make the area about 1,000,000 more. Mr. Peters 
divides the State into four districts, to show the waste lands in each. Thus : 

1st District — North of the Mohawk Valley, and west of the line from its 
mouth to the north line through Lake Champlain. 

2d District^ — East of that line, and east of the Hudson, including Long 
Island and Staten Island. 

3d District — South of the Mohawk and east of the Chenango, including 
all the Catskill Mountain range. 

4th District — -AH the remainder of the State. 

He allots to each division the following number of acres of waste land : 
1st district, 6,000,000; 2d district, 1,250,000; 3d district, 1,250,000, and 
4th district, 1,500,000, making a total of 10,000,000 acres, still leaving 
2,000,000 acres unaccounted for in and around cities and villages, which will 
give a remainder of 18,000,000 of acres of inclosed lands to bear all the 
burden of taxation for fences and roads, and will give, upon the calculation 
assumed, a mile of road to 640 acres of land, say 28,000 miles of highway 
and 56,000 miles of roadside fences. Assuming an average width of road 
of four rods, there are 224,000 acres occupied by the public roads of this 
State. 

The average cost of fence is $1 a rod, and cost of annual repairs equal to 

the interest upon another dollar. Supposing the average value of improved 

laud in the State to be $40 an acre, it makes the interest $2 SO an acre, or 

$22 40 the square mile. 

Cost of road fence per mile $640 00 

Capital required for interest and repairs annually 640 00 

Interest per square mile as upon improved land, for that occupied by roads 22 40 

Total -. $1,302 40 

The total 28,000 miles of road-fence cost $17,920,000 00 

Annual interest 1,254,400 00 

Interest on capital of sum necessary for repairs 1,254,400 00 

Annual cost of fencing the highways $2,508,800 00 

Interest on value of laud used and wasted for roads 616,000 00 

Total annual cost of roads, besides labor of repairs $3,124,800 00 



Sbo. 51.] STATISTICS OF FENCING. 863 



The estimated average size of farms in this State is 100 acres, and the 
average size of the divisions of the farms ten acres. This requires SOO rods 
of fencing to each farm, which at $1 a rod makes $S an acre as dead capital 
per acre, if we conld devise some plan of carrying on farming witliont 
fences. Upon this basis, the total cost of fences in the State is $144,000,000, 
and the annual charge upon each farm, estimating them to average 100 
acres, is $56, and it requires the interest of an equal sum to keep the fences 
in repair, making an annual fence tax of $1 12 an acre upon all the culti- 
vated lands in the State, while all the State, county, and local taxes of the 
rural portion of the State are only 33 cents an acre. 

This presents an array of figures well worthy the attention of all farmers 
who would understand the enormous amount of the fence tax. 

John J. Thomas, of Cayuga County, thinks Mr. Peters' calculation too 
low ; he has carefully estimated the highways, by the large and by local 
maps, at 60,000 miles, and 120,000 miles of highway fence in the State. 

Is this enormous expenditure necessary? If it is, the burden must be 
borne. Will farmers inquire whether nine tenths of it coixld not be dispensed 
with most advantageously to the owners of the land, dispensing with many 
other items of cost which are incidental to the present system? 

In no other country in the world is the fence tax so onerous as in this. 
Our fence system has been gradually engrafted upon the people by acci- 
dental circumstances, growing out of the necessity of early settlers, who 
fenced around the first cleared field, and let the stock run in the woods. 
Laws made at first to protect such settlers have been continued, and men 
educated to bear the heavy burden they have entailed, until they appear to 
love the law, or rather the custom that forces them to pay such a penalty. 

The universal custom, and not the law — for really there is no such statute 
— has led men to believe that every owner of land is bound to fence all the 
world out, and that it is no trespass upon the rights of property to enter 
upon any uninclosed lot and despoil it of half its value. 

To the cost of fencing should be added a very large sum in damages to 
railroad trains, which run over cattle wandering at large on the highways. 
Sometimes the value of human lives must be added to the account. To 
this add stock lost by accidents and straying, and the loss of costs of litiga- 
tion about fences ; also, expense of pounds, besides the ill-will and quarrels 
about stock on the highways, and trespassing upon neighbors' fields. 

Indeed, the expense of the fence system is almost beyond calculation, and 
its evils illimitable. One of these is the actual keeping out of cidtivation of 
millions of acres of good land. Let us look at a case. 

If tlie law, or custom, which is stronger than law, were for every man to 
keep his own stock within his own boundaries, instead of fortifying himself 
to keep everybody's stock out of his fields, a poor man could go upon the 
Western prairies without a dollar of capital and take up public land and 
hire it plowed, on credit, to be paid for out of the crop or by his labor, and 
thus could in a few years become the owner of a good farm. lie is kept out 



864 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XL 



of this enviable position, because custom requires him first to fence his fields, 
and then plant them. To do this is impossible without capital. The lowest 
cost would be one dollar a rod, making the expense of inclosing an eighty- 
acre lot four hundred and eighty dollars. In many places it will cost twice 
tliat. Then custom requires division fences, say four twenty-acre lots, mak- 
ing a total of seven hundred and twenty dollars for fencing a lot of land that 
cost but eighty dollars for the soil. 

The pasturage of all the stock which the owner of such a lot should keep 
is not worth the interest of the cost of fencing and annual repairs ; and this 
is true of a million of acres in this cotintry. Take that of the author, for 
example. It consists of eight acres of the rough but costly land of West- 
chester County, ten miles north of the Central Park of New York. It is 
bounded on two sides by highways, requiring 1,375 feet of fencing, and on 
the other two sides it joins two cattle-pasturing neighbors, requiring 530 feet 
more fencing for the half that the law of the State of New York compels an 
owner of the land to build, whether he has any use for it or not. To bnild 
such a stone wall, which is the common fence of the country, as any man of 
taste would be willing to have near his dwelling, is worth twenty-five cents 
a foot, making the first cost four hundred and seventy-five dollars for an 
outside fence, for which the owner has no use whatever. And this creates 
an eternal tax for interest and repairs, which at ten per cent, is forty-seven 
dollars and fifty cents a year, or nearly six dollars an acre — an annual tax 
of two per cent, of the salable value of the land, inflicted upon me by law 
and custom for the benefit of some poor neighbor who pastures his cow and 
geese and pigs in the highway, upon land he does not own. In efiFect ho 
says : " The law, or rather custom, protects me, and you have no business to 
prevent my enjoying a ]U"ivilcge that I have always enjoyed. It is your 
business to keep your fences up and gates shut." And if I do not, he will 
rob me as literally as the highwayman who says, " Your money or your 
life !" and of the two, the highwayman is the most honest. 

The division fence that I am compelled to build is equally onerous. It is 
utterly useless to me. I never shall allow cattle to run at large on my side. 
If my neighbors do, they should build the fence to hold their own cattle ; it 
is not right to tax me with the cost of fence built solely for their use. 

958. Laws Rclatiug to Fencing Highways. — Statute laws do not require 
land-owners to fence highways. It is the law of custom — a custom that has 
been so long in use that many persons suppose it is law. The whole system 
is founded upon error. The law does protect property ; it can not take it 
away from any owner, except for public necessity. It never takes it from 
one owner to give it to another, as it would if it authorized one man to pas- 
tnre his cattle upon another man's land. The owner of land along a high- 
way owns all but the right of the public to use it as a thoroughfare. No 
law can constitutionally give another man the right to mow or pasture the 
grass, nor compel the owner to fence out the cattle of others. His business 
is to fence his own cattle in. He has no right to let them run out upon tho 



to 



Sko. 52.] LAWS RELATING TO FENCES. 865 

highway, because they might obstruct travelers, who have a right to the 
whole roadway, to travel over it unmolested. If one pig is allowable, a 
thousand are, and who so blind as not to see that a thousand swine in a nar- 
row lane would effectually blockade it against all travelers. And if one 
man caTi legally turn out one old cow to forage for her living upon the road- 
side, he may turn out a whole herd of bulls, which would break over any 
Icuee that a land-owner would build, and ravage his whole farm. 

It is not law, by any enactments of any legislature, that any man may 
pasture his cattle in the highway, and it has frequently been decided by 
courts in different States, that the owner of land could recover damage of 
the owner of cattle, fence or no fence. It is custom, and a wrong practice 
long submitted to, that needs improvement. The idea that cattle can be 
lawfully turned out upon the highway is injurious to the great agricultural 
interest of America, and shows a dishonest principle in whoever puts it in 
practice. 

Is there any difference in a moral point of view between sending chil- 
dren or cattle out upon the highway to forage upon neighbors or travelers. 
A man has no more right to educate his cattle in dishonest practices than he 
has his children, and public opinion should condemn one as well as the other. 
If an owner of a dog taught him to steal, the man would be held respon- 
sible as a thief, and the dog killed. The same rule should be applied to all 
animals. A thieving hog should be no more allowed to live than a thieving 
dog, nor his owner escape responsibility. 

We can conceive but one greater nuisance in a neighborhood than a hog 
that is always on the watch for an open gate or hole where he can thrust in 
his nose and root a way into mischief, and that one greater nuisance is his 
owner. Every citizen should be made to feel that the law protects the 
owner of land as well as of houses, and that it is just as much a trespass to 
enter one as the other. 

Domestic animals should all be made more domestic. It is the best way 
to save expense in fencing. It is a duty that we all owe one to another, to 
make this subject'of fencing better understood. "What it costs and what the 
law is, not what has beon customary in regard to highway fences, should be 
matters of constant thought and frequent discussion in all farmers' club 
meetings. 

959. Laws relating to Division Fences.— In the State of New York, by 
enactment of April 18, 1838, there is a most absurd and wicked law in rela- 
tion to division fences. It is absurd, because it fixes the form, style, and 
strength of the fence to suit a peculiar condition of things in one place that 
is entirely inapplicable to another. It is wicked, because it compels one 
owner to build fence wholly for his neighbors' benefit, and declares that he 
shall not be entitled to any damages for trespass from his neighbors' cattle 
unless he maintains his part of the division fence in a strictly legal condition, 
whether his neighbor does or not. 

In several States, the " lawful fence" is such a one as not one farmer in a 



866 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



hundred ever builds. If it lacks an iota of what " the law requires," it is no 
trespass to break over it and steal ; that is, suffer the animals that should be 
domestic, but are not, to take that which does not belong to them. Such 
laws are wicked, because they are intrinsically unjust, and promote neigh- 
borhood quarrels, and in more than one recorded instance have been the 
moving cause of murders. 

The law should be simply this : " Every man shall fence in his own stock ; 
no man shall be obliged to fence his neighbors' stock out." This is founded 
in reason ; it is common sense ; it is justice. A common-sense law upon 
the subject of estrays, or cattle turned out upon the highway, and trespass- 
ing animals, would be to this effect : It shall be lawful for any one to kill 
a dog, goat, goose, or hog that comes upon his premises, or endangers them 
by running at large in the highway. Any land-owner in the State of New 
York may seize and confine any neat stock, horses, sheep, or swine found 
on his land or near it in the highway, and hold it till the owner pays the 
penalty and cost of keeping, and the owner has no action of recovery until 
all charges are paid. The law should allow the taker-up to use the animal 
while he keeps it, without charge ; or convert it wholly to his use by paying 
its value, less the damage chargeable against the animal for its trespass, 
and those of the same owner in its company. All animals running without 
keepers in the highway should be liable to seizure as trespassers. 

Such a law would be good -for all honest men, and would promote goo 
morals in society. Can any honest man say that he believes it would l)c 
nnjust or impolitic ? 

The laws of the nations in times that we call barbarous, were better 
entitled to the appellation of " civil law," than are some of our own about 
fences. 

960. Unfeuced Commons. — There is a tract within twenty miles of New 
York called Hempstead Plains, containing 12,000 acres of good arable land, 
which might have been in cultivation for two hundred years, if our fence 
laws had been adapted to a civilized state of society. Having been at first 
set apart as a " town common," when land was of but little value, it has 
been kept as such ever since, in the wasteful condition of a public pasture, 
which affords not one hundredth of the value to the people it would in culti- 
vated crops. All over the country, around every village, there are similar, 
though not as extensive, unfenced commons, all of which could be cultivated 
if law and custom required owners of cattle to keep them witliin their own 
inclosures. 

All over Europe are to be found highly cultivated districts, entirely free 
from fences. Every foot of common land, up to the very roadside, can be 
cultivated, and the most humble cottage upon the common can be beautified 
with its plat of flowers. Is America so much less civilized that we should 
give the possession of every unfenced common to hogs rather than to the 
use of the poor laborer and his family ? 

This is a fact connected with American farming that needs consideration. 



Sbo. 52.] KYANIZING FENCE POSTS. 867 



9G1. Uow Fences may be Dispensed With. — First by the system of soiling, 
■which would dispense witli interior fences ; saving land as well as fence ; 
saving manure as well as time, in always having working animals and cows 
at hand ; making animals more docile, so as to benefit the morals of farmers' 
boys, which are apt to partake of the character of the animals, and wild 
animals make wild men ; and trespassing animals make bad neighbors and 
breed mischief. It is one of the reasons why fences should be dispensed 
with and a better system of farming adopted. Order and gentleness among 
animals and men grow out of their greater domestication under the soiling 
system. 

Six leading, distinct advantages in favor of soiling are enumerated by 
writers upon the subject, to wit : Saving land; saving fencing ; saving food; 
keeping stock in greater comfort, good health and better general condition ; 
producing more milk ; saving the manure by which greater cultivated crops 
are produced. To these Mr. Quincy adds three more, which he considers 
equally important. Tlie animals are more docile and easier disciplined ; 
they commit no trespass, as animals at large frequently do. The business 
of the farm -can be conducted in greater order and comfort, and altogether 
more economically. 

962. Waste of Land Around Fences. — A zigzag rail fence takes up a strip 
of land four or five feet wide, and if stake-and-ridered, the strip is about ten 
fe»t wide, which takes from every hundred acres, on the average, as fields 
are inclosed, full five acres — land which is rendered worse than useless ; for 
it is a harbor for pestiferous weeds, animals, and insects, and often grows up 
into a most unsightly blur upon the face of the farm. "What farmer would 
willingly endure a government five per cent, tax upon the value of his land? 
Yet tliis is just what he voluntarily inflicts upon himself in thus losing the 
use of land, besides the cost of the fence. This waste of land by fencing 
is enough of itself to condemn the whole system, if there were no other ex- 
pense. "Where land is valuable, as it is in many of the old States, crooked 
rail fences should be discarded entirely. No farmer can afford to keep such 
a fence upon land worth a hundred dollars an acre. If he must use rails, he 
should build the fence straight, which he can do cheaply by setting upright 
stakes, bound together by wire, to hold the ends of the rails in place. Such 
a fence looks more pleasing to us, though the other is called picturesque. 
It may be, but it is not utilitarian. 

A board fence, although more expensive in the first outlay, would be the 
most economical on account of its saving of land ; and on that account, 
wherever a fence can not be dispensed with, this saving should be consid- 
ered. If a board fence is built for a permanent one, the boards should be 
battened over every post and nailed with what are known as fence nails, and 
the posts, unless of the most durable kind, should be kyanized, and always 
set in a position reversed from that of their growth. 

963. Kyanizing Fence Posts. — ^Tlie term hjanising is taken from a Mr. 
Kyan, who introduced the subject in England within the present century. 



868 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



It consists in filling the pores of the wood witli mineral substance, such as 
sulphate of copper, zinc, or iron, Avhich act as preservatives, just as salt does 
in meat. J. W. Fairchild, of Hudson, N. Y., kyanized posts for his garden 
in 1850, made of the refuse strips of a carpenter's shop, by using one pound 
of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) to twenty pounds of water (you must not 
mistake pounds for quarts or gallons of water, as sometimes printed). In 
1859 these posts were found as sound as ever. Without the kyanizing pro- 
cess every one would have been rotten and wortliless. Even the pointed 
end of a small hand-stake, which had stood continually in the ground eight 
years, was found perfectly sound. 

Spruce posts, which will not last two years unprepared, remain perfectly 
sound. Clothes-lines, or any other cordage, soaked two days in the solution 
used for the fence posts, are rendered more than twice as durable, and no 
doubt shingles would be greatly increased in durability. Posts, six inches 
square, need to soak ten days. The kyanizing liquor must be prepared in 
a square-sided vat made of plank, in a strong frame, with keys to tighten the 
joints. A barrel would serve while kept moist. An iron vessel would cor- 
rode. For small work a large earthen jar would do, or a vat might be made 
of water-lime cement. A vat that would only receive the ends of fence 
posts would answer, and it would soon pay cost upon any farm, where every 
post of every description, and many other things, miglit be kyanized with 
great profit. The solution must be renewed for every change of timber, ty 
adding as much of vitriol to the water as will keep it at the standard strength. 
It makes no diiierence whether the timber is dry or wet, seasoned or green. 
Standing trees have been kyanized. 

964. Creosote for Kyauizing. — In England, creosote has been found prefer- 
able to cither sulphate of iron, of copper, or the chlorid of zinc or of mer- 
cury, either of which is much more expensive than creosote. Timber which 
had absorbed about eight pounds of liquid creosote to the cubic foot was 
apparently as sound at the end of five years as when first treated. Its reli- 
ability has been tested on quite a large scale on the Great Northern and the 
Lancashire and Yorkshire railroads (England), on which roads creosoted tim- 
bers that have been down for ten years appear to be as good as when first 
laid. Creosote is a liquid which may be made from the refuse of the trees 
that make railroad timbers. It can be kept in wooden tanks in which the 
timbers may be steeped several days. All timbers for bridges, the sills of 
buildings, and the sleepers of railroad tracks should be treated with this 
substance, or some other equally as good. The refuse creosotic compounds 
of coal oil — those which are obtained from distilled coal as well as from the 
natural oil wells — may be as powerfully antiseptic in their nature as creo- 
sote distilled from wood. Experiments should be made to determine this, 
because such products are now thrown away as waste, whereas they may be 
usefully applied to render exposed timber ten times more enduring than it 
now is, and thus save millions of dollars to our country annually. 

965. Salt aud Fence PostSt — A correspondent says : " After setting white 



Sbo. 62.] PORTABLE PICKET FENCE. 869 

oak posts, I bored into each about three inclies above the ground with a 
two-incli auger, at an angle of about 45°, and filled the hole with salt and 
plugged it up. The plugs are all in, and the posts look as sound as when 
set. I put in about one half a pint of salt to a post." 

966. Fence Posts Top End Down. — A farmer sa^'s : " I split two bar posts, 
side by side, out of a chestnut log eight feet long, eight inches wide, and 
three thick, and set one but down, the other top down. At the end of ten 
years the one set but down had rotted off, and I re-set it in the same hole. 
At the end of six years it was rotted off again, and I put in a new one.- The 
other lasted two yeai-s longer, when it got split, and I took it out and found 
it was about two thirds rotted off. Sixteen years ago I set six pairs of bar 
posts, all split out of the but-cut of the same Avhite oak log. One pair I set 
buts down, another pair, one but down, the other top down, and others top 
down. Four j-ears ago those set but down were rotted off and had to be 
replaced by new ones. This summer I had occasion to re-set those that were 
set top down." I found them all sound enough to re-set. My experiments 
have convinced me that the best way is to set them tops down." 

The theory of this increased duration is, that moisture can not ascend as 
readily when the order of growth is inverted. 

967. Charring Fence Posts. — A writer in the New England Farmer, who 
tried numerous experiments in setting fence posts by reversing, salting, and 
charring, is satisfied that charring did no good. Those charred lasted no 
longer than those from the same tree not charred. Salting dry posts is bene- 
ficial. Salting green ones did no good. The best thing was reversing the 
ends. 

96S. Portable Picket Fence.— The principal use of this kind of fence is for 
hurdling; being set up zigzag, it supports itself, and is easily separated at 
each panel. The cost is about thirty feet of lumber for ten feet, and half 
the value of that for labor. A man and two boys can make fifty panels a 
day. Where lumber is not worth over ten dollars a thousand feet, this kind 
of fence could be made and sold with profit for one dollar a panel. Made 
of oak or similar wood, it will last in good order ten or fifteen years. The 
rails are cut exactly ten feet long, of stuff three inches wide and one and a 
half inch thick. These are Lured by machinery very rapidly, twenty-nine 
holes in each rail. The pickets are sawed square and then turned one and 
a quarter inch diameter, at the rate of ten a minute. They are four feet 
long, pointed. The rails are keyed in a frame and pickets inserted and nailed 
in the top rail. Tiie others are just tacked to hold tliem in place. If the 
fence is to be permanent, the rails aire fiistened to posts. If it is to be mov- 
able, the panels are held together by inserting a picket through the ends of 
the rails of two panels, whicli holds them together. 

Locust posts for this fence are sawed three by three inches at the top, 
tapering to six inches one way. This is sufliciently strong, as the wind has 
but little hold of the pickets. It is sometimes called ladder fence, when 
made with only two rails. The best form is to use three rails ; and sometimes, 



870 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



for variety, every other picket only reaches the middle rail. It is easily 
moved by panels from permanent posts. It is a good kind of fence for the 
"Western prairies, where it has been considerably used. The machinery, in- 
cluding saws to make pickets and bore rails costs about one hundred dollars. 
Kails can be bored at any angle, so that pickets stand upright, while the 
rails correspond to the form of the hillside. 

969. Permanent Fence on Soft Gronnd. — We were troubled by the up- 
heaval and loosening of fence posts on the soft prairie soil of Indiana, and 
adopted the following eifective plan : "We laid down a sill two feet long 
under eacli post, at right angles with the line of fence just even with the 
surface, setting the posts in the center, nailed fast and supported by a small 
brace eacli side, nailed to the sill and post. Tliis made a cheaper fence than 
with posts planted in the ground, because the timber Tised was much lighter, 
and except the sills, did not require to be of durable timber. 

970. HUrdle Fence of Boards. — A plan for a cheap hurdle fence has been 
adopted, as follows : Panels of five narrow boards of some light timber are 
Bailed with clinch nails through battens, one on each side of the ends and a 
pair in the middle. To make these, a mold should be made by cutting 
gains in three timbers, two inches broader on the face than the battens, so 
that when one is laid on the timber, the gain can be seen and the fence 
boards laid directly over. Then lay on the top batten and nail through ; 
the point of the nails will reach through into the gains and not into solid 
wood. These panels being light are easily handled, and may be set up by 
braces on each side, or fastened to stakes driven into the ground. But a 
better way is to fasten the ends of the panels together with wire, or with 
hooks and staples, which are better and not much more expensive. One 
of the advantages of this kind of fence is, it can be made by any farm hands 
in winter, or at such times as out-door work could not be carried on ad- 
vantageously. A similar fence to the above has been made of light round 
poles, of light straight rails, and of rived slats, in panels six or eight feet 
long. 

971. Farm Gates and Bars. — "We have given several good plans for gates 
in No. 364, and refer to the subject now mainly for the purpose of urging 
farmers to substitute gates for bars wherever they ai-e liable to be passed 
through once a month. The diflerence of time in opening will pay the in- 
terest on the cost of a gate over tliat of a set of bars. Where a gateway is 
but seldom used, a board panel, made as described in 970, is a good substi- 
tute for bars, fastening it to the fence by hooks and staples. 

972. Wire Fence and Iron Fences. — Fencing with wire has not proved a 
success. If made cheap it is not effectual, if made effectual it is not eco- 
nomical. A good wire fence, built by Col. Capron, in Maryland, was con- 
structed as follows: The fence was forty rods long, made of No. 9 wire, 
attached to a permanent post at one end, and at the other end passed through 
holes in a post to keep them in position, fastened to a stout bar a few inches 
beyond the post. This bar was attached to a chain which passed around a 



J 



Sno. 52.] AVIRE FENCES AND IRON FENCES. 871 

roller with a weighted lever, to keep the wires always strained. "When the 
wires expanded, the lever fell, winding the chain, and the reverse when they 
were contracted by cold. Tliere were but few jiermanent posts along the 
line ; the wires were supported at short intervals of space by strips, which 
also supported bottom boards. 

The following detailed account of cost of wire fence is made by H. F. 
French, of Exeter, N. H. : "On the 14th of August, 1852, I put np -seventy 
rods of wire fence through the woods, using the trees for posts, occasionally 
driving a stake wliere more than eight feet intervened. I used three No. 9 
wires annealed ; the highest four feet from the ground, the spaces ten inches. 
I attached the wires to the trees, partly with small staples'made of the same 
wire, and partly by sawing notches and driving nails over tho wires. Four 
of us put up the seventy rods in one day. The cows have looked through 
each summer at my cornfields, but none broke through, and no repairs 
have been made. Tlie cost was: 189 pounds of annealed iron wire at Q\ 
cents per pound, $12 27 ; labor of putting up, $4 ; nails, 25 cents ; total, 
$16 52 — being about 23^ cents per rod. To build a good fence against cat- 
tle, I should use No. 9 wire not annealed, because it is said to be stronger. 
Galvanized wire does not rust, but is expensive. The tension of the wires 
makes the whole strength of the fence, and to get them straight, if the 
ground is level, stretch tlie wires the whole distance. A tree at each end 
is the best post. It is almost impossible to set a stone or a wooden post that 
will not yield to the constant strain. If you set posts, set them very deep, 
and brace them with strong timbers resting against short posts set for the 
purpose. To strain the wires, take a stick of sound, hard wood, four inches 
diameter and sixteen inches long, bore two holes at right angles with a two- 
inch auger, one near each end, and a small hole through the middle to pass 
the wire through. Make two handspikes, say two feet long, to fit the auger- 
holes. Secure the wire at one end, and unroll it by trundling the coil along 
on the ground, so as not to get kinks in it, which you are sure to do in any 
other way. Bore a hole through the tree or post, and pass the wire through, 
leaving three or four feet spare length, and through the small hole in your 
windlass, and wind it round once or twice so that it will not slip ; then put 
in the handspikes, and you can thus apply more power than four horees, 
and can hold the strain steadily. Then drive a hard-wood plug into the hole 
through the tree or post on the outside. This will hold till you take off your 
windlass and wind the wire a few times around the end of the pin. At eight 
feet distance along the wires drive small stakes and saw notches to receive 
and confine the wires by nails." 

An Illinois farmer says his fence of No. 7 for upper wire, No. 8 for second, 
and No. 9 for two lower wires, built in stretches of forty rods, cost seventy 
cents a rod, and proved eflfectual. 

973. Flat Bar Iroa Fence. — There is a kind of flat bar iron fence with 
iron posts, made in New York by Hutchinson & Wickersham, at about 
$1 50 a rod, that answers a pretty good purpose, and is in one respect 



872 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 



superior to wire, because it is more movable ; it can be used as a hurdle 
fence. Another kind of flat bar fence is made of hoop-iron nailed to wooden 
posts. , 

974. Ornamental Iron Fencei — The firm mentioned above have the greatest 
assortment to be found in the United States, of ornamental iron fence, made 
of what is called wove wire ; that is, stout wire bent into forms to fit to- 
gether, so that when properly connected and fastened in panels, and put 
together in tlie desired lengths, a light, strong, cheap fence is formed, suita- 
ble for yards, gardens, and balconies, and is extensively used for all sorts of 
ornamental fencing, being trimmed with cast ornaments. 

Other ornamental fences are made of cast iron, in great varieties of pat- 
terns ; so that iron in some shape is very fast taking the place of wood for 
all ornamental fences, and in many instances where utility and durability 
are consulted, without reference to ornament. 

975. Hedges, and Hedge Plants.— Tlie two leading plants for fence hedges 
in this countiy are thorns, such as are native to the locality, and Osage 
orange. The latter is more used in Illinois than anywhere else, and the 
former is employed for fencing in Delaware to a greater proportionate ex- 
tent than in any other State. In Mississippi, and some other States south of 
lat. 32°, there is considerable fencing done with the Cherokee rose — a very 
rapid. grower ; and when untrimmed it soon takes up a strip twenty feet wide, 
and grows as many feet high. Of coui-se it is a fence, and that is more than 
can be said of thorn hedges in general. We have also seen hedges of yucca, 
or Spanish bayonet, that were fences. The handsomest of all is the Osage 
orange. Holly at the South also makes a handsome hedge; it is an ever- 
green, and bears bright crimson berries. In Virginia there are some red cedar 
hedges. John Taylor, of Caroline County, author of " Arator," the oldest 
agricultural book in this coufltry, fenced his plantation with cedar hedges. 
When young they were very handsome, but with age they outgrew their 
beauty and value as a fence. Honey locust makes a hedge that certainly is 
not liandsome, though it answers tolerably well for a farm fence. As a 
general rule, any plant that naturally grows to a tree, makes a poor hedge 
plant. This is the case with Norway spruce {Abies excelsa), and with hem- 
lock and white pine, which have all been tried for ornamental hedges. We 
believe for this purpose there is no evergreen at the North equal to arbor 
vitas {Thuja occidentalis). It is very hardy, and lioibs thickly from the 
ground, twenty feet high if desired ; is of slow growth and does not naturally 
grow to a large tree, and it flourishes in almost any kind of soil, if not very 
dry. Its verdure winter and summer is handsome — much richer than cedar, 
which wears a sort of brownish appearance, as though the foliage were dirty. 

976. Forest Tree Qedges.— Oaks are used for hedges upon Long Island, 
not planted and cultivated for the purpose, but permitted to grow along the 
fence row, and lopped down by half cutting the body and bending in the 
limbs and suflering the sprouts to grow into a thicket. If is a poor excuse 
for a fence, very unsightly, and not very economical, as the fence row oc- 



b 



Sbo. 52.1 ORNAMENTAL HEDGES. 873 



cupies a wide strip of land. In France, the wild pear, wild apple, mahaleb 
cherry, elm, beech, hombeam, Osage orange, buckthorn, hawthorn, Montpe- 
lier maple, scarlet oak (the hornbeam or iron wood), and tamarax gallica 
are all used for hedging. 

The buckthorn is our most hardy and desirable hedge plant. It leaves out 
early, and no cold kills it, but it is not a certain barrier against unruly cattle. 

977. Osage Orange Hedges. — The Osage orange is a native of the South- 
western States. It grows in groat abundance in a wild state in Arkansas, 
where it takes more the form of a tree than a shrub, growing to the bight of 
thirty or forty feet, with a wide-spreading head, for which reason it is evi- 
dently unfitted for a hedge, except by constant severe trimming. It has 
been found hardy enough to stand most of the winters as far north as 
Detroit, the frost only aifecting the young shoots. Plants are easily grown 
from seeds, and a quart will produce a thousand plants. The principal ob- 
jections to the Osage orange are that it grows too vigoroi;sly, and is a most 
greedy absorber of all the nutriment in the soil within reach of its long roots. 

Charles Downing, of Newburg, says of his Osage orange hedge : " Nothing 
goes through it ; and it is equally true that nothing will grow near it. I 
shall have to dig it up, or dig a ditch alongside of it to cut oflf the roots so 
they can not destroy my valuable fruit-trees. You see how miserable the 
row next to the hedge looks." 

978. Ornamental Hedges. — The barberry, althea, shepherdia, mahonia, wil- 
low, Japan pear {Pyrxis Japojiica), and privet are all used. For a summer 
screen only, privet, lilac, and several other hardy bushes ; for a low screen, 
currants answer, and so do several kinds of roses. 

In setting hedge plants, the very first step is to deeply trench the ground, 
and unless the soil is naturally rich, work in some well-rotted manure — that 
composed of leaves is excellent. "We would not cut away the tops either 
before or immediately after setting the plants in the hedge row, because we 
think they will take root more firmly with the tops on than oflT, and if cut 
away the next spring, will grow so much more vigorously that they will 
make a hedge quicker than by the other course. Six or eight inches a year 
is all that you can safely increase a hedge. The clipping in May must be 
what persons unacquainted with the business would call very severe, leaving 
but a mere framework of stubs of branches. 

979. Stone Wall Fences. — The author does not advocate their general 
adoption, though often hearing the remark, that " stone walls are the only 
permanent fences." When very expensively built, they are permanent good 
fences against all stock but sheep, but, as a general thing, are not per- 
manent beyond the age of the generation in which they were built. The 
great Northern power that forms icebergs, and uplifts and carries oS rocks 
of a thousand tuns' weight, lifts up and throws down stone walls, however 
firmly built ; and then there is nothing meaner in the fence line than a mean, 
old, tottering stone wall. It is mean looking and a mean thing to depend upon 
as a fence. Sheep walk over it ; hogs crawl over it; cattle push it over ; high 



874 FORESTS AND HEDGES. [Chap. XI. 

winds sometimes make gaps in it, and frost often does ; and when very old, 
it requires constant watching and frequent patching. The first cost of a 
good stone wall, fit to be called a fence, will be from three to ten dollars a 
rod, probably averaging twenty-five cents a foot in length. 

One of the strongest arguments used in favor of building walls, particu- 
larly by farmers who divide up their land into four-acre lots, is " to get rid 
of the stone." As a general thing, they had better bury them where they 
would serve as under-drains. Stone walls waste land. Each one occupies 
a strip five feet wide, and it is not unusual upon pretty well cultivated New 
England farms, to find the earth, by repeated plowings, heaped up along 
each side, three or four feet wide, and occupied by bushes or briers, so that 
counting the wall two feet, and two feet each side, there is a width of six 
feet of land lost at each fence. If we calculate one half the contents of this 
striji around a ten-acre lot, for the portion chargeable to that side of the 
fence, we find the account stands thus : The equilateral sides of a ten-acre 
lot are 220 yards — 600 feet long, making 2,640 feet around, which multiplied 
by half the width of the wasted wall strip, gives 7,920 superficial feet to be 
deducted from 435,600 feet, the contents of the ten acres. This is exactly 
one and eight tenths per cent., and is in reality equivalent to a tax of nearly 
two per cent, on the value of the land, besides the interest and annual 
repairs chargeable to the fence. If, then, a stone wall is a permanent fence, 
BO is this self-inflicted land tax equally permanent. "Will farmers think a 
little upon this fact ? 

980. Ilow to Bnild Stone Walh — For those who are not skilled enough to 
oversee and direct laborers, or know whether jobbers are cheating them, the 
following few simple rules will be useful. 

Have the surface soil removed so that the foundation stones will rest on 
firm earth. Contiguous foundation stones should be as nearly as possible 
equal in size, and largo enough to extend the full width of the wall, and 
every foundation stone firmly bedded in the ground. If boulders, or stones 
of uneven form are used, always plant the roughest side downward, or at 
least so as to have a flat side up to lay the next course upon. If your wall 
is built of a double line of stones, whatever their shape, it should frequently 
be bound aci'oss with fiat stones or wooden ties made of split pieces of cedar, 
chestnut, white oak, ash, or any durable tough wood, from half an inch to 
one inch thick, two to four inches wide. 

"Break joints" should be rung in the ears of a young wall-builder inces- 
santly, until he would do it instinctively every time he laid a stone into the 
wall. You can tell at a glance, as you ride along the road, whether the wall 
was built by a workman, by the way the stones break joints. You may some- 
times see them so placed that a joint extends from top to bottom. That wall 
was built by a cheat or bungler, probably both. 

Beware of a jobber who is continually chinking small stones into the 
joints of the face of his wall and filling up the interior with stones thrown 
in as carelessly as you would fill up a hole in the ground. If you find your 



Sbo. 52.] now TO BUILD STONE WALLS. 875 



jobber working this way, discharge him ijeremptorilj. He is both cheat 
and bungler. 

If your wall is built double, cap it with a course t)f even-sized stones, so 
as to give it a uniform appearance. If the stones are generally flat, cap 
your wall with flat stones of even thickness and of a widtli greater than 
the wall. This not only helps the appearance, but sheds ofl" water, which 
is often the means of destroying badly built walls, by running down inside 
and freezing so as to bulge out the two lines of stones with which the sides had 
been faced up and not bound together. 

Good walls are sometimes built of very bad stones by using cross-binders 
of wood in the lower courses, and then near the top laying two boards, each 
about one fourth the width of the thickness of the wall along the line, and 
upon those building up the remaining hight. These boards will last many 
years and serve to hold cobble stone together quite firmly. 

It is a better plan, however, we believe, not to build the wall as high by 
a foot, and take the strips of boards designed for binders in the wall and 
nail them to small posts built in so as to give sufficient hight for the fence. 

A very common fence in some sections is built of cobble stone about two 
feet high, topped with two bars inserted in posts, or with strips of boards 
nailed on. 

981. Ha-ba Walls. — "Walls built with one face and backed against a bank 
are called ha-ha walls, and are very common in hilly regions, where stone 
abounds. These walls are often to be seen in "Westchester County, N. Y., 
where they are backed by earth scraped up or carted to form the bank. 
This always appears to us bad economy ; for a good ha-ha wall, even where 
the ground favors its construction, costs more than a plain wall, because it is 
necessary to build it very firmly to prevent the frost throwing it off from the 
bank. To guard against this, it should be built of large stones, made to 
lean heavily against the earth. A cobble-stone ha-ha wall would not stand 
many winters at the North — the frost would bulge it out, so that it would 
fall or be pressed over by the dirt. 

Ditching cacli side of a wall appears to us of no great benefit, and adds 
very mucli lo the waste of land already noticed (979). Throwing up a ridge 
to build the wall upon has no other advantage that we can see than saving 
stone where they happen to be scarce. This system is considerably practiced 
by Hon. A. B. Conger, of Eockland County, N. Y. 

982. Wall-Bnilders' Tools. — A farmer who has not been bred upon a stony 
farm knows but little of the importance of having good tools to handle stone. 
"Without good tools, wall building is not only expensive but very laborious. 
A set of wall-builders' tools would for three hands comprise three crow-bars, 
of three sizes, one of which should be of steel, three feet long and about 
three fourths of an inch diameter. This is for moving stones on the wall. 
There should be a cant-hook, similar to those used in saw-mills, but with a 
lighter handle. Each man should have a stone hammer, but these should 
vary in size, so as to interchange as occasion requires, and there must be one 



876 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI 

heavy sledge. If any stones require splitting, a drill and wedges will be 
necessary. An iron square, a plumb, a line and stakes, a pick and spade will 
complete the assortment of tools for building the wall after the stones arc 
hauled. For digging stones, use one of the lately invented stone-lifters, with 
which stones of five tuns' weight can be raised by one horse, and while held 
up suspended between a pair of large wheels, hauled to the line of wall. This 
is a great labor-saving machine. In the absence of such a machine, have 
one large and two smaller crow-bars, and a good lever and a well-made 
set of grappling hooks, which will often save hours of labor at a single stone, 
because you can pick two holes ou the sides of a smooth stone to catcli the 
points of the hooks in, by which the oxen will pull it out, when it would be 
a long, tiresome job to get a chain around. 

A good stone boat is indispensable for hauling stones to a wall, and if the 
distance is long, it is a good plan to suspend the boat between wagon wheels 
just so it will clear the ground. If yon have no wagon, use a cart, and sus- 
pend the forward end of the boat to the axle. This will be a great assistance 
to the team. 

For loading stones on a wagon, it will be found a great saving of labor to 
have a frame with no sides, except a three-inch piece of scantling. The floor 
should be one and a half inch oak or other strong wood plank. At the hind 
end have a windlass roller fixed in posts about two and a half feet above the 
bed, witli a chain and pair of grappling hooks, by which a man can raise a 
stone of five hundred pounds by turning the levers of the windlass. ' When 
it is chock up, a piece of plank is slipped under, from which it can be rolled 
forward with a bar, or by another- windlass at the forward end. With a 
wagon rigged in this way, one man can load stones with ease that four men 
could only get up by hard work and danger. A movable triangle and wind- 
lass will be found a great labor-saving machine in handling stone. Set over 
a heavy block, it can be lifted in two minutes high enough to slip the stone 
boat under easier and quicker by one man than three could load it with 
crow-bars and hard lifting. The same implement can be used to put stoi.es 
on the wall. 



CHAPTER XII. 



FERTILIZATION. 



SECTION LIII-TIIE ART, USE, AND ECONOMY OF MAKING, SAVING, 
AND APPLYING MANURES, AND FERTILIZING FARM CROPS. 



OW to make poor land fertile has always been, 
perhaps always will be, a mystery. If it is affirm- 
ed that barn-yard manure will do it, we reply, 
that is no mystery ; but it is a mystery how to 
obtain it or its equivalent where it is not to be had. 
No man will ever make or keep his distant fields fertile 




^O by carting the contents of his barn-yard. In some 
" cases the farmer seeks relief by resorting to a great 
agricultural humbug — the analysis of soils. Then 
he applies the pinch of powder which the quack rec- 
ommends to restore the "missing ingredient," and 
sows his seed, and reaps disappointment. How to 
make barren land productive, or how to keep fertile 
land so, is what farmers most desire to know. We can not teach the art, 
but the following paragraphs we hope will add something to the farmers 
stock of information upon this important subject. 

9S3. Fineness of Soil Promotes Fertility! — Remember that tlio great secret 
of all naturally fertile soils is extreme fineness of the particles. Pulveriza- 
tion, as a rule, is better than manure. Disintegration is, however, aided by 
manuring as well as plowing and harrowing. Fertility will increase by 
deeply stirring the soil with turning and subsoil plows, and by aeration from 
under-drains, and by growing plants with deeply penetrating roots. That is 
why— 

981. Clover Promotes Fertility. — Its roots penetrate and aerify the subsoil, 
wliile its tops shade, and when decayed fertilize the surface. The fertility 
of our soils must be improved by growing the manure on the land. That is, 
growing clover and other green crops to plow in, so that by veiy small addi- 
tions of purchased fertilizers, to replace the things sold and taken off the 
farm, it will not only maintain its original fertility, but increase it, because 
it will be constantly drawing from the atmosphere. The difficulty about 
maintaining fertility is, that it is generally exhausted before the owner of 
the soil begins to think about saving. The question, therefore, is rather how 
to restore than how to increase fertility. Land will improve more while 



878 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. SII. 



growing a crop than it will in a naked fallow. Let that be forever remem- 
bered as the great secret of " How to increase fertility." Give each food or 
forage crop the proper pabulum to enable it to draw upon earth and atmos- 
phere, and it will perfect itself, while it stores up in the soil pabulum for a 
succeeding crop, which should follow in rotation, without exhausting fer- 
tility. Yon Thaer says feeding off a crop of clover with sheep will add 
twenty per cent, to the fertility of the soil. 

985. Color and Moisture of Manures Effect Fertility.— Though not richer 
in humus, a black soil will be more productive than a light one, because the 
color elevates the temperature. This has been proved in cold climates, 
where melons were ripened by covering the soil an inch deej) with charcoal 
dust. In Belgium, grape-growers improve light soils by spreading fragments 
of black slate over the surface. In addition to its fertilizing qualities, peat 
improves light soils by its color. Earth must be in a hygroscopic condition 
to bo productive. Manure and black earth, and all salts added to the soil, 
improve this condition. Sandy land is barren because it has no liygroscopic 
quality. Add manure, peat, black earth, which give that quality, and the 
land produces far more than can be fairly credited to the substance added. 
All clayey soils are improved by under-draining, which both prevents excess 
of moisture and at the same time aerates the soil and helps to keep it moist 
in a dry time. 

986. Theory of Fertilizing Seeds by Incrustation. — This is not a new theory, 
though newl}' revived in France, where works are erected to execute the 
process. The fertilizer is agglutinated to the seeds in quantity sufficient to 
furnish food to the young shoot until it gains strength to draw it from the 
soil. It is simply carrying out tlie theory of giving the plants an " early 
start." Boussingault planted the incrusted seed in calcined quartz sand, 
and added phosphate of lime, nitrate of potash, and vegetable ashes, and 
the plants grew luxuriantly, as though in garden mold. Sugar and soot 
mixed in wafer are recommended for coating wheat seed. Sugar, half a 
poiuid to the bushel ; soot to make the mixture black as ink ; water to make 
the stuff as thick as cream : to stand thirty or forty hours ; then stir in the 
wheat. The editor of The Yalleij Fariner thinks this incrustation theory 
a dangerous doctrine, which if followed will reduce any soil to poverty. 
" As well," he says, " might we encase an eggshell with food for the 
chick as a grain of corn with food for the plant." We do not think so, 
and advise the incrustation to be tried by all farmers in a small way, and 
if it adds vigor to the young shoot, it may much more than pay the cost 
of application. 

To coat seeds with plaster and lim( : For each bushel of wheat use half a 
pint of tar dissolved in hot water reduced to blood heat, into which pour the 
wheat gradually, stirring constantly for a few minutes ; drain the wheat in 
a basket over a barrel, then put it into a tight box, and add as much lime 
or plaster as will adhere by stirring until the grain is dry. 

987. Nitrates, Muriates, Sulphates. — "What are they ? And which of them 



Seo. 53.] NITRATES, MURIATES, SULPHATES. 879 

is good for raanurial purposes? "We can not give this information in better 
form than in the following relation of Barnuni's experience : 

Barnum — the Barnum — is or was a Connecticut farmer. He has a passion 
that way. It is a hobby ■with hira. He always lias a hobby. Sometimes 
it is a " Fire Annihilator," and sometimes the Crystal Palace, or a Connecti- 
cut clockmaker, annihilates him. 

One year he had the hen fever. Tliat was his hobby. He rode it till he 
spent about ^2,000, and then found that he had neither eggs nor chickens for 
family use. His neighbors' hens that " stole their nests," under the barn 
or by the side of the fence, hatched more chickens than his did, and when 
they were grown, they were healthy and good to eat, while his were droop- 
ing and sickly in their costly house. 

Another of his hobbies was to renovate old fields by purchasing and 
hauling stable manure. That hobby broke down. It has broken down a 
thousand times before, but the more it broke, the more old-fogyism stuck to 
it. It was the ancient custom of the land to plow shallow and top dress with 
stable manure, sea-weed, and fish. Digging muck was an innovation. It 
was a good thing, but it did not bear long transportation. Something bet- 
ter was wanted. Somebody said. Use salt. That did not look reasonable. 
What virtue was there in salt to make plants grow ? Somebody else said, 
Use saltpeter. But that was evident nonsense. Saltpeter was only to pre- 
serve meat — it was not manure. Another wise man told him Glauber salts 
were good, but a wiser one told him that Epsom salts were better. 

" Bless your soul, man," says Barnum, " do you suppose I want to physic 
my land? No, sir ; I want to feed it, and make it feed me." 

So he took to the study of agriculture. He took several learned agricul- 
tural papers, and read them, and — well, he concluded that he was not the 
only humbug in the world. 

So he went ofi" lecturing upon humbug as a science, under the full impres- 
sion that he had been about as badly humbugged, in the agricultural line, 
hens and hundred-dollar ducks included, as he ever humbugged anybody 
with woolly horses and Feejee mermaids. 

Still he was not satisfied. He thought Connecticut soil had something in 
it, and if it could be stimulated to give it up, it would produce something 
besides daisies and mullens. 

As he did not need to study his lecture — that came naturally — he bou<^ht 
Johnson's Chemistry, Norton's Chemistry, and Liebig's Chemistry, and de- 
voted his leisure hours of traveling to search out what was tlie best and 
most concentrated manure to apply to his old fields. He had already done 
one very essential thing : he had plowed the soil deeper than it was ever 
plowed before; and now he wanted to manure better and cheaper, and 
make it more productive. So he studied agricultural chemistry. Therein 
he learned these facts : 

That an application of 100 lbs. of nitrate of potash to an acre of land had 
doubled the crop of grass. 



8S0 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

Again, Le read that the same quantity of sulphate of soda had produced 
the same or a better effect. 

It was also stated that suljphate of magnesia was still better, and that 
remarkable effects had been produced by a free use of muriate of soda. 
Nitrate of soda had also done wonders. 

The author suggested that the farmer might procure a portion of each of 
these sulphates and nitrates and mix them together and produce a cheaper 
and more concentrated manure than superjihosphate of liine or guano. 

Full of this idea, Farmer Barnum returned to New York, anS went forth- 
with to a dealer in drugs, medicines, and chemicals, and inquired the prices 
of — Nitrate of potash? — 6 cents a pound. Nitrate of soda? — 4 cents. Sul- 
phate of soda? — 2 cents. Sulphate of magnesia? — 2| cents. Muriate of 
soda? — li cents. 

" Very well ; put me up a hogshead of each." 

In due time the farmer was ready to begin to use his new manures, or, 
rather, he M-as first curious— even showmen have curiosity — to see what 
these nitrates and sulphates all looked like. So he ordered the casks that 
had arrived to be opened for inspection. That was soon done, and the man, 
with consternation written upon his face, came back with handfuls of the 
contents, and reported : 

" Mr. Barnxim, you're sold — humbugged. Look here ! that was marked 
"Nitrate of potash" — what do you call that?" 

" That ! that is saltpeter — nothing else." 

" And this? This was marked ' Sulphate of soda.' " 

"AYhy, that! — that" — and he tasted — "that — oh, pshaw!— that is Glau- 
ber salts." 

" And this — sulphate of magnesia ?" 

" Bah I — that is Epsom salts." 

" And shall I send them back ?" 

" Yes — no — hold on ! Perhaps the druggist in the village has sent for 
them, and they have made a mistake, and sent my nitrates and sulphates to 
him, and his physic to me." 

So he posted down to inquire ; but no — nobody had sent for any Glauber salts ; 
and he came back to write a letter and blow up the dealer who had befooled 
him. In the mean time the man had got the cask marked " Muriate of soda" 
opened, and reported that it contained — ha, ha, ha — simply common salt. 

" AVhat on earth," wrote Mr. B., to the chemist, " did you send me Glau- 
ber salts, Epsom salts, saltpeter, and common salt for? Do you think I 
want to pickle and preserve my land, and if I get in too much salt and salt- 
peter, physic it out ? Only one of the casks contains what I ordered, and 
that is the nitrate of soda." 

The return mail brought the answer : " Nitrate of soda, of course, is right, 
because it is not known by any other name. 

" Glauber salts is, properly speaking, sulphate of soda, and sulphate of 
magnesia is nothing more nor less than Epsom salts. 



Seo. 53.] PRIMITIVE SOURCES OF FERTILIZING SUBSTANCES. 881 

" Salt, as we use the term, is salt, but it is a very unmeaning terra among so 
many salts. Muriate of soda is the right name of our common, or table salt. 

" And nitrate of potash is nothing but saltpeter ; don't be afraid of it — it 
won't explode." 

" But it did explode," said Mr. Barnum ; " it exploded my ignorance. I 
had studied agricultural chemistry, but I did not know salt nor saltpeter. 1 
do now, and I mean to know that they are good for land." 

988. Sulphate of Lime — Plaster of Paris— Gypsum.— Tliese names are syn- 
onymous, as used in common conversation, though not strictly so. "Plas- 
ter" is the most common term used by farmers, as applied to sulphate of lime 
reduced to powder by grinding, wlien used as a dressing for land. 

Plaster of Paris is made of the gypseous rock of the vicinity of Paris, 
France, by grinding and heating, which prepare it for use in the arts, as we 
see it in casts of various figures. Gypsum, or plaster, which is ground sul- 
phate of lime, is made of gypseous rock which is found in various localities 
in this country, and is composed of sulphuric acid and lime. It should al- 
ways be applied on a green crop, and it does the most good on a succulent 
one, such as clover or peas, and the spring season is the best time to apjily 
it, when the crop, whatever it is, is in a fresh-growing condition, from natural 
fertility or manure, since plaster is not a manure, but an assistant, acting as 
an absorbent of floating ammonia, which it yields up again to the growing 
plants. Plaster sown upon a plowed field in the autunm would be of very 
little if any benefit to whatever crop might be put upon the field in the spring. 
It is generally found more beneficial to clover than to any of the true grasses, 
which is accounted for by the fact that the ingredients of which it is com- 
posed are found most abundant in the ash of clover. 

One of the best purposes to which plaster can be applied about a farm is 
in the stable and places of deposit of manure, to preveut the escape of am- 
monia, and thus keep the air sweet and healthy. 

In some sections farmers complain of not seeing any benefits from plaster, 
while in others it is their main stay. "We know two large graziers in Dutchess 
County, W. H. & David L. Belding, who have bought up worn-out farms and 
renovated them by the use of plaster, so as to produce the richest pasturage. 

989 Primitive Sources of Fertilizing Substances.- There is an abundance of 
mineral substance, of the same chemical character as the fertilizing portion 
of manures, locked up in rocks. The Academy of Science, Paris, having 
investigated the question, say that the primary substances found in rocks, 
particularly the phosphates, which are almost chemically identical with 
bones, arc really of but little or no value to growing plants in the first step 
of their progress; but that all mineral substances, the longer they have pro- 
gressed through animal and plant life, the better they are as fertilizers. 
Bones are better than mineral phosphate, and bones of an animal that con- 
sumes phosphatic food are better than those of one that did not. It has been 
found impossible by any mechanical or chemical means known to reduce 
mineral phosphates to such a degree of fineness as we obtain from bones. 

M 



882 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

This is oue reason why mineral phosphates are not readily assimilated by 
growing plants. 

990. Value of Phosphatic Guano. — There may be some guano known as 
pliospliatic that has some manurial value, but English farmers who have 
tried some of the substances sold under this name, have no faith in its value 
as a fertilizer. The editor of the Agricultural Revieio says : " From our own 
knowledge we can affirm that tlie guano from some of the West India Islands 
is not worth the price of the freight to this country." B. M. Rhoads, a 
chemist of Baltimore, thinks a pound of phosphoric acid in bone superphos- 
phate worth three times as much a^ a pound in " brown Mexican guano." 

991. Gas Lime — Its Value to Farmers. — 'Daxis^s, Much Mannal &a.y6: "Gas 
lime contains sulphureted hydrogen, sulphuric acid, and ammonia. It can 
not be used agriculturally till it has been exposed to the air for a year, by 
which it is converted into sulpliatc of lime and ammonia, and carbonate of 
lime. In this state, mixed M-ith three times its bulk of soil, it forms a useful 
top-dressing ; or it may be added, before mixing with soil, to the compost 
heap or to meadow muck, say two bushels to the cord." 

So we saj' it is valuable, but the farmer must know how to use it. The 
fanners of Lancashire, England, are well satisfied that gas lime is val- 
uable when applied in small quantities upon pasture lands and meadows, 
M'hich sliow the good effects of the application for years. One of our cor- 
respondents does not believe that gas lime fresh from the works is injurious, 
lie applied it with beneficial effects at the rate of a pailful per rod. 

992. Lime Ashes.—" Are the ashes of a limc-kihi valuable — that is, more 
valuable than lime?" Thus writes a correspondent. We answer, No; be- 
cause from his locality we know the kiln is burnt witli anthracite coal, the 
aslies of which are not worth hauling five miles to obtain the small portion 
of lime mixed with them. Coal ashes are not entirely valueless, but they 
bear no comparison to the value of lime. Whore wood is used for fuel, the 
lime-kiln ashes are very valuable for all soils and all crops. 

993. How to Apply Lime. — After the burnt limestone has been some time 
exposed to the air, it becomes air-slaked, and in the condition of a dry pow- 
der, and of twice the bulk it M-as before slaking, and may be sown broad- 
cast by hand, or by a machine. If we were about to apply lime to wheat 
ground, we should harrow it in when we did the seed. On a potato field, we 
would sow it broadcast over tops and all, after hoeing. If applying it to corn, 
we would scatter it all over the surface of the earth, either before or after the 
last hoeing. As to the quantity per acre, the majority of opinions of those who 
liave used lime most, favors thirty bushels of slaked lime per acre, continuing 
it every year, or every second or third year, until 120 bushels are applied. 
Lime is always beneficial to land full of vegetable matter. The quantity is 
to be varied according to the condition of the soil. One with much vegeta- 
ble matter in it will bear much more than a soil almost destitute. Shell lime 
is the best. Barren fruit-trees have been made fruitful by dressing the land 
with lime, for it combines with the acids of the earth, neutralizes them, and 



Seo. 53.] HOW TO DISSOLVE BOWES. 883 



renders the earth sweet. In all muck land there is a resinous matter that 
prevents the decomposition of the vegetable fiber. This condition is always 
improved by adding lime. 

994. Value of Old Mortar or Plastering. — There is no valuable substanci' 
about a farm oftener wasted, by throwing into the road, or into some mud- 
hole, or out-of-the-way corner, than the old mortar of chimneys and latli- 
and-plastcred walls. It is because the fact is not known that this old mortar — 
the older the better — is a most valuable fertilizer. It is good upon any soil 
and upon every crop, used as a surface-dressing. It is particularly valuable 
iu garden soil, which, notwithstanding its richness in nitrogenous manure, 
sometimes lacks j ust what it would receive from a dressing of this old mortar. 

995. Biirut Earth— Its Value as a Fertilizer.— In England, whole fields 
are pared off and windrowed up with brush, straw, stubble, peat, or dried 
sods, enough to start the fire and heat the clay to an almost brick-burning 
heat, and tlicn the whole of the burnt mass is spread over the surface, adding 
greatly to the fertility. Remember this fact, that burnt clay will always 
prove beneficial to raw clay, and still more so to sandy land, or to soil 
charged with nitrogenous matter, such as what we term good garden soil. 

990. Iron as a Fertilizer. — Sulphate of iron (copperas) naturally exists in 
many soils, and, unless neutralized with lime, injures some crops. Yet iron 
in certain forms is undoubtedly beneficial, particularly to fruit-trees. M. 
Dubrcuil, a celebrated European horticulturist, says that it has been proven 
" that melons and various species of fruit-trees, the green parts of wiiich had 
been watered on several occasions with a weak solution of sulphate of iron, 
yielded much larger fruits ' than those not so treated." He adds : " One of 
my pupils repeated the same experiments in 185-1: and 1855 on pear-trees. 
He gave the first watering as soon as the fruits were fairly set, in tiie end of 
June. He repeated the moistening every fortnight, in the evening, in order 
to prevent evaporation, and that absorption anight be completely effected 
during the niglit. The solution was at the rate of 26 grains to a quart for 
the first three, and 35 grains per quart for the last two waterings." The 
result appears to have been a large increase in the size of the pears. Many 
soils contain iron, and such, if the ii-ou is not in excess, are generally good 
fruit soils. Iron dust, from the forge, has frequently been used by florists 
to highten color of flowers. 

997. Save the Bones — Their Value. — ISTever neglect to pick up a bone ; it 
is worth saving. You would stoop for a copper cent 5» the bone may bo 
worth a dime. True, it is of no value whole, except for grapevines, but it 
is easily made fine, and then its value is almost incalculable. Lying waste, 
bones are a nuisance in mowland or pasture. Pick them up and dissolve 
them into excellent manure. 

998. How to Dissolve Bones. — Mix one gallon of sulphuric acid with five 
gallons of water and put in the bones, after liaving broken them as fine as 
you can with a hammer. The bones and liquid will form a pasty mass in a 
few days, if the acid is strong enough ; if not, more must be added. Tho 



884 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XIL 



■water may be evaporated from the mass, leaving the acid combined with the 
phosphate of lime of the bones. This is unadulterated superphosphate, and 
is a very valuable manure. Bones may be also dissolved in unleached ashes, 
or horse dung, if broken up and mixed, or covered up. Charcoal-powder or 
plaster should be spread over the heap to prevent escape of ammonia. Sul- 
phuric acid (oil of vitriol) is very corrosive, and must be handled with great 
care. We recommend a large iron kettle to be painted with a thick coat of 
earthy paint, or even clay dissolved in skim-milk, as the best vessel to dis- 
solve bones in. A Scotch farmer adds 340 lbs. of acid to 25 bushels of fine 
bones, wet with 18 imperial gallons of boiling water, and lets it stand two 
days, and then mixes with two cart-loads of light mold, and turns the mixture 
over. At this stage the bones are only partially dissolved, but they heat and 
decompose in the heap after being turned over three or four times ; and in 
the course of seven or eight weeks the compost becomes dry and breaks 
down with a shovel. 

An American farmer says : " For every tun of bone I provide 500 lbs. of 
best sulphuric acid and 300 lbs. of guano, and get them distribtfted among 
the bone as equally as possible. By the fermentation and heating of the 
bone, better work is done with 25 lbs. of acid than we used to have with 
40 lbs. One pound of acid requires nine pounds of water. Bones may be 
dissolved without acid, if crushed and mixed with tine earth or manure, and 
kept moist." 

999. What Manure will best sustain Fertility ?— Undoubtedly, barn-yard 
manure must hold the first place -with all farmers — and rightly — because it 
contains all the needed ingredients, though it may not have all in as great a 
proportion as would be profitable to apply. Thus, to barn-yard manure 
muck, salt, and plaster may be added ; and lime, applied to the same land 
that has been highly manured ; and flesh, blood, hair, and bone will sustain 
fertility, and their constituents are all needed, because soil imparts nitrogeir 
to its crops, and must have it returned. 

The following table will show the per-centage of nitrogen in various sub- 
stances, by which the value of manure made from them may be calculated. 
The greater the amount of nitrogen the bettei for manure. 

Water. Dry Matter. . Nitrogen Nitrogen 

■' in natural state. in dry matter 

Barley straw 11.0 89.0 0.23 0.26 

Oat straw 21.0 79.0 0.28 0.36 

Rye straw ^ 14.0 86.0 0.30 0.36 

Wheat straw 18.0 82.0 0.33 0.40 

Buckwheat straw 11.6 88.4 0.48 0.54 

Meadow hay 11.0 89.0 1.15 1.23 

Red clover hay 12.7 87.3 1.83 2.10 

Pea straw 8.5 91.6 1.79 1.95 

Carrots 87.6 12.4 0.30 2.40 

Potatoes 74.0 26.0 0.39 1.49 

Mangel-wurzel 87.0 13 0.29 2.27 

Rutabaga 88.6 11.4 0.21 1.87 

Barley 16.0 84.0 160 1.90 

Malt 7.0 93.0 1.60 1.73 

Wheat 16.0 84.0 1.90 2.14 

Oats 16.0 84.0 2.00 2.38 



Sbo. 53.] HOW TO PRESERVE MANURE. 885 



Indian corn 18.0 82.0 1.6i 2.00 

Malt dust 7.0 93.0 4.0O 4.08 

Malt grains 6.0 94.0 4.51 4.90 

Linseed 12.0 88.0 3.75 4.76 

Beans, peas, or tares. . . 16.0 84.0 4.00 4.76 

American oil cake 11.6 88.4 5.04 5.71 

If the following substances are used as cattle food, tlie comparative value 
of each tun, in manure, is represented as follows : 



Peas $13 38 

Locust beans 4 81 

Oats 7 40 

Wheat 7 08 

Indian com 6 65 

Malt 6 65 

Barley 6 32 

Ctever hay 9 64 

Meadow hay 6 43 



Oat straw $2 90 

Wheat straw 2 68 

Barley straw 2 25 

Potatoes 1 50 

Mangolds 1 07 

Swedish turnips 91 

Common turnips 86 

Carrots 86 



Decorticated cotton-seed 

cake $27 86 

Rape cake 21 01 

Linseed cake 19 72 

Malt dust 18 21 

Lentils 16 61 

Linseed 15 65 

Tares 15 75 

Beans 15 75 

1000. How to Preserve Nanure< — Horse droppings are very liable to injury 
by heating. When any manure is burned in the heap, it is little better than 
ashes. This can be prevented by the application of water to the manure 
heap, frequent turnings, and making compact piles. Mixing with sod, scrap- 
ings of tlie roads and walks, and swamp muck will retard decomposition. 
The best way to preserve manure is to apply it to crops, to grass, corn, and 
roots, and the orchard, followed by a shallow plowing. Caltle droppings 
should be mixed with those of horses, to preserve and improve both. If 
you liave no cellar nor shed to save manure in, pile it up, mixing muck, 
sods, weeds, waste straw, -salt, and lime to help decomposition, and plaster 
or charcoal on the surface to absorb and retain the escaping gases, and use a 
pump to send back all tlie drainings and other rich liquid, including urine 
and soapsuds, and old brine, blood, and all sorts of dirty water. Use this 
well-rotted compost, and you will escape weeds and grow grass and grain. 
Use all heavy manure upon home-lots, and treat oiitlying ones with some 
concentrated fertilizers and clover. If a manure pile is kept continually 
moist, its value will be preserved if the drainage is not wasted. When com- 
posted with muck and other similar materials, and kept wet, the fluid pass- 
ing through the mass will pervade all parts, and without turning or forking 
in any way, the intrinsic value uf each portion will be communicated to the 
whole, and improved by this mode of treatment. There is uo item of econ- 
omy about a farm that will pay better than that of saving every old rag, old 
shoe, old bone, soapsuds, house sweepings, chamber slops, kitchen garbage, 
and garden weedings for the compost heap ; which in a year, from these 
little bits of waste, will grow into a valuable pile. Unlike purchased fertil- 
izers, the cost of the compost heap is never felt in the pocket. It may be 
made in any convenient place, and will never taint the air if partly composed of 
swamp muck, or fine charcoal, or occasionally sprinkled witli plaster. Every- 
thing that will decompose may be used. Every dead animal should be 
buried in its center, with muck or charcoal, or with fine clay, if neither of 
the first can be had conveniently. A cart-load of muck (decomposed with 



886 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 



lime and salt) or of fine charcoal, such as locomotive cinders, or debris of a 
coal-yard, or fine charcoal and burned earth of a coal-pit, will prevent any 
smell arising from the carcass of a horse, and where manure is worth two 
dollars a load, the value of the compost heap will be increased ten dollars 
by every carcass buried in it. 

1001. How to Apply Manure— When and Where.— We do not believe it is 
even a good practice to apply manure exclusively to hoed crops, or upon 
plowed land. "We believe it would be found almost inconceivably better to 
apply it exclusively to grass lands, both mowing and pasture, and make 
them productive and capable of sustaining more animals, which would in- 
crease the production of manure, and then, by plowing under the enriched 
sod, any kind of grain or root crop would be produced at less expense per 
bushel than by the direct application of manujre, except it was of some of 
the concentrated sorts, such as guano, phosphate, pondrette, or well-rotted 
compost, used to hasten the first growth. "Whether this is a correct practice 
or not is the question that needs discussion and positive determination. It 
was discussed by some of the good farmers of the State of New York, at 
one of the meetings of the State Agricultural Society, with an almost 
universal opinion in favor of spreading upon the surface, and mostly upon 
sod. 

"We give a few of these opinions. In favor of top-dressing sod with ma- 
nure, and plowing it under, Mr. Merely, of Onondaga County ; T. C. Peters, 
of Darien, Genesee County ; Lewis F. Allen, of Black Rock ; Mr. Gold- 
smith, of Orange County ; Mr. Marks, of Onondaga County ; Mr. Leland, 
of Saratoga County ; Mr. "Williams, of Seneca County ; T. "W. Field, of 
Long Island ; George Geddes, of Onondaga ; Mr. Lyons, of Lewis County ; 
Mr. Huested, of Ulster County ; A. L. Fish, of Herkimer County ; Mr. 
Bartlett, of Dutchess County ; A. B. Conger, of Eockland County ; and the 
author, of "Westchester County. Mr. Lyons, of Lewis, has top-dressed 
meadows for fifteen years, without breaking up, with good results. Mr. 
Curtis, of Tompkins, said clover was the most economical manure for him. 
He seeds with rye, and uses plaster. Mr. Day, of Genesee County, is equally 
favorable to clover, but can not make it grow without manure. Judge 
Blodget, of Lewis County, finds ashes and plaster beneficial as top-dressing 
of grass lands, but thinks the most important thing is first to give the soil a 
good preparation by plowing. Mr. Sylvester, of "Wayne County, always 
plows in manure. A. B. Conger thinks the manner of applying manure 
depends entirely on what sort of a crop is to be grown. If it is a deep-rooted 
crop, ijie manure must be deep buried to produce the best result. Upon 
grass crops it is probable that top-dressing is the most beneficial. 

1002. Sundry Experiments in Surface Manuring.— Prof. Legnitz, of Elden, 
divided a lot into four equal parts. To No. 1 no manure was given. No. 2 
received about two tuns of farm-yard dung, which was spread immediately 
and covered in by means of the plow. No. 3 was treated in the same man- 
ner, with this difference, that the hoe was used instead of the plow. The 



Seo. 53.] LIQUID MANURE. 887 

same (quantity of dung was carried to No. 4, and allowed to remain spread 
three ;reeks on the soil before being covered in by the hoe. On the 10th of 
October, the four lots subjected to experiment were sown with about ninety- 
five pints of rye each. The following are the total results of the crops of 
each lot, grain and straw included : No. 1 produced 583 pounds ; No. 2 pro- 
duced 770 pounds ; No. 3 produced 818 pounds ; No. 4 produced 930 
pounds.' 

1003. Renovating Old Pastures by Top-dressing.— One of the best things 
that can be applied to a rocky pasture infested with bushes, briers, or weeds, 
is salt. Salt them every week while wet with rain or dew, and let the stock 
look to that source alone for a supply. Pests of the pasture, including 
grubs, can be. driven out with salt, while the grass will be improved. We 
doubt whether a pasture can be found that would not be so improved by a 
dressing of lime of from five to fifty bushels per acre, as to prove one of the 
most profitable investments that the owner could make. Plaster, at the rate 
of one half to two bushels an acre, may be applied to all old, rocky pastures. 
If any one doubts whether ashes would afford the most profit applied to a 
field of corn or a pasture lot, let him try the experiment fairly. A great 
many pastures have been grazed ever since the land was denuded of timber, 
and there is no lack of humus in the soil, but it is inert. Simple exposur& 
to the air, and consequent decomposition of the roots of the sod, would make 
the soil again productive, and this would be the cheapest as well as best 
application ; but where that can not be, applied, lime, plaster, ashes, salt, 
superphosphate, niter, guano, or some other fertilizer, will enable the owners 
to carry more stock, and we should like to find the farmer who would say 
that that was not profitable, Avhether he converted the grass into beef, 
mutton, milk, or manure for his hoed crops. 

1004. Liquid Manure. — I am satisfied that the correct method of treating 
all manure is to put it in solution in tanks at the barn, and send it to the 
field by steam power, just as has been repeatedly described as practiced by 
Mr. Mechi and others in England. Upon any farm, level or hilly, where the 
amount of team work to haul manure is largo enough to justify the first 
outlay, there is no doubt in my mind that steam power is the cheapest of 
any that can be used, and the time will come when carting manure will be 
looked upon as a very slovenly way of farming. It will be found far more 
economical to dissolve it where it is made, and send it to the field through 
pipes, by a stationary engine. The people that come after us jjill look back 
upon this age of the world as we do upon the dark ages of the past, and 
wonder how it is possible that we could have been so stupid as to cart 
manure with oxen and horses, when it would be so much better and cheaper 
done by dissolving it, and using steam. The best crops to which to apply 
liquid manure are grass, clover, and small grain, but it may be applied with 
advantage to all hoed crops. The same order may be advantageously pur- 
sued in applying any sort of farm manure. That is, to grass first, and make 
the sod manure the grain crops. Small farmers,- who can not send their 



888 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

liquid manure a-field by steam, may have a large cask or tank on wheels, 
with a sprinkler attached. A manure tank may be made just as we have 
directed for making cisterns. (333.) 

1005. Use Of Tan Bark as Manure. — Tan bark, when used as a manure, 
certainly produces very little etiect, but when used as a mulch and suffered 
to decay, leaves all the potash that its ashes would give, the value of which, 
as particularly applicable to young trees, no one will dispute. Fob straw- 
berries, we have never seen anything equal to tan bark. We would put it 
upon the beds in autumn, after forking up, and not remove it in the spring, 
except from the crown of the roots. In our opinion, not a bushel of tan bark 
should be allowed to go to waste, where there are farms within a mile or two 
of the tannery. Be sure that it will pay to cart it that distance to put around 
all fruit-trees, old or young, large or small, and iqjon all strawberry beds, 
because with it you can get good crops of this delicious fruit, upon almost 
any soil. 

1006. Manure is Gained by Soiling Cattle. — Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr., of 
Massachusetts, says : " Farmers do not generally seem to understand the 
importance of soiling cattle, on account of the great increase of manure ; 
nor do they seem to understand how much manure can be increased by the 
use of absorbents, or how great is the value of the manure of a single 
animal." Upon this point the testimony of Dr. Dana is important, who 
states that one cow will make twenty-one cords of manure, equal in value to 
the average of good stable manure, if all her solid and liquid excrements are 
saved and composted with muck. In soiling cows, Mr. Quincy says, " we 
calculate that a square rod will support a cow a day. Grass, oats, Indian 
corn, and barley are the plants we use for soiling. Early in April we sow 
oats at the rate of four bushels per acre. Our sowings are April 5th, April 
20th, and May 1st. "We sow corn May 1st, June 1st and 15th, three bushels 
per acre. We sow barley ten days apart till August 1st. Another advan- 
tage of soiling is the saving of land. An acre will support three cows 
daring the soiling season. It is almost impossible to calculate the value 
of manures, and how much corn can be saved by soiling cattle." 

In a discussion upon this subject, Mr. Stewart, of Erie County, N. Y., 
said : " I iind soiling not only beneficial to the animals, but to the land. One 
acre will do more in soiling than in pasturing, and the manure will more 
than pay all the expense ; and I find that cut straw, steamed, with a pint of 
meal to a busjjel, and fed three bushels a day to a cow, is better than timo- 
thy hay. I think soiling would doul)le the value of farms, and that farmers 
would realize three times as much profit as in the old way. I grow carrots 
and turnips for spring feed. I consider sowed corn the best plant for soiling 
of any that I have tried. Butter made from corn will keep as well as that 
made from the best pasture, and have as rich a color." Prof. Sprengel, the, 
celebrated German chemist, asserts that each cow produces annually 18,000 
pounds urine, which contains of solid matter 900 pounds. This solid matter 
is fully equal to the best guano, weight for weight, so that the liquid manure 



Sbo. 63.] ■ SPECIAL MANURES. 8Sy 

of every cow kept on a farm for one year is worth, when applied to the 
crops, more than $20 annually, and so in proportion to all the rest of the 
domestic animals. It may be said that in no other department of rural econ- 
omy does the American farmer lose so much by neglect, as in the manage- 
ment of solid and liquid manures. 

1007. Special Manures — Their Use Considered. — Dr. Anderson (Scotland) 
gives as a reason why special manures should be used, that the diminished 
production of a field is rarely in consequence of general exhaustion of all 
fertility, but because one or more necessary ingredients have been carried 
ofi" in the crops, or else were naturally deficient, and as plants can not grow 
without all their constituents are prtisent in the soil, the absence of one may 
render tlie land comparatively barren. " A soil in this condition does not 
absolutely require farm-yard manure, but may be again made to produce 
abundant crops by the application of the one deficient substance, which is 
then called a special manure. When so treated, a soil will retain this re- 
newed fertility for a certain time, l>ut at length becomes again infertile, even 
under a continued application of this manure, which is then said, in ordinary 
language, to have lost its effect (become ' guano sick'), although the real 
reason is that the supply of a second constituent has been exhausted, and it 
also must be supjjlied in the form of a new manure." 

Dr. Anderson thinks special manures should always be used in combina- 
tion with those of tlie farm-yard. " A given quantity of the latter can, of 
course, produce only a certain amount of crop ; but if mixed with a special 
manure, it is most rapidly converted into vegetable matter, and this is 
advantageous to the farmer. It may be urged that this is a matter of little 
moment, and that sooner or later the farmer receives back what he has put 
into the ground. But this is not the case ; during six months of the year, 
manure lying in the ground is undergoing decomposition, although there are 
no plants to make use of it, and the constituents then set free are in part, at 
least, washed away and lost. Even if none of it were lost, it would not be 
altogether a matter of indiflerence ; for, to take an extreme case by way of 
illustration, if we suppose a part of the manure to remain undecomposed 
for fourteen years after its application, it will, if only five per cent, interest 
on its price be reckoned, have cost the farmer twice as much as that which 
was consumed during the year of its application. Though I consider 
the use of special manures alone a most injudicious and shortsighted 
policy, which can rarely be employed with advantage, there is no question 
that their proper combination with farm-yard manure is really one of the 
most important improvements ever introduced into the practice of agricul- 
ture." 

This is knocking in the head the very thing that seems to be most depre- 
cated in this country — that is, using up the manure the first year of its appli- 
cation. The farmer forgets his interest account. It is, in fact, his interest 
to use up the manure in every crop it is applied to. His farm is simply a 
manufactory, where he takes in such crude materials as constitute manure. 



890 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

at a cheap rate, and converts them into saLible crops, that he sells at a dear 
rate, or a profit upon the manufacture. 

lOOS. Guano — its History. — Peruvian guano, wliich is tlie best, and the 
kind now generally used in this country, comes from the Chincha Islands, 
three in number, on the coast of Peru, between latitude 13^ and 1-4% in 
the bay of Pisco, about twelve miles from the coast, where rain never falls, 
and the air is always so dry that the juices of flesh evaporate so rapidly 
that meat can be preserved fresh, or dried without salt. 

The waters surrounding these islands are almost alive witli fish, upon 
which birds have fed and deposited their excrement upon the rocks for 
countless ages, which time has formed into a substance resembling yellow 
snuff, and almost as pungent as that article, and possessing the powei-s of 
fertilization to such an eminent degree, that two or three hundred pounds 
spread upon the poorest soil causes it to produce an abundant crop, even 
greater than a good dressing of farm-yard manure. 

The North Chincha Island, from whence the principal supply of guano 
has been drawn, is about one and one half mile long and half that in breadth, 
upon which the guano was piled up over the rocks, giving it a smooth, round 
appearance, and a depth in the center of two or three hundred feet. E.xca- 
vations have been made at one end, not by any means in the deepest part, a 
hundred and thirty feet deep, without finding bottom, to prove that the 
quality of the guano at that depth was equal to that near the surface. It is 
so compacted together that it has to be dug up with picks ; and notwith- 
standing the vast number of cargoes takeu away, the proportion the quantity 
removed bears to the quantity remaining may be guessed at, it can not be 
understood, when we state that actual surveys made by the Peruvian gov- 
ernment gave the sum of the deposit upon the three Chincha Islands at 
TWENTY MILLIONS OF TUNS. This quantity appears so enormous that many 
have doubted its correctness. A French engineer, said to have been em- 
ployed at a subsequent period by his government to ascertain the truth of 
this statement, has reported his estimate of the quantity at twelve million 
tuns. This amount still appearing too large for belief. Admiral Moresby 
caused a reconnoissance to be made, which the person who made it says was 
done in a very imperfect manner, very hurriedly, and without proper instru- 
ments, and in a measure secretly, and which gives the quantity at eight 
million six hundred thousand tuns. 

Now if we take the mean of the three estimates it will give upward of 
thirteen million five hundred thousand tuns, and the mean of the French 
and English estimates is ten million three hundred thousand tuns, besides the 
deposits upon the Lobos and other islands, which have been reported at eight 
and a half millions of tuns. This would give eighteen million eight hun- 
dred thousand tuns as the mean of the French and English estimates, which 
would give to the world the same rate of supply as at present during the 
next century. 

"Amencan Guano" is the name given to the product of Baker's Island, 



Seo. 53.] USE AND VALUE OF MUCK OR PEAT. 891 

and other islands in the Paciiic, much farther west tlian the Chinchas, and 
in a region subject to rains, which lessen the value of the deposit. It is 
nearly destitute of aniuionia, but rich in phos[)hates. 

1009. Value and Ecouoniy of Ising Guauo.— Although guano should not 
be exclusively depended upon, because it acts as a stimulant, and is mostly 
exhausted by one crop, yet upon all worn-out, sandy, or loamy soil the cul- 
tivator can afford to use No. 1 guano, at $70 a tun, at the rate of 200 lbs. 
per acre, well worked into the soil with small grain, if with that grain lie 
will sow clover seed, so that the growth of that will take up all that the 
grain does not of the fertilizing powers of the guano, and in its turn serve 
for a rich dressing of manure to the land, renovating it so as to produce 
other grain or root crops without further application of expensive fertilizers. 
The price of Peruvian guano has risen since it was first introduced and ex- 
tensively used in this country from about $45 to about $70 a tun, and at 
that some of our farmers fear its use is not economical. This depends 
whether he can grow a remunerative crop without purchasing some fertil- 
izer. If he can not, then it is probable that guano is as economical as any- 
thing in market, since many experiments prove that a dressing of 200 lbs. 
of Peruvian guano, upon grass and grain, has doubled the yield per acre. 
Its most profitable use is upon very poor land, to give it a start, so it will 
produce clover, which it will do upon an almost hopelessly barren soil. If 
its use is long continued, without other manures, the application becomes 
xmprofitable. "Where it has been most extensively and longest used in En- 
gland, the farmers say that the land has become " guano-sick." 

1010. How to Apply GuanOi — If we were applying guano to land for corn, 
potatoes, or any other crop, we should prefer to do it by sowing broadcast 
and lightly plowing in. If applied as a top-dressing — which is rarely ad- 
visable — always apply it, if possible, before rain, or when snow is on the 
ground ; and if on arable land, harrow, hoe, or scuffle immediately after. 

There is no benefit in mixing guano with anything, imless it be water, to 
be used for garden purposes. In that case it should be made a very weak 
solution, ov it will kill all it comes in contact with, whether seeds or plants. 

1011. TiJ au:t Value of Muck or Peat. — -We lay it down as an incontro- 
vertible fact, in all the Eastern States, that every farmer who has a muck- 
bed can double the value of all his other manure by the use of muck, over 
and above the expense of digging and hauling any reasonable distance. It 
shotdd not be applied fresh, but composted with stable, pig-pen, hen-roosts, 
and privy manures. It is a great deodorizer. Sometimes a mass of matter 
is found in the bottom of a pond or swamp, composed almost entirely of 
vegetable substance. Such will bear hauling a considerable distance. Where 
the deposit is very fibrous or peaty, it will be advisable to burn it and use 
the ashes. Occasionally a muck-bed is so largely composed of silt, the most 
of which is sand, that the deposit will not bear long transportation. It 
will, however, always prove beneficial where it is applied. Some deposits 
are so entirely composed of vegetable matter, that when dry they bum, and 



892 



FERTILIZATION. 



[Chap. XII. 



leave no more aslies than the same bulk of chips would. Such deposits 
are called peat, and are often used for fuel, and would be valuable to burn 
for ashes, which could then be hauled long distances with profit. All peaty 
substances have an antiseptic quality when wet, and a great deodorizing 
2)ower when dried and pulverized. Hence its value as an absorbent of aiii- 
moniacal gases arising from stables, sinks, and decaying vegetable and ani- 
mal matters. 

One of the benefits of peat in soils is disintegration, and another, darkening 
the color. It is believed that the acid of peats exerts a powerful decompos- 
ing power, and ultimately solvent effects upon minerals in the soil. It cer- 
tainly influences the temperature. Potatoes have been found ripe two 
weeks earlier in a peaty soil than in one of a light color. 

By analysis, dried peat has repeatedly shown a greater per cent, of ammo- 
nia than the best stable-yard manure, and when mixed with that in equal 
quantities, the mixture has proved more valuable than the manure in a pure 
state. These facts are sufficient to induce all farmers, as soon as they learn 
them, to add to the bulk and value of stable, and all other manures, when- 
ever they can have access to a muck deposit. Every one who will look at 
the following table of analysis of two samples of peat, such as are found in 
all parts of the country in swampy places, will see at a glance that such sub- 
stances must possess manurial value. 

1012. Analysis of Peat. — -This analysis was made by Professor Johnson, of 
Yale College, who says : " It doubtless gives a fair idea of the inorganic 
ingredients of the majoi'ity of the peats," in the State of Connecticut : 



Analysis of Peat Ashes. I. II. 

Potash 69 .80 

Soda 68 

Lime 40.62 35.59 

Magnesia 6.06 4.92 

Oxyd of iron find alumina. ... 5.17 9.08 

Phosplioric acid 50 .77 

Sulphuric acid 5.52 10.41 



Analysis of Peat Ashes, I. 

Chlorine 15 

Soluble siUca 8.23 

Carbonic acid 19.60 

Sand and charcoal 12. 11 



IL 

.43 

1.40 

22.48 

15.04 



99.13 100.74 



Another analysis of peat, suitable for fuel, is given below, mac'e by George 
F. Barker, of Charlestown, Mass., and is compared with Professor Voelcker's 
analysis of well-fermented farm-yard manure, composed of dung of horses, 
cows, and sheep : 



Peat. 
Water expelled at 212 degrees. 18.050 

Soluble in dilute solution 
of carbonate of soda — 

soluble geiue 27.190 

Soluble in solution of car- 
bonate of Boda 48.840 

o L , J 

Potash 041 

Soda 035 

Lime 2.431 

Magnesia 364 



Manure. 
75.420 



16.530 



.491 

.080 

1.990 

.138 



Peat. 

Oxyd of iron and alumina 310 

Phosphoric acid 030 

Sulphuric acid 331 

Chlorine 009 

Soluble silica 494 

Carbonic acid 1.175 

Sand and charcoal 700 



100.000 
Potential ammonia 2. 920 

Matters soluble in water 1.800 



Manure. 

.673 

.450 

.121 

.018 

1.678 

1.401 

1,010 

100.000 
.735 

5.180 



This analysis shows that peat contains five times as much organic matter, 
and four times as much potential ammonia as farm-yard manure ; and it con. 
tains more lime, magnesia, and sulphuric acid, but less phosphoric acid and 



Sbo. 53.] THINGS TO BE USED FOR MANUIiE. 693 

potash ; and taken altogether, it will be seen why they are so well fitted tor 
mixing together. Where not so mixed, bone dust and ashes, or phosphate 
and potash in some other form, should be used with the peat. It may 
happen that another deposit of peat would contain all the ingredients, and 
be actually more valuable than stable manure, as soon as it is decomposed. 
For heavy soils, peat or swamp muck should always be composted with 
strong fermenting substances, such as horse and hen droppings and animal 
matters. Some peats are so charged with iron that they are positively 
injurious to land until they have been long exposed to the air or mixed 
with some other substances. 

The best thing to decompose muck and fit it for convenient use in stables, 
is lime that has been slaked with water saturated with common salt. Ten 
bushels of this lime powder may be mixed with 100 bushels of muck. 
Where fish are used for manure, they should always be made up in a muck 
compost, until the whole mass becomes homogeneous. 

1013. Slixing Muck with Night Soil. — Poudrette and tafeu are names of 
manures sold in most of the cities, in barrels, at high rates, and much 
appreciated by farmers and market gardeners, to give vegetables an early 
start. Every farmer can make his own tafeu as well as buy it, for it is 
nothing but night soil and peat or muck in a fine dry powder, mixed with 
the excrementitious matters to absorb the moisture and deodorize the sub- 
stance, which is then thoroughly dried and packed for transportation. In 
the manufacture of tafeu, in a domestic way, one of the best divisors and 
deodorizers is charcoal dust. Fine clay or loam will answer every purpose, 
only requiring a greater bulk. Cinders of locomotives that burn wood are 
excellent. 

1014. Sea-Weed for Manure. — Upon all sea coasts, the fertility of the 
cultivated fields may be much increased by the use of what is called sea- 
weed, which consists of marine plants cast ashore or gathered from the 
rocks under water. The latter is called rock-weed, and makes a richer ma- 
nure than the variety cast up by the waves. Rock-weed is exceedingly 
gelatinous, and consequently valuable for manure. A good method of pre- 
serving all the properties of rock-weed is to spread the green plants upon 
the surface, and turn them deeply under by the plow. All sea-weed is used 
to the greatest advantage immediately after being taken from the sea-shore, 
in the freshest state possible, while perfectly saturated with salt water ; if 
that is permitted to drain from it, decomposition at once takes place, and the 
value is diminished. In the wet, green state it will add fertility to land 
already rich, and improve the poorest soil. 

1015. Tanuers' and Glue-Makers' Scraps for Manure.— One who Jias used 
them says : " When I first used tanners' scraps, I found they injured the 
crops. Now I consider a tun of them, properly decomposed by the aid of oil 
of vitriol, and composted with swamp muck, worth as much as three fourths 
of a tun of Peruvian^ guano. Tlie horns and piths are also very valuable, as 
they contain much phosphate of lime. Bone earth is so valuable, that if 



894 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 



applied to a lot covered with five-finger vines, it will renovate and make 
the field productive. Any way to decompose these tan-yard substances will 
make them very valuable, more so than any farm-yard manure." 

"We have used the waste of a glue manufactory with good results, applied 
directly to grass land, and also to oats. It consists of hair and scraps of 
flesh, mixed with lime. 

1016. Forest Leaves for Manurei — At the beginning of winter, every day 
not otherwise necessarily engaged can be profitably occupied in gathering 
leaves. There is no danger of getting too large a quantity ; they will be of 
service in many different ways, and prove of great value when decayed and 
united with the compost heap. There is no substance that can be used for 
mulcliing, or winter covering of plants, equal to the forest leaves, because 
they not only give protection, but in their decay, fertility to the soil. Leaves 
contain potasli and tannin, which make them valuable for covering straw- 
berry beds ; and for stable-bedding there is nothing better, and their vahio in 
manure will more than pay the cost of gathering. Every acre of woodland 
would afford a pretty fair dressing for an acre of corn land, if the leaves 
were gathered and composted. If used as litter in yards and stables they 
are worth saving, but not worth half as much as they would be in compost. 
The same thing may be said of straw and cornstalks. Suff'ered to decay in 
the open air, more than one half their value is lost. Buried in compost, 
all would be saved and become fine manure. 

1017. Turf Ashes for fflanurci — Neighbor A. had a piece of swamp ad- 
joining the land of neighbor B., which in draining afforded him a vast 
quantity of material to fertilize his upland. Seeing what A. had done, B. 
went so far with his part that he cut off the tussocks and piled them up as a 
line fence on the edge of A.'s open ditch that he had dug to carry off" the 
water of the tile-drams. By-and-by A. complained to B. that his fence was 
a nuisance, for it grew weed-seeds that blew over upon his tilled land. B. 
also acknowledged it was a nuisance, not in the growth of weeds, but that it 
was " of no account nohow as a fence." 

" Why not haul it away, then, and put it upon your corn or grass lots on 
the hill ?" said neighbor A. 

" Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't no faith in it." 

" Why, you buy ashes. Don't you think that such a mass of vegetable 
matter contains potash ?" 

" Well, I don't know. May-be it does ; but I guess it don't contain 
enough to pay for hauling. But as you like such stuff, I will tell you what it 
is : If you will haul it away, vou may have it in welcome — the whole string." 

"When shall I get it off?'"' 

" Oh, any time you like, between now and planting-time next spring." 

" Enough said. I'll do it." 

" Very well. No half-way work ; you must make a clean sweep of it ; 
take everj'thing off down to the surface." 

« I'll do it." 



Seo. 53.] POTASH AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ASHES. 895 

So tliey parted. B. bragged a little that he had hitched A. to the biggest 
load he ever undertook. " lie has no idea how many loads ho will have to 
pull up that hill. He won't do it, but I shall have the laugh at him when 
he gets about half of it off and backs down on the balance." 

Several times before autumn B. dropped a hint that he thought A. had 
better begin his big job. A. said it "wa'n't quite dry onoughyet." It got 
very dry, however, in September — dry as tinder, B. said. A. took a look 
at it, and he thought it " was dry enough." So, one hot, sunny day, he 
walked down with a few matches in his jiocket — handy things those matches, 
for with them he lighted the old tussock fence into a roasting Lot fire, that 
reduced the whole string in two days to a pile of biting strong ashes, which 
did not require a very great outlay of team-labor or hand-work to get up on 
the hill, where they made a mark that has not been eflPaced yet, and prob- 
ably will not be until after the owner has said to himself several times : 
" Why the deuce didn't I think about burning the useless old fence and 
haul the ashes on my own land ? You won't catch me in sucli a trap as 
that again." 

We wonder if there are not some other people in the world who may profit 
by this man's folly, and learn that dry tussocks will make ashes, and that 
ashes are good manure. 

lOlS. Wood Ashes for Manure.— No farmer in the old States can afford to 
sell ashes, for any price that the soap-boiler will pay. Where oats lodge, as 
they are apt to do upon manured land, an application of ashes would save 
the crop. Leached ashes are much used upon Long Island, but we doubt 
the economy of the application, as they cost about ten cents a bushel at 
Albany. When leached ashes have been exposed to the air a long time, they 
are more valuable than when first leached. Potash, the chief constituent of 
wood ashes, is a necessary element for most plants, not only as direct food, 
but as an agent for rendering silex and other constituents of the soil capable 
of being absorbed and appropriated in plant life. 

1019. Potash as a Substitute for Ashes.— Although we believe unleached 
ashes a cheap manure at twenty-five cents a bushel, we have no doubt that 
the same effect may be as cheaply produced by purchasing a crude kind of 
potash, sucli as comes from the Syracuse salt works, and has usually cost 
fifty dollars or sixty dollars a tun. If potash is used, it must be in powder, 
mixed with dry muck, coal dust, or fine loam, as a divisor. Concentrated 
manures generally contain very little or no potash. In guano it rarely ex- 
ceeds three per cent. Superphosphate of lime can contain none of conse- 
quence. Potash can not be economically added to manufactured manures, 
because nearly pure potash, or even the raw material from which it is 
made, can be more economically used separately. K any manufacturer 
of manure says it contains much potash, you may ask how he can afford to 
use it. 

1020. Coal Ashes as a Manure. — "Are coal ashes of any benefit as a manure ?" 
The Genesee Farmer says: "That coal ashes are of some benefit, there 



896 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 



can be no doubt. Numerous analyses of tbem liave been made. We have 
now before us analyses of ashes from different kinds of coal. They vary 
considerably in composition, but on an average contain about 45 per cent, of 
silica, 40 of alumina and oxyd of iron, 12 of sulphate of lime or plaster, 2 of 
iiianiiosia, and 1 of phosphoric acid. Commercially, coal ashes have no 
value as a manure, but to every farmer are worth something, and ought not 
to be thrown away. It is said they are good as a top-dressing for lucern 
and red clover. They are frequently mixed with night soil for the purpose 
of absorbing unpleasant odors. They are often employed in the garden, 
more for the purpose of forming walks and preventing the ravages of mice, 
than as a manure. Covering early-sown peas with coal ashes is said to for- 
ward their growth, as they tend to absorb the rays of heat." 

1021. Value of Soot as Manure. — Soot is worth nearly as much as guano. 
Try it upon the grass plot, the flower bed, the melon patch, the grapevines, 
or any other plants. Mixed with water, and sprinkled upon vines, it will 
aid in keeping off bugs ; spread dry upon the surface, it absorbs heat and 
hastens growth. Upon flowers it adds beauty to their colors as well as 
strength to the plants. Farmers, sweep your chimneys and save the soot, 
and you will save a very valuable manure. 

1022. Magnesia as a Fertilizer. — Magnesia is found abundant in the mud 
of the Nile, which is very fertile ; and in some of the richest marls that have 
been analyzed, it was found in quantity suflicient to destroy instead of im- 
pi'ove soils, if it had been as deleterious as some suppose. The salts of mag- 
nesia may be employed, as the salts of lime, for fixing ammonia, but in that 
case the profit of its application will depend upon its cost. In one reported 
experiment, the phosphates of magnesia and ammonia, when applied at the 
rate of one hundred and thirty to two hundred and sixty pounds'per acre, 
had a powerful effect upon the production of Indian corn ; at the rate of 
three hundred pounds per acre, it increased the crop of grain six times, and 
of straw three times. 

1023. Tlieory of A!niosp!ieric Fertilization. — "Whether the nitrogen which 
exists in the air, forming seventy-nine hundredths of its mass, supplies the 
nitrogen essential to vegetation, or whether this element is obtained, during 
growth, from salts in the earth, or from volatile nitrogenous compounds in 
the air, has never yet been satisfactoi'ily determined, and until it is, our 
advice is : Look well to your manure heap ; enlarge it as much as possible, by 
adding to it all the coarse straw, stalks, and offal about your buildings. You 
may also enlarge the pile, and add to the value of your store, by gathering 
weed.*, or sods, or road-washings and muck. Sprinkle the heap occasionally 
" ith plaster, but never add lime. Slops of the house and soap-suds will add 

to fertility and hasten decomposition, and prove far more reliable than any 
dependence upon the atmosphere. 

1024. Phosphorus as a Fertilizer. — Phosphorus is found in all animals, 
combined with a particular organic substance in the brain, the spinal mar- 
row, the spermatic fluid, and in the milt of fishes, and certain mollusca, and 



Seo. 53.] GREEN SAND— FISH-GDANO. 897 

also in all vegetables. It exists in combination with oxygen in all rocks, in 
all soils, and in the flesh and bones of all animals, and their secretions. 
Some of tlic fossil excrements of extinct animals are of great value as fer- 
tilizers. Tiic apatite rock of Estramadura, in Spain, contains eighty-one 
per cent, of phosphate of lime, and is so abundant that it is used as a building 
material. In the United States, mineral phosphates are found in many 
localities, particularly in Morris County, New Jersey, and at Crown Point, in 
the State of New York. The mineral was crushed and sold in our markets 
as a fertilizer, but it has gone out of use, because it was found that the plios- 
phorus of bones was, in a progressed form, of an almost inconceivably 
greater value than that in its native condition in the rocks. 

1025. How to Detect Adulterations of Superphosphates. — The superphos- 
phate of lime, from its comparatively high value, leads to adulteration. 
"Water is added to increase the weight; earths, chalks, lime, old plaster, and 
oyster-shells are sometimes mixed in a manner to deceive the eye. Some 
of these substances may be detected with the aid of a magnifier, by acids, or 
by simple M-ashing with water and examining the residue after decanting. 
If old plaster is suspected, the hair will be seen ; if oyster-shells or chalk, the 
effervescence and particles of shells will furnish indications which will lead 
to closer scrutiny. The sulphate of barytes, or sulphate of lime, increases 
the weight of the mixture, and the former, particularly when thrown into a 
tumbler of water, will fall to the bottom more rapidly than the superphos- 
phate. 

1026. Green-Sand-Marl Mauurei — This valuable manure abounds in New 
Jersey, and is one of the best things ever applied to a light sandy soil. Its 
appearance is not unlike common musket gungowder, except instead of the 
grains being black, they are of a greenish color. The application of niter to 
grass, and potash to woody plants, has shown tliat both, in their place, are 
of almost inconceivable value to farmers, but not more so than green-sand- 
marl, which contains an appreciable quantity of potash. 

1027. Norwegian Fish-Guano Manure.— In the year 1855 a company in 
Norway was organized with a capital of $100,000, to render available the 
great massof refuse hitherto tlirown away in the preparation of codfish at 
the Loffoden Islands, about 300 miles north of Christiania, where enough of 
this refuse is thrown away to make 2,500 tons of fish-guano annually. In 
comparison with good Peruvian guano, this new guano proved to be as fol- 
lows: Upon cereals, one pound of fish-guano was found, in twenty -five 
experiments, to produce an average increase of 9.1 pounds, while Peruvian 
guano produced, in an average of twenty-three experiments, an increase of 
G.3 pounds. Upon root crops, one pound of fish-guano was found, in an 
average of seventeen experiments, to produce an increase of 15.6 pounds, 
while one ponnd of Peruvian guano, in an average of the same number of 
experiments, was found to give 17.3 pounds of increase. The whole of the 
experiments showed that the fish-guano was very nearly equal to tlio best 
Peruvian guano, weight for weight. 

67 



898 FEPwTILIZATION. [Chap. XH. 

1028. American Fish-Guano. — Two companies, similar to the above, are 
in operation in tliis country, one in the State of Rhode Island, and the other 
on the south side of Long Island. They make iisli-oil of the scup or porgies, 
and the' menhaden, caught so plentifully along the coast. The very consider- 
able residue after the extraction of the oil, composed of the skin, bones, and 
muscle of tlio fish, is dried and ground into a powder, which bears a close 
resemblance to the imported guano, and is sold at about forty dollars per 
tun. This manufacture might be widely extended if these companies would 
take the trouble to introduce their article to the notice of farmers generally. 

1029. Ilow Much Manure Should we Use? — We answer: Just as much as 
can be converted into paying crops. Take five acres in corn : 

No. 1 with $10 worth of manure, 40 bushels, worth 75c $30 00 

No. 2 " 20 " " 55 " " " 4125 

No. 3 " 30 " " 69 " " " 51 75 

No. 4 " 40 " " 83 " " " 62 25 

No. 5 " 50 " " 97 " " " 72 75 

Let us now suppose that the rent of soil, taxes, cost of cultivation, will 

cost $15 per acre, so that with No. 1 the cost of manure and other expenses 

would be 825, leaving a profit of $5, besides the value of the stalks, which 

will range throughout in a fair ratio with the yield of corn — then the profit 

would stand thus : Ko. 1, $5 ; No. 2, $6 25 ; No. 3, $6 75 ; No. 4, $7 25 ; 

No. 5, $7 75. The second year, without any additional manure, 

No. 1 would yield 30 bushels, worth 822 50 profit $7 50 

No. 2 " "45 " " 33 75 " 18 75 

No. 3 " "69 " " 44 25 " 29 25 

No. 4 " "73 " " 64 75 " 39 75 

No. 5 " "87 " " 65 25 " 50 25 

The true science of manuring is to convert the manure at a profit into 
salable products. If the lafid will produce, say a profit of $20 an acre 
upon the labor employed, without manure, and with the same labor it will 
produce a profit of $40 an acre over the cost of manuring, then it is cer- 
tainly much moi-e profitable to buy and apply the manure, whether guano 
or any other suitable substance, than it is to work without manure. 

1030. Manuring with Green Crops aud Lime— Green crops plowed under are 
powerful auxiliaries in rendering a light soil fertile. But if this is done too 
often successively, it eventually renders the soil too carbonaceous — i. e., too 
full of vegetable matter. This must be corrected by the application of lime. 
Some farmers complain that they do not get a suflicient increase of grain to 
pay for the use of guano. They would get the full value of the guano if 
they would always sow clover seed on the grain, so as to have a crop of 
clover to turn under as manure. Land that is kept rich by green croj) ma- 
nuring never gets as full of weeds as it does from stable manure. The 
manure made from one tun of clover hay is worth as much as that made 
from a tun and a half of timothy or meadow hay. There is no doubt on this 
point; and it is one reason why we urge the importance of an increased 
growth of clover as a means of enriching the soil. If the manure obtained 
from the consumption of a tun of meadow hay is worth $6 43, that made 



Seo. 53.) HOW TO INCREASE MANURE- VALUE. 899 

fi-om a tun of clover liaj is worth $9 64, or half as mxich again— and this is 
true everywhere. 

1031. Value of Iflanure Depends upoa Fineness.— All costly fertilizers 
should be examined in regard to their fineness. If properly prepared, tliey 
are nearly in the state of impalpable j^owder. To prove this, pass a small 
sample through a fine sieve. This extreme fineness is the principal secret of 
the immediate benefit derived from guano. It has been stated that two 
bushels of bone-dust were worth more for immediate use than one hundred 
bushels of whole bones. Leather shavings, woolen rags, hair, oil-cake, and 
similar substances, arc valuable manures, because they contain a large per- 
centage of potential ammonia, perhaps equally as large as the best samples 
of guano, yet their action is much slower. In all manures which contain 
potash, it is in such a mechanical condition that it is much more readily 
absorbed by plants than the native potash of rocks ; and this is true of nearly 
every other mineral substance. 

1032. Value of Shelter for Manure> — In England, Lord lunnard made a 
variety of experiments proving the value of protecting manure from the 
weather. Twenty acres of rich, dry loam were selected, one half of wliich 
was manured with manure which had been housed, and the other half with 
that which had been exposed, at the rate of twenty loads to each acre. The 
whole was plowed and planted to potatoes, each part receiving the same 
treatment. Here is the result : Ukhoused Manuke. — One acre produced 7 
tuns, 6 cwt., and 8 lbs. ; another acre, 7 tuns, 18 cwt., and 99 lbs. Housed 
Manl'ke. — One acre produced 11 tuns, 17 cwt., and 56 lbs. ; another acre, 11 
tuns, 12 cwt., and 20 lbs. Difl'erence in favor of housed manure about 60 per 
cent. The field was then sown with wheat, and dressed in the spring with 
300 lbs. of guano per acre, and yielded upon two acres, treated with unhoused 
manure, 8-1 bushels of grain and 6,86i lbs. of straw. The other part, two 
acres, gave 109 bushels of grain and 9,482 lbs. of straw. On the first part 
the wheat weighed 61 1 lbs. per bushel, and on the other, 66 lbs. 

1033. Immense Value of Manures Tsed in England. — The value of manure 
annually used in England is estimated, from statistics carefully collected, at 
the enormous sum of $300,000,000. In making this calculation, all the 
home-made manures are j^ut down at their commercial value, and all the im- 
ported bones, guanos, and other fertilizers, at the prices paid for them by 
tlie farmers. Is such high manuring profitable ? That is the test question. 
It is the one that has governed English farmers — no other would be sufficient 
to cause them to use such an immense sum annually in manures. It is simply 
a commercial operation, based upon this question : " How much manure is 
my manufactory (the farm) capable of working up this year ?" 

1034. Value of Particular Manures on TVlieat. — The following table shows 
the result of experiments made by Dr. Voelcker, at Cirencester, England, 
with fertilizers for wheat. The manures were all in fine powder, mixed 
with ten times tiieir weight of soil, sown broadcast upon the growing crop 
March 22, and washed in evenly by a gentle rain. 



900 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XIL 

No. of Manures used, and Quantity Yield of Wheal Yield of Straw Increase of Wheat Inc of Straw 

Plots. per acre. per acre in bus. per acre in lbs. over unman'd plot overunma. do 

1 No manure 27 1,984 bus. . . lbs. 

2 280 lbs. Peruvian guano 40 1-10 2,676 13 1-10 SO' 

3 195 lbs. nitrate of soda 38 2,696 11 .'.,[ 712 

4 180 lbs. nitrate of soda and 168 i ^n c m\ o -oc 10 o ,r> ,,1 

lbs common salt [40 6-10 .... 2,/36 .... 13 6-10 .... 752 

5 448 lbs. Proctor's wheat manure. 39 J .... 2,668 .... 12J 684 

6 6721bs. " " " .44 1-5 .... 3,032 .... 17'1.5 .'..'. 1,048 

7 4 tuns clfilk-marl 27 1,872 None 112deo. 

The manures cost $7 80 per acre, except the large dose of Proctor's wheat 
manure on plot 6, which cost $11 70. 

The wheat was worth $1 26 per bushel. Leaving the value of the straw 
out of the question, the profit from the use of the top-dressing was : With 
guano, $8 70 per acre ; with nitrate of soda, $6 per acre ; with nitrate of 
soda and salt, $9 33 per acre; with 448 lbs. wheat manure, §7 95 per acre ; 
with 672 lbs. wheat manure, $13 87 per acre. 

Taking the first four lots, wliere the same amount of money was expended 
on each lot for manure, the nitrate of soda and salt give the best result, 
guano next, the wheat manure next, and the nitrate of soda alone, the 
least. The extra heavy dose of wheat manure gave the largest profits, 
although the increase is not quite in proportion to the amount of ma- 
nure ; that is to say, the extra 224 pounds on plot 6 gave an increase of 
about five bushels, while the 448 pounds on plot 5 gave an increase of 12i 
Vmshels. The cost of producing an extra bushel of wheat was : "With gu- 
ano, 60 cents; with nitrate of soda, 71 cents; with nitrate of soda and salt, 
57 cents ; with 448 pounds wheat manure, 62 cents ; with 672 pounds wheat 
manure, 45 cents. 

In these calculations we have allowed nothing for any efiect which the 
manures may produce on the next year's crop. As a general rule, the efi'ect 
of such manure the following year is very slight, especially if the land is 
sown with any of the cereals. On clover, the mineral manure left in the 
soil sometimes proves beneficial. This is in accordance with theory, and 
agrees witli the experience of farmers who use guano on the poor soils in 
Maryland and Virginia. 

1035. Value of Particular Manures on OatSi— Joseph Harris, editor of the 
Genesee Farmer^ Rochester, N. Y., sowed oats May 20, on clover sod, and 
May 26, just as they were coming up, top-dressed the land with the follow- 
ing manures per acre : No. 1, no manure ; No. 2, 600 lbs. of plaster ; No. 3, 
300 lbs. superphosphate of lime ; No. 4, 300 lbs. sulphate of ammonia ; 
No. 5, 300 lbs. superphosphate of lime and 300 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia. 
The result was as follows : 





Straw per acre. 


GralD 


per acre. 


Bus. 


per acre. 


Weight per bus. 


Total straw & grain. 


No. 1. 


..1,958 lbs. . 




792 . 




36 .. 


.... 22 . . . . 


.... 2,750 


No. 2. 


..2,475 " . 




1,225 . 




47 .. 


.... 26 .... 


. . . . 3,700 


No, 3. 


..2,475 " . 




1,050 . 




50 . 


.... 21 .... 


. . . . 3,525 


No. 4. 


..2,750 " . 




1,100 . 




50 .. 


.... 22 . . . . 


. . . . 3,860 


No. 5. 


..2,575 " . 




1,150 . 




51 .. 


.... 22i .... 


. . . . 3,725 



The most striking result is the eflfect of plaster (gypsum or sulphate of 



Sec. 53.] TEE USE OF SALT AS A FERTILIZER. 901 



lime) on the quality of the grain. The oats on all the plots, owing to the 
late seeding, were very light, but where the plaster was used, they were 4 lbs. 
per bushel heavier than on the unnianured land. In addition to this, therf 
was an increase of 11 bushels of oats and 950 lbs. of straw per acre from tlie 
use of plaster. Mr. Harris has since obtained a similar result by the use of 
plaster on Chinese cane. 

103G. The Use of Salt as a Fertilizer.— Salt has long been used in En- 
land, with most beneficial results, applied in all quantities, from three to 
twenty bushels per acre. An article before us, from an English farmer, says 
he applies it as a top-dressing to all his grain crops by sowing it broadcast in 
April or May, at the rate of four bushels per acre, taking care to do it after 
sunset. He has found this application an excellent remedy for the grub and 
wire-worm. He gets a much heavier crop of wheat from the salted than the 
unsalted soil, and finds that he not only obtained a bolder, brighter, and 
heavier sample, but the crop is entirely free from rnst, blight, and smut in 
that portion of his farm where salt has been used, at the rate of from seven 
to ten busliels per acre, sown broadcast as long before the planting as cir- 
cumstances will permit, in order that the salt may in tlie different workings 
of tlie land get thoroughly incorporated with the soil, and he finds that 
grubs and wire-worms avoid land treated in this way. 

A correspondent of the Maine Farmer gives the following experiments 
in the use of salt. He says he put on six bushels to the acre, and harrowed 
it in before sowing his grain and grass seed. " That is the very secret why 
I get so much hay. I have used salt many years on corn, putting it on the 
hill before hoeing, as we do ashes. Upon one piece, I put ashes on one third, 
on one third, plaster, and on the other third, salt, and the salted portion was 
decidedly the best. I broke up two thirds of an acre of poor land, and not 
having any common stable manure to put on it, I sowed, after harrowing 
over once, eight bushels of salt, and harrowed it in and planted potatoes and 
peas. They came up as strong and grew as rank as they would have done 
had there been a heavy coat of dressing plowed in." There is one peculiar 
feature in the effects of salt when put into the ground — it serves to make 
the ground very light and mellow. 

Tlie following are opinions of Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, upon 
the use of salt. The constituents of salt are chlorine and sodium, which are 
ingredients of all cultivated plants. The use of salt has often doubled the 
amount of a crop. The growth of sugar plants and tobacco is much in- 
creased by it, though it is said to injure the quality of tobacco. Asparagus 
will bear a large dressing of salt. Root crops are also benefited by it. It 
makes tlie straw of grain stronger, and is beneficial to all crops in drouth. 
One of the benefits of salt is to make inert potash and ammonia existing in 
the soil available to growing plants. 

In our own practice, we have used salt with decided success upon a loamy 
soil, in a gneiss rock formation, not many miles inland. It was highly 
beneficial in restoring vigor to old grass sod, and was apparently very bene- 



902 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 



ficial to all farm and garden crops, except the cucurhita family. To that, 
Bait is injurious. 

1037. Chandters' Greaves and Value of Uair for Manure— Analysis proves 
that chandlers' greaves are valuable manure, as it shows that they contain 
thirteen per cent, of ammonia, or — what is the same thing practically — 
nitrogen enough to yield that amount of ammonia to the soil. The best way 
to employ them would probably be to break fine, soak in cold water, and 
spread them in a compost heap. Their value may be calculated upon the 
cost by estimating the ammonia they would yield at 14 cents a pound ; that 
is, 13 per cent. 260 lbs., 14 cents, a lb., §36 40, besides other ingredients. 
In addition to this value, they may be fed to pigs and poultry, without 
lessening their worth for manure, while they are frequently worth all they 
cost for feeding purposes. It is proper to observe that the flesh of poultry, 
and also the eggs, while fed upon greaves, have a rank, unpleasant flavor. 
Their great value is for manure, and for this purpose English farmers have 
bought up great quantities in New York. In the autumn of 1SC2, their 
orders kept the market quite bare, though, owing to the receipt of 50,000 
hogs a week, and 5,000 bullocks and 10,000 sheep, the quantity manufac- 
tured was larger than ever before. The average price Avas $25 a tun, at 
which they are cheap manure. Of the value of hair for manure, we can 
say that we have used a good many loads of the refuse of a glue manufac- 
tory, composed mostly of hair, and found it a most valuable manure. A 
farmer inquires : " What is the best manure for celery ?" We answer, hair ; 
it surpasses all other fertilizers. The waste of farriers, cloth-dressers, glue- 
makers, tanners, and all other trades, where hair or wool forms the bulk of 
the waste, is worth ten times as much as stable manure. The sweepings 
of New York barber shops have been found very valuable, and in our opin- 
ion there is no substance saved upon the farm for manure, that would pay 
so great a profit upon the labor, as in preserving all the hair combed from 
live animals, or scraped from dead ones, feathers included. It is worth an 
average of six to ten cents a pound for manure. 

1038. fau Worn-out Lands be Restored ?— We answer. Yes, certainly ; but 
not by the common prescription of " rest:" that is, to be thrown out of cul- 
tivation, as tliey always are at the South, and as they frequently are at the 
North. By no rest, such as land gets when allowed to grow up in old field 
pines and sedge grass; or in sumac bushes, mullens, and briers, will it ever be 
restored. It may be by continued cultivation, deep plowing, proper manur- 
ing, and growing clover. That is the way to rest and restore worn-out 
lands. Some fields are called worn-out, and are really unproductive, though 
lacking a single ingredient of fertility. If worn out so that wheat fails, add 
bone-dust ; if exhausted of potash, you can not grow plants that contain a 
large amount of that salt, until you restore potash to the soil by an applica- 
tion of some fertilizer in which it exists. Think, if there is no lime you can 
not grow the cereals until you give lime to the soil. If your land is deficient 
m chlorid of sodium, as almost all the old fields of New England are, think 



Seo. 03.1 THE USE OF WATER AS A FERTILIZER. 903 



how easy to restore it by a dressing of common salt. Think, that whatever 
the condition of the surface, the productiveness of the hind depends greatly 
on the nature of the subsoil. If that is cold, wet, and poor, all efforts to 
improve the soil will be labor in vain, unless recourse is lirst had to under- 
draining. And finally, let it be your constant thought, that nearly all 
lauds naturally fertile soon lose their fertility by growing successive grain 
crops on them, unless the organic elements abstracted by the crops are again 
restored to the soil in the shape of manures. 

1039. Water as Manure— the Worth of Water #— "Without water all manure 
is worthless. "With it in abundance, crops can be grown almost without 
manure. There is fertility in the water of the clearest stream. "Who can 
calculate the worth of water? "Who knows, or even thinks, what a well of 
water is worth? "Who can tell the value of a spring? Can any one count 
in dollars the worth of a tiny brook that trickles down through a farm? 
The little brook where the horses, oxen, cows, and sheep go for their daily 
drink — for water that they can not live without ; where the swine go in 
summer to cool their fat sides ; where the old goose leads her young brood 
to teach them that water is a necessity of their life ; where the old ducks 
and the young ones sail up and down, enjoying a listless life of nothing 
else to do; where even the old dog, as he runs over the fields, stops to 
quench his thirst and cool his panting tongue. Down at the brook ! Ah, 
yes ! down at the brook 1 "What a charm in that word ! and it speaks of the 
worth of water — a substance that no one can live without ; a thing that 
if it does not naturally exist convenient to the house, the farm, the farm- 
yard, the field, should be made so artificially. "Who can tell the worth of 
water for irrigation ? It can hardly be computed. If no water came from 
the clouds or the atmosphere, in rain or dew, what would our crops be 
worth? Look! how everything is parched up even in a little drouth of a 
few weeks. And oh, how man and beast sufier if for a single day deprived 
of water ! Think of it, farmers, and dig wells, build cisterns, make reser- 
voirs, that all may have an abundance of water. Above all other things, 
furnish your household with plenty of soft water, and you will have some- 
thing every wash-day to show the worth of such an abundant thing in nature 
as water. You will have, what you should always save, the soap-suds for 
manure. I wish you could see, as I do from the desk where I now write, 
the enormous growth of a grapevine made the present summer (1862) by 
the use of soap-suds. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IRRIGATION-DRAINING-PLOWING. 

PLOWS AND OTHEE FAEMINO TOOLS. 

SECTION LIV.-IRRIGATION AND TILE DRAINING. 

I E iiold the following to be well-demonstrated agricul- 
tural truths : 

First : That where land is worth $50 or more per 
acre, it is cheaper to drain wet land than to pur- 
chase a greater area. 

Seco7ul: That such land musi be drained before it 
can be cultivated with true economy. 

Third : That one half, if not three fourths, of the 
arable land of the Eastern and Middle States would 
be improved enough to pay for drainage. 

Irrigation is also a new art in American agricul- 
ture, but it is one that America can no longer afford 
to ignore — it should go band in hand with drain- 
age ; a'nd American farmers should read what it has 
already done for other countries, and think what it may do for this. With- 
out irrigation, portions of Mexico would be almost uninhabitable; and in 
California it is of immense value, though the means employed are very rude. 
No country on earth, perhaps, was ever so favorably situated for irrigation 
as the northern portion of the United States. Notwithstanding the gen- 
erally hilly surface, there are thousands of springs and rills that only need 
to be led by natural descents into artificial channels ; and where streams do 
not exist, a M-indmill can be made to pump up water from a lower level to 
a reservoir on the hill, to be let down when required for the use of growing 
crops. Yet the matter is scarcely ever thought of, and no laws or system 
have ever been adopted to promote the improvement. 

1040. Irrigation— its Practice and Value iu Italy.— In Lombardy, irriga- 
tion has been in vogue for seven hundred years, and as may be observed in 
the spread of particular manufactures where once planted, so of irrigation, 
it has continued to spread over all the land capable of being brought under 
the system. "Whole fields have been graded, as we cut down and fill up the 
imeven surface of a city plot, to bring the land under the level of the 
canals and ditches. The title of all running streams in the Lombardo- Vene- 
tian kingdom has been reserved in the government, so as to prevent any 
individual monopoly of this necessity in all agricultural pursuits of that 




Sec. 54.] THE PRACTICE IN ITALY. 905 



countrj. The riglit to use the •water of streams for purposes of irrigation is 
let out to individuals under certain restrictions, and tho interest of the 
several parties likely to be affected is adjusted by a highly educated class 
of hydraulic engineers, no one of whom is allowed to assume the duties or 
practice the profession unless he is a regular graduate of the University of 
Turin. There is a government corps of engineers, and those who practice 
tlie profession on private account. It requires the highest degree of skill to 
construct the interminable system of canals in Lombardy, and to gauge all 
their capacity so as not to waste a gallon of water, and yet give each tract of 
land the exact supply stipulated foi*. Canals are often formed by landed pro- 
prietors without any immediate prospect of benefit ; they look to the ultimate 
advantages, and if they can by that means save their land from deteriora- 
tion without getting back tho first cost, they consider the outlay a profitable 
one. By the use of water, the capacity of the land to carry an increased 
number of cattle is almost inconceivable. It is estimated that tlie triangle 
included between Milan, Lodi, and Pavia, the sides of which are about 
twenty miles, contains 100,000 horned cattle, and as many swine, and one 
fourth of that number of horses. By the careful saving of animal ma- 
nures, and all the iafev, made by a large population, the soil is kept in high 
condition. 

The profits of irrigation may be seen by the following statement : Signor 
Berna made careful measurements upon land of an average quality, and 
found the yield of grass per acre as follows : First cutting in Februar}', 8i 
cwt. ; second cutting in March and April, 126 cwt. ; third cutting in April 
and May, 131i cwt. ; fourth cutting in May to July, 73^ cwt. ; fifth cutting 
from July to September 15, 63 cwt. Total, 477f cwt., or nearly 24 tuns. 

In the vicinity of Milan, where it is probable they enjoy the advantage 
of sewerage water, the marcite meadows yield fully twice this quantity. 
The grass is cut for soiling in November, January, March, and April ; and 
in June, July, and August for hay ; while the pasturage in autuinn is rich 
and abundant. The gross average produce of an acre of winter meadow is 
estimated at $75, when the grass is consumed by dairy stock. Summer 
meadows are watered with three waterings a month from March to Septem- 
ber, to the amount of about forty-two inches over the surface. These mead- 
ows average something over three and a half tons of hay per acre. After 
the land has been three years in meadow it is planted three years in rice, 
and averages fifty-one bushels of paddy, or eighteen bushels of cleaned rice 
per acre. The soil is reduced to mud, and the rice sown from March to 
May, and kept under water until the plant blooms in July. After that it is 
irrigated occasionally, and harvested in the latter part of September. The 
rice crop is followed by Indian corn two years, and that by wheat one year, 
and then it goes down to grass again. 

Indian corn requires the smallest amount of water of any crop. Tliat 
corresponds witli the experience of this country, yet it often happens that 
a single watering would double the profit. It is usually watered in Lom- 



906 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

bardy ouce a month for six months, and yields about fifty bushels to au acre. 
The water sufficient for Indian corn costs about 75 cents or 80 cents an acre, 
and owing to the dry, calcareous soils of Italy, which are ill calculated to 
produce grass or Indian corn, and with the wretched plows that are com- 
mon, and the bad system of tillage, the population of the irrigated districts 
would starve if they were cut off from the usual supply of water. 

1011. Irrigatiou in riedmoiiti — In Piedmont two tliirds of the land before 
it was irrigated was nearly barren. Now it yields fine grain crops. The 
marcite fields, or winter meadows, are highly manured, and then supplied 
with an enormous quantity of water, the purer the better ; that from springs 
being preferred. These fields are continually flooded from the 8th of Sep- 
tember to the 25th of March with one cubic foot per second, or 390 tuns of 
water daily, for three acres of marcite. The average cost of water for a 
winter meadow is $5 per acre. Tlie extent of irrigated land in the valley 
of the Po, Piedmont, and Lombardy is not lees than 1,600,000 acres. The 
great volume of the water is applied to the fields in grass and rice ; corn, 
fiax, and wheat do not require as much. The water comes principally from 
the melting snow of the Alps, so that it can not be said to contain any 
special fertilizing quality. The great source of fertility comes from the in- 
creased number of domestic animals that can be kept upon the land, and 
also that the water fits their manure for the immediate use of the plants, so 
that nothing is lost. "What has been done by irrigation in Italy may be 
more fully learned by studying a work published in England upon the sub- 
ject, by R. Baird Smith, captain Bengal Engineers; and what has been 
done there may be done here; that is, millions of sterile or very un- 
profitably cultivated acres may be made to produce most luxuriant crops 
by simply furnishing the growing plants with a supply of pure water, to say 
nothing of the advantage of water from some of our rich muddy streams, or 
from the sewerage of cities, or wasted liquids of stables and farm yards. 

Piedmont appears to have the oldest system of irrigation, reaching back 
to the fourteenth centuiy. Both government and individual enterprise have 
been brought to bear upon the creation of the system. One canal, that of 
Caluso, on the Orca River, begun in 1556, and completed in four years, 
owned by the state, is a work of great magnitude, 20 miles in length, 
with expensive tunnels, numerous bridges, aqueducts, and expensive works 
of masonry, which cost $8,500 per mile, occupies 54 acres of land, and 
carries 306 cubic feet of water per second, watering 15,000 acres of land. 
The canal of Dora, 8 miles long, yields 70 cubic inches of water per second, 
and waters 500 acres of meadow, at a charge to those who use the water of 
about fifty cents an acre. The canal of Fiano, 10 miles long, gives 48 
cubic feet of water per second, and waters 950 acres. Another, 5 miles 
long, with 12 feet per second, waters 200 acres. The canal of Sori is 44j 
miles long, and carries 700 cubic feet per second, and watei-s 30,000 acres, 
which is at the rate of 42| acres per cubic foot per second, the rice lands 
requiring double as much water as other lands. The charge for water is on 



Sec. 54.] THE PliACTICE IN" FRANCE, BELGIUM, ETC. 907 

the average about $1 80 per acre for a cubic foot of water per second. The 
canal of Cigliaiio is 20 ihilcs long, with a branch 10 miles long and 15 to 26 
feet broad, 4 feet deep, and carries 650 cubic feet of water per Becond, and 
waters 32,500 acres, eijual to 50 acres per cubic foot. The price is §1 80 
per acre for dry land, and double that and over for rice land. This canal is 
crossed by 50 bridges, and has 13 aqueducts. The Canal del Rotto, begun 
in the year 1400, is 8 miles long, and discharges 600 cubic feet per second, 
and waters 25,000 acres, giving 55 acres for a cubic foot per second. These 
are only a few of the many canals of irrigation in Piedmont and Lombardy, 
where the system is more perfect than in any other European country, and 
wliere the results have long been proved satisfactorily profitable. 

1042. Irrigation iu Germanyi — In Germany, some of the best talent of the 
country has been devoted to this subject, and irrigation has been adopted 
witli the most beneficial results. Thaer lays down the position, that irriga- 
tion is one of the most useful and important of all the operations of the 
farmer, because moisture is essential to all vegetable growth, and from all 
tiie information that he could gather from practice, observation, and study, 
he felt bound to urge the practice of irrigation upon his countrymen. Ex- 
periments made in Germany since the time of Thaer have fully proved the 
value of water, independent of all fertilizing substances it might contain. 
It has been well proved in Germany, where experiments have been most 
carefully conducted, that irrigation doubles the average crop of hay, taking 
a series of years, and that the nutritious value of the hay from an irrigated 
meadow is quite equal to the hay from the same land before irrigation was 
adopted ; and where the water has been drawn from fountains rich in vege- 
table and mineral fertilizers, the irrigated land has required no manure. 

1043. Irrigation in France, Belgium, and other Countries. — Much atten- 
tion has been given to the subject of irrigation in France, and several j'ears 
after it had been practiced to a large extent, a writer calculated that there 
were still more than ten millions of acres of land in the empire, the product 
of which could be tripled annually by irrigation. If that is true of France, 
how much more is it true of America? 

In Bolgiiun, lands that had long lain arid and worthless, have been made 
to produce two or three tuns of hay per acre, by means of irrigation, and 
the value of estates vastly enhanced. 

In France, land has been increased in value two and a half times, in 
large tracts subjected to irrigation. In some places expensive canak have 
been built, for the purpose of letting the water at fixed rents to farmers, just 
as it is in California to gold miners. Expensive artesian wells have also 
been bored in France, to obtain irrigating water, and this is also true to some 
extent in California. In France, Belgium, and Italy, the exact quantity 
required for each particular kind of soil, at each season of the year, has been 
carefully ascertained, so that it can be told to a degree of exactness how 
many acres a canal of given dimensions will irrigate. But none of the 
European calcidations could bo relied upon for America, so much depends 



908 IRfilGATION— DRAINING-PLOWING. [Chap. SIII. 

upon the rate of evaporation. Irrigation was common in the Roman empire ; 
and we know how much it was depended upon in Syria and Egypt ; and 
China has accounts of it at a period anterior to Jewish history ; and at the 
present time, throughout Persia, Syria, Egypt, and other countries, it is the 
farmer's main dependence; and so it was in Peru, long before America was 
discovered by the Europeans, for the Spanish conquerors found a most elabo- 
rate system of irrigation, under suitable regulations of law and competent 
engineers; just such a system as we must have hei'e before irrigation can be 
practiced with general success. 

10-±4. Irrigatiou in America. — Although irrigation is not generally adopted 
in this country, there have been experiments enough tried to prove that all 
drained land, which water would not make cold and sour, would be bene- 
fited by irrigation. California farmers, and a few on the Atlantic coast, have 
learned its value. Mr. C. L. Metcalf, of Franklin, Massachusetts, by his 
own experience, has become an earnest advocate of irrigation. Witlx him 
the effect has been highly advantageous to both clover and grass— red-top 
and timothy. His practice is to let on the water two days and shut it off" 
two, through April and May, and if the ground is dry, also in June. 

Hon. A. B. Dickenson, of Hornby, New York, is not only in favor of 
irrigation, but of using the water as a means of conveying manui'ial sub- 
stances to the field, and he has derived great advantage from simply making 
the water muddy, by plowing tlirough a pond, the water of which was then 
spread over grass fields. He believes that the purest water that runs con- 
tains some fertility, and it certainly assists the vegetation upon irrigated 
land, to assimilate matters in the soil which they could not without the aid of 
its dissolving power. He has also proved that water long exposed to the 
air and warmed in the sun had a better eflfect upon vegetation than water 
from wells ; partly owing to temperature, and partly to vegetable and min- 
eral matters held in solution, all of which, except iron, appear to be bene- 
ficial. Economy in irrigation must be studied. One farmer, who wished to 
carry water across a valley for irrigating purposes, built a stone fence, of 
the right lieight, level on the top, and formed it into a trougli, with rubble 
and cement, thus making one wall answer two purposes. From necessity 
in California, irrigation has already been inaugurated, though without a 
proper economical system, laws, and scientific rules; but it is probable 
that necessity will in time produce all these, and then the system liaving 
become once rooted in American soil, will spread all over the land, and that 
some of those who may read what we have said to encourage its adoption, 
will live long enough to see the system successfully practiced, to the lasting 
advantage of the great brotherhood of American farmers. 

One of the American objections to irrigation is based upon the inter- 
ference of the conduits with the mowing machine. It is contended that 
numerous trenches in the face of a field, ten or twelve inches deep and only 
half that width, and these necessarily crooked, to conform to the level, 
would seriously inconvenience the mowers. There is some force in this 



Seo. 54.] -WHAT IRRIGATION DOES FOR LAND. 909 



objection, but it is not insuperable. "Where a surface is thus intersected by 
irrigating conduits, plant white stakes in them to indicate every turn, and 
then follow their course with the machine ; and even though it is a little more 
trouble to cut the grass, the increased production will furnish compensation. 

1045. What Lauds are Most Beuefited by Irrigationt— Even sandy soils, ap- 
parently destitute of humus, have been made to produce hay crops by 
irrigation. But in such land, unless the supply of water is abundant, it will 
be necessary to construct the irrigating trenches with a view to save' water. 
Tins may be done by puddling the trench with clay, or conveying water in 
pipes. It is quite important to get as even a distribution of water over the 
surface as possible, and see that it nowhere stands in pools,' as that will 
surely spoil the grass, and produce damage instead of benefit. Let it be 
remembered that irrigation will not make poor land rich, and unless fertil- 
izing substances are conveyed to the land in the water, it will do that land 
the most good that is furnished with the most manure. Irrigation should 
never be attempted upon land that is nearly level, as it will be likely to 
afford no commensurate advantage, unless it is so situated that a flow can be 
given to it of water rich in humus, at a time when the grass will not be in- 
jured by water standing upon its roots. Of course there are many farms 
that can not be irrigated for want of water; and there are others that have 
water but no land that can be used, because the lowest portion is too level 
and the higher parts too hilly. So we do not recommend irrigation as a 
general panacea to all farmers; but we do urge it upon the attention of 
many, as the best and most economical way of restoring their land to fer- 
tility. As to the quantity of water necessary for successful irrigation, that 
depends upon such a variety of circumstances that no definite rule can be 
given. In one case in Germany, where the upper stratum was fine sand, 
and gravelly clay in part, for the lower one, with a gentle slope to the surface, 
so that the water was used over and over upon sixty acres, it w&s found by 
twenty years' experience that the quantity of water was 200,000 cubic feet 
for twenty-four hours' irrigation. It was found, also, that the best time to 
commence watering was about the first of April, keeping on two to four 
days and then oflf the same length of time, till the grass is ready to cut. 
Repeat the operation for aftermath, and then keep the water ofif, becausejiate 
watering proved prejudicial. Irrigation has changed arid wastes, inhabited 
by a sparse, poverty-stricken population, into well-cultivated districts, sup- 
porting a dense and wealthy population, and the same result would be pro- 
duced in many places in this country, by the same enlightened system that 
])revails in Italy, where all kinds of cultivation are benefited far above the 
cost of the water, and grass lands are made to afford crops that could not 
otherwise be obtained, and this enables proprietors to keep many more catfle, 
increases the food crops, and enables the country to support a population 
that could not possfbly exist upon the land if de{)rived of irrigation. 

10i6. Quantity of Water Required for Irrigation. — It is estimated that an 
irrigated meadow will absorb, by soaking in or evaporation, nineteen-twenti- 



&10 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Ciiai>. XIII. 

eths of the water let on, before it would find its way off by natural drain- 
age, unless the slope was very steep, or surface very hard gravel or clay. A 
main conductor of water, twelve feet wide on the surface, four feet wide at 
bottom, and four feet deep, may be made on a descent of two feet to tlic 
mile. Smaller ditches may be constructed on a fall of one inch in twelve 
feet. The irrigating conduits should be nine to twelve inches deep, and 
very narrow, with a fall of a fourth of an inch to twelve to twenty feet. Ir- 
rigation can be conducted upon steep declivities, but the preparation is more 
expensive, as care must be taken to conduct the water so that the conduits 
will not overflow and let the water course down the hill uncontrolled. Tlie 
cost of preparing the surface of a meadow for irrigation, after the water is 
brought to the border on the highest part, would probably be in this coun- 
try of high-priced labor from six to twelve dollars an acre. 

Where water is elevated by any power for irrigating purposes, we recom- 
mend the construction of a reservoir sufficient to give several days' supply, 
to obviate the danger of a failure in the elevating power at a time when the 
crop, having been watered for some time, would be greatly injured by hav- 
ing the supply cut off. Great care must be used in regulating the quantity 
of water, which can only be determined by experiment, so as not to flood 
the land and sour the herbage, or give fitful waterings — a flood to-day and 
drouth to-morrow. We have untold acres of land so situated that it can be 
irrigated by the natural descent of the water, but in many instances the 
owner of one field could not avail himself of the advantage without the con- 
sent of the owner of an adjoining field, unless we had some general system 
by which the right could be obtained, as is the right to flow land for mill- 
ing purposes, or to take it for public roads. There are a great many farms 
in hilly countries, without running streams in summer for irrigation, which 
liave the means of storing up water in reservoirs, cheaply formed, to be let 
down over the fields and- save crops from destruction in times of drouth. 
Windmills could also be used for irrigation. We see one in almost daily 
operation at a manufactory, which did not cost over one hundred dollars, 
which would be sufticient to store up water enough in a cistern upon a 
neighboring hill to irrigate a hundred acres. See 369. Any field that has a 
moderate descent can be irrigated by open ditches and made to pay a 
greater interest upon the cost than any other farm improvement ever made. 

1047. Tile-DraiuiHg— its Importance and Advantages.— Though we have 
said so much in favor of irrigation, we may say more in favor of under- 
draining, because it can be practiced where irrigation can not ; and when tiie 
two systems can be connected, they will mutually benefit each other. In- 
stead, however, of giving detailed rules about draining, we will simply refer 
the reader to an American work upon the subject, published by Hon. Henry 
F. French, of Exeter, N. 11. Tucker's Amiual Begister, for 1859, also con- 
tains much information aboi!t draining. No one should expect to succeed 
in a work that i-equires so much scientific skill, witiiout previous instruction 
from an experienced person, or from books and diagrams and sound judg- 



Sbo. 64.] IMPORTANCE OF 'TILE-DRAINING. 911 

iiient applied to the work. The point upon which inexperienced persons are 
most apt to fail Is in the course of drains, which should always be laid up 
and down the descent, and never less than three feet deep, if tlie outlet fall 
will admit. Still better for the land and drains if laid five feet deep. At 
this depth, wooden drains will last, nobody can tell how long, for except 
near the outlet they are almost indestructible. One of the greatest bene- 
fits of underdraining is, it deepens the soil. This has been proved upon the 
hardest kind of red sand-stone land ; the aeration of the subsoil from the 
open tile-drains, after the water leached off, had the same effect upon the 
hard pan that air has upon lime. Heavy lands are always so saturated with 
water that the productive soil must be naturally thin, and this is why deep 
plowing and the use of a subsoil lifter will double the depth of the produc- 
tiveness of such land, and wliy underdraining will quadruple it. Deep plow- 
ing and underdraining are the farmer's cheapest manure, and the profit of 
the work is in the time gained in putting in spring crops, which is worth 
more annually than the interest upon all cost of underdraining. No matter 
what is the character of the soil, it will be benefited by underdraining ; but 
mostly those soils in which water stagnates, or which have no outlets for 
rains, except by evaporation. But all soils can not be profitably under- 
drained, because the land must have an intrinsic value much above the ordi- 
nary price of "Western farms, or even some of the interior land of New 
England, before it will pay to drain it. A great many swamps may be 
profitably drained, because utterly worthless as they now arc. 

1048. What Laud Should be Draiuedi— Eain-water falls on hills, sinks to 
an impervious stratum, along which it runs until it either finds a porous sec- 
tion through which it can fall to a lower level, or not finding such, continues 
on the hard bottom to the side of the hill, where it oozes out in the form of 
a spring. If this spring-water is suffered to run down hill, it washes the hill- 
side more or less, and coming to the lowland, sinks as far as it may into the 
soil, makes it sodden, and produces bad effects. To drain effectually, then, 
we must cut off the supply above, and fewer drains will be necessary below. 
It is the hill lands then, as a general thing, that first need draining. Enough 
water falls in one hard rain to cover the land three inches deep, and this sat- 
urates a clayey soil, and remains often until another rain falls. All such 
land should be drained. John Johnston, of Geneva, N. Y., the original tile- 
drainer in this country, does not think there are a hundred acres in any 
neighborhood that do not need draining, and would not pay well for it. 
Perhaps this may be thought an extreme assertion, but it is nearer the fact 
than most of us have been aware. His first purchase was one hundi-ed and 
twelve acres of land, well situated, but said to be the poorest in the county. 
The soil was a heavy, gravelly clay, with a tenacious clay subsoil, a perfectly 
tight reservoir for water, cold, hard-baked, and cropped down to about the 
last gasp. In 1835 tiles were not made in this country, so Mr. Johnston im- 
jjorted some as samples, and a quantity of the " horse-shoe" pattern were 
made in 1S3S, at "Waterloo, N. Y. There was no machine for producing 



912 IRRIGATION— DRAINAGE— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

them, so they were made by liand and molded over a stick, at great cost. 
Yet he found draining profitable, and now he thinks, at the present cost of 
tiles, the increase of crops will pay the cost of draining in two years. In 
1847 he drained a quagmire, so that it produced eighty busliels of corn per 
acre in ISiS, and in that case tlie cost of draining was paid by the increa'se 
of one crop. The late John Delafield drained a piece of land that would 
only yield ten bushels of corn, at a cost of thirty-six dollars an acre, and the 
yield was increased to over eighty-three bushels per acre on the whole field, 
and ninety-four bushels upon the best part. The average cost of imder- 
draining in France has been ascertained to be twenty-seven dollars an acre, 
and the increased value of aimual products nine dollars an acre. Under- 
draining is advantageous in saving the elements of fertility in land from wash- 
ing away. A French writer says that six thousand cubic yards of the water 
of the Vaucluse or the Vosges contain all the elements of an ox, and that 
the Garonne carries out to sea every day more guano than is imported into 
France in a year. 

lOiO. How Land Should be Drained.— Upon land that is nearly level, the 
first step is to have it carefully leveled. Ascertain first where the outlet of 
all the water must be, and whether you can have one or more main drains, 
with branches leading in at nearly right angles, or whether you must make 
all tlie drains from the farther side, each to empty its own water into a 
natural brook or artificial ditch. If the drain is very long, you must use 
large tile at the lower end. If the descent of a drain is small, say only one 
inch in a liundred feet, it will require tile of twice the diameter of a drain 
of rapid descent, say one inch in twelve. In many cases Mr. Johnston has 
used two rows of four-inch, in others six-inch, and in one, a pipe nine inclies 
bore. At first he had many to take up and replace with large pipe to secure 
a compleie discharge. Main drains he makes six to eight inches deej^er than 
those emptying into them, which are graded so that the descent may take 
place gradually, and always with a slight sidewise direction down stream. 
Although ho uses large mains, he recommends farmers never to use laterals 
over two inches in diameter, and often one inch will be quite suflicient. No 
one can give directions for size of tiles. They must be adopted to circum- 
stances. Let the rule be small laterals and large mains.- If your land is 
wet, you will require large pipe, and if flat, the lines must be near together ; 
say 30 feet apart. Both ends of the drain should be open to the air, and, 
as tile are destructible by frost, make the outlet of stone, brick, or wood, and 
make an air-vent at the upper end by a pile of loose stone, a box, or a hole 
through a log, with such a mark at the surface as will enable the plowman 
to avoid disturbance. This will not only make the water run more freely, 
but the air will draw throush and aerate the soil. Sometimes tile become 
obstructed, and must be taken up at the point of difficulty, which is easily 
determined by the water coming to thfi surface. But stoppages are not 
frequent — not half as frequent as it is to find good, durable streams of 
water running from the drains, which in some cases have proved valuable 



Sec. 54.] DITCHING AND DITCUERS' TOOLS. 913 

sources of stock water for the farm, where it was previously very desti- 
tute. 

1050. Laying off the Ground, Ditching, and Laying the Tile.— A spirit level, 
mounted upon a tripod, is most conveuieut, but a ratter level will answer, 
and can be home-made, with a plumb-bob from the ape.x to indicate degrees of 
descent upon the cross-bar. To get your scale, make the legs of your triangle 
exactly twelve feet apart. Set it up on a level (ice is best of all places), 
and put an inch block under one leg, and mark 1 where the line hangs, and 
BO on, 2, 3, 4-, 5, 6, as you raise the leg inch by inch, and then when you set 
the instrument upon land, the plumb will show the number of inches descent 
in each twelve feet almost as fast as you can walk. In digging a ditch for a 
tile drain, no more dirt is to be removed than is barely necessary to do the 
work and atford room for the tile at the bottom. To do this, a few tools not 
usually found on a farm must be had. That is, a long, narrow, blade-spade 
to cut the bottom of the ditch ; a light pick with a long handle to dig where 
the eartli is too hard for the spade ; a long-handled scoop to take out the 
loose earth. Tiiis is like a narrow hoe with the edges turned up. A spoon 
shovel, with a long handle, is sometimes convenient, particularly in taking 
out pebbles. If we were ditching a meadow, we would first plow two fur- 
rows, turning the sod carefully each way. To do this well, the second sod 
must be cut deeper than the first, or else the plow must have an attachment 
on the land side, like a knife-blade, projecting down to hold it up to the 
edge of the turf to be turned. The earth may be loosened two feet by this 
sod furrow, followed by a subsoil plow. It is then quickly shoveled out, 
and wiiere it is to be dug deep, it may be found useful to cut the lower part 
so much narrower tliat a shoulder will be formed at this point, upon which 
the ditcher can stand. Tiles are easily laid at the bottom of a deep ditch by 
a tile-hook, which is simply a slim piece of iron fixed at right angles to the 
bottom of a slender handle. As one man lays them down, another throws 
a little loose earth in, which is rammed down to keep them straight and 
firmly in place. Then cover with straw, weeds, bulrushes, small brush, in- 
verted turf, or coai'se gravel, to prevent the fine earth running into and 
choking the joints. It is not necessary to fill the ditch with anything but 
the dirt that came out, to enable rain water to find its way in. It will find 
its way through hard earth from a ])oint twenty feet distant. 

1051. Descent and Depth Necessary in Drainsi— It is common to hear the 
remark, that such a piece of land can not be drained, because it is too level. 
As we do not believe in level land, we ask you to try the level before you 
decide. Again, it is surprising to see how little fall is necessary to make 
water run. Two inches fall in 100 feet of well-made drain has been found 
entirely sufficient. We know that water in rivers runs with a fall of two 
mches in a mile. "With a descent of six inches per mile, a stream runs a 
mile per hour. As to the deptli of drains, that, too, depends upon circum- 
stances. "We believe four feet is right. "Where tiles are dear and labor 
cheap, the less tiles we can use the better. Drains three feet deep, at fortj 



914 IRRIGATIOIT— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 



feet apart, are not so eiiective as at five feet deep and fifty feet apart. Tiles 
in this country must be laid below frost and subsoil plows, and that should 
be at least three feet deep. Nobody contends now in England for less than 
three feet depth of drains, and those who advocate three feet are called slial- 
low drainers. As a general rule, it costs as much to dig the fourth foot as it 
does the other three feet. A four-foot drain is opened in England only one 
foot wide at the top, and just wide enough to lay tlie tile at the bottom. 

1052. What Draiaing does for Land.— It not only dries the soil, but it 
enables it to endure drouth, because the lower strata being aerified and 
warmed, induces roots to penetrate it, and thus decomposition of organic 
matter in the soil is hastened, and nutriment formed for the growing plants. 
The mechanical texture being improved, the soil is thus deepened, and ex- 
cess of Avater quicker removed after a rain. The land is more productive 
because the season is lengthened. Grass holds in better, and grain is not 
tlirown out by freezing and thawing. The land is sweeter, warmer, mel- 
lower, richer, and in every way better for all purposes, and healthier. In- 
deed, one of the great benefits of draining a country is the improvement of 
health. It is of great advantage upon uplands, and still greater when swamps 
are drained. It is particularly needed in all the cotton-growing States. 

1053. The Cost and Durability of Tiles and Tile-Draining.— It has been 
estimated that the average price of two-inch pipe tile is about $1 67 a i-od 
at the manufactory. Such as was made and used in this country eighteen 
years ago, by John Johnston, of Geneva, New York, he reports as sound as 
the day they were put down. Tiles should be about as well burnt as good 
wall brick. They are then strong enough, and can be cut, and are not likely 
to break in the earth. They should bo hard enough not to dissolve, and the 
clay should be compressed sufficiently to make the tile strong enough, without 
such hard burning as will melt the clay. The following were the advertised 
prices in ISO 1-2 : 

IIORSE-SHOE TILE. 
At Hartford, CL At Albany, N. T. At Harlford, Ct. At Albany, N. T. 

7J inch caliber.. $ S75 00 per 1000 

6i inch caliber. . 55 00 per 1000 

51 inch caliber. . 40 per 1000. . SS 00 per 1000 



ih inch caliber. .818 per 1000. .$18 00 per 1000 
3i inch caliber. . 15 per 1000. . 15 00 per 1000 
2| inch caliber. . 12 per 1000. . 10 75 per 1000 



6 inch caliber. .$150 per 1000. .$80 00 per 1000 
4 inch caliber. . 40 per 1000. . 35 00 per 1000 
3 inch caliber. . 18 per 1000. . 16 25 per 1000 



BOLE TILE (eOG-SHAPED CVLIBEK.) 

2 inch caliber $12 per 1000 $10 75 per 1000 

Round tile 1} inch caliber 9 00 per 1000 

Kound tile 2^ inch caliber 12 00 per 1000 



To estimate the number of tile required for an acre, divide 43,560 by the 
number of feet your drains are to be apart. As that is the number of super- 
ficial feet in an acre, if your drains are to bo 36 feet apart, then 43,560 
divided by 36 gives 1,210 as the quotient. Always calculate one tilo for 
every foot in length, to allow for breakage, and then you can easily ascertain 
the cost of any given line of draining. Upon one farm in New York, that 
of R. G. Swan, near Geneva, tliere are over sixty miles of tile-drain, a con- 
siderable portion of which cost only 28^ cents a rod, complete. Tiic cost of 
digging and filling ditches upon Judge Frencli's farm, Exeter, N. H., where 



Skc. 54.] TDE COST OF TILES AND DRAINING. 915 

the cartli was so hal-cl it liad to be picked up, was for one job of a iiiiie of 
ditches, four feet deep, a day's work to three rods. Upon aiiotlier job, 
with ditches four feet deep, and twenty inches wide at top, and four inches 
wide at bottom, giving a mean of twelve inches, two men opened 14- rods 
of sucli ditch in a day, and in six days, opened, laid the tiles, and filled 57^ 
rods ; at a cost of 21 cents a i-od for labor, at $1 a day. The total cost was : 
847 two-inch tile at $13 a thousand, $11 01; 100 three-inch tile, $2 50; 
tau bark on joints, 70 cents, horse Avork, 50 cents, $1 20 ; labor, 12 days, 
$12. Total, $26 71. This is 46^ cents a rod, besides engineering and super- 
intendence. The soil was sandy. In hard clay soil, it cost 50 cents a rod 
for the labor, wliich was done by tlie same hands as the others. Drains 
three feet deep cost only half as much labor. This is true on the average, 
and where the land is stony, the last foot will cost more than equal the cost 
of the first three feet. Where labor is hired by the day at one dollar, it may 
be calculated that the cost of digging and filling in ditches four feet deep, 
including placing the tiles, will average 33i cents per rod. If tiles cost one 
cent a foot, tlien the total cost will be 50 cents a rod ; and per acre, accord- 
ing to the distance apart of drains. The following table gives the number 
of rods in an acre at tlie several numbers of feet apart, of the drains, to wit : 
At 15 feet, 17G rods ; at 18 feet, 14G| rods ; at 21 feet, 125f rods ; at 24 feet, 
110 rods; at 27 feet, 97| rods; at 30 feet, 88 rods; at 33 feet, 80 rods ; at 
36 feet, 73i rods ; at 39 feet, 67-rV rods ; at 42 feet, 62f rods. Thus, the cost 
of draining an acre with tiles at one cent a foot, and labor two cents a foot, 
with drains at 30 feet apart, will be 'Sll; at 42 feet apart, $31 42; at 60 
feet, apart, $22. 

1054. Wooden Drain TubeSt — S. P. G., of Racine, "Wisconsin, says wooden 
tubes, with perforations through the sides, loosely jointed, will answer all 
purposes of tile, will last as long in places where they are constantly wet, 
and cau be laid for half the expense. This may be true if the pipes are 
placed very deep in the earth, never less than four feet, and it would be bet- 
ter if five feet. These pipes are made of three-inch scantling, bored very 
rapidly by machinery, with an inch-anda-half auger ; and we recommend 
that they should be slit in two after being bored, and the halves mismatched, 
in every two pipes, so as to be sure that they do not fit together tight enough 
when laid to prevent the water finding its way inside. 

1055. Brush Drains, and Substitutes for Tile.— We have seen common 
sapling pine poles last long enough to pay the cost four times over ; the 
drain being formed of three poles — two an inch or two apart at bottom, and 
one on top. This only answers in land not liable to guUey out in the bottom 
of the drain. We have seen valuable service done with bush drains. Long, 
slim bushes are jammed down in a narrow ditch, with buts lapping on the 
tops, and always pointing up hill. We have heard of such a drain made of 
cornstalks that lasted six years, and was still good, and had paid its cost 
every year it was in use. Very durable drains have been made of cedar, 
both round and split ; and chestnut rails have also been profitably used. 



916 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 



"Wood will always be found most durable in the wettest drains. "We have 
heard of a drain laid through quicksand, by placing a board at bottom and 
on it two pieces of scantling and a flat slab, all of which were continually 
wet, which will apparently last forever. Wooden drains, however, we can 
not recommend for any place where stone or tile can be obtained. 

1056. Cobbie-Stone Drains. — The loose cobble-stone of many farms can be 
formed into a very good drain by careful labor, placing one each side and a 
larger one resting on the two, leaving a passage underneath, and filling in 
promiscuously to within plow-reachicg distance from the top. With good 
wall-building stones an excellent draiu can be made. But the objection to 
all stone drains is the extra labor over that with tiles, so that they can only 
be recommended in places where it is an object to get rid of the stones. 
Judge French estimates the extra cost of labor to lay stone drains, even 
where the stones are on the farm, at more than the cost of tiles. 

1057. Cement Draiu-TileSt — Good drain-tiles have been made of cement 
and sand, at first porous, and afterward not so, dependence being made upon 
having the water enter the joints. As to the water going through the pores 
of the tile, ten times as much goes through the joints as through the pores, 
so that making them porous is not so very important. The joints will take in 
all the water in the ground. In some places these cement tiles can be made 
on the farm cheaper than terra-cotta tiles can bo obtained. 

1058. A Prairie Draiaiug-Plow. — A machine is in use in Illinois that an- 
swers a good purpose in draining the ordinary soil. A strong beam, on four 
rollers, carries a small cutting wheel, ^vllich divides the sod ; this is followed 
by a sharp coulter, set at an angle backward, to the bottom end of which a 
piece of iron, shaped something like a peai-, is welded, supported by a flat 
bar, bolted, like the coulter, fast to the beam. To this " mole" is attached a 
second, of similar shape, a little larger, by a link joint. Being set into the 
ground, it opens a hole, which it molds permanently by side pressure, three 
feet below the surface, and through this drain the water runs off as easily 
and continuously as through tile-drains. Farmers consider it invaluable on 
our large prairies, in the broad, flat sloughs ; as they say, that it not only 
thoroughly drains the land, but that it concentrates the ixnderdraining of the 
marshes and sloughs to any particular point that it may be wanted, creating 
a permanent, never-failing spring of water for stock, on many farms where 
this convenience was totally lacking, in dry seasons, until the introduction 
of the ditcher. 

Many sloughs have been drained by running the mole-plow through them, 
and down the outlet or lowest spot, until the natural fall will allow the water 
to come to the surface, and there a durable spring is often formed. 

1059. Proper Shape of Draio-Tilei — The Eoyal Scottish Society of Arts 
publish experiments in transporting lead ore from the mines to the stamping 
mills, by water, running through a ti'ough. At first they tried a square 
wooden trough, twelve hundred feet long, with a slope of from thirteen to 
twenty degrees ; but the water had not force enough to move the lumps of 



Seo. 55.] 



PLOWS AND PLOWING. 



917 



ore over the flat bottom of tlie trough. They then changed the position of 
the trough, liaving it rest on one corner, and the ore jnissed rapidly through 
without choking. A right-angle form kept itself clear with the least water. 
According to this theory, the proper shape of drain-tile is not round, but 
should be shaped with a sharp corner in the lower side of the pipe. 

1060. Laws Needed to Regulate Draining.— Every State should regulate 
the drainage of land by statute, so that those who hold the mouths of natu- 
ral outlets for water can not deprive others of their use wlio own land far- 
ther up stream. Such a law was passed by Maine, in April, 1859, providing 
that any one in possession of lands that can not be drained, approached, or 
used without crossing land held by another, may have drains established by 
commissioners who locate the route and assess the damages ; and then the 
ditch is placed upon the same footing as to right of way and repairs as pub- 
lic roads. 



SECTION LV.-PLOWS AND PLOWING. 

(HAT is the object of plowing? It is either to turn 
a sod or flat furrow, or stir and mellow the surface, 
or break up the subsoil withouf bringing it up. 
Then there is no such thing as a universal plow. 
The one invented by Governor Holbrook, of Ver- 
mont, comes the nearest to it, but that in reality 
combines four plows in one, by shifting mold-boards 
and land-sides. The best plow to turn flat furrows 
in sod ground would bo the worst one to stir up a 
stubble field. The plow must be fitted to the 
object required ; but upon almost all soils you may 
lay it down as a rule in plowing, that you can not 
plow too deep nor too much. If you have disinte- 
grated the soil until it has become so filled with air 
that the particles are actually held apart so that it is in a condition that you 
call pufi}', it will be useful, and for some crops necessary, to compact the 
surface together with a roller, or some other mechanical means. A turnip 
field, after liaving been pulverized with great labor, is often tramped by 
sheep. An onion bed is first made mellow, and then compacted quite firmly. 
A wheat field can not be made too mellow — can not be plowed too many 
times — can not be harrowed and pulverized too much ; but after all that, it 
is benefited by a heavy roller. Plowing exposes the lower stratum of soil 
to the ameliorating action of air, by which it acquires fertility. We can not 
say how, though all experience proves the statement true. Plowing is there- 
fore necessary, and the more perfectly it loosens and pulverizes the soil, the 




918 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [CnAp. XIII. 



more equally will it be penetrated, and the more numerous will be the roots 
sent out, until the whole soil is filled with their hair-like fibers. As a rule 
based upon the truth of science, it may be said that while it is possible to 
divide the particles of earth — that is, to separate them one from another in 
tlie same way that the grains of sand are separated — the manipulation of it 
will improve its condition. Farmers must continue to look to the "object 
of plowing," and reach down a little deeper and deeper, and bring up and 
separate more of the particles of the earth, so that the growing plants can 
appropriate them to their use, and the earth will never become barren ; pul- 
verization and water will make it produce forever, if the elements which 
crops extract are fairly returned in tlie shape of excrements of such crops 
when consumed. 

1001. The History of fast-Iron Plowst— The first cast-iron mold-board was 
invented by James Small, of Berwickshire, Scotland, about 1740. He con- 
tinued to manufacture them for fifty years, still using the wrought-iron share ; 
cast iron for that purpose having been first applied by Robert Eansom, of 
Ipswich, England, in 1785. Eighteen years afterward, he made a valuable 
improvement, still in use among all good plow-makers, that of chilling the 
iron in tlie molds, by using bars of cold iron, iipon which the cutting edges 
of the share are cast, making them harder than steel. A Suffolk farmer 
added the land-side, making three distinct pieces of casting to each, to which 
Avrought or cast-iron beams and handles were afterward added in various 
parts of England and Scotland. 

The first cast-iron plow in America was made by Charles Newbold, of 
Burlington, N. J. His first patent bears date June 17, 1797, and is for a 
plow combining mold-board, share, and land-side all in one casting. Objec- 
tions being made to the cast-iron share, probably because it was not chill- 
hardened, he substituted wrought-iron shares. Great as these improvements 
were npon the old wooden plows, such was the prejudice against them — some 
even affirming that cast iron poisoned the ground and prevented tlie growth 
of crops — that after spending, as the inventor alleged, $30,000 in a vain 
effort to get his plows into general use, he gave up the business in despair, 
leaving American farmers wedded to their idols, the old wooden plows. 

In the 3'ear 1800, Peter J. Curtenas, a merchant of New York city, ad- 
vertised plows for sale, made of cast iron. In 1807, David Peacock, of 
New Jersey, taking his idea from Newbold, for which, however, he paid 
him a tliousand dollars, patented a plow, the mold-board and land-side cast 
separate, to which he attached a wrought-iron steel-edged share. Thomas 
Jefferson wrote a treatise, in 1798, upon the form of the mold-board, insisting 
that it should be constructed upon scientific principles. These principles 
were probably first applied by Eobert Smith, of Buckingham, Pa., about 
1804-6, as he obtained a patent for a cast-iron mold-board, and wrote upon 
the subject about that time. In 1814, years after cast-iron plows had been 
in successful use in England, and partially so in this country, Jethro Wood 
obtained a patent for a cast-iron plow, in three parts, similar to one said to 



Sec. 55.] THE HISTORY OF CAST-IRON PLOWS. 919 

have Ijeen in use previous to that time in Virginia. This was a very differ- 
ent article from tliose now in use. We do not believe that Wood ever was 
entitled to any credit as an inventor, though he was for his pei'severing 
eftbrts to get his plows into general use. 

In 1817, Edwin A. Stevens, of Iloboken, N. J., took up Newbold's plow, 
with a view to improve its form, so as to make the draft easier. He took 
his patent in 1821, included in which was the process of cold-chilling the 
cutting edges and parts of the share most likely to wear out. His plan was 
so perfect that it was highly approved of, but other engagements prevented 
him from extending what he had so successfully begun. 

In 181 0, Josiah Dutcher, of New York city, commenced a series of im- 
provements, which are to be found upon nearly all cast-iron plows, and which 
have been of immense benefit to the farmers of this country, notwithstand- 
ing which, we believe, he died poor, and his name is almost forgotten by 
those whom he has benefited so much ; while those who have invented 
death-dealing implements, or stained them with the blood of victims immo- 
lated upon the shrine of military glory, are lauded more than the godfathers 
of the Industry of All Nations. 

The first patent plow of which we have any record, was granted in 1720, 
to Joseph Foljambe, of Rotherham, England, and for many years afterward 
all similar plows bore the name of that place. It was a great improvement 
upon those previously in use ; the mold-board and land-side were wood, 
sheathed with iron plates, the share and coulter wrought iron with steel 
edges, just such as were in universal use in New England early in the pres- 
ent century, and similar to those now in use in the Southwestern States. 
This plow was intended to be worked by one man and two horses — much 
larger than our common horses — and turn over an acre to an acre and a 
quarter a day. The following is the measurement of that plow : Length of 
beam, 6 feet ; from end of handles to point of share, almost in a straight 
line, 7 feet 4 inches ; from point to heel of land-side, 2 feet lOi inches ; hight 
from ground to top of beam, 1 foot 8 inches ; weight, 140 lbs. Some twenty 
years after this plow was brought out, the center draft-rod or chain was 
added, just like that now used, and supposed by some to be a very recent 
invention. 

Joel Nourse, of Boston, in connection with his partners, has probably done 
more toward making the cast-iron plow a perfect implement than any other 
individual, though many others are entitled to high praise for doing, to the 
extent of their ability, so much to lessen the labor of tilling the land. 

The most ancient jilow, as represented on old coins and monuments, was 
a crooked stick, afterward improved by sharpening with iron. The imple- 
ment now in use in Hindostan is little better than the original, and even in 
this country some now in use are but slightly in advance of the Hindoo arti- 
cle, which consists of a slight beam, a narrow share, and a corresponding 
stick with a handle to guide it. The Chinese plow is similar, and the effect 
is what it would be if a man should hold a sharp-pointed shovel, back up, 



920 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 



with the liaudle at an angle of forty-five degrees, and it should then be drawn 
forward with the point in the ground. The plows of continental Europe 
have undergone but little change for centuries. The ancient Roman plow is 
still in general use in France. It has a beam, a share, and a handle. The 
share is a triangular-shaped piece of wood with an iron point, lance-head 
shaped, and sometimes a coulter, and rarely a mold-board. How much better 
was the old " Carey Plow," which in youth we followed many a day, with 
its clumsy wrought-iron share, wooden land-side and standard, and wooden 
mold-board, plated over with a piece of tin,, sheet iron, or old saw-plate, 
requiring the strength of a man to hold it by the two pins in its upright han- 
dles, and at least double the strength of team now needed to do the same 
work. Tlien there was the old bar-share plow — a flat bar forming the land- 
side, with a thick clump of iron like the half of a lance-head for the point, in 
the top of which the coulter was clumsily locked, and of course a wooden 
mold-board without any pretensions to making a fit with the iron part. 

There is no longer any occasion nor excuse for a farmers using a poor 
plow, nor one not fitted to his particular soil and various kinds of work ; since 
plows of a great variety of patterns ai'ti made ; right hand and left ; and with 
shifting mold-board ; so that furrows on a hill-side can all be turned one way ; 
also with two shares on one beam ; the first turning the sod and second lifting 
a course of loose earth from the bottom of the first furrow and placing it on 
top of the furrow-slice of the forward share. 

1062. Subsoil Plows — their Shape and Use. — Of all the useful improve- 
ments in plows we consider the subsoil plow the most important. The use 
of this plow is to follow the turning plow, entering the bottom of the fur- 
row and performing one of the most useful operations upon the farm, stii'ring 
and loosening up the subsoil. One of the best-shaped subsoil plows for soils 
free of stone was invented by Prof. Mapes, of New York. The shape of the 
sliare is somewhat like a flattened quarter of an orange-peel. Suppose this 
placed with the convex side up, connected with the beam by a thin, broad 
standard, with a flat plate at the top to bolt to the beam. The share, stand- 
ard, and top plate are cast all in one piece, and when one point of the 
share becomes dull by use, the plate can be unscrewed from the beam 
and reversed, thus bringing a new point of the share forward. A Wiscon- 
sin farmer — Mr. R. North, of Rochester, Racine County — has invented a 
subsoil attachment to the plow, which is described as readily applied 
to any plow, adjustable to any required depth from an inch to six or more 
inches, and which thoroughly pulverizes the subsoil without raising it from 
its natural position. In other words, by the help of this invention, land 
may, by one man and one team, be at the same time surface-plowed to the 
full depth of the former plowing, and subsoiled to the depth of two or more 
inches, the pulverized subsoil retaining its original place. "We saw some- 
thing of this kind, made by a smith in Norfolk, Va., ten years ago, that was 
very efiective. It was a lance-head on a rod about a foot long, bolted to the 
heel of the plow, and curved over so that the point stood forward, and cut 



Sec. 55.] PLOWS AND PLOWING. 921 

four or five inches below the plow-furrow. This attachment is easily made 
and applied by any smith, and is a very useful addition to any plow to be 
used in mellow land. For stony soils, a subsoiler is made of steel, somewhat 
in the shape of a sharp-toed shoe, bolted to a standard in two parts, one act 
ing as a brace when attached to the beam. This is stronger than the cas' 
subsoiler, and better calculated to dig iu among stones ; and it is similar to 
an implement called a ditching-plow, except that the standard of the ditcli- 
ing-plow is sometimes four feet high, and may be regulated to suit various 
depths, as the ditch deepens. 

1063. Steel Plows. — Within a fow years the manufacture of steel plows 
has been very largely extended, tlie invention, not only of the plows, but 
machinery for their manufacture, having been brought to great perfection. 
One of the most extensive establishments for making steel plows is that 
of Remington, Markliam & Co., at Ilion, N". Y. We have had this year, 
1861, several acres of strong land turned by one of these plows, which is so 
light that the English plowman was afraid to hitch the oxen to it, he was so 
sure it was not strong enough. He soon changed his opinion, and declared 
it not only very strong, but the best plow he ever saw. We have also a 
steel subsoil plow for one horse, which is a very useful implement for mark- 
ing rows to plant, and working between, to stir and loosen the earth, par- 
ticularly in drouth. One of the great advantages which steel plows have 
over all others, is in weight ; for it has been fully proved that the heavier 
the plow the greater the force necessary to move it along the surface. This 
is a very important consideration. If a wagon is very heavy, after the 
inertia of its dead weight is once overcome it rolls forward easily, but the 
plow is a dead weight all the time. 

106-1. Deep Plowing — its Benefits. — " An increase of one inch in the aver- 
age depth of plowing throughout the United States would produce a larger 
amount of profit, as compared with present results, than all the gold received 
from California." We believe this assertion ; but we do not believe that all 
soils, without being previously subsoiled, are fit for this immediate increase 
in depth. Shallow plowing is the greatest error of American farmers. 
Millions of acres, though composed of mellow loam, a foot deep, were never 
stirred half that dej^th. Many a man owns a better farm beneath his fur- 
row slices than the one he cultivates. " Deep plowing saves manuring." 
It is true that the soil derives no benefit from the plow, or other tool, only 
so far as it opens its particles so that the air can penetrate through the mass, 
and carry heat, moisture, and fertility to the roots of plants, which can pen- 
etrate a loose soil, but can not a compact one. A granite rock made pulver- 
ulent, and then stirred frequently in the air, and moistened, will become a 
productive soil. It has received the benefit of exposure to air, and that has 
fertilized it. All the plow, or any other tool can do, is to put the soil into 
the most favorable condition to receive this benefit. The best condition that 
any soil can be placed in, is that which will enable it to absorb the greatest 
possible amount of heat and moisture, with the least possible amount of 



922 IREIGATIOX— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 



surplus water, and loose free air, and tLat condition is not obtained by 
skimming over the surface. But remember that deep plowing is not ad- 
niittable as a first operation upon all land. The soil must be deepened 
gradually. This is the case with the prairies. Oar experience in regard to 
the time that prairie should be first plowed, and the depth, is when the 
grass is most succulent, and then turn just as thin a sod as possible. An 
experienced prairie farmer says : " J'rom the time that the grass makes a vigor- 
ous growth, and while it continues to grow, prairie can be the most cheaply 
broken up with a good sixteen-inch prairie breaker, but should not be cut 
more than three inches deep. At other seasons, or when the grass is in a 
state of rest, use a double Michigan plow ; set the top plow so that it will 
cut an inch deep, and the bottom plow two or two and a half inches deeper. 

1065. Steam Plows and their Usci — We have faith that steam plows will 
yet be invented which can be economically used upon the Western j^rairies, 
though as yet that desideratum has not been reached in any of the locomo- 
tive machines tried for that purpose ; and it is yet to be proved whether 
Fowler's traction engine, an English invention, will effect the object. It 
appears from reports of committees in England, and from some experiments 
made near Philadelphia in the autumn of 1861, as though it would answer 
the desired purpose. The steam plow that has attracted most notice in 
America is the one invented by Mr. Fawkes, of Pennsylvania, and tried 
without much success on the prairies of Illinois. It was driven by a twenty- 
horse-power steam-engine provided with an upright locomotive boiler, having 
151 flues set upon a long frame-work, which rested on a large roller-shaped 
driving-wheel behind and two guide-wheels in front. A tank and box for 
wood or coal rested over the driving-wheel. The guide-wheels are in ad- 
vance of the boiler, and are IS inches wide and 36 inches high. The con- 
sumption of wood was one cord per day, and water one and a half barrels 
per hour ; the weight about seven tons ; cost, $2,500. The plows are on 
frame-work behind, capable of being lowered and raised by an assistant. 
The machine drew six plows, cutting twelve-inch furrows, between four and 
five inches deep. It plowed at the rate of one acre in forty minutes ; on 
firm, hard ground it could go faster. On very wet ground the driving- 
wheel slipped. Mr. Fawkes has remodeled his machine, and several others 
have also been brought out, but up to the end of 1862, we do not hear of 
any steam plow in practical operation upon any of the great prairie farms. 

Fowler's steam plowing is done by stationing an engine upon one side of the 
field, with an arrangement of wheels and pulleys, from which a rope is carried 
to the other side of the field, and through other wheels and pulleys and back 
to the starting-point. A frame on wheels carries two gangs of plows, one gang 
forward and one behind. This frame being hitched to the endless rope near 
the engine is drawn by its movement to the other side, when the hind gang 
of plows is elevated by a lever, and the other dropped, and the machine moved 
its width on the land to be plowed, and attached to the part of the rope that 
IS moving toward the engine; and thus it traverses back andforth, the en- 



Seo. 55.] IMPROVED FARMING TOOLS. 923 



gine being moved along the headlands as the plowing proceeds. Of course 
this kind of plowing will not answer in small inclosures. 

1060. Substitutes for the Plcv— Digging Klachines. — Much money has been 
spenfc upon digging machines, without any practical results. Mapcs' rotary 
digger ; Evans' rotary digger ; Comstock's rotary digger, have all given 
promise of good results, and newspaper reporters have often told the public 
that the days of the plows were numbered ; and henceforth the soil must be 
dug instead of being plowed ; but the public are either slow to believe, or 
else there is some radical defect in the digging machines. Mr. O. Coe, of 
Port Washington, AVisconsin, invented a sort of digging haiTow that is a 
good substitute for the drag-harrows, and altogether superior to the revolv- 
ing harrows, and appears to be a tolerably good substitute for a small plow 
in preparing light land for small grain. It has its teeth upon revolving 
wheels that dig up the surface as it is drawn forward, leaving it light as well 
as pulverulent, the effect being entirely different from that of the harrow. 
The teeth of Mr. Coe's machine, he says, dig the soil six inches deep, and 
the machine does not pull any harder than an iron-tooth harrow, cutting the 
same width, and not nearly as deep. To dig the surface nine or ten inches 
deep, he thinks, will not require half as much power as to plow it the same 
depth. It works admirably upon Indian corn stubble, tearing the roots out 
of the ground, and fitting it at once for wheat-sowing. Of course it will 
not work among roots, or fast stones, and, we suppose, not well upon sod 
ground. 

Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville 111., has invented a machine which is 
rather a combination of other tools with the plow than a substitute for it It 
is a frame about six feet wide, fixed upon two broad wheels, which serve as 
rollers for the soil. This frame is arranged to carry two plows, when re- 
quired for plowing, and at the same time drop corn or other seed. The 
plowshares can be removed and implements for cultivating corn put in their 
place, by which the ground is cleaned and the dirt turned to or from the 
hills. There arc knives that precede the cultivators and shave off all the 
weeds. Tiiere is a guard attached to the frame that covers the seed corn 
so that i; is never covered too much by the teeth. This machine costs $100, 
and requires two to four horses to work it. 

1067. A Home-made Clod Crusher is thus described by an Illinois farmer: 
Take two pieces of light timber, eight inches square, ten feet long, and fasten 
them together, three feet apart. Upon the under side of these timbers, 
pieces four inches square, eighteen inches long are fastened, eight inches 
apart, and so arranged that the rear ones are not in line with the forward 
ones. Tlicse teeth are beveled and set so as to pitch downward slightly, and 
the frame is drawn diagonally over a plowed field, by which lumps are dis- 
turbed and pulverized. 

106S. A Simple Method of Broadcast Sowing is thus described : The grain, or 
peas, or plaster to be sown is taken to the field in a light wagon, and a bag- 
ful emptied into a low box in the hind end, near which the sower kneels. 



& 



924 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

and sows with both hands as fast as the driver goes ahead, the quantity 
being reguhited by the speed. By tliis mode sixty bushels of peas were 
sown in one day, with less fatigue than six could have been sown on foot. 
The wagon tracks are sure guides for the sower, and enables him to sow 
evener as well as faster. 

1069. Au Improved Garden Hoe, invented by H. A. Lathrop, of Sharon, 
Mass., is made of three triangular pieces of sheet-steel, the middle one being 
riveted at the upper corner to the other two, and each attached to the three 
prongs of a forked socket on the handle, and is a very eftective-looking im- 
plement for all purposes where digging instead of scraping is to be done. 
We look upon it as a decidedly good implement. Another effective hand- 
tool is made like a subsoil plowshare, the upper part of the standard having 
a socket for a hoe handle. 

1070. An Improvement in Corn Baskets.— This improvement is particu- 
larly valualjle where "basket stuff" is not found. The body of the 
basket is made entirely of upright splints or staves, without braiding in 
cross strands. These splints are nearly an eighth of an inch in thickness, 
and are held firmly in place between two pieces of thin board that form tiie 
bottom, and the two hoops that form the top binder or rim, by wrought 
nails that pass through each splint and clinch on the inside. The two pieces 
that form the bottom are placed with the grain of each piece running at 
right angles across the other, so that when the nails are driven and clinched, 
it prevents their warping or splitting, thus forming a very strong bottom on 
which the basket may be dragged about without danger of breaking or 
wearing out. Tlie rim at the top being fastened with wrought nails that 
clinch, is very strong and does not become loose and let the handles slip out. 
A flexible wire hoop passes around the center of the basket, which is 
fastened to each splint separately, confining them firmly in their places at 
that point. They are made of a form to let into each other, like our peach 
baskets, and gauged to accurate measures, and being manufactured (of 
coarse, Yankee fashion) by machinery, are sold at about the same price of 
baskets made in the ordinary way, and are said to be more durable. 

1071. Ilomp Harvester. — Among the recent inventions is a machine for 
harvesting hemp, patented in May, 1858, by C. B. Brown, of Alton, 111. 
Wo hope this latest attempt to substitute machine-work for the heavy hand 
lalior required to cut the hemp of a large growth will be successful. It is 
something much needed. 

1072. A Willow-Peeling Machine.— A willow peeler, patented by J. M. 
Wood, is extremely simple, and is composed of a graduated screw wiiich lies 
across a disk, so that the small ends of the willow being inserted in the 
small end of the screw, are rolled over and carried through to the but of the 
willow, wliich then has arrived at some of the large threads according to 
the lengtli of the stick, and in its passage is entirely stripped of its bark. Tlie 
whole machine can be carried on a man's back. 

1073. A Tire-Bending Machine, invented by Mr. Mosher, of Chenango 



Seo. 55.] IMPROVED FARMLVG TOOLS. 925 



County, is a very Bimple, cheap, and eflective machiue, which every country 
blacksmith should have. It consists of a plank wheel, sized for large and 
small tire, with an inner roller attached to a lever that operates npon tlie 
straight bar, and gradually bends it into shape. The whole machine could 
be made for $5, and although not strictly classed under the head of agricul- 
tural machines, is one in which all farmers are interested, as they are in 
whatever cheapens the labor of the smithery. 

1074. The Ox-Shovel, or Road-Scraper.— The ox-shovel is a very valuable 
farm implement. One called Arnett's patent scraper, or ox-shovel, consists 
in an arrangement for opening the hind part and letting out the load without 
upsetting it. This saves a deal of very hard labor. There is another scraper 
that for some purposes is an improvement upon the above, as it is suspended 
under a pair of light wheels, with a horse in the shafts, and is loaded in the 
usual way, and then the handles are borne upon and the shovel held in a 
level position by stay chains, until the horse is driven to where the dirt is 
needed, when the catch of the chain is easily unloosed, and the shovel 
emptied behind by bearing upon the handles, or by jumping on and 
pressing it down by weight. It was the invention, so it is said, of a man 
with one arm, who could then out-work a man with two hands, who used 
the old style ox-shovel. 

1075. The Horse-Hoe Road-Scraper.— This tool is so little known, and is yet 
DO important, that we give it prominence in a separate paragraph. We 
have seen it much used in the vicinity of Chicago, and only in one or two 
other places. We feel satisfied that it would be adopted by all who see it 
work, wherever loose earth is to be scraped from the sides of a road into the 
center, in the operation of turnpiking. This machine is simply a horse-hoe, as 
the other is a horse-shovel. It is made for one or two horses, or oxen, with 
thills, or a tongue, the hind end of which is attached to standards just high 
enough to keep the tongue on a level when at work. To the lower end of 
the standards is attached the hoe, which is made of wood with an iron or 
steel edge, or the whole hoe is made of iron. If those who have seen a wire- 
toothed horse-rake will fancy a continuous iron plate in place of the teeth, 
they will have an idea of this horse-hoe scraper. 

1076. Machinery Saves Manual Labor. — The following, though not a farm 
implement, is one that all farmers are interested in, because whatever 
cheapens labor connected with agriculture is to the farmer's advantage. 
The great lumber mills are often necessarily located in places so inaccessible 
to teams, that getting lumber from tliem is very laborious and expensive. 
At Williamsburgh, Penn., the mill is 1,200 feet from the canal, on the 
opposite side of the river, which is lower than the canal. Formerly the 
boards were run down to a boat and loaded by hand, and then ferried over 
and carried up the bank. Now, the whole work is done by the mill-power, 
which sends over 10,000 feet of lumber per hour, upon a lumber-shute sus- 
pended ujion wire cables. The contrivance is so ingenious, and cost so little 
($2,000), considering its value to the mill-owners, that we advise all who 



926 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

may have mills in such inconvenient situations, to adopt this valuable im- 
provement. The bottom of the shutc is furnished with a series of rollers, 
upon which a pile of boards is placed at the mill, and then a single board 
being sent through a pair of pressure rollers, pushes the pile its length 
ahead, when that board being loaded is also jDushed forward and drives the 
load before it, in a continuous stream of lumber. 

1077. The Grindstonei — ^There is no machine used upon a farm that is 
more important than the grindstone, and no farmer who knows the value of 
sharp tools, and the loss of time by \ising" dull ones, will try to conduct farm- 
ing without one grindstone, and he will often find it good economy to have 
two or three. There is no surer mark of a shiftless farmer than that of a 
miserably mounted, rickety, old grindstone. No farmer can aiFord to do 
without a grindstone mounted upon friction rollers, so that it can be operated 
by a treadle, with the foot of the person who holds on the tool, as well as with 
a crank. It will save its cost every year. But above all other things con- 
nected with the grindstone, be sure never to be seen going to a neighbor's 
house to grind your scythe or ax. You can not afford to borrow a grind- 
stone. 

1078. A Variety of Agricultural Tools Noticed.— We can not give even the 
names of all other agricultural implements ; much less a description of 
them, and only intend under this head to call the attention of farmers to 
some of the most indispensable of those of recent invention. Of course, the 
plow leads all other farm implements, and a good farmer will have one 
suited to all kinds of work, and will not attempt to do all his work with 
a single size, nor with plows all of the same shape. The same rule should 
hold with harrows and cultivators. If oxen and horses are both worked on 
the farm, it should have a heavy ox-harrow, and one made strong and light, 
for a pair of horses to walk quickly over the field, for in the rapidity of the 
movement lies the perfection and economy of the use of a harrow on smooth 
land. A one-horse harrow will be found a very useful tool, even on a farm 
where large teams are kept ; and no farmer can aflbrd to do without one, at 
least, good steel-toothed cultivator, such as those made at Ilion, N. Y. ; 
or the Knox horse-hoe ; or some similar labor-saving implement. The best 
universal harrow, in our opinion, is the one invented and given to the world 
by lion. Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga County, N. Y. It is a double triangle, 
one following the other, hinged in the center, so that if drawn along a dead 
furrow the center would rest ou the bottom, while the wings would rake 
the sides to the top. Chandler's harrow is a single triangle, folding 
in the center. The Scotch harrow is two square frames hluged together 
and drawn at an angle. There is a similar one made for one horse. " The 
expanding harrow" is a square frame, so arranged that its width is increased 
or decreased by shifting the link of a draft chain. This is a convenient, in- 
expensive form. The twenty teeth are set in four bars, and each one at the 
end passes with a round neck through a bar, serving as a hinge or pivot, so 
that taking hold of two corners the bai's draw together, making an elongated 



Sko. 55.] IMPROVED FARMING TOOLS. 927 

diamond-shaped harrow, that would run between two rows of corn. Tlien 
draw upon the other corners and it comes back into a square form, and can 
be held there, or at any angle, by the chain that is hooked on from corner to 
corner. 

Of cultivators there are sizes and forms suited to all purposes, generally 
with three to five teeth, and these of various forms, in wooden or iron frames, 
made to expand so as to work wide or narrow rows, and as each tooth is a 
little plow, a horse makes five small furrows asfiist as one with a plow. Some 
of these implements are especially designed for hoeing corn, and answer most 
admirably for that purpose. One is designed for hoeing cotton, and also 
answers well for carrots and similar crops. The operation may be likened 
to that of a pointed shovel slipping along just under the roots of the weeds, 
with teeth on the upper end of the shovel, which combs out the weeds, 
leaving them on the dirt instead of under it. The implement called a 
" cotton sweep" is made to shave the surface with sharp knives, and rake 
out the weeds thus cut oflT, with small harrow teeth set in an expanding 
frame, to suit all widths of rows. This is an excellent implement for all 
hoed crops on smooth land. There are several forms of hand cultivators 
and machine hoes which some gardeners think well of, but all are not eco- 
nomically practical. 

Small seed sowers and planting machines are numerous, and are truly 
very useful and economical for planting all small seeds, as ruta baga, carrot, 
etc., and, in a small way, for corn. In large fields, corn should always be 
planted by a horse machine. And so should all small grain and grass, as 
there are simple, inexpensive machines arranged to plant wheat in straight 
rows, eight or nine inches apart, and each grain at an exact distance from 
its fellow, and all at a uniform depth ; and there are other machines for 
broadcast sowing; and machines for harvesting grain and hay, which we 
have spoken highly of in the chajiters devoted to grain and grass. A very 
valuable machine for lifting rocks is noticed in ]!\"o. 9S2. It is compact, won- 
derfully strong, has notiiing liable to get out of repair or break but a 
chain, and costs $275. Tlie substitution of machines for hand-labor within 
the last fifty years has been wonderful, and now almost every species of farm- 
work may be done by machinery, whether it be i)lowing, sowing, reaping, 
gathering, thrashing, winnowing, or grinding. Even the old well-sweep has 
given place to the water-ram. It is manifest from the great demand that 
has sprung up of late years for these new and useful inventions, that the 
light of intelligence is beginning to difl'use itself throughout the country, 
and that while improved methods of culture are being introduced, private 
and public interests are becoming more closely united. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. 

COTTON, CANE, KICK, TOBACCO, HEMP. 

SECTION LVI.-THE HISTORY, GROWTH, AND MANUFACTURE 

OF COTTON. 



OTTON is king," is the stereotyped phrase of those 
who liavo so long devoted all their energies to its pro- 
duction, traffic, or mannfacture, that they know no otlier 
god. "With those who know the value of the true 
grasses, it is not king of all the farm crops, though it has 
long held a mighty influence over the destinies of Amer- 
ica ; and the events that have occurred during the com- 
pilation of this volume, in the years 1861 and 1862, are 
so intimately connected with cotton, that the author he- 
lieves a somewhat extended history of it, and the intro- 
duction of its culture into this country, will be interesting 
to luany readers. Of course, many who read do not and 
can not grow cotton, because their home is in too rigor- 
ous a climate; but will that make its history any less interesting? To some 
who have never grown it, yet owing to their location in temperate portions 
of the Middle States, may desire to do bo, this section will possess interest, 
for it contains much useful information. Although we have never admitted 
the regal claim of cotton, we have always admitted the beauty of cotton- 
fields ; not only because they are beautiful, but because with the production 
of this " vegetable wool" there is connected a vast utility and improvement 
of the human race. Though in its production barbarity and cotton have 
grown upon the same soil, and misery has been interwoven with warp and 
woof in its manufacture, its use has greatly increased civilization in the 
great human family, because it has done more than anything else to clothe 
the naked, and that is the first great step in improvement of savage life. It 
not only furnishes the cheapest substantial covering for the half clothed, but 
it furnishes the material for more than half of the ornamental dress of man- 
kind, and therefore may be called, not king, but one of a good King's best 
gifts to his subjects ; because clothing next to food is their greatest want. 
It is unfortunate that a substance for which there is no substitute can only 
be grown in southern latitudes, for it is true that silk, flax, wool, hair, 
hemp, and skins are all insufficient. Their production is too limited, and if 





Cdjiipii Irom a Viviuiin.^ juad^ uii the s^iut 



PLATE XX. 

(Page 928.) 

This is a very interesting picture. Interesting, because cotton 
has so enwrapped itself around politics, and entwined its fibers into 
the history of the age, that every one is interested in its history. 
This we have given, though briefly, very succinctly in this chapter, 
and this plate gives a most perfect representation of its growth and 
appearance at harvest time. At the upper left-hand corner will be 
seen a branch, leaf, and flower unopened. Beneath it is the flower 
expanded in its fullest beauty, as it is in the morning. Under that 
it is seen as it appears in the evening. It will open again, but with 
a changed color. It is creamy white the first day — it is red the 
second ; the third it is rotting upon the ground. - To the right the 
bolls are seen, nearly ripe, quite ripe, and over-ripe, in which con- 
dition the cotton will blow away, or fall to the ground by the weight 
of its seeds and wet, leaving the dry. brown husk of the boU, as 
represented upon the upper right-hand corner. "We have spoken 
of the beauty of the cotton-field when in bloom, ^ 1081, and when 
the bolls are open, as represented in the center of this picture. "We 
have also fully described the culture and cost of production of this 
great staple crop. 

The scene represented in the lower compartment of this plate is 
such a one as we have very often seen magnified in its grandest 
proportions. The black dots around the woman in the foreground 
must not be mistaken for a part of her dress, as it appears more like 
silk than it does like a coarse sack, as it is, into which the locks of 
cotton are thrust as fast as gathered. This is emptied into the great 
baskets, which are carried out of the field upon the negroes' heads. 
"We have seen a hundred baskets carried thus in one gang of pickers, 
return at dark from the task begun at dawn. Beautiful as this pic- 
ture is, it gives but a faint view of the reality. 



Seo. 66.] TBE HISTORY OF COTTON. 929 



all together were used as inucli as cotton tlieir cost would be beyond tlie 
reach of many, while cotton can be produced witliout Ihnit as to quantity, 
and at so small a cost that all classes can afford tlie use of the cheap fabrice. 

1079. The History Of Cotton.— The genus Gossuphun is divided into Goskij- 
jnum Jlerhaceinn, G. Hirsutum^ G. Barhadensey and G. Arboreum. There 
arc many hybrids of each. Tiie plant is indigenous to the tropical regions 
of Asia, Africa, and Aiherica, and is easily grown in all semi-tropical regions, 
and occasionally still farther north. The southern limit of Europe (3G^ 33') 
is too far north for its natural growth, though it has become acclimated in 
much higher latitudes; in some of our Western States up to lat. 40-'. The 
first cotton manufactured in Europe, it is said, was obtained from the Arabs. 
Being indigenous to India, cotton was early manufactured there, but we 
judge it was not known in Solomon's time, for neither he nor Homer men- 
tions it, nor is it ever spoken of in the Bible, though linen is often mentioned. 
How long cotton cloth has been used in India is unknown, as it was abun- 
dant when tlie country was first visited by Europeans, though rudely manu- 
factured, and not much improved now ; it is spun and woven much in the 
same way it M'as three thousand years ago. The first mention made of cot- 
ton in history is by Herodotus, who lived four hundred and forty years 
before Christ. He says : "There is a plant in India which produces wool, 
finer and better than that of sheep, of which the Indians make their clothes." 
He describes a cuirass sent from Egypt to the king of Sparta, embellished 
with gold and with "fleeces from trees." A century later, Alexander's 
Grecian army invaded India, and first saw cotton. Nearchus, tlie admiral, 
who led the expedition down the Indus, gives an account of the clothing of 
the people, " finer and whiter than flax, which Was made from a substance 
growing in pods on a tree, called by the natives Tula ;" and his officers 
have left a description of the cotton dre§s and turban which formed the cos- 
tume of the natives at that remote period. Theophrastus, the disciple of 
Aristotle, notices the growth of cotton both in India and Arabia, and ob- 
serves that the cotton plants of India have a loaf like the black mulberry, 
and are set on the plains in rows, resembling vines in the distance. On the 
Pei-sian Gulf he noticed that they bore no fruit, but a capsule about the size 
of a quince, which, when ripe, expanded so as to set free the wool, which 
was woven into cloth of various kinds, both very cheap and of great value. 

Strabo, in the first century, spoke of flowered or printed cotton cloths, and 
beautiful colors of Indian dye ; and that cotton was then grown at the liead 
of the Persian Gulf. Pliny, later in the same century, says : "There grows 
a shrub called Gossyphim or Xylan, in Upper Egypt, producing a stufl" from 
v.'hich the white garments worn by the priests are made." Tiiis was cotton, 
which had been but lately introduced from India, through Arabia and 
Persia, and no doubt had to work its way slowly against the interest and 
prejudice of those who had long grown flax and made fine linen. But they 
had to give way to the mighty power of cheap production. That cotton 
was not in the pyramid age of Egypt, has been proved by microscopic 

09 



930 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

examination of the fibers of mummy cloths. But Arian, in the second cen- 
tury, speaks of trade between Arabs and Greeks with India, in cotton cloths ; 
though undoubtedly to a very limited extent, owing to the diiBculty of sup- 
planting linen with a less valuable fabric before machinery was brought to 
its aid, by cheapening the production. The list of merchandise in the 
Eoman tariff of those days does not mention cotton cloths, though it does 
silk, which -was also brought from India, though mostly from China. It 
does indeed seem surprising that cotton manufacturing should have been 
known for thirteen hundred years, upon one side of the Mediterranean, 
before it crossed over to Greece and Italy. It seems equally strange that 
Eome did not import the exquisitely fine cotton fabrics of India, while she 
sought silks from a still more remote region in China. Cotton has often 
been found, by European travelers, growing wild in Africa ; and it was 
found by Columbus in Ilispaniola, and among the presents sent by Cortes 
to Charles Y. were cotton mantles, vests, and carpets, of various figures, and 
in the conquest of Mexico the Indian allies wore armor of quilted cotton, 
impervious to arrows. 

Cotton garments have always been held in high favor by faithful Moham- 
medans because their Prophet consecrated tlie fabric, in their eyes, by wear- 
ing pure white cotton garments as a sort of holy dress, upon public occa- 
sions. On the other hand, there was a strong prejudice and opposition to 
the introduction of cotton into Cliina, owing to the fact, probabl}', that the 
holy men of that country aiU wore silk and wool. Marco Polo, a traveler 
of the thirteenth century, found tlie manufacture of cotton cloth extensively 
carried on in Persia and the provinces bordering the Indus. lie only saw 
it growing in one town in China, while in India it was the universal cloth. 
It is singular that it should have flourished in the latter country one or two 
thousand years before it was adopted by its nearest neighbor, China ; and it 
might have remained uncultivated there still longer, only that after the 
Tartar conquest it was introduced by force. Tlie worshipers of cotton in 
this country may wonder how people could be so prejudiced. History tells 
us that cotton was grown in Brazil in 1519. The Aztecs, however, were prob- 
ably the largest cultivators and most successful manufacturers of any of 
the races inhabiting this continent at the time of its discovery by Europeans, 
and it is also probable that the "cotton-tree," now found in Central and 
South America, is indigenous to that region. 

1080. History of Cotton Culture in tlie United States.— It is supposed tliat 
cotton was introduced into the territory of the United States from Barba- 
does, about 1CG4, as we have no proof that the Indians knew any tiling of its 
value. About 1778-9 a gentleman named Burden, living upon John's 
Island, a few miles south of Charleston, S. C, clothed his negroes witli 
cotton cloth made upon the plantation. At that time the only manner of 
separating the lint from the seed was by the fingers ; for then there were no 
cotton-gins, not even the rude affair still in use to clean Sea Island cotton 
(^Gossypimn herhaceum), which was the only kind cultivated — probably 



Seo. 56.] HISTORY OF COTTON. 931 

because the lint does not adhere to the seed as it does to the green seed, or 
upland variety. About 1849 or '50 we spent some days upon the Burden 
plantation, and learned much of the early history of cotton from a son of 
the Mr. Burden first spoken of, who said that when it was first grown, 
the constant evening work for all the family — men, women, children, and 
servants — was picking cotton ; and that simple and inefiicient as the roller- 
gin is compared with the saw-gin of the present day, it was hailed witli 
joyous acclamations when it was found that it Avould do the work previ- 
ously accomplished by the very toilsome labor of the hands. Mr. Burden 
thought the first cotton ever shipped from this country was a bag sent from 
Charleston about the year 1740. Upward of fifty years elapsed between 
that and the next shipment. During the Revolutionary war, cotton was 
generally grown for family use in eighth and quarter-acre patches. In 
1793, cotton was planted for a crop by a Mr. King, and in 1795 a million 
of pounds were exported from Charleston. In 1801-, Mr. Burden raised the 
first crop of fine, long staple cotton in the State. This was produced from 
carefully selected seed, from stalks growing among that planted for family 
use, which seemed to possess the quality of a long, fine, silky fiber in an 
eminent degree. He continued his experiments of improving the seed more 
than twenty years. In 1826 he put up sixty bags of a superfine quality, 
which sold for $1 10 a pound. la 1828 he sold the same quality at $1 25 ; 
ordinary Sea Island sold the same years from 24 to 40 cents. His first crops 
were grown on a small island called Burden's Island. The first crop on 
John's Island was grown by Mr. Legare, in '96. A good average yield of 
Sea Island cotton is 200 pounds to the acre. Where one planter makes that, 
one hundred do not, probably, make half that. Mr. Burden made an aver- 
age of 300 pounds to the acre, and 400 have been produced. He recollects 
the current price of cotton, about 1794, was 25 cents a pound, and that_ there 
was only one buyer in the city of Charleston. 

About the year 1785, the seed of upland, or short staple cotton {Gossyinum 
hirsutum), was introduced into Georgia from the "West India Islands. The 
di9"erence between the two varieties may be easily known, if readers will 
recollect that the seed of upland cotton is of a greenish color and hairy — • 
that is, the lint adheres to the seed, while the lint of the long staple sepa- 
rates freely, leaving a smooth, black cotton seed, much resembling that of 
the common sunflower. The cultivation of upland cotton for export now 
extends from the Ohio River to our utmost Southern limits, though not a 
certain crop north of latitude 36°. The neighborhood of Nashville, Tenn., 
and Raleigh, N. C, may be considered the northern limit of its successful 
cultivation, or rather as far north as it can be grown to compete with the 
more favorable localities south of that line, though we have no doubt that 
improvements in the mode of culture and use of proper fertilizers will 
enable farmers to grow it with considerable success much farther north. It 
is certain that the cultivation of land without manure, and witli very shallow 
plowing, with such an exhausting crop as cotton, as generally practiced upon 



932 STAPLE SOUTUERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



Southern cottou plantations, evinces about as much of tlie spirit of the 
darker ages, as did the Chinese when they stubbornly refused to grow cot- 
ton because flaeir fathers had always been successful in growing sheep and 
feeding silkworms; or as the policy of the " Confederate Government" of 
the rebel States, in ordering all cotton burned, rather than allow it to reacli 
any civilized country, to be manufactured for the general benefit of liumanity. 

1081. Beauty of the Cottou-FieldSi — As a flowering plant, cotton miglit 
be cultivated for its beauty alone. The leaves are a deep, glossy green, 
grow profusely upon branches forming a liandsome cone, which is covered 
with a contiimed succession of white, straw color, or pink flowers, according 
to their age; and then with its curious-shaped fruit, first small and green ; 
then forming squares, and changing brown ; then cracking open, and show-. 
ing glimpses of its snowy white interior; then fully expanding into a hand- 
ful of fleecy white wool ; then gradually falling and hanging in pendants or 
dropping a snowy fleece upon the earth ; and so, from tlie opening of the 
first blooms, the scene is ever-changing, ever-beautiful, beyond the power 
of artist's pencil to portray. And the beauty of the scene is not, as with 
grain, marred by the harvesters ; for in a cotton-field we see the pickers, like 
black ducks upon the white-capped waves of some wind-tossed sea. Even 
in mid-winter, when all else is black and drear, an unpicked cotton-field 
looks like a plantation of white roses or snow-ball flowers. The black shade 
of the picture is not the color of those who labor in the cotton field, but; it 
is " man's inhumanity to man." 

1082. The History of f ottou Manufactures.— By the Mohammedan power 
the use of cotton was introduced into Spain, and with that power it declined. 
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, cotton was manufactured to 
some extent in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, and it was can-ied, 
earlier than it otherwise would have been, to England, by the religious per- 
secutions of manufacturers on tlie Continent. That was the starting-point of 
tlie " cotton-power of England," which has promoted, fostered, and upheld 
the " slave-power" of America. 

The earliest record of cotton manufacturing in England is in the " Treasure 
of Traflic," published in 1641. The author, Lewis Eoberts, says: '-The 
people of Manchester buy yarn of the Irish to weave, and they also buy 
cotton-wool in London, which comes from Cyprus and Smyrna, which they 
work into fustians, dimities, and other such stufis for sale; it is sometimes 
sent into foreign parts." Sometimes sent into foreign parts for sale! And 
that was only 200 years ago. The cotton manufactures of the present day 
are also sometimes sent abroad from England, and perhaps cotton-wool from 
Cyprus and Smyrna is sold in London ; but we doubt whether in quantity 
sutficient to supply one single cotton factory. Two hundred years ago that 
same town of Manchester spun the said cotton-wool by hand upon a single 
spindle wheel, not much superior to its prototype, in India, where it has 
been used, without improvement, for three tliousand years. At first, in 
Manchester, the cotton yarn was generally used for filling upon linen warp, 



Sec. 50.] THE lliSTOUY OF COTTON. 933 

and was woven upon a liand-loom also like that used in India for the same 
purpose. As this kind of fabric became better known, tlie demand infcreased, 
and tlicn a new custom or s^'stem of manufacture was introduced. About 
tlie year 17t>U, the practice of Manchester merchants was to send agents into 
the country roundabout, with linen yarn and cotton-wool, who engaj^ed the 
work of carding, spinning, and weaving to l)e done in families. Soinorimes 
a weaver by trade took the job and sub-let the spiiming. Sixty years later, 
it was a common practice for New England merchants to send cotton yarn 
around among their customers to be woven. The author has carried many 
a wagon-load of yarn to farmers' families, and afterward gatliered the webs 
into the store, to be measured, folded, and packed by hand for the wholesale 
market. Of course these were coarse goods — and so were those first made 
at Manchester — but the demand for them was great, and induced invention 
for tlieir improvement. In 1768 the spinning-jenny was invented by James 
Ilargreaves, an ingenious English carpenter, and rude as it was, it was found 
that upon this machine one person could spin as much as eight upon the 
common wheel. But still it only produced the same quality of yarn, which 
was not suitable for warp. The necessity of more warp than the flax-spin- 
ners of Ireland could furnish, and tlie desire to produce fabrics entirely of 
cotton, again stirred the inventive genius of the age, and Arkwright's 
machine was given to work a world-wide revolution, not only in the manu- 
facture of cotton, but in the habiliments of mankind, and in almost all the 
economies of life. Then came Crompton's nmle-jenny, Cartwright's power- 
loom, and Watts' steam-engine, and cotton and its fabrics were sought after 
by all the nations of the earth. Tlie demand in England for the raw mate- 
rial exceeded all human calculations. In 1780, and for four 3'ears previous, 
6,766,613 lbs. per annum were imported. Iti 1790 the imports had increased 
to 31,447,605 lbs. In 1800 they had increased to upward of 56,000,000 lbs., 
and in 1850 to upward of 758,000,000. Of the immense trade in cotton 
between this country and England, from 1850 to 1860, we need not speak — 
it is of the current history of the age, and has been the cause of much of 
its sorrow. In 1790, Alexander Hamilton called the attention of the Amer- 
ican people to the importance of the cotton crop, not as an article of export, 
but on account of the vast extent which the home manufacture of cotton 
fabrics had assumed in tlie households of the people. He alludes to the 
then remarkable fact that muslins, bed-ticks, checks, stripes, hose, fustians, 
coverlids> and various mixtures of cotton and wool, or flax, are made to a 
greater extent than required for family use by the manufacturers, and even 
hints at exportation. Both he and Mr. Madison spoke of the probabilit}' of 
extending the cultivation of cotton from the garden to the field, and of 
sending the products abroad for sale. With all their sagacity and far-seeing 
power, they had no conception the product would reach 4,600,000 bales 
within seventy years. A bale of 400 lbs. per acre (1,200 lbs. in the seed) is 
a good crop. The largest yield known was 6,300 lbs. of seed cotton, grown 
by Dr. Cloud, of Alabama, upon one acre. 



934 STAPLE SOUTHEEN CROPS. [Chap. XVI. 

Of the manufacture of cotton in other countries, we have already said tliat 
it was most ancient in India. Cortes, when lie invaded Mexico, found the 
manufacture of cotton cloth in a considerable state of perfection. Humboldt 
mentions the use of cotton in the manufacture of paper. Some of the cloths 
made by the Mexicans were curiously figured by interweaving colors of 
scarlet and blue, made from their native productions of indigo and cocliineal. 
Columbus carried home specimens of cotton to prove that he had found the 
Indies. Time proved tliem to be the West instead of the East Indies ; and 
time Avill probably prove that there are other fibrous plants whicli can be 
grown where cotton can not, which will serve as a substitute for it in cloth- 
ing mankind. 

1083. The History of the €otton-Gin.— Tlie world is indebted to the in- 
ventive genius of New England for the vast quantity of cotton it has used 
within the present century. Without Whitney's gin it could never have 
been prepared for market and manufacturing. It is due to his memory in 
connection with a great industrial interest, that we should give a brief his- 
tory of the inventor and invention, for without it a portion of mankind 
would be but scantily clad. The inventor of the saw-gin, Eli Whitney, was 
born in AYestborough, Massachusetts, Dec. 8, 1765. In the winter of 1791-2 
he was a private tutor or guest in the family of Mrs, Greene (widow of 
General Greene, of Eevolutionary memory, afterward Mrs. Miller), who first 
called his attention to the difliculty of separating the lint from the cotton 
seed, and afterward aided him by suggesting the use of a brush to clean the 
saw-teeth of the first model that he built. Crude as that model was, and 
unlike the liighly-finished machines of the present day, the princijile remains 
unchanged. That principle is for a revolving cylinder, armed witli teeth, 
like a circular saw (hence the name of Baw-gin), to seize the lint and pull it 
through narrow slits between bars of iron, leaving the seed behind, and that 
lint is cleared from the teeth by revolving brushes, and generally blown 
away into a lint-room. An invention by Emory Brothers, of Albany, N. Y., 
is a great improvement upon the blowing process, for it compacts tlie lint 
into bats ready for baling, and saves labor, room, and improves the cotton. 

It was in June, 1792, that Whitney presented his petition for a patent to 
Thomas Jefferson, and exhibited to him the model of his machine, which 
has in the seventy j-ears since then worked such wonders in the agriculture 
of the Southern States. That model was destroyed when the United States 
Patent Office was burned, but a copy of it was exhibited in the New York 
Crystal Palace, where we examined and compared it with gins now in use. 
Whitney's first gins were worked by hand, and one with a cylinder of 2^ 
feet long was capable of cleaning fifty pounds of cotton a day. This was 
fifty times as fast as it could be cleaned by hand. With the best gins of the 
present time, driven by the power of four or six mules, running a cylinder 
twelve inches diameter and five feet long, 250 revolutions a minute, 150 lbs. 
of cotton can be cleaned in an hour, and a regular day's work is about three 
bales. 



Sec. 5C.] THE UISTORY OF THE COTTON-GIN". 935 



The introduction of the cotton-gin raised the market value of tlie cotton 
lands of the South from 50 to 1000 per cent., and generally people grew 
wild witli excitement, and unprincipled men tliought to rob the ]ioor in- 
ventor of his just rights, and excite popular prejudice against this " Yankee 
invention," or, rather, against his legal right to claim a fair compensation from 
those who were enjoying such great bo-nefits from liis ingenuity. As usual, 
they talked about the " oppression to the South" of sucli a patent monopoly, 
and sought to " compromise" the matter by asking Congress to pay Whitney 
for his patent and throw it open to the benefit of all the cotton-growing 
States. For once Congress refused what it never has been known, I 1)0- 
lieve, since to refuse, that is, to grant all that Cotton had the modesty to ask. 
For ten or twelve years poor "Whitney contended against the cotton interest, 
which seemed determined to use his invention without paying for his patent. 
The greatest wrong was done him in Georgia. The courts would not give 
him a verdict upon the clearest testimony. One judge decided against him 
upon the ground that cotton could not be profitably grown without the gin, 
and that a jJatent right upon it was too great a monopoly for any one man 
to possess. Soutli Carolina first agreed to pay $50,000 for the patent, and 
after "Whitney had received $20,000 of the amount, the Legislature repealed 
the law and sued him for the nioney. Tlie law, however, was restored after 
several years. North Carolina and Tennessee also bought the right at so 
much per saw for all made in the State. Georgia fought to the last, but 
Whitney finally obtained several verdicts in his favor ; yet not till tlie 
patent had nearly expired. Since the time of Whitney, improvements in 
the cotton-gin have been a constant source of revenue to the Patent Office, 
and its manufacture furnished employment to thousands of mechanics until 
the slave power rebelled against the United States Government and stopped 
the cotton cultivation, and the manufacture of cotton-gins ceased as a natu- 
ral consequence. 

1084. Sea Island Cotton. — This variety of cotton received its name because 
it was first grown upon the islands near Charleston, S. C. We iiave already 
stated how it differs from the upland variety. It is more valuable, because 
tlie fiber is long and silky, and suitable for spinning the finest thread. Its 
value is also enhanced by the way it is ginned. This process we will de- 
scribe as we have seen it performed upon many plantations. 

1085. Ilow Sea Island Cotton is Ginnedf — The gin is an exceedingly simple 
machine. It is merely two wooden rollers, about eight or ten inches in 
length, and less than one inch in diameter, made of some soft wood, usually 
common long-leaf pine. One of these rollers is inserted in the socket of an 
iron balance-wheel of about fifteen pounds' weight, which is mounted upon 
a bench and operated hy a treadle. These rollers are held together by a 
light spring, and jjut in motion by the operator's foot, while he holds the 
cotton with his fingers to the roller. These seize the lint and carry it 
through while tiie seeds fall back into a box below. Great care has to be 
taken that a seed is never allowed to pass through the rollers, as the mash- 



936 STAPLE SOUTHERI^ CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



ing of seeds staius and injures the cotton. The rollers have to be renewed 
every day, and sometimes ottener, if the wood is not exactly suitable, which 
can only be ascertained by trial. If too hard, the wood polishes and will 
not take hold of the lint ; and if too soft, it becomes rough directly, and 
winds the lint around so as to stop operations. Experience has shown that 
the rollers made of green pine, and not very smoothly made, are the best ; 
but even these should be renewed daily. Experience has proved, too, that 
the gin must be driven by the giuner's own power, so that he can feel when 
a seed is caught between the rollers. A Sea Island cotton-gin may be com- 
pared, in its size and operations by the foot, to a sewing-machine. The 
bench is about 3i feet high, li feet wide, and 3 feet long, the balance- 
wheel having an opening at the left hand, so that the center is just above 
the table. It has a bearing ou one side, and a short crank and a socket on 
the other, into which the lower roller is driven, and forms a bearing for that 
side. As the seeds are hard, they communicate, if caught in the roller, a 
little jar to the foot. The usual task of a stout man is to gin 25 lbs a day. 
When the weather is very favorable, that is, in a clear, dry atmosphere, 
40 lbs. are sometimes ginned by an experienced workman. As the cotton 
falls from the gin it is gathered up and taken to a well-lighted table, where 
every mote, speck, and stain is carefully removed. If a mashed seed is 
found, the ginner is required to leave his machine and come to the 
"moter's" table and pick it out. This is done to teach him to be careful, 
and if the offense is often repeated, he will be likely to receive something 
more than words as a reminder of his carelessness. The ginning is always 
done by the most experienced men, and the " moting" by the most careful 
women on the plantation. Tlie work of the " motors" is all overlooked by 
an inspector, who is held responsible for the perfect cleanliness of the cotton. 
After the cotton is ginned, it is injured by exposure to the atmosphere. The 
ginning can be done to advantage only in perfectly dry weather, and the 
packing in damp weather ; it is therefore taken from the " moter's" table 
and closely packed in a dark room nntil ready for bagging. This process is 
very tedious. The empty sack is suspended through a hole in the floor; a 
portion of the cotton is then thrown in, and the packer gets in with a 
wooden rammer and continues to drive down successive layers until the bag 
is tilled. The Sea Island bale is made from four yards of cloth, and holds 
300 lbs. ; and a packer's task is to finish one bale a day. If pressed by 
machiner}' in square bales, like the upland cotton, the quality is said to be 
injured, and it will not sell for as much money in market as it does in the 
regular round bales. 

10S6. How Sea Island Cotton is Grown. — Upon a majority of the plantations 
visited by the author in 1S50, nearly the entire work was done by hoes ; the 
use of plows was almost unknown. The average yield of cotton is less than 
150 lbs. per acre, and it requires four pounds of seed cotton to make one 
pound of lint. The plants are set in drills five feet apart, the stalks from 
eight to twenty-lour inches apart, and one good field-hand can plant and 



Sko. 56.] HOW UPLAND COTTON IS GROWN. 937 



tend about three and a half acres. The manner of planting is to scrape all 
tlie manure and trash into the hollows between the old rows, then dig with 
hoes and haul one half of the old beds from each side upon the row of trash 
to form a bed for the next crop. The seed is put in the last of March or first 
part of April. Wlicn ready to gather, it is picked with great care, and at the 
same time assorted in the field ; then assorted again on the drying scaffold ; 
afterward stowed away in the packing-house, and tlien taken to the trashcr, 
which is something like a fanning-mill ; then it is picked over by hand and 
spread in the sun ; lastly taken to the ginner. 

1087. How Upland Cotton Is Grown.— This is the Gossyphtm Idrsutum,, 
the lint adhering to green seed, and it is killed by frost as easily as tomatoes. 
In its growth it somewhat resembles buckwiieat, tliough as far soutli as 
Mississippi it becomes a woody shrub, tall and firm enough for walking- 
canes. In Tennessee, Kentuckj', Indiana, and Illinois, where cotton is 
sparsely grown, the slirub seldom exceeds three feet in height, and is not so 
woody as to make the work of plowing under the dry stalks very difficult; 
tliough it is quite so farther south, wliere they are either cut off and burned, 
or beaten down with clubs and plowed under as well as practicable, witli 
the small plows in common use. As the cotton plant has a tap-root, the soil 
should be deep ; and instead of deepening it by plowing, the common practice 
is to throw up the land in beds. It would be better to underdrain, subsoil, 
and make all the soil mellow, and then plant nearly on a level ; raising tlie 
beds only just enoYigh to protect the young plants from injury by heavy rains. 
Owing to the extreme delicacy of cotton plants during the first stages of 
germination and growth, it is imperatively necessary to pulverize the beds 
thoroughly, by plo-wing and harrowing or hand hoeing. In the extreme 
iKjrthern limits of the cotton-growing region it will be found profitable to 
plow in autumn, and let the frost aid in tlie process of pulverization. The 
beds are made about as far apart as corn rows — farther at the South ; say, five 
to nine feet. A sliglit furrow is opened in the top, and the seed drilled 
pretty thickly by hand, so as to allow for a great many to fail ; and if too 
many grow, as they generally do, they are " thinned to a stand ;" which 
upon the rich canebrake lands of Alabama would be two feet between 
stalks in rows four and a half feet apart. Upon such land we have seen 
twenty bushels of seed to the acre used, to provide against the destruction of 
the plants by the crawfish. If most of the seed should grow, a peck per 
acre would be sufticient. In the vicinity of Montgomery, Ala., which we 
take as the average isothermal line in the cotton region, the seed requires 
nine days' exposure in the soil to vegetate and get above the surface ; and 
the most approved planting season is the first of April, and the average 
yield is about 150 lbs. of ginned cotton per acre. 

In extending cotton cultivation northward, seed should be obtained as 
near the locality as possible, and soaked before planting. Afterward, select 
in your own field from early, five-lobed balls, and thus, like sweet potatoes, 
it may be gradually acclimated. At the South, very little care is exercised 



938 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [CnAP. XIV. 

in selecting seed. In planting, it is covered by hoes, or by harrows, or a 
■wooden drag, drawn by a horse, and not over an inch and a half deep. The 
greatest trouble is during the first growth, when, if the ground is not kept 
clean, the crop will get a back-set that will put it in danger of autumn 
frosts. The best implements are such as successful carrot-growers use, 
which scrape the surface close to the plants. " Thinning to a stand" is the 
work of the hoe, striking across the beds, and cutting out the surplus plants. 
The thinning should not be done all at once — not at the first or even second 
hoeing ; for allowance must be made for cut-worms and other depredators. 
The last work done is with a turning-plow, to throw up the earth to the 
beds, so as to leave deep water furrows between. The first dressing or cul- 
tivating commences soon after the plant puts out the second or third leaf, and 
the hoeing or cultivating should bo repeated as often as the weeds, or the 
condition of the soil render it necessary, until the plant is in bloom and 
begins to show balls. Manure for cotton is just as valuable as for any other 
crop, and guano, superphosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, sulphate of 
lime, have all been proved good ; and salt is undoubtedly beneficial— for Sea 
Island cotton indispensable. It is best to add the salt to a compost, where 
muck forms the principal ingredient. 

There are three pickings of the crop : first, when the earliest balls open ; 
second, the principal picking ; last, the gleaning after frost kills the stalks. 
The sooner the cotton is gathered after it opens the better, as the sun dries 
iq) the oil that pervades the fiber. It requires practice to be an expert cot- 
ton-picker, and great care to bo a good one ; because the value is much 
injured by allowing any trash to get mixed with the lint. In picking, the 
lock is seized so as to bring it all away at once, and is tlu'ust into a bag, the 
mouth of which must be kept nearly closed, to prevent leaves from getting 
in, and when full is emptied into large baskets which are generally carried 
on negroes' heads to the di'ying scaffold, where the cotton is sunned one day 
before it is stored. The picking season is a laborious one. The slaves are 
all tasked, and have to work every minute of daylight, and often long after 
dark in getting the cotton home, and no one is exempt who is 'capable of 
doing the work. 

loss. The fost of Growing Upland Cotton. — To show the cost of production 
we give the following detailed account, taken by the author in 1849, from 
the books of one of the best conducted plantations in the State of South 
Carolina, that of Col. Williams, of Society Hill, whoso plantation is on the 
Great Pedee River. He then worked 140 field hands, and planted 15 acres 
of corn and cotton per hand. The cotton averaged, the previous year, upon 
1,130 acres, 1,000 pounds in the seed per acre ; and the corn, on 980 acres, 
25 bushels per acre. The cotton crop averaged six bales per hand. 

Cotton is planted in beds -li feet apart, and left to stand 12 to 18 inches 
apart in the rows. Corn is planted 4i by 5 feet, two stalks in a hill. 

The following was the cost of making 331,136 pounds of cotton, packed in 
796 bales, averaging 416 pounds each : 



Seo. 5C.] 



THE COST OF GROWING UPLAND COTTON. 



939 



3,980 yards of Dundee bagging (5 yards 

to a bale) at IGc " $630 80 

3,184 lbs. of rope at Oc. (4 lbs. to a bale) 191 04 

ikxcs on 254 plantation negroes at V6 c. 193 04 
Taxes on 4,200 acres of land, valued at 

$15 an acre "0 00 

Wages of three overseers 900 00 

Doctor's bill and medicine, on contract, 

at SI 25 a head 317 50 

Iron for blacksmith's shop 100 00 

Cloth from his own factory 810 00 

200 pairs of shoes from his own factory, 

at87J c 175 00 

100 oil-cloth capotes 125 00 

20 woolen blankets, given one at each 

birth 25 00 

Calico dress and handkerchief, one to 

give to each woman 82 00 

Christmas presents, given in lieuof allow- 
ing slaves to grow a crop 175 00 

Annual average outlay for iron and wood 

work of carts and wagons 100 00 

50 sacks of salt 80 00 

1 tun of plaster 7 00 

100 barrels of lime 187 00 

Annual average expense of repairs of 

gins and belts 80 00 



400 gallons of molasses $100 00 

3 kegs of tobacco 60 00 

2 barrels of flour 10 00 

Freight and commission, J c. per lb. on 
cotton 2,069 60 



Making *6,791 48 

To this add Interest at 7 per cent, 
on valuation : 

$63,000 for land $4,410 00 

88,900 for slaves 6,228 00 

3,720 for mules, etc 260 00 

2,000 for cattle 140 00 

1,000 for hogs 70 00 

Total $17,894 48 

Sales of produce of the plantation : 
331,136 lbs. cotton at 7 c $23,179 52 



13,500 lbs. bacon at 5 c. 

Beef and butter 

100 bushels of com 

1,000 bushels of com meal . 
80 cords of tan bark at i 

Blacksmith work 

Mutton and wool 



675 00 
500 00 
50 00 
500 00 
480 00 
100 00 
125 00 

Total 825,509 52 

This gives a profit of $7,615 04. 



Col. "Williams owns 10,000 acres of land, bnt only estlntiates in the aboro 
calculation what belongs to the cotton plantation, 
estimated values : 



The following are the 



4,200 acres of land at S15 $03,000 00 

254 slaves at $350 88,900 00 

60 mules and mares, and 1 jack 

and 1 stallion, at $60 3,720 00 

200 cattle 2,000 00 

500 hogs 1,000 00 

23 carts and six wagons 520 00 

riows — 60 bull-tongue, 60 shaving, 
25 turning, 15 drill-plows, and 15 

harrows. 262 00 

All other tools 1,000 00 



Total $161,402 00 

ANNUAL Bin OP CLOTHING PEtt HEAD. 

12 yards cotton clotli at 6J cents, for 3 

shirti and 1 jinir of pants $0 75 

6 yards winter ^ lotli iit 40 c 2 40 

1 pair shoes and repairing 1 00 

1 oil-cloth capote 1 26 



A bed comforter biennially $0 63 

1 blanket 1 25 

1 wool hat 50 



Total $7 78 

ANNTTAL BILL OP COST POB FEEDING SLAVES (where 

full fed, as upon the plantation of Col. AVil- 
liams, and other first-class planters.) 
3i lbs. of bacon a week is 182 lbs., at 5 c. 

'peril' *9 10 

1 peck of meal per week is 13 bushels, at 

50c 6 50 

Molasses, about 1 6-10 gallons 40 

Tobacco and salt 28 

Potatoes, and all other vegetables, es- 
timated 9 72 



Total $26 00 

or 50 c. a week. 

Upon most plantations the last three items would not be estimated, as the 
slave would have to provide his own tobacco, salt, molasses, potatoes, and 
other vegetables, out of his own crop, which he is allowed to cultivate Sun- 
days and moonshiny nights, or from the sale of eggs, chickens, brooms, 
mats, coon-skins, and other merchandise. In all the estimates of number of 
pounds of cotton per acre, where the calculation is made upon the crop in 
tlie seed, it is generally estimated that 1,000 lbs. of seed cotton will give 
290 or 300 lbs. of ginned cotton, and about 30 bushels of seed. A neighbor 
of Col. Williams cultivated 21 acres of cotton and nine acres of corn per 
hand, and made 2,500 lbs. of clean cotton per hand. The average yield per 
acre in that district was calculated at 800 lbs. of seed cotton. The average 



040 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



time of planting is about the middle of April, as severe frosty nights occur 
as late as that, and once we saw snow fall April 15, all day. 

10S9. Ginniug CottODi — ^The cotton as it is gathered from the field is 
dried in the sun and packed away in the gin-house, which is generally a 
very rough building, corresponding with barns upon new farms, and the gin 
is usually driven by horses or mules, working around an upright shaft, 
which drives a horizontal one, and often by exceedingly rough gearing, re- 
volving a drum for the band of the gin, which must run at a very high 
speed. The lint, which is estimated at 30 per cent, of the weight in the 
seed, is blown into a lint-room, and the seed thrown out of a window, just 
as some farmers throw out stable manure, where it frequently lies till half 
its value as a fertilizer is wasted. It is sometimes used as cattle food, but 
is not valuable unless ground. By those who value cotton seed for the oil, 
or the oil-cake for feeding, the waste" around the gin-houses would be depre- 
cated. Many small farmers do not own gins, but get cotton ginned by those 
wlio work, as millers do, for toll. The bale (-tOO lbs.), as usually put up 
on the plantation, requires five yards of sacking and four pounds of rope, 
and occupies nearly twice as much space as a compressed bale, which is 
about four and a half feet long, and one and a half to two feet square. This 
compression is done in powerful steam presses at the cities where cotton is 
shipped oceanward, to save room in stowage. It is then often hooped with 
iron. 

1090. Cotton Seed as Manurei — There is no doubt that cotton seed is a 
good manure for that or any other crop, but there is a doubt about its being 
an economical one, because the seed can be applied to other purposes with 
greater profit. If it is used for manure, it never should be, as it often is 
upon Southern plantations, applied in its natural condition, for then one half 
its value is lost. If cotton seed is used as a fermenter of compost, all its own 
fertilizing value will be saved, and the value of the compost greatly im- 
proved. Thirty bushels of seed mixed with 500 bushels of muck, or road 
scrapings, or woods-mold, with an equal quantity of sUiLle manure, will iiiak j 
an exceedingly rich compost. Those who have experimented with fertilizers 
for Cotton, think that the greater the number of ingredients in a compost 
the better, and that such manure is the best fertilizer that can be used for the 
crop. A good many cotton growers are just beginning to realize that they 
can not grow cotton continually upon the same soil without manure. Upon 
such hard-worked land it is very difficult to get " a stand ;" that is, to get 
the young plants to live long enough to begin to grow. Upon the principle 
that the ashes of any plant is good manure for the same class of plants, there 
is no doubt that cotton seed will fertilize the next crop. 

1091. Will Cotton Culture and Production Increase ! — In the aggregate it 
may, but it is likely to be more diffused, both in this country and in British 
possessions, and that the produce of slave labor will decrease, as old planta- 
tions are constantly wearing out by the exhaustive system of culture pur- 
sued in all the cotton States. It is doubtful whether the American crop of 



Seo. 66.] EXTENSION OF COTTON CULTURE NORTHWARD. 941 

1859-GO will ever be exceeded. If we could be sure the consumptiou 
would increase as rapidly in the next fifty years as in the past, it would be 
worth while for all Northern farmers within the limit of its possible culture, 
to get into the business of cotton growing. We do not think the demand 
for American cotton will increase, because there is an immense area in other 
countries just as capable of its production as this. There is a belt around 
the earth's surface of at least sixty degrees in width, adapted in great part to 
the culture of cotton. Great Britain now commands capital, while China 
and India overflow with labor. Let Great Britain divert a few millions of 
this capital and but half a million of coolies to any fertile area of 5,000 
square miles within this belt, and she can in a few years double her supply 
of cotton, and command the residue of her importation at reasonable prices. 
Among these spots none is more promising than Central America, where 
the cotton plant is perennial, and a single acre, as we are assured by Mr. 
Squier, yields semi-annually a bale of superior cotton. American planters 
are at work in India, and Africa is constantly increasing the production. 
The high price of 18C2 has given a wonderful stimulus to production in 
every country but America. It has also given a stimulus to the production 
of fiber from other plants, as a substitute for cotton. 

1092. Exteusiou of Cotton Culture Northward. — Independent of all political 
considerations, we think that the cultivation of cotton should be extended as 
far nortliward as the plant can be acclimated, to obviate failure in the 
supply from one locality, from any cause whatever. Many who can grow 
it, never thougiit of doing so till after the Confederated cotton States made 
war upon the Northern States. The cotton planters had so long and loudly 
declared tliat cotton could only be produced by slave labor, that many in 
the free States believed the statement true. But the truth is, that by slave 
labor the planters have been able to furnish cotton cheaper tlian any other 
country ; it is not because it can not be grown in other places. But here, 
with cheap land and cheap labor, the supply has been kept up at low prices. 
Unfortunately, the planters are wearing out the cotton lands with as great 
rapidity as the tobacco })lanters wore out their soil. Many plantations 
that once produced cotton are now barren ; and if the world was really de- 
pendent upon the cotton States, the supply would certainly fail. It should, 
therefore, be extended northward. 

The growth of cotton in Illinois and adjoining States is not a question of 
experiment, but one of economy. The " cotton interest" have fixed upon 
lat. 36°, but incorrectly, as the northern limit of growth. In Europe and 
Asia it is grown as far north as lat. 41'^ upon low lands, in warm situations. 
Undoubtedly the cotton plant requires deep and thorough cultivation and a 
long season of fine growing weather, exempt from frost, and such situations 
can be found in the United States as far north as lat. 40°, and perhaps higher. 
A rich, warm alluvial soil is best, and there is notliing in the cultivation 
essentially diftercnt from corn. The average yield per acre in some of the 
best cotton counties in Georgia was given the author by many planters at 



942 STAPLE SOUTHERN" CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



400 lbs. in the seed, and we have no doubt but that can be exceeded in 
southern Illinois. 

It is contended by those who profess to know, that cotton does not ex- 
haust the soil more than flax. We do not know how it would be under the 
management of ISTorthern farmers, but we do know that as cotton is now- 
grown it is the most exhausting crop in America, and has ruined more 
land than all other crops together. Millions of acres of land, once produc- 
tive in cotton, are now lying barren wastes, all over the Southern States. 
One of the principal reasons for this is, because there is no general system 
of rotation. The forest is cleared off, and land planted in cotton and kept 
in cotton till it will no longer produce a paying crop. The only shift is 
from cotton to corn, upon a portion of the land. It is no wonder that it 
wears out. In a few instances the following system of rotation has been 
successfully adopted. The rows of cotton are planted only one half as close 
as they would be upon strong land, the wide space between the rows is 
plowed several times during the summer, and next year the cotton is planted 
in that space, and the old row " left to rest." By this simple mode the 
yield per acre has been increased, and the field continued to produce with- 
out diminution. If cotton is ever cultivated as a crop in regions not occu- 
pied by slaves, some system of rotation will be adopted, to prevent the 
general deterioration of soil that takes place everywhere that cotton has 
been cultivated in this country. It is certain that cotton is an exhausting 
crop, as all white crops always are, particularly one that ripens such a large 
product of oily seed ; and it is certain that many farmers have given up the 
cultivation of cotton in regions where it will grow, because it exhausts the 
soil, and because it requires so much labor at the very time when corn must 
be attended to ; and that, we believe, will be the great objection to cotton 
growing in the free States. 

1093. Cotton ft'om Flax Fiber. — A good many attempts have been made to 
reduce the fiber of flax to such a condition that it would be a pretty good 
substitute for cotton ; but none of the processes have been carried to such a 
practical result as to produce any effect upon the market, though some fabrics 
have been manufactured, and much good anticipated. One of the plans that 
promises the greatest results is breaking the texture of flax-straw by the ex- 
pansive force of steam, by which the woody substance that makes the slaves 
of the flax-dresser is loosened from the fiber, and that is left in a condition 
very much resembling cotton. This is effected by filling a large gun with 
flax and saturating it with steam, gradually raising the pressure to 160 lbs. 
per inch, when the gun is discharged, and the contents blown across a large 
room, in a great, fleecy cloud of cottony lint. The same process produces 
lint from many substances that if not a substitute for cotton in all its uses 
will be for many things for which cotton is now used. For instance, the 
common reed-cane of the Southern States will blow into a lint that is exceed- 
ingly well adapted to the manufacture of paper. 



I .VMKl'TiS I .V.I (1(1 <»rs Tn TiiK H'O'I'TUX . 



XXI 






Cotton Boll"\Voi-ni 
Natural siiie >'atf size 

of CoUon Louse 




Voun.^ Cotton Boll attacked 






Natural size , 
Grain iloth CaTerpiUai-. 




Xat^. 
Grain Moth, ftym^ *^'i'* 

BILL BTTG oa. COBi" BOB£R. 





Grain ilo th. Qii-vs alls on C as e 



-sS^rfiKS: 



ITa^aize. 





ofBOlUno /^ 




Mii^^patl rerfect Iiiaect^'a^Bize. injured 
of Bill Hti^ 



;Xat aize. 



I Ma^' 

-An^oumoiB MotliChryBalis 



, CaterpClaric — 

Chrs^shsiSs^sxe . ^inooumoisMothyat' size 




PLATE XXI. 

(Page 942.) 

This, like Plates XVI. and XVII., is one for careful study. The 
insects that often nearly destroy whole crops in the cotton-growing 
States, both cotton and corn, are here placed before the reader in 
such a perfect /ac-s?7n27e of life, that any one may learn to distinguish 
them ; and from seeing them as here pictured, he wiU naturally be- 
gin to study their character and devise ways to counteract their 
work of destruction. Some boy or girl may be incited, by looking 
at this picture, to enter upon the study of Entomology. In one 
case, at least, a man has grown from just such a small beginning as 
the study of this plate to be an eminent writer upon the science, 
and has done much to instruct others in the history of insects inju- 
rious and beneficial to agriculture. We hope this may have a like 
eflfect upon some of the readers of this book. 



Sec. 57.] 



SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION. 



D-i;3 




SECTION LVII.-SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION. 

E shall give in this section some interesting facts, 
gathered from personal observation about the year 
1849-50, showing the magnitude of the sugar-making 
business in Louisiana, and the profits of well-con- 
ducted plantations. The cultivation of the true 
sugar-cane, Arundo saccharifera, is confined to a 
very small portion of the Gulf States (though it will 
perfect itself as far north as latitude 32i°), and wc 
shall therefore only mention a few facts connected 
with its growth and manufacture. We have already 
spoken of the Northern sugar-cane. Sorghum sac- 
charatum, which bids fair to render the farmers of 
the Middle States quite independent of the Southern 
sugar producers. 
1094. Sugar Production in Louisiana.— The census 
of 1840 gives the total production of sugar in the United States (nearly all 
in Louisiana) at 119,995,104 pounds; and in 1849, by census of 1850, at 
247,577,000 pounds. That year we visited many sugar plantations along 
both sides of the Mississippi, and on Bayou La Fourche, and from our 
memorandums taken from statements of planters and overseers, or from the 
books, we will give a few statistics that will show the product per acre, or 
rather arpent, as all measurement of land in that section is given in French 
measure — i. e., 118 arpens equivalent to 100 acres. 

1095. Statistics of Louisiana Sugar Plantations.— "We will take some large 
plantations, including that of the Right Reverend Bishop of Louisiana, 
Major-General in the Confederate Army, and give their acreable productions, 
and number of hands employed to j^roduce the crop, and in most cases a 
considerable portion of the corn required. And first. Bishop Polk's place 
of 2,500 arpens, which lies 231 arpens wide on Bayou La Fourche, above 
Thlbodeauville, and extends back four and a half miles. The crop of 1848 
was 600 arpens of cane, 200 ditto of corn, and 200 arpens more cane land 
prepared. The yield of sugar was 720 Idids. from 470 arpens of cane, manu- 
factured one year, and 510 hhds. from 35S arpens. It may be well to notice 
here, that all the cane grown is never rolled (the term for grinding for sugar), 
as about 25 per cent, has to be saved for seed, as one planting only lasts 
about three years. The yield of molasses is about 60 gallons to each hogs- 
head of sugar. From seven acres of " first ratoon" cane 21 hogsheads of 
sugar were made in January, 1849. That is considered a first-rate crop. A 
lot of cane, weighed and crushed, and juice measured, gave 163 gallons of 
juice, 8i lbs. per gallon, 1,386 lbs. to 2,300 lbs. of cane. The crop of corn 
the same year was 10,500 bushels, which was 5000 bushels less than was re- 



944 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



quired for the stock, biped and quadruped, on the plantation. The average 
yield of corn was 26 bushels per acre. The working force of the place was 
115 field hands and mechanics, and 70 mules and horses. The total number 
of slaves was 370. The small proportion of field hands was owing to the 
fact that the slaves were an original stock, imported, in 1697, for Thomas 
Pollock, an ancestor of Mrs. Polk, and have been in the family ever since, 
and now include a large number of superannuated men and women, some 
of them over a hundred years old. There were also 70 children under ten 
years of age. There is a historical anecdote connected with the slaves on 
this plantation. The original stock was brought into Bristol, R. I., and, 
probably owing to the same cause that decimates slave cargoes of the pres- 
ent day, the captain found that he ]iad not enough to fill his contract with 
Mr. Pollock, and so he enticed some Indians on board, and immediately set 
sail for Edenton, N. C, and delivered his cargo at the full count. Traces of 
this admixture of blood are still plainly visible in this old Pollock stock. 

All the clothing of the slaves is manufactured from wool and cotton on 
the plantation ; and all the hoes, spades, plows, carts, M'agons, harness, shoes, 
etc., as well as hogsheads and barrels for the crop, and all the carpenter and 
blacksmith work, is done by slaves, the rations of which are, to each adult, 
twelve quarts of corn-meal and three and a half pounds of pork a week, 
and the total annual cash expenses $8,(iOO — generally estimated at $100 per 
field hand — and the total value of the plantation, with all its stock and fix- 
tures, was estimated at $400,000, and cost, seven years before, without any 
slaves, for 1,800 arpens, of which 450 were cultivated, with 15 mules and 6 
oxen, and the tools, $100,000. The cane is ground in a three-roller mill, 
driven by steam ; the rollers 2 feet 3 inches in diameter, and 5 feet 6 inches 
long; the juice is boiled in sets of iron kettles, and requires two and a half 
cords of wood to a liogshead of sugar. 

A few miles above Bishop Polk's plantation, on the other side of the 
bayou, which is a narrow stream that looks like an artificial canal, and is 
kept in place by embankments, is the plantation of Thomas Pugh, one of the 
best sugar planters of Louisiana. He went there from North Carolina in 
1825, with a small force, and began a new place, or nearly so, which, in 
twenty-four years, grew to the following dimensions, and capable of pro- 
ducing the following crops : There were 3,000 arpens of land, about one third 
of it cleared, 550 arpens in cane, 250 in corn, and 200 in pasture, roads, lots, 
etc. The uncleared part was mostly cypress swamp, which afforded fuel and 
timber for the plantation, and lumber for sale. Most of the swamp land, 
like millions of acres in Louisiana, can not be cultivated unless drained by 
machinery. This place had 200 slaves, and worked 80 field hands, and made 
700 hogsheads of sugar, and 60 gallons of molasses to the hogshead, from 
440 arpens of cane rolled. All the corn required was also made on the 
place, which would yield, if well tended, thirty flour barrels full of ears of 
corn per acre. The team force required on this plantation is sixty mules, 
with appurtenances very complete, and one of the best kind of sugar-houses. 



Sbo. 57.] 



SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION. 



945 



and a short distance to haul the cane to the mill, and still shorter to haul the 
proceeds to the steamboat. Tlie land is 17^ arpens front on the bayou, and 
80 arpens deep — 28 arpens being a mile. The sugar-house is 40 by 340 feet, 
with steam-engine and three-roller mill, each 2i feet diameter and 5i feet 
long, which crush and squeeze the juice out of the cane so as to reduce it to 
about one third its weight. 

The estimated value of this plantation was given by the owner as follows : 
1,600 arpens of land (1,000 cleared), capable of being cultivated without ma- 
chine draining, at $50 an arpent, $80,000; 1,400 arpens of swamp land, at 
$1 25, $1,750; the mansion house, at cost, $30,000— $111,750 ; 201 slaves, 
at an average of $400, $80,400; 60 mules and horses, at $100; 6 yoke of 
work oxen, at $40 — $6,240 ; 1 wagon, $75 ; and 16 carts, at $50 ; plows and 
other plantation tools, $2,000— $2,875 ; 10,000 bushels of corn in crib, at 40 
cents, $4,000; lumber, small stock, and movables, $1,000;— total, $206,265. 

ANNUAL EXPENSES OF THE PLANTATION. 

Overseer's wages, $1,200 ; saw-mill and sugar-mill engineer, $700 $1,900 

Average annual outlay for mules 1 ,000 

Cloth for negroes' clothes : cotton, $850 ; woolen, S444 ; blankets, $200 ; shoes, S475 ... 1,919 

225 barrels of pork, at S 10 ; 50 barrels of flour, at $4 60 2,475 

Average annual expense of plows, carts, spades, hoes, chains, harness, naOs, and iron 900 

Average annual expense of repairs of engines, sugar-mill, and kettles 201 

Hoop-poles, $200 ; oil, $175 375 

Physician's annual bill and medicines 3.50 

Incidental average annual expense of sundries not enumerated aboTe 200 

Total 89,419 

The proceeds of the crop the year under consideration might be estimated 
as follows : 700,000 lbs. of sugar, at 5 cents, $35,000 ; 42,000 gallons of mo- 
lasses, at 18 cents, $7,560— total receipts, $42,560. Net balance, $33,141. 

Yet this is one of the most liberally managed plantations in the State ; 
the slaves being full fed, with three quarters of a pound of pork a day, and 
twelve quarts a week of corn-meal, besides all the vegetables they can grow 
for themselves, or that can be produced by a man and wife and mule em- 
ployed for that purpose. Besides this, they have fifty barrels of molasses 
and nearly fifty barrels of flour a year. Their annual clothing is 4 cotton 
shirts, 2 cotton pants, 1 cotton and 1 woolen jacket, 1 woolen pants, 1 woolen 
hat, 1 woolen blanket, 3 pair of shoes, 1 straw hat ; and to the old, or inva- 
lids, 2 woolen shirts ; and 1 calico dress and handkerchiefs to women, besides 
extras to house servants. 

Other plantations produced, about 1850, as follows : On the Mississippi, 25 
to 40 miles above New Orleans: Wm. Polk, 90 slaves ; 55 field hands; 3."/0 
arpens of cane, 285 rolled, made 525 hogsheads of sugar and 36,000 gallons 
of molasses. 

Thos. Way, 75 slaves; 35 field hands; 350 arpens of cane, 230 rolled, 
made 350 hogsheads of sugar and 700 barrels of molasses. 

Col. Manning, on one of his places, rolled 75 acres, and made 140 hogsheads. 

On Bayou La Fourche : Gen. Martin ; 37 field hands ; rolled 256 arpens, 
and made 335 hogsheads. 

80 



946 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

J. W. Tucker, 115 slaves ; SO field hands ; rolled 500 arpens, and made 5iO 
hogsheads of sugar and 28,S00 gallons of molasses. 

Geo. D. Davis rolled 150 arpens, and made 160 hogsheads of sugar, which 
was nine hogsheads to the hand, but expects to average twelve. 

Jas. Tucker, 130 slaves ; 70 field hands ; rolled 300 arpens, and made 230 
hogsheads. 

A, McCollum, 42 slaves ; 24 field hands ; rolled 120 arpens, and made 153 
hhds. one 3'ear, and next year 131 arpens, and made 174 hhds. His opin- 
ion is, from careful observation, that the sugar crop of Louisiana averages 
per annum about four hogsheads per hand. A sugar-house to make eight 
hogsheads a day, cost $5,000; has a steam-engine of 11 inch cylinder, 3^ ft. 
stroke, driving threo iron rollers 4 ft. long, 2 ft. 2 in. in diameter. Four 
kettles of 44 to 66 inches across, are not sufticient to boil all the juice that 
the engine and mill can make. Plantation expenses, $4,800 last year; but 
sold besides tlie sugar crop, $3,300 worth of lumber and 300 cords of wood, 
at $2 a cord. 

J. N. Tanner, on Terrebonne, 60 field hands; rolled 300 arpens, and made 
260 hhds. one year, and 460 the next. 

Doct. Beatty, 92 slaves; 50 field hands; 500 arpens in cane; rolled 270, 
and made 200 hhds. Some land yielded 800 lbs. and some 1,300 lbs of 
sugar per arpent. 

Mr. Potts, 60 slaves; 30 field hands; rolled 150 arpens, and made 143^ 
hhds. ; and next year 150 arpens, made 150 hhds. and molasses, 25 gallons 
to the hocrshead. 

Other jjlantations on tlie Mississippi, above Bayou La Pourche, show the 
fair average production of the sugar lands of the State. 

Ilenry McCall, 200 slaves ; 100 field hands ; 637 arpens of cane ; 510 
rolled, made 1,015 hhds. of sugar and usual quantity of molasses, which does 
not vary much from an average of 60 gallons per hogshead of sugar. 

J. R. Thompson (91 miles above New Orleans), ISO slaves ; 100 field 
hands ; made one year 640, and next year 660 hhds. from 450 arpens. ■ 

Doct. Stone, 8,6 slaves ; 50 field hands ; rolled 220 arpens, and made 343 
hhds., and next year from the same number of arpens made 387 hhds. and 
80 gallons of molasses to the hogshead. His average in former years from 
about the same area of land has been 450 hhds. The average yield of corn 
is IS to 20 bushels an acre. 

Daniel Hickey, 52 slaves ; 28 field hands ; 180 arpens rolled ; made 300 
hhds., and last year the same quantity from 160 arpens, besides making more 
corn than was needed. 

Robert Richard, with 23 hands, and 18 extra in the rolling season, 
made 228 hhds. from 200 arpens one year, 310 another, and 210 another 
year. 

The next two places are below Baton Rouge, on that side of the river ; 
the first being one of the oldest American plantations in the State, owned by 
Col. Hickey, 80 slaves ; 35 field hands ; 240 arpens, made 264 hhds. ; next 



Sec. 57.] MAKING PLANTATION REFINED SUGAR. 947 

year 250 arpens made only 143 hhds. Has made BUgar 35 years, and cotton 
25 years before, on the same land. 

F. D. Conrad, 200 slaves; 80 field hands; 375 arpens, made 537 hhds. 
The year before made 410 and lost 100 hhds. by breaking the mill. On the 
new land of this place corn averages 30 bushels per acre, and old land about 
half as much. On this, and other plantations, where the proportion of 
molasses is not given, it may be estimated at 60 to 80 gallons to the hogs- 
head of sugar. Judge Chinu, above Baton Rouge, made 595 hhds. of 
sugar, and had 12,000 measured gallons and 39,000 gallons calculated by 
weight, at 12 lbs. per gallon. This gives over 94 gallons of molasses to each 
hogshead of sugar. Another place east of Baton Eouge, and away from the 
river, 100 acres of cane gave 130 hhds. of sugar and 11,000 gallons of mo- 
lasses, which is nearly 85 gallons to the hogshead. • 

1096. Average Yield of Sugar per AcrCi — The average yield of sugar npon 
the above-named plantations npon 6,835 arpens of cane rolled, is one and 
four tenths hogsheads per arpent. Reducing the arpens to acres, it makes 
5,792 acres, and the average yield l/jV hhds. per acre. If we estimate an 
average 3-ield of 70 gallons of molasses to the hogshead, it gives 115^ gal- 
lons to the acre, to be added to the sugar as the salable crop of an acre. 

1097. Average Yield of Sugar per Hand. — The average yield of sugar to 
each field hand employed upon the above plantations, appears to be about six 
;ind three fourths hogsheads, and at the estimate of 70 gallons per hogshead, 
472^ gallons of molasses per hand. Counting the sugar at five cents a 
pound, 6,750 lbs. at 5 cents is S337 50, and molasses at 18 cents a gallon, 
472i gallons, $85 05, making a total cash value of the products per hand, 
$422 55 per annum. 

1098. Making Plantation Reflned Sugar> — Upon a considerable number of 
the sugar plantations of Louisiana i-efined sugar is made directly from the 
caue. This we found the case upon the plantation of J. P. Benjamin, -who 
averaged the year we were there, 300 lbs. of first quality refined sugar from 
400 arpens of cane, which was considerecf only about one half the capacity 
of the place, which had 140 slaves, SO of whom were field hands, and eight 
white' men, mostly Germans, were employed in the refinery. The juice of 
the cane is boiled in vacuum, that is, in closed boilers, heated by steam, and 
a charge makes from three to four thousand pounds of sugar. The molasses 
that drains off is re-boiled, and partly granulated, and drained again, and the 
molasses boiled a second time, making a poor quality of sugar, but still leav- 
ing a portion of molasses that will not granulate, estimated to average ten 
gallons to every thousand pounds of refined sugar. There are a good many 
plantations that boil the juice in vacuum, making a grade of sugar much 
like what is known generally as " cofi'ee crushed," not carrying the refinery 
process any further. Others, like Mr. Benjamin, go through all the pro- 
cesses known to the best sugar refiners. On the west bank of the river, 
above Xew Orleans, we visited the plantation of a Monsieur Lapice, who 
worked 120 field hands, and had 750 arpens in cane, all of which he manu- 



948 



STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. 



[Chap. XIV. 



factiired into refined sugar, making from a million to a million and a half 
pounds annually. His sugar-liouse and refining apparatus are very extensive 
and costly. He estimated the value of the plantation, which covered some 
1,700 arpens of cleared land and 2,000 arpens uncleared, and 220 slaves and 
other stock, at half a million of dollars. The annual consumption of corn 
upon this place is 18,000 bushels. 



SECTION LVIIL- 



-RICE-ITS CULTIVATION, PRODUCTION, AND PREP- 
ARATION FOR iMARKKT. 




E do not speak of rice because we suppose its mode 
of culture will be practically beneficial to Northern 
farmers, nor because those who grow it will greatly 
benefit by our statements, but because it is one of 
the great Southern staple crops, and therefore all 
facts connected with its production should be his- 
torically interesting to all agricultural readere, 
tliough they never expect to grow this grain as a 
farm crop. The facts which we give in this section 
are such as could not be obtained at the time of this 
writing — January 1, 1863 ; for they were gathered 
by personal intercourse with some of the great rice 
planters of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and 
Florida, at a time when a Northern man was not 
looked upon as a bitter enemy ; and they are now 
interesting to Northern farmers, just as their mode of cultivation is to 
Southern planters. 

1099. Rice— Where and How Grown. — Rice is grown in nearly all tropical 
climates, and is supposed by some to be a tropical, sub-aqueous plant. This 
is an error in both particulars. It not only grows a fair crop upon dry land, 
but is also a valuable one to cultivate in temperate climates, quite as far 
north as cotton ; though where it is grown as a crop, as it is along the coasts 
of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and other States, land is usually selected 
that can be flooded with fresh water, partly because such land will grow 
rice, and would not grow any other valuable crop, and partly because, by 
the overflow of the land in flood-time in the rivers, it is kept continually 
manured. The preparation of some of these lowland rice fields is very 
laborious. The swamp is divided into small compartments, say twenty acres 
in a square, surrounded by a main ditch, and subdivided by smaller ones. 
Some of the main ditches are boatable canals, two or three miles in length, 
in a straight line from the river to the high land. Each plantation is sur- 
rotmded with a strong embankment, high enough to keep out floods, and 



Seo. 58.] STATISTICS OF RICE PLANTATIOKS. 949 



each compartineiit is embanked so that it can be flooded without interfering 
with the adjoining one. Tlie most favorably situated plantations are upon 
rivers so near the sea that the tide raises the water hi'rh enough for flooding 
the fields, and yet so far up the stream that the water will not be salt. 
Sometimes the lowland j^lanters sufler very severely in consequence of 
streams being so low that the s.alt water sets back above their rice fields just 
when they want the water the most. Rice was introduced into Virghiia by 
Sir William Berkley, in 16-i7, and into South Carolina in 1094; and in 1698 
si.xty tuns were shipped to England, doubtless in the rough state, in which 
condition it is called "paddy." Upland, or mountain rice, was introduced 
into South Carolina in 1772, and is still profitably cultivated, as we kno\» it 
has given si.xty bushels per acre. 

The cultivation of rice in Louisiana commenced in 1718, but it has never 
been carried to sucli an extent as with some of the great rice planters of 
South Carolina and Georgia. Along the Mississippi the rice fields are 
watered from the floods of the river, which rise higher than the level of the 
land. This is extremely convenient, but not always reliable. When the 
flood continues to increase from the first of February to the first of June, and 
then gradually subsides, the rice planters can use the water to advantage ; 
but objections are made to tapping the levee, on account of risk of a crevasse, 
and because adjoining planters who grow cane are sometimes injured, as the 
water of the river fills up the swamps in the rear, and hinders the drainage 
of dry lands. 

1100. Statistics of Rice Plantations. — These we propose to give as we have 
cotton and sugar, and commence with that of ex-Governor Wm. Aikin, a 
celebrity in South Carolina history, and a large rice planter upon the island of 
Johasset, adjoining Edisto, some 25 miles south of Charleston. Our visit to this 
island was in 1850 ; it had then been owned by the Governor about twenty 
years, and had 700 slaves engaged in rice cultivation. The island contains 
3,300 acres, 1,500 of them in rice ; 500 in corn, oats, and potatoes ; and per- 
haps 200 or 300 in yards, lots, roads, and pasture ground, and the remainder 
in swamp, or tide-water marsh. Gov. Aikin valued the island as follows : 
Rice land, $100 an acre ; upland, $25 an acre ; swamp, nothing. The upland 
is very sandy, and when jjlanted in corn, two stalks in a hill, four by five teet, 
it yields about fifteen bushels an acre, if well manured. In sweet potatoes, it 
yields 200 bushels, and the swamp land, when dry enough, sometimes yields 
400 bushels. Within a few years past, part of the work upon this place has 
been done by plows ; and steam-driven thrashing and winnowing machines 
have been substituted for hand labor. The fuel used for the engine is rice 
straw. The hulling is done by a tide mill. The rice ground is laid ofi^ in 
compartments of twenty to forty acres, and is mostly cultivated by that 
great, awkward, heavy, square tool, with a handle six feet long and one and 
a half to two inches diameter, known as the " nigger hoe," which is the tool 
in almost imiversal use in all slave States. In preparing rice lands, the 
stubble is burnt ofl", or hoed under, during the winter, and the land hoed up 



950 STAPLE SOUTHERN" OEOPS. - [Chap. XIV. 

in beds in March, and the seed sown about the twentieth of that month, at 
the rate of three bushels per acre. The ditches, which serve to irrigate 
and also to drain the water from the rice, are all laid off upon this place 
exactly thirty-five feet apart, and all the plots being of a given size facili- 
tates the evenness of sowing the seed by the negroes. Many of the canals 
are boatable, and are used to bring the crop to the thrasher and take the 
grain to the hulling-mill. From thence it is put directly on board the Gov- 
ernor's vessels and sent to market. The average crop is 1,500 to 1,800 casks 
of 600 lbs. each. The average sales for some years had amounted to $25,000, 
and the annual expenses to $10,000 — $2,000 of it to the overseer. The pro- 
visions of the negroes are generally made on the place, and consist of corn, 
rice, and sweet potatoes, with an occasional taste of meat-soup. During the 
potato season, the weekly rations are half a bushel of sweet potatoes ; at 
other times, six quarts of meal or broken rice. All the negroes work by 
task, and in the time thus gained, reclaim portions of the swamp, upon which 
they produce little crops on their own account, the master giving fifty cents 
a bushel ibr their paddy — the name of rough rice before being hulled. In 
cultivation of the great rioe crop, each hand is allotted five acres; and one 
field that we took note of, eighty acres yielded 5,100 bushels, averaging 
46 lbs. per bushel, and this made 229 casks of whole or " merchantable" 
rice ; and two casks of broken rice, called " middlings;" and two and a half 
casks of " small (broken) rice.* The team force upon this plantation is 
usually forty horses and mules, and twenty oxen, but neither brute nor hu- 
man force is always worked to the best advantage, notwithstanding the 
owner is one of the most intelligent, progressive planters in the State. This 
we judged from seeing two hundred able-bodied men and women in one 
gang, repairing a breach in an embankment, by carrying dirt half a mile, in 
baskets, wooden trays, and boxes, on their heads, each load containing about 
a peck of dirt. 

About forty miles by water, up Cooper River, we visited the rice planta- 
tion of Col. Carson (since dead), who owned 3,300 acres of land, one third 
of it in cultivation ; the other portion, part swamp and part " piny woods," 
not worth cultivating. He owned 220 slaves, 120 of whom rated as hands, 
and included carpenters, coopei-s, blacksmiths, millers, etc. His crop was 
650 acres of rice ; 90 acres of sweet potatoes ; 26 acres of oats ; ISO acres 
of corn ; the whole entirely cultivated by hoes, and with the exception of 
boating part of the crop, everything was moved by hands and heads. The 
thrashing was done on the ground by sticks, not flails, and the winnowing in 
the free air of heaven, until recently when a steam mill was erected for the 
purpose. The negroes, however, still pursue the ancient way with their 
own crops ; and we saw more than a hundred thus employed one Sunday 
around the thrashing-floor. They also hull their rice by the plan once uni- 
versal, that is, in great wooden mortars, where the rice is beaten by hand 
with a pestle, until the hull separates from the white grain. Tlie general 
crop of the plantation is hulled in a large tide-water mill. Corn is planted 



Sec. 58.] RICE PLANTATIONS. 951 

from March 20 to April 20, and is ripe in August, and harvested in October, 
and yields 15 bushels an acre. Oats average 20 bushels an acre. Sweet po- 
tatoes are planted, say 20 acres of roots, from March 15 to April 15, and 70 
acres of slips, some of them as late as July. The average yield is 100 bushels 
an acre. From October 1st to February 1st, the slaves are fed exclusively 
ujion potatoes ; afterward a peck of corn, or a peck of broken rice a week is 
given. Col. Carson said he never gave meat rations — did not believe in it, 
and thought his people would not eat bacon if given to them. They were re- 
quired to pound their corn for meal, because "it keeps them out of mischief." 
The rice crop is j^lantcd about March 20, six acres to the hand, and the largest 
crop ever made was 45,000 bushels, averaging 45 lbs. per bushel. Eico 
weighing 48 lbs. per bushel is considered very heavy. The average per acre 
among Cooper Eiver rice planters, take one year with another, Col. Carson 
estimated at 50 bushels. Twenty bushels of good rice will make a cask of 
hulled rice, wt. 600 lbs., and 2} per cent, of broken rice, besides a quantity 
of meal which is good pig feed. His best crop was 90 bushels per acre, and 
his average yield per hand si.x casks and three quarters, or, say,- 4,000 lbs. 
of marketable rice, worth about three cents a pound. All the food is made 
on the plantation, and the cash expenses only about $5,000 a year, includ- 
ing $1,000 for overseer, and $300 for engineer. In preparing rice land for 
a crop, three hands will turn an acre a day. The ditches on this place are 
75 to 100 ft. apart, and most of the ground was made at an immense labor 
out of timbered swamp. It is flooded by the tide, but some of the planta- 
tions on Cooper Eiver have fresh-water reservoirs. 

Thos. D. Mears, of "Wilmington, N. C, had a rice plantation on the Cape 
Fear Eiver, where the tide averages about five feet, giving a good overflow 
to some 3,000 acres of rice land in the vicinity of Wilmington, which pro- 
duces some 150,000 bushels of rice a year, of superior quality. Mr. Mears' 
average was 55 bushels per acre, upon 250 acres, worked by forty hands, 
who do all the work with hoes. The average crop on .the river is 50 bushels, 
and average price eighty cents a bushel for paddy. Hands average five or 
six acres each, besides making a provision crop. Mr. Mears' father made 
one year an average of 113 bushels an acre upon a flat of eleven acres. 

1101. Flooding Rice Land. — As soon as any one of the inclosed plots of a 
plantation is seeded, the water is let on so as to just cover the surface, and 
kept on till the grain is sprouted, and then it is drawn ofl" till the plants 
shoot the fourth leaf, and then the hoes are put to work weeding, if the 
weather is dry, and the water is kept off till the second weeding, or else it is 
flooded and kept on fifteen or twenty days, which kills a great portion of the 
weeds. Then the water is drawn off and the crop cleaned, when it is 
flooded again, and the height of water regulated day after day, so that the 
plants just keep their heads out of water. A crevasse, or low flow of fresh 
water, or high salt tides, are equally fatal to the crop. "Watchmen are kept 
day and night on the embankments, to guard against accidents. It is a crop 
that an enemy might easily destroy. A single gun-boat could ruin a mill- 



952 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

iou of dollars' worth of rice in the run of one night on a river lined with 
rice plantations. The rice crop ripens the latter part of August, when the 
water is drawn off, and the grain cut with sickles, bound into sheaves, and 
" toted" to the canals, or out upon dry land and stacked. Some years, the 
state of the weather is such that little or no hoeing can be done to the crop. 
Water is then the sole dependence. Upon " Rice Hope" plantation, above 
Col. Carson's, a crop of 90 bushels an acre was made one year upon 15 acres, 
never touched with hoes after planting. That plantation has fresh-water 
reservoirs, but the water is not as enriching as flooding from the river. 
These ponds cover 100 acres, to water 260 acres of rice land. But this is 
considered no loss, as none but rice land, and just enough upland for corn 
and potatoes is valued, no matter what the area of the plantation. 

1102. How Rice is Hulled. — There is no grain, not even oats and buck- 
wheat, that has such an uneatable appearance as rice. The delicious white 
grain that comes to us is inclosed in a hard, rigid husk, composed in great 
part of silex, so sharp that it would wear out the teeth of an ox in a short 
time. To. remove this husk without spoiling the grain is a difficulty that 
ingenuity has overcome. The first process was rubbing between two stones, 
and then pounding in a wooden mortar ; a process that commerce could not 
wait upon. The principle is still the same, but improved by machinery. 
The paddy is first run through a fanning-mill ; then through a three-way 
separator, the screens of which take the largest rice to one place and 
smallest light rice to another, and the sand to a third ; then through a burr- 
stone-mill, set so the grain is rubbed and most of the hulls separated ; then 
it is elevated and passed again through a fanning-mill that winnows out the 
loose hulls. Then it is can-ied to a screen that separates the hulled grains 
from the others, which have to pass again through the mill. The hulled 
grain now has a rough, dirty appearance, and if eaten in that state would 
have a slightly gritty taste. It is not in a merchantable condition. To 
make it so it is carried to a set of mortars, ten or twelve in a row, each hold- 
ing five bushels, where it is operated upon two hours by a large wooden 
pestle that is lifted up by cogs on a wheel and allowed to drop its weight 
into the mass, giving a rubbing motion that separates the pellicle, and 
mashes all the soft, defective grains, and those that were not hulled by the 
stones, making them into " rice meal." Then it is again elevated to a screen 
that separates all the whole grains from the broken ones and meal. The 
broken rice and meal are carried to a fanning-mill that separates tliem — the 
broken grains being good food, and worth half price. Tlie whole grains are 
carried to another machine where all the dust is brushed off, and the grains 
polished by rubbers. It goes once more to the fan and screen, and all that 
comes down in the right place is ready for packing, and all that goes over is 
sent back to the mortars. 

1103. The Product of Clean Rife from Paddy.— Tlie proportion of salable 
rice in a given quantity of paddy may be seen from the following statement 
of a crop sent from " Rice Hope" to Charleston, to be hulled on account of 



PLATE XXII. 

(Page 953. J 

A GREAT many readers of this book have never, probably, had an 
opportunity to see the plant here so perfectly represented in a grow- 
ing state. To all it is worthy of attention as a matter of curiosity 
and information. To those about to embark in the business of to- 
bacco culture, it is valuable, because it illustrates so beautifully 
what we have said in the section treating upon this subject. Here 
he will see the plant in all of its different stages of growth, from the 
small bunch of leaves when taken from the seed-bed to the perfect 
plant beginning to bud and ready to top, after which it will begin 
to throw out suckers, as seen upon the opposite corner. The full- 
grown plant in the center shows how it looks when permitted to 
bear seed. The section of one of the poles, or lath-strips, from the 
curing-house shows how the bands are fastened, as we have describ- 
ed, one upon each side, connected by twine. 

The tobacco curing- house should have been called a shed, as the 
curing-house, or barn, is made with close sides ; but this for an illus- 
tration of the mode of curing, gives a better view, and in a dry 
climate is preferable to the building with closed sides and windows, 
as the tobacco requires a great deal of dry air to cure without in- 
jury. 



T.IXK TojiAfl'l) i'l-ASI''. 



IXII 



SHO"WnS-& ITS DUTElCEirT SXijO-ES^^tSD THE PROCESS OF CTTHJS &, , 




Sko. 59.] 



TOBACCO CULTIVATION". 



953 



the planter : " 2,159 bushels, average 45 lbs. — 97,155 lbs. made 54,222 lbs. 
of whole rice, which sold at three cents a pound, which, with casks 50 cents 
e:ich, made $1,671 16. One cask of middling 628 lbs. at If cents, $10 70; 
also one cask 620 lbs., not sold, say, $10 60 ; four casks of small rice, saj', 
$30 00; 202 bushels of rice meal, say, $101 00. Making a total of 
$1,823 46. And deducting $305 34 for milling, leaves $1,518 12, net pro- 
ceeds of 2,159 bushels. 

It is readily seen from what we have said, that it requires a large capital 
to establish a rice plantation, and a good deal of hard work to keep it in 
order ; but so long as the work can be done by slave labor, and produces 
such a paying crop, the business Avill be continued. 

1104. Statistics of tiie Exportation of Ricet — By these we learn the rate of 
increase of rice cultivation in this country. We find that the exports from 
Charleston, S. C, 1724, are given at 18,000 barrels. We take it that the 
term barrels means tierces, for the tierces of the present day, which contain 
600 lbs. each, are called barrels. In 1740 the exports from Charleston, 
30,110 " barrels." In 1760, 100,000 " barrels." From Savannah, in 1760, 
3,285 " barrels." The total amount of rice exported from this country in 
1770 was 150,529 " barrels." In 1800, the exports are given at 122,056 
"tierces;" in 1820, 88,221 tierces; in 1840, 101,617 tierces; in 1852, 
67,707 tierces. The highest export any year np to the present time, 212,983 
tierces. The smallest export since the commencement of the present cen- 
tury will probably be in 1861-2. 



SECTION LIX.-TOBACCO-ITS HISTORY, CULTIVATION, AND PROFITS 

OF PRODUCTION. 



UOBACCO may be said to be the parent of American 
slavery ; but great as is that evil, it is not the greatest 
connected with its production. That is connected 
with the slavery to its use. We have ranked it 
^ among the staple crops of the South, because there 
its cultivation originated, and there is where slaves were im- 
ported to increase its production, which they did to the ruin 
of the soil ; for it is certainly true that it is a farm produc- 
tion that has destroyed the value of more land than all 
others put together. We say nothing of health and intel- 
lect destroyed by its use, as our present province is to give 
facts about tobacco cultivation ; but first some facts of its his- 
tory may be interesting. 
1105. Tobacco History.— The chemical composition of the plant is very 
remarkable, and worthy of serious study by present and prospective growers. 




S»4 STAPLE SOUTHERN' CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



ISTicotin, the deadly principle to which all the ill effects of tobacco are due, 
is, as every one knows, a deadly poison. Besides this, the plant contains a 
number of acids, resins, and volatile oils. The name of JVieotui, -which is 
applied to this plant, comes from John Nicot, embassador from France to 
Portugal, in 1560, who introduced the abominable weed into Europe. So 
says Torrey. Its original name in St. Domingo appears to have been chobala, 
or choha, and also givta. The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from 
the name of a place in Yucatan, called Tabaco. Others say it comes from 
ToBASco, in the Gulf of Florida. Others say it was from Tobago, one of the 
Caribbecs. It is not important what place gave it the name, since it has no 
historical nor botanical meaning. It is historical that it is an American pro- 
duction, used by savages, from the earliest period of our knowledge of them, 
as a means of producing intoxication. Columbus found the inhabitants of 
Cuba using tobacco in 1492. It is spoken of four years later as used in St. 
Domingo. It was found in use in Virginia in 1585, the natives smoking it 
in clay pipes, just as white men do in 1862. It was carried to England by 
Sir "Walter Ealeigh, and people became so fascinated by its use that a great 
demand was created, which induced the early settlers to cultivate it to an 
alarming extent, and its use increased in spite of all the " Counterblasts" of 
James I. against the " damning, wicked practice ;" and so, wc suppose, it 
will, in spite of all the blasts that wc can fulminate. 

The price was a great inducement to the settlers upon James River to in- 
crease the cultivation. In 1617 it is given at 37 to 75 cents a pound. Still 
that was not sufficient to produce all that the managere of the colony de- 
sired; for we find, in 1621, that each coloaist was required to cultivate a 
thousand plants, averaging eight leaves to the pound, which would make 
100 lbs. of the cured leaf. In 1622 the quantity made is given at 60,000 lbs. 
In 1639 the production had got ahead of the demand, so that the price was 
likely to fall so low as to stop tobacco-growing. To obviate this, the strong 
arm of law was made to intervene and stop the excess of production, so 
that the entire crop should not exceed 120,000 pounds. All excess of that 
was ordered burned, in equal proportions among the planters, and creditors 
were ordered to accept 40 pounds for every 100 pounds due. Eather "com- 
pulsory legislation" that would be considered in our day. But neither that 
nor all the edicts of those in power have had any effect to stop the consump- 
tion of tobacco, and therefore it will continue to be produced. The quantity 
consumed in England in 1829 was 15,000,000 pounds. In 1840 it was 
40,000,000 pounds. 

1106. Exports and CODSumption of TobaccOi— Tlie value of tobacco ex- 
ported from the United States in 1848 is given at $7,551,122. The value of 
exportations has been largely increased with the last ten years, mostly to 
European states, where the use of tobacco is made a source of revenue ; and 
as it is an article not at all necessary for the comfort of any human being, it 
is a very proper subject for taxation. The following is a statement of the 
consumption and tax per capita in different countries : " The average con- 



Sec. 59.] EXTORTS AND COKSUMPTION OF TOBACCO. 055 

sumption in Austria was 6.75 lbs. ; tax, 26 cents per head. France, 5.50 lbs. ; 
tax, 43 cents per liead. Russia, 2.50 lbs. ; tax, 2i cents per head. Portugal, 
3.50 lbs. ; tax, 4G cents per head. Spain, 4.75 His. ; tax, 48 cents per head. 
Papal States, 2 lbs. ; tax, 50 cents per head. England, 4.10 lbs. ; tax, 78 
cents per head. Belgium, 9 lbs. ; tax, 3| cents per head. Sardinia, 2.75 lbs. ; 
tax, 27 cents per head. Holland, 8.25 lbs.; tax, 1 cent per head." It has 
been estimated that the average annual consumption of tobacco in the United 
States is 7jV lbs. per head for each male inhabitant over eighteen years of 
age. At an average cost of only forty cents a pound, it makes an expense 
of over three dollars a head. It would not be unfair to make these con- 
sumers pay a war tax of ten per cent, on the cost. When it is considered 
that tobacco is a narcotic poison, and that its use is universally baneful to 
health, it is surprising that its consumption should increase in an age that is 
declared to be rising in the scale of intelligence and refinement. Tliere is 
no disputing this fact, that tlie use of tobacco not only belongs to an uncivil- 
ized race, but that its use lias a debasing etfect upon civilization. The enor- 
mous cost of its consumption is perfectly startling to the political economist. 
The Dean of Carlisle gave the consumption of England, in 1856, at thirty- 
three millions of pounds, costing £8,000,000, besides what was smuggled, 
which he supposed a very large quantity. Statistics show there, as every- 
where else, a steady increase far outstripping the projjortional increase of 
population. In 1821, the average consumption per head per annum was 
11.70 oz. In 1851 it had risen to 16.36, and in 1853 to 19 oz., or at the rate 
of one fourth increase in ten years. There are 12 city brokers in London 
whose business is exclusively the sale of tobacco, 90 manufacturers, with 
7,380 workmen engaged in the different branches of the business. In the 
whole United Kingdom there are no less than 252,068 tobacco shops. The 
Dean estimated the increased consumption in other portions of Europe 
greater than in England, notwithstanding the great cost. In France this is 
enormous — equal to one thousand per cent, upon the American price, and is 
an imperial monopoly, which, it is said, yields $20,000,000 annually. Being 
a government monopoly, the quantity consumed is easily ascertained. Thus, 
the Genie Luhidriel, a French paper, says: "In 1830 the value of tobacco 
consumed was $13,000,000; in 1840 the value was $19,000,000; in 1850 it 
was $24,000,000 ; in 1857 it was $35,000,000. Taking the average at only 
$24,000,000 a year, it gives a total for the 27 years of $675,000,000. "We 
give the account as we find it, but it seems almost incredible that such a sum 
of money could be by any one nation puffed away in smoke, or consumed in 
the still viler practice of tobacco-chewing. Hamburg, a German city of 
150,000 inhabitants, consumes 40,000 cigars a day, and employs 10,000 per- 
sons in the manufacture of 150,000,000 of cigars a year, requiring a capital 
of $20,000,000. The consumption of other European states is estimated 
upon the same grand scale. In Denmark, 70 ounces annually for each per- 
son; in Belgium, 3i lbs. each; while in America the consumption is esti- 
mated by some writers as greater than in any portion of Europe, and the 



956 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [CnAP. XIV. 



entire annual consumj^tion of the -world at 4,480,000,000 pounds, or as much 
in weight as all the grain consumed by 10,000,000 of Englishmen, and equal 
in value to all bread material consumed in Great Britain. Five millions and 
a half of acres are occupied in its growth, the product of which, at but the 
moderate sum of twopence per pound, would amount to the vast sum of 
£37,000,000 sterling, or nearly $185,000,000." 

1107. Exhausting Nature of a Tobacco Crop. — The strength of tobacco is 
determined by the quantity of nicotin ; the flavor, by the oils and resins. 
The ash is of all the most important to the farmer, for this is made up from 
his availalile plant food — in other words, from his farm capital. The oils, 
resins, and acids come from the air, and hence cost us nothing. Take a 
given quantity of tobacco and burn it to ashes, and we find that the propor- 
tion is enormous. Tlie roots give 2 to 14 per cent, of ash, the stems dried, 
16, and the leaves 17 to 24 per cent. As the leaves are the great bulk of 
the crop, the robbery of the soil is correspondingly great. One thousand 
pounds of tobacco take an average of 200 pounds of ash j and 2,000 pounds, 
which may be regarded as a large crop, 400 pounds of ash. Now, a crop of 
wheat of 30 bushels to the acre takes but 36 pounds of ash from our farm. 
In other words, it would require eleven crops of wheat to do as much injury 
as a single crop of tobacco. The composition of the ash is variable, in some 
districts one of the leading ingredients being replaced by some other. In 
an average of samples tested by Prof. Brewer, potash salts formed a third 
part of their weight, and 75 to 80 per cent, of the soluble portion. Soda 
exists in but a small quantity. Sometimes the potash is replaced by lime. 
Thus in France, along the river Garonne, the tobacco has this peculiarity, 
and is noted for its mildness. In American tobacco, the potash salts pre- 
dominate, and most in the stronger kinds, which grow on new soil. A study 
of the census will show us that in any tobacco district, the production start- 
ing at nothing, mounts rapidly to a maximum, turns the corner, and never 
regains its higher figures. The reason is, that land can only bear maximum 
crops of tobacco for a short time, and when once the decline comes on, no 
power on earth can restore its fruitfulness. By high manuring, we can, with 
other crops, actually improve the fertility of our ftirms, or, at any rate, guard 
against impoverishment, but with tobacco, we can not. New crops have 
coarse quality of structure and rankness of flavor ; while, per contra, the 
tobacco of the finer brands is gotten from lands long cultivated. A thin 
leaf, with smallj pliant veins, is most esteemed, and of this character is the 
tobacco of Holland and Connecticut. The season of growth is ordinarily 
crowded into 30 days, and the larger portion of the soluble salts must be at 
this headlong speed supplied to the spongioles. The crop is so tender that 
of all those we cultivate, it is the most subject to destruction by hail. In 
Germany there are " Hail Insurance" companies on the mutual plan. It is 
a notorious fact that hailstorms extend over very limited areas at a time, 
and hence the farmers of a whole country uniting in small annual payments 
toward a mutual fund, it will be seen that even the most disastrous hail- 



Seo. 59.] DIRECTIONS FOR TOBACCO-GROWING. 957 



ravages could easily be recompensed, without fear of extinguishing the 
grand capital. In considering the advantages and disadvantages of tobacco 
culture, Prof. Brewer thus stated the case. The sole advantage is that an 
individual may grow rich from raising it. On the other hand, a nation 
never will; for the one man's gain is obtained at the cost of his son and 
son's son ; in getting his fortune he has taken from his children the means 
of future gain, like the owner of the goose that laid the golden eggs. The 
crop terribly exhausts the soil ; it is very precarious because of weather and 
insect enemies ; the laborers that cultivate it suffer in health ; and the land, 
which must always be of the best quality, could be employed in raising 
breadstufls to more general profit. 

IIOS. Tobacco-Growing in Connecticut. — A letter from the small town of 
Cromwell, Middlesex Co., Conn., says that 50 acres of tobacco were cul- 
tivated in that town last season, the value of which is $15,000, and more 
than three fourths of the crop was grown within a half-mile radius, upon the 
loamy soil overlying the sandstone formation. The writer says : 

" To this adaptation of soil in this and a few other localities in the State is 
attributable much of the world-wide repute of its unequaled growth of 
tobacco for cigar wrappers, which brings such high prices, as compared witii 
tlie coarser sorts. But few persons will produce the best tobacco, and but 
few soils will succeed. Farmers of the old school can hardly conceive of 
the prodigal outlay of time, money, and labor deemed advisable by our 
most successful growers. Two, and often three plowings of the land, with 
applications of as nmch fresh stable manure as can well be turned in — not un- 
frequently ten to fourteen cords per acre — together with three to six hundred 
pounds of guano, and two to four bushels of salt. Its cultivation requires care- 
ful and constant attention, and judicious and liberal management, to secure a 
remunerative price. I wish to deter no one from entering the business, but 
I would have them so enter as to prove successful. The better the article 
raised the larger the profit. The rule among our growers for manure is, to 
apply all ' you can get,' which is nearer the truth than many imagine. One 
of our best crops was raised (as an experiment) with guano, applied at the 
rate of 1,400 lbs. per acre, but it only affected the one crop, which was very 
fine, and yielded one tun, perfect leaf, to the acre, for which 35 cents per lb. 
was offered and refused. Any one can figure up and see if it pays to do the 
business thoroughly. The gentleman raising this crop devoted his entire 
time to this one acre. In conclusion, I would say to any one thinking of 
commencing tobacco-growing, count the cost before you begin, and be con- 
tent to raise a little good tobacco until you have experience sufiicient to 
raise only the best." The best animal manure for tobacco is that of sheep, 
and the best way to apply it is to feed off a previous crop, say, turnips, on 
the ground, or yard and feed sheep where the tobacco is to be grown. 

1109. Tobacco-Growing in New York. — From an article prepared by Hon. 
Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga County, N. Y., we extract some interesting facts 
in relation to the cultivation of tobacco in that county. He says : 



958 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

" The cultivation of tobacco, as a crop, was commenced in this county in 
1845, by Chester Moses and Nahum Grimes, both of the town of Marcelliis. 
They joined in hiring a man from Connecticut, who was skilled in the cul- 
ture. In 1846, Col. Mars Nearing, then of the town of Salina, grew ten 
acres ; and very soon others engaged, in a small way, in growing tliis crop. 
By the census of 1S55, it appeal's that in the preceding year there were 
grown in the whole county 471|- acres, yielding 554,987 lbs. ; which gives as 
the average yield, 1,178 lbs. to the acre. Mr. Benjamin Clark, of Marcellus, 
who is perhaps better acquainted with the facts in regard to the culture of , 
tobacco than any other man here, estimates the production of 1859 at 
$150,000." He says: "Tobacco must have a warm, rich, well-drained, and 
mellow soil, and then twenty-five loads of rotten barn-yard manure should be 
put on an acre. The land being in high condition, this amount of manure will 
be consumed by a crop. The plants should be set about the first of June, three 
feet four inches by two feet to two feet six inches apart. To grow the plants, 
pulverize the bed fine in autumn, and mix with the soil hog manure or some 
other that has no foul seeds in it. Sow seeds on the well-raked bed, as soon 
as the ground can be properly prepared in the spring, about one ounce to a 
square rod, equally distributed all over the bed. EoU hard with a hand 
roller, but do not cover the seed. Glass should be kept over the bed until 
the plants appear, which will be in two or three M'eeks ; after they are up 
and started, the glass will be required only at night and in cold days. The 
bed should be kept moist and free from weeds. When the plants are three 
inches high they are large enough to set. To prepare the land, the manure 
should be applied as early as the ground is dry enough to. plow. The last 
of May plow and harrow again, so as to mix the manure well with the soil. 
Mark the land one way for rows, three feet four inches. Make hills by 
hauling up a few hoefuls of dirt and press it well with tlie hoe. In taking 
the plants from the bed, take care to keep the roots wet. Unless the ground 
is quite damp, put a pint of water on each hill half an hour before setting. 
Make a hole, put in the root, and press the dirt close to it, all the way to 
the lower end. If any plant does not live, take care to set another. Unless 
the earth is wet, or at least moist, water the plants as soon after setting as 
may be necessary. In about one week cultivate and hoe. In ten or four- 
teen days repeat the operation, and continue to cultivate so as to keep the 
weeds down. The tobacco worms may appear about the second hoeing ; 
kill tliem as fast as they show themselves. When the blossoms appear, 
break oif the stalk, leaving about fifteen leaves, taking ofi" about seven 
leaves. After topping, break off all the suckers. In about another week 
go over again, breaking off suckers and killing worms. In anotlier week 
repeat the operation. By this time the crop is ready to begin the harvest. 
This may be known by the suckers which start at every leaf, and when they 
have all appeared down to the lower leaf, the plant is ready to cHt, every 
sucker having been removed as it appeared. The stalks are cut at the root. 
In a warm day cut in the morning and evening. In the middle of a hot day 



Sec. 69.] DIRECTIONS FOR TOBACCO-GROWING. 959 



the leaves will burn before they are wilted. The best way is to cut in the 
afternoon and lay on the ground to wilt. This wilting forwards the process 
of curing, and so toughens the plant as to make it practicable to hang it 
without much loss in breaking leaves. After wilting draw to the house, 
which should be twenty-four feet wide, fifteen feet high, so as to have three 
tiers, one above the other. A building of this width and hight, thirty-five 
feet long, will store an acre, or one ton of tobacco. The girts on the side of 
the building should be five feet apart ; a row of posts through the middle is 
necessary to put girts in, to hold the poles that the plants are tied to. The 
best poles are made of basswood sawed one and one-half by four inches, 
and twelve feet long. The plants are handed to a man who, standing on a 
movable platform made by a light plank, receives them, and beginning at 
the top tier, he winds a piece of prepared twine around a stalk, fastening the 
first plant to the polo ; the second plant is placed on the other side of the 
pole, and a single turn is made around tiie stalk ; then again the third stalk 
is put on the same side of the first, the twine passed around, and the next on 
the other side, and so on to the end of the pole, where the twine is made 
fast. About thirty or thirty-six are hung on a pole, one half on each side. 
If this twine gives way it is manifest that they will all be let loose. The 
poles are put on the girts about fourteen inches apart ; in this way the whole 
building is filled. Skill is now demanded to regulate the ventilation until 
the crop is cured, which is determined by examining the stem in the leaf, 
which should be hard up to the main stalk. Then in damp weather the 
tobacco can be taken down and laid in piles, with the tips together to keep 
it from drying, and to secure this, cover over M'ith boards. The next thing 
is the removal of the leaves from the stalks, taking this time to separate the 
broken leaves from the unbroken ones. They are then made into parcels of 
of 16 to 18, called 'hands,' and are fastened by winding a leaf around 
them. Pile these hands tips on tips, the square ends out. This preserves 
the moisture. The pile should be kept covered with boards, and the sides 
also covered, leaving the wound ends of the hands exposed to the air. If 
everything up to this point has been skillfully done, in four or five d&js the 
tobacco will be fit to pack in cases, and take to market. The cases should 
be of pine, two feet six inches square by three feet eight inches, and of inch 
lumber. Place the hands tips on tips, and the wound ends against the 
ends of the box ; press with a lever or screw until 400 pounds are in, then 
fasten on the top. The tobacco now goes through the sweating process, 
and will lose about ten per cent, in weight before fit for use. This tobacco 
is known in the market as ' seed leaf,' and is principally used for wrappers 
for cigars ; the refuse is exported. A crop handled in the manner described, 
and with skill, will sell in New York city at from twelve to fifteen cents a 
pound; but from want of proper care and skill, the crop of this county does 
not bring an average price of over eight cents." 

1110. Cost and Profit of Tobacco-Growingi — Mr. Geddes gives the follow- 
ing estimates. Cost of producing a tobacco crop in Onondaga County, per 



960 . STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



acre : The plants, $2 ; manure, 10 cords, $20 ; preparing ground $-4 50 ; set- 
ting plants, $5 ; cultivation, $3 50 ; topping, worming, and snclvcring, $7 ; 
harvesting and housing, $6; twine, $1; stripping, $10; packing, $1 50; 
five packing-boxes, $5. The crop is calculated at a ton per acre; and that, 
at the average price of former years, 13^ cents, is $270 ; from which deduct 
cost of production, $66, and shrinkage, transportation, and commission, $52, 
it leaves $152 profit. This varies, of course, in different localities, and with 
high and low prices. 

1111. Rules of a Florida Tobacco-Grower.— " Bo sure to grow plenty of 
plants in your seedbeds. That is the first step to success. An acre requires 
5,000 plants ; and as one half may fail, 7,000 should be provided. Make 
your seed-beds on a slope, near water. Spread brush evenly, so as to give 
the surface a good burn, and no part too much, as will be the case if brush 
are piled in a round heap on the center of the plot. Rake off trash, and pul- 
verize the soil thoroughly. Then make the ground into beds three feet wide, 
with narrow walks, running from the water, for the convenience of artificial 
watering in drouth. The narrow beds can be reached across from the paths, 
when necessary to thin out, or take up j)lants for use, as well as watch and 
kill the worms. If there is no rain soon after the seed is sown, the beds 
must be wet with a fine rose-nozzle watering-pot, and also by pouring water 
along the walks to soak into the beds. As soon as the plants are up, watch 
carefully for insects. Go over the beds every morning and kill worms. 
Soap-suds or weak lye will help you with the worms. Sow your first bed 
about March 15 [later, of course, at the north], and another ten days later, 
and so on, till you are sure you have enough. The seed is only one fifth the 
size of cabbage seed. The quantity to sow on a given space may be judged 
liy that. 

1112. Directions for TranspEaiiting. — " The proper size of the plants to trans- 
plant, when they are most certain to live, is when the largest leaves are 
about half the size of your hand. Be careful, in drawing plants from the 
beds, not to crush nor bruise a leaf. Thrust the thumb and finger down so 
as to take hold of the root, and lay tlie plants upright in a basket, tray, or 
some convenient shallow vessel, to carry to the field. Do not crowd the 
plants, nor pack them so they can not be taken out by the roots, and placed 
gently in the left hand, with the leaves folded over the bud. Make a hole 
in the prepared hill with the right hand, and insert the plant about as deep 
as the bud, pressing the dirt well down upon the roots, so as to leave the 
plant with the leaves folded over the bud, standing in the center of a shallow 
basin. The hills should be wet before setting the plants, and directly after 
pour a pint of water very carefully on the hill, so as not to disturb the plant. 
Except in rainy days, always transplant at evening, and cover each plant 
next morning before the sun is hot, and uncover and water at evening, until 
the plant begins to grow. Expose the plants gradually, more and more, 
morning and evening. The best and cheapest covering is long moss. Watch 
and replant whenever one dies, or appears too feeble to grow, as it is very 



Seo. 59.] CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN FLORIDA. 961 



important to get a good stand. Watch for worms carefully every day under 
the mos3. 

1113. Directions for Selecting and Preparing Tobacco Grouudi— " Tlie best 
soil is that known in Florida as ' hommock land,' wliich is ratlier sandy, but 
rich. In black, stiff hommock land the leaf does not hold the spots well 
nntil it is ripe, and wliere they rot out the leaf is apt to split. To prepare 
for a crop, cut the timber in autumn, while in full leaf, trim oif limbs and 
cut bushes, and spread all over the surface, to insure a good, even burn all 
over the field. Burn off in April ; roll the logs in small heaps, and burn, 
and pick np all trash, and commence at once to mark off, with bull-tongue 
or scooter-plow, as nnich ground as you have plants ready for, running rows 
north and south. Then take the hoe, and make the hills every twenty inches 
to two feet, digging np the gronnd well about one foot around, and taking 
out all the roots from the hill. Make always a slight depression in each hill, 
as it is made, to govern the transplanting, and to collect and retain the water 
used in transplanting, as well as the dews and rains. 

1114. f nltivatiou of Tobacco — Worming — Topping — Priming. — " Just as soon 
as the plants have recovered from their transplanting, commence the work 
of cultivation by flat-weeding, with horse and hand hoes, and with the hand 
smooth the dirt up to the stalk, filling up entirely the little sink made in 
transplanting. Remember to do this to each division of your patch or field 
as it comes on. Be careful, in all stages of the plant, to keep worms off of 
the leaf and out of the bud ; first, the cut-worm around the root, then the 
bud-worm. In taking this worm out of the bud, be very tender, or you will 
do as nuich harm as the worm. Every two days at least, and if the worms 
are very bad, every day, if it can be done, each plant should bo carefully 
wormed. Often, at an early age of the plant, the horn-worm makes his ap- 
2)earance. Begin soon to turn up the leaves and examine for the egg, which 
is semi-transparent, of a light greenish cast, and about the size of a mustard- 
seed. This should be mashed. Never let one of the worms live, for one 
hom-worm can ruin half a dozen stalks. It is not necessary to till the land 
as in other crops ; only be sure to keep down the weeds and bushes ; and 
when the hoe is used, care should be taken not to break, bruise, or split the 
leaves. 

" Topinng is the next process, which is to be accomplished as soon as the 
button or bud has "fully appeared. This is done by taking the thumb and 
finger of the left hand and gently pressing back the leaves which inclose the 
button, and with the thumb of the right hand rolling out the button and 
takisg off the next leaf, which would otherwise turn over the topped stalk, 
with its back to the sun. 

" Priviing is the term used to signify stripping off the leaves as they ripen, 
before the stalk is ready to cut. This is the most difficult part of tobacco- 
growing to new beginners. They are at a loss to tell at what stage to pull 
the leaves. The under leaves often ripen before the topping comes off"; 
sometimes not until the bud comes out. To know when to prime, you must 



& 



M 



962 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



at first institute a very critical examination. Some prime as soon as the tip 
and edges near the stalk turn a little yellow. Bottom leaves show this ap- 
pearance without being fully ripe. The most certain criterion is to find 
large spots about over the leaf, growing smooth underneath, and semi-trans- 
parent upon holding it to the light. When this appearance begins to come 
together, making nearly the whole leaf in this condition, it is fully ripe, and 
may be primed oflT. The priming must not be carried on while the dew is 
on the leaf in great quantities, nor immediately after a heavy rain, or it will 
be deficient in gum and aroma. In pulling off the ripe leaves, care must be 
taken not to bruise or tear the leaf, or to injure the remaining leaves. Lay 
the leaves in small piles along the row, under the shade of the stalk. They 
must be carefully carried out to the barn in trays, hand-barrows, or carts. 
If bruised before curing, tlie bruised part cures up green and worthless. 

1115. Curing the Tobacco. — '^Splitting the Leaf. — AVhen the leaves are 
brought to the barn they should be laid on large tables, and not in very 
large piles, and immediately split and strung on sticks, and hung in the 
stalls as they are strung. To split a leaf, lay it on a smooth board for the 
purpose, or on the table ; take a sharp-pointed knife between the thumb and 
fore-finger of your right hand, putting forward just enough of the blade to 
reach through the stem ; commence about half an inch from the end, and 
split in the middle of the stem down toward the point, about one fourth of 
the length of the leaf, and lay them off in three or four diflferent piles, ac- 
cording to their length, which will save much trouble in hanging and bo.xing. 

" Stringing. — In putting the leaves on the sticks, fasten one end in a crack, 
or hole bored on purpose ; then take two leaves, turn the backs together, 
and run them on the sticks. Serve the next two the same way, leaving a 
space on the stick between each pair of leaves of about two inches. String 
the same sized leaves only upon the sticks. The smaller leaves may be 
placed something closer. 

" Uanging and Handling. — Tlie sticks should be hung so as just to touch ; 
and when the leaves are partially cured, close up to save house-room. Let 
the stalls be iilled up, stall by sPall, from bottom to top, and not altogether 
over the bottom tiers of the barn, and then carried up as it cures. ' Barn- 
burnt' is created by having the tobacco too close and the barn too tight, 
causing it to fill with the evaporating juices, which settle upon the curing 
tobacco, for the want of means of escape, and for the want of an influx of 
fresh air, causing the tobacco to sweat and lose all its gum or aroma. The 
barn must be watched, and properly ventilated. In wet spells the doors 
should be kept closed ; and if one should continue too long, fires should be 
made outside, of bark and sound wood, and burned to coals, and the coals 
placed in iron vessels about under the tobacco, which will soon dry out the 
house. In dry, open weather the house may be kept open or shut, to suit the 
condition of the mass of the curing crop. 

" Tlie more of your crop you can save by priming the better ; but when 
pushed, the last two or three leaves, ripening pretty mucli together, may be 



Sec. 59.] CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN FLORIDA. 963 



cut, and liung on the largest sticks with strips of bear-grass, which is very 
plentiful, taking care to give the stalks good room at first. Tliis will be 
longer curing than the primed leaves, and will be thicker, heavier, and likely 
deeper colored. When the stem dries as in the primed leaf, take down, strip 
off from the stalk, and hand as in the other case, but keep and box it separate. 

" When to Take Doivn. — As soon as the middle stem is fairly dry ; when in 
case, that is, when it will not rattle nor break from handling, take that down 
which you find thus cured and in case, and make it into hands, assorting it 
as to quality, and tying it up with the same quality leaf, from fifteen to 
twenty leaves, according to size, in a hand, being careful to have the tie 
come out flush with the end of the stems. As you hand it, either lay it in 
windrows or in boxes, not packing it, however. Examine every day, to see 
it is not heating. If it heats it must be taken out and changed into other 
boxes or other windrows, and so on until it ceases to heat. If it goes through 
no heat in two or three days, it is ready for boxing. To pack well, the boxes 
should be made of well-dressed plank, three feet long, two and a half feet 
wide, and about two and a half feet deep. 

" Pach'i7ig. — In packing, invariably place the buts of the hands next to the 
box. Fill the box full, and place on the top smooth planks, that will just fit 
inside the box; then jiack down with an ordinary lever. Manage to put 
about 300 lbs. in this size box ; and in order to ascertain how hard to pack, 
weigh the empty box ; then, after packing it as full as you can conveniently, 
weigh, and see how much you have put in. If you have in only 175 lbs., 
you may know you have not packed hard enough ; and if you find in your 
box 350 to 400 lbs., you may calculate your tobacco was in too high case, 
and you have got in too much. In this way you may learn exactly the 
pressure to \ise. After nailing on the cover, nail on two hoops all around to 
every box. Cleats should always be nailed at every corner of the box when 
making. Be careful that the top is of seasoned timber, and thoroughly dry 
when put on, and do not nail it so as to make any nails enter the mass of 
tobacco. After all, in shipping, be careful that it does not get wet, and is 
not stowed in the damp holds of vessels. 

1116. Tobacco Curing House or Barn— its Proper SizCt — " The proper size of 
a tobacco barn is an important matter for tyros in the business of tobacco- 
growing. In Florida, it is estimated that a barn twenty feet square on the 
ground and sixteen feet high is as small as will do to save an acre of good 
tobacco ; and to do this the tobacco must be taken down and packed as it 
cures. Upon this ratio, house-room must be provided for your whole crop. 
If your barn is a frame building, divide it into stalls four feet wide, by posts 
and cross-bars — the bars about two feet apart. If built of logs, arrange 
cross-bars of round poles as the building goes up. You must have a good 
roof and plenty of windows with tight shutters in the wa.ls, and if rour 
building is of logs it must be tightly ceiled with boards on the inside. The 
sticks to lay on the poles or bars to hang the leaves upon, may be split out 
of good pine, or any other straight rifted timber, board fashion, three fourths 



964: STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



of an inch thick, and then split to a square, four and a half feet long, and the 
splinters and corners drawn off, and one end a little sharpened. About 
2,500 or 3,000 sticks should be provided to the acre. In some sections, 
sticks made of reeds are used. 

1117. Where Tobacco may be Grown,— The isothermal lines, within which 
tobacco may be grown, correspond with Indian corn, ranging from the equa- 
tor to lat. 50° N., but the production at the extremes is not equal to the tem- 
perate zone, say lat. 24° to 40°. It is now grown in all the States, but most 
largely as a staple crop in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. The lands 
of the latter State have been extremely exhausted by tobacco, and so they 
have in Maryland, and until lately it has been supposed that all tobacco 
g^own in a climate as cold as that north of lat. 41° was of a coarse, rank 
quality, but this has been proved to be a mistake by some of the tobacco 
growers of Connecticut and New York. True, there is a peculiar sort of 
sweet-scented tobacco grown in Florida, known as Cuba tobacco, that can 
not be profitably grown as far north as some coarser variety will grow. In 
Europe, tobacco is grown as far north as central Russia, and it will succeed 
anywhere in suitable soil, where the mean temperature of July is 65°, and 
some writers say 2° less. It is also said that all tlie varieties grown in warm 
regions may be transferred northward and acclimated. We believe, how- 
ever, that all the good qualities will not continue to attach to the plant 
grown at the North. 

Good Tobacco Soil. — The best soil for tobacco is that which contains the 
most potash. Hence it succeeds best upon newly cleared forest land, and 
some of the fine sort grown in Florida is not worth much more than half as 
much in market from the third crop, as the first upon the same land. 
In Virginia there are many thousands of acres that give their owners rich 
returns when first cleared, that would not now produce tobacco enough to 
pay for a single plowing. Tliere appears to be no grade of soil, from sand 
to black muck, that tobacco will not grow in, if the proper plant food is 
added ; and there is no better manure than wood ashes. So fit are ashes to 
fertilize tobacco, that a plant bed is generally prepared by burning brush, 
and sowing the seed in the earth lightly, mixed with the fresh-burnt ashes. 
For the finest quality of tobacco we would select, in old land, a light loam, 
and manure it by the Connecticut rule, " with all we could get." It will 
grow well, as a general rule, upon all soil that is really good for Indian 
corn, by following the preceding rules given in this article. 

In Connecticut, the plants are set June 5 to 15, and good crops have been 
made when they Avere set as late as July 5. Some cultivators set their 
plants on a ridge, instead of in a basin, as recommended in the article about 
Florida. This is for the purpose of using a horse-hoe in the first cultivation. 
The plants when set on a ridge are less liable to be covered up. The soil of 
the seed-beds must be not only rich, but very carefully worked. 



Seo. 59.] TOBACCO IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY. 9Gi* 

1118. Connecticut Seed-leaf Tobacco— its Cultiration.— The importance of 
the tobacco crop in the valley of the Connecticut River has become so great, 
that the publisher of this volume has deemed it necessary to add to late 
editions the following reliable information, which is drawn from the report 
of a committee of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, composed 
of Paoli Lathrop, Levi Stockbridge, and Moses Stebbins, all "reliable, intelli- 
gent, practical cultivators. "Without copying the exact language, we give 
the following as the facts and conclusions ascertained by this committee. 

The Seed-bed.— This is the first and most important step. The location 
should be warm and moist, not wet, with a sheltered, southern exposure. It 
can not be made too rich. The manure must be free of all weed, grass, and 
clover seeds. Composting and fermentation will kill such seeds. Dress the 
ground with a good coat and plow it in and mix thoroughly in autumn. 
Plow and manure again as early as possible in spring, and reduce every 
lump to absolute fineness. This is the only way to get strong, healthy, well- 
rooted plants, upon which success depends. Make the bed level, smooth, 
fine, and even in quality and texture. 

Sowing the Seed. — For each square rod, use a tablespoonful of seed, mixed 
with plaster, asTies, spent lime, dust, or meal, to enable you to sow evenly. 
When sown, roll or tramp the surface hard and smooth. Now put on a 
light covering of fine brush or straw, which if not so thick as to smother the 
plants, may remain on till they are large enough to commence weeding. 
The bed must be kept clear of weeds ; and if the ground is dry when weed- 
ing is done, it must be watered to prevent pulling up the plants. The 
ground must also be kept constantly watered by rain or artificial watering. 

Setting Out Plants in the Field. — Do not be in too great hurry to do this. 
There is nothing gained by putting them out when too small. The plants 
should get a strong root and a good-sized leaf in the seed-bed. About the 
15th to 25th of June in this valley is the proper time ; earlier-set plants are 
more liable to be destroyed by cut-worms. Damp or rainy weather is neces- 
sary for success. The land must have been previously thoroughly prepared. 
It should be a warm, strong soil, which would produce fifty bushels of corn 
per acre. Every acre shoxild have ten cords of good manure, evenly spread, 
with 200 lbs. plaster, and plowed and harrowed and mixed with the soil as 
fine as though for garden vegetables. Mark the rows 3^ feet apart, and 
make hills 2 feet 4 inches distant by drawing the earth together, and patting 
it so that the place will be easily seen when a rainy day occurs fit for plant- 
ing. If guano, ashes, superphosphate, poudrettc, flour of bone, or other 
concentrated fertilizers are to be used, they should be buried in the hill 
about two inches deep. If a drouth occur at the proper time for planting 
out, the hills must be artificially wet before planting, and the plants covered 
with a leafy branch or bunch of grass. 

Cultivation, Worming, etc. — ^Tlie whole law of cultivation of this crop 
may be summed up in two words — clean culture. The tobacco-worm makes 
its appearance in July. To prevent the destruction of the crop requires 



96i** STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XTV. 



eternal vigilance of the owner. He must examine the under side of each 
leaf at least three times a week. Morning is the most favorable time for 
hunting worms. One of these animals of full size is as large and long as a 
man's tinger. 

Topping the Plants. — ^The general practice is to top as soon as the seed- 
buds are out full, leaving twelve to sixteen leaves on a plant ; or at least 
topping down to a good-sized leaf; and every sucker must be broken off as 
fast as one makes its appearance. All this work should be done within ten 
days. While topping, select your seed-plants, those of a strong growth, 
with thick-set, heavy leaves. 

Harvesting. — In two or tliree weeks after topping, you will find the leaves 
will crack on the under side by doubling ; the crop is then ready for har- 
vesting. Cut and lay the stalks carefully in bunches until wilted enough to 
handle without breaking the leaves. A cloudy day is preferable ; too much 
exposure to a hot sun burns and injures the leaves materially. As soon as 
wilted, haul to the tobacco barn. This building, with the mode of hanging, 
has been previously described. The average Connecticut seed-leaf plants 
will require a pole 12 feet long to hang thirty plants, fifteen on a side. The 
poles should be 18 inches apart. 

Another mode of hanging, and one which is coming into use rapidly, is 
by using laths or splits Z\ or 4 feet long, li in. wide, f in. thick, by split- 
ting the butt of the stalk and slip it on the lath ; put on 8 plants, and hang 
on two poles 3i feet apart, and the lath 8 inches apart on the poles. To- 
bacco hung in this way is less liable to sweat in curing, and less liable to 
injury in hanging and taking down. 

As this kind of tobacco is mostly used for cigars, it is necessary to use 
great care in stripping. You will make two qualities : wrappers, which are 
the large, perfect leaves, comprising four fifths of a good crop — the re- 
mainder fillers, which are the lower leaves, with those broken or otherwise 
damaged. Two good jilants will make a hand, which should be kept even, 
and bound near the end. It appears better, and is more salable to have the 
leaves in each hand of uniform length, instead of long and short leaves in 
the same hand. As fast as it is stripped, the hands should be packed close 
together in two rows, tip to tip, leaving the butts exposed to the air, so as to 
cure thoroughly before casing. The cases should be made of sound, sea- 
soned boards, 3 feet 8 inches long, 2 feet 6 inches high and wide. Such a 
case will contain 375 to 400 lbs. As warm weather advances, the tobacco 
will commence sweating, and be in good condition for the manufacturer at 
one year old. 

A fair crop in the Connecticut Kiver Valley is 1,500 to 2,000 lbs. mer- 
chantable tobacco per acre. 



Sko. CO.] 



INTRODUCTON OF HEMP CULTIVATION IN" AMERICA. 



965 




SECTION LX.-FIBROUS PLANTS-HEMP AND FLAX-HISTORY AND CUL- 
TIVATION OF HEMP-COST AND PROFIT OF FLAX CULTURE. 

?E are aware that neither hemp nor flax should rank 
as Southern crops; but they seem naturally con- 
nected, and are therefore treated of in the same 
section. Hemp ranks in America as a Southern 
crop because almost exclusively grown in slave 
States — that is, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri ; 
though in Europe it is cultivated largely in higher 
latitudes than our most Nortliern States. There ap- 
pears to be a prevalent opinion that hemp really 
belongs in the South, because none of the Northern 
States grow it as a staple crop ; yet the States 
where it is grown are not southern, nor is the crop 
a Southern one, any more than Indian corn. His- 
tory gives the native place of hemp {Cannahis 
sativa) in India ; but if that is so, it has been 
acclimated much farther north ; and the fact is interesting to all farmers 
that it can be successfully grown wherever the soil is suitable, as far nortli 
as the great lakes ; indeed, as far north as they successfully cultivate flax 
{Linuin usitatissimuvi)^ which has been grown in all parts of America since 
its first settlement, and its cultivation only ceased because it could not com- 
pete with cotton, for the want of proper machinery to cheaply reduce the 
fiber to practical purposes. That want is now about overcome. 

1119. Introduction of Hemp Cultivation in America.— The first settlers of 
New England, New York, and Virginia introduced the cultivation of hemp, 
and hopes were entertained by the " mother countries" — England and Hol- 
land — that their American colonies would furnish the much-needed supply 
for their great navies. It was grown on Manhattan Island in 1626, and in 
Massachusetts in 1630. In Virginia, hempen cloth was manufactured in 
1648. In 1730 Pennsylvania offered bounties to encourage hemp-growing. 
It was never extensively grown as a farm crop until after Kentucky was 
settled ; there it became a staple crop at an early day, and up to the present 
time it has been grown in that State more extensively than in any other, 
though large plantations have been established in Tennessee and Missouri, 
but all have never been able to give enough for the wants of the country. 
Tlie consumption of hemp for bagging and rope for cotton bales is enormous, 
and must always aflbrd a good market for the crop and make its cultivation 
profitable. The consumption for maritime purposes is almost beyond the 
power of imagination. It is estimated that a war ship of the first class re- 
quires 180,000 lbs. of hemp to fit her for sea. So great has been the con- 
sumption that the price has increased to such an extent that various sub- 



966 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. SIV. 

stances have been sought for as substitutes ; for instance, Manilla hemp, 
flax, and cotton for cordage and duck, and iron for cables, and to some 
extent for standing rigging, and also for cordage of cotton and other bales. 
Farmers who feel a disposition to engage in hem-p-growing may rest assured 
that they will always have a sure market, and from what we have stated 
they will see that it can be grown in anj' of the Northern States. 

1120. A New Variety of Hemp. — "Within a few years past a new variety of 
hemp has been introduced into the Western States, under the name of 
Chinese hemp. The editor of the Yalley Farmer, speaking of it, says : 
" We know of no ncAV variety of vegetable production that presents such 
marked superiority over kinds before known to us. We visited tlie first 
extensive field of it grown by Mr. Vance, before it was generally made 
known to the public. In our statement of it we were particularly guarded, 
lest the public should place an undue estimate upon it, and suffer final dis- 
appointment as to its value, which is so frequently the case with the intro- 
duction of new things of the kind. But in -this instance, so striking was the 
contrast between the Chinese hemp growing upon land so washed and worn 
that it would no longer produce the common hemp, it required only to be 
seen to convince the most skeptical as to its value." A writer in the News, 
of Shelby Co., Ky., says: "From the information we have of this new 
variety, we are fully satisfied that it must eventually supersede all varieties 
hitherto introduced. Having, during the present month, manufactured and 
examined closely samples of this hemp, we find — compared with other hemp 
— the lint to be more harsh, coarse, yet heavy and lengthy, giving good 
gloss, after being manufactured, also producing less tow, both at hackle 
and break ; and for rope purposes we consider it equal to other varieties. 
For bagging and twine purposes, where a soft, silken article is preferable, it 
may not answer so well. The greatest benefit to the grower is in the largely 
increased yield per acre- — double and even treble the amount of the old 
variety — making it a more. profitable crop than 'King Cotton' itself. We 
have reports from a number of farmers who have experimented with it the 
past season. Their reports of product per acre vary from 900 to 1,400 
pounds; and in one instance 1,700 pounds were weighed from less than one 
acre, the correctness of which can not be doubted. Tlie next greatest benefit 
to be derived from its adoption is the greater certainty of good crops. The 
long time — five months — during which it is maturing, gives it the advantage 
of both spring and summer rains ; nor does a dry spring preclude the hope 
of a good yield ; whereas, M'ith the old variety, you must have spring 
showers or no crop, as it matures in about three months. Sown in March, 
it ripens in September, after the heat of suuburning days is past, thereby 
doing away with the necessity of stacking and spreading, which is a heavy 
item in hemp culture. There is more wood in the stalks, making it harder 
to break ; but when once broken or cracked, it is more easily cleaned than 
the old variety, the hards falling out freely in long pieces. The seed is 
somewhat smaller than the old variety, requiring less per acre. In cultivat- 



Sec. CO.] SOWING AND IIARTESTING KEMP. 967 

ing for seed the yield is not so large by one third as the old kind ; and 
ripening very late, it is liable to be caught by early autumn frosts. 

1121. Cost and ProGt of Hemp-Growing. — We estimate a hemp crop, upon 
good fair soil, at an average of 700 lbs. of merchantable lint per acre ; and 
probably a fair average price on the plantation, if near Avater or railway 
transportation, is five cents a pound, making $35 an acre ; and we can not 
count over half of this for cost of production and preparation. Some plant- 
ations, we know, average 1,000 lbs. per acre for a series of years, for all the 
land in hemp; and the cost of production, including a fair rent of land, 
would not exceed $10 an acre. This makes it an exceedingly profitable 
branch of agriculture. Upon some of the inexhaustibly rich bottoui lands 
of Missouri, 1,400 lbs. per acre have often been made ; and successive crops 
have been taken from the same land, without manure, ever since it was de- 
nuded of forest. 

1122. Sowing and Harvesting Hemp. — The proper mode of preparing the 
soil is to plow it as early in the spring as possible, and the deeper the better. 
No doubt the subsoil plow would be extremely beneficial, as the plant has a 
long tap-root. As fast as it is plowed, the land should be nicely harrowed, 
to break up all the clods and render the surface as smooth as possible, as 
tJVat is a very important part of the ■u-hole art of hemp growing. Where it 
is most grown in Kentucky and Missouri, the seed is generally sown in the 
latter part of April, the ground being re-plowed, with a lighter plow than at 
first, and one and a quarter bushels per acre of seed sown on the fresh soil, 
which should then be heavily harrowed, and afterward smoothed with a light 
harrow or brush-drag, so as to leave the surface quite smooth. It is important 
that you should know that your seed is good, for much depends upon the 
evenness of growth and proper thickness of jjlants to produce a heavy coat- 
ing of fiber of fine quality. Where hemp stands too thin, the stalks send out 
so many side-branches that the crop is injured. If grown for seed, instead 
of lint, it would be advantageous to grow the stalks full of branches — that 
is, the female portion, as there are always male and female plants in this 
family, and it is the latter that incline most to branches. Hemp should not 
be cut until the stalks turn yellow and leaves begin to fall, as the lint does 
not acquire its full weight and strength until such time. 

Cutting hemp is hard, slow work. A strong, skillful hand can cut an acre 
a day with a hemp-cradle, which is like a grain-cradle, but stronger, and 
scythe shorter. Many planters prefer the hemp-hook, which does not cut 
half as fast as the cradle, but saves more hemp ; and some who grow hemp 
contend for the hook, because a hand can harvest with it all that he can 
dress during winter, which is the only season that hemp dressing can be 
done to advantage. 

Ilemp is generally ready to commence harvesting, south of lat. 40°, the 
first of August ; and it is set up in shocks, to stand imtil October, when the 
process of rotting is begun, by spreading it upon the field where it grew, or 
in some grass lot, unless the planter has conveniences for water-rotting, which 



968 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

is generally preferred, though the rotting upon the field adds much to its 
fertility, and some eay is sufficient to keep the land always productive. 

Some planters remove the hemp from the field as s6(5n as harvested, and 
stack it, and plow the land directly afterward ; while others contend that this 
practice is injurious to the soil, and that it will surely fail sooner than it 
would if the stubble were left untouched until the time of spring plowing. 
It is true that plowing exposes the soil to the drying influence of a hot sun, 
like a naked fallow, to which we are opposed. Those who advocate plowing 
hemp stubble contend that, without it, such a grass sod would grow that, 
when plowed in the spring, it could not be harrowed smooth, and that much 
of the grass would grow, and injure the hemp crop. If it is necessary to 
plow hemp land after harvest, we recommend sowing a green crop, say 
corn, oats, rye, or buckwheat, to shade the surface and enrich the soil. It 
can be fed down in autumn, or plowed under, or dragged down to decay. 
Rotation would be advantageous, for a hemp stubble will produce good 
wheat, or corn, or clover, and thus extirpate the troublesome weeds and 
grass. It is contended by many hemp growers that rotation is not necessary 
on account of any exhaustion of the soil, and that the leaves of one crop pro- 
duce sufficient fertilization for another crop. We have before us the notes 
of a Missouri hemp grower, who averaged 800 lbs. per acre eleven years in 
succession. The mode of estimating the yield per acre while the crop is 
growing is to calculate 100 lbs. of lint for every foot in hight. That is, a 
field that averages eight feet in hight will yield 800 lbs. per acre. 

1123. Rotting and Dressing Hemp. — The process of water-rotting hemp in 
ponds or streams is much objected to in thickly-settled districts, on account 
of its influence upon health. It certainly is objectionable on account of the 
odor it diffuses ; and it is not a very pleasant job for those who do the work 
of handling the rotted hemp, and carrying it to the field where it is spread 
to dry. It is resorted to because it takes a shorter time, and produces better 
lint. Spread upon the field like flax, it takes from two to three months to 
rot sufficiently. The breaking usually commences about New Year's, and 
requires hard labor from the stoutest hands. It is not dressed like flax, but 
broke, and the shives shaken out, and fibers straightened, and tied up in 
bales of about a hundred pounds each. The earliest rotted hemp is darkest 
and toughest, and more difficult to break than that which lies until cold 
weather. If not well rotted, the task of breaking is very severe. If too 
much rotted, the value of the fiber is greatly injured. The best grown hemp — 
that is, that grown with stalks close together, and of even size and length— 
afibrds the most fiber, and is the easiest dressed, because the wood is weak, 
and becomes very brittle by the process of rotting, before the fiber is injured. 

1124. Cutting Hemp by MacliineSi — Some experiments have been made to 
cut hemp with mowing machines. "Wherever they have failed, it has been 
because the strength of the machine was not adapted to the work, which is 
much harder than the stoutest grass or grain. Since machines have been 
adapted to cutting Indian corn, we have faith that they will be to cutting 



Seo. CO.] CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 969 



bemp as well as to breaking it, so that the limit of production will not be 
confined to the quantity that can be dressed in winter by the hands that 
grow the crop in summer. 

1125. Uistorical Facts about Flax. — The most interesting fact for farmers 
about to engage in flax-growing is, that it is a rapid exhauster of the soil. 
Second, that it requires a moist soil and wet season ; consequently it is a 
good crop for bottom lands that can be irrigated. The country of its origin 
is unknown, but it grows well upon irrigated land in tropical climates, 
and through all gradations of climate and soil to a high northern latitude. 
In Egypt, flax is sown in December and January and harvested in April or 
May, and in northern Russia it is sown in May and harvested in August ; 
and so it is in the northern parts of the United States. Flax cloth has an 
antiquity much greater than Moses' account of it, for the oldest mummy 
wrappings in Egypt have been proved by microscopic examinations to be 
made of linen, instead of cotton or any other fiber. Flax was one of the 
necessities of cultivation by our Pilgrim fathers and other immigrants into 
North America, and by all the new settlers in the wilds of the country, for 
the lint with which their families have been clothed. Up to a period within 
our active participation in farm-labor, almost every thriving New England 
farmer cultivated a small piece of land in flax every summer, and dressed it 
out by hand in the barn in the dry, cold days of winter, and the family 
manufactured it into a variety of articles of domestic use. Indeed, a good 
many old-style farmers did not think they could get along without their tow 
frock and trowsers, nor that anything was so fit for meal-bags as home-made 
tow-linen. We fully believe that a great many who have abandoned flax 
culture because " cotton is so cheap," may safely, in an economical point 
of view, return, in some degree, to the ways of our fathers. "We offer a few 
hints to this end. * 

1126. Flax-Growing— Soil and Preparation!— There is no material difference 
in the soil nor in its preparation for a flax crop from tlmt already described 
for hemp. Both need a rich, mellow loam, made just as pulverulent as pos- 
sible with ordinary farming tools, and for flax the surface must be free of 
lumps, clods, and stones, or there will be a great loss of seed. The crop 
always does best upon soil that suffei's least from drouth. And although 
not strictly a Southern crop, it seems to come in its proper place after hemj), 
and therefore we give some brief facts in this connection. 

1127. Quantity of Seed per Acre, and Time of Sowing.— The seeding of flax 
land varies from half a bushel to six bushels per acre, according to what the 
crop is designed for. "Where it is sown for the seed alone, as it is in many places 
in the "Western States, where no use is to be made of the lint, half a bushel 
of seed an acre is considered sufficient, and better than more ; and if the 
ground were as carefully prepared as we have recommended for a lint crop, 
a peck of seed would be ample, as it would be no object to have the stalks 
grow as thickly as possible. Fifteen bushels of seed per acre is a good 
yield, and above the average, though we have heard of twenty-five bushels 



970 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 



an acre, and so we have of many crops of less than ten bushels. The time 
of sowing in the latitude of central New York is as early in April as the 
land could be properly prepared ; and if the intention is to grow the crop 
for both lint and seed, as the crop is most generally grown in the Eastern 
States, we would recommend two bushels of seed per acre. If the crop is 
desired more for lint than seed, the seeding must be thicker and thicker as 
the fineness of the lint is required. For the very finest linen threads, we 
are assured that seven bushels of seed per acre has been sown in Europe, 
and the fla.x pulled while in blossom. 

1128. Cost and Profit of a Flax Crop.— The following estimate of the cost 

and product of an acre of flax in the Middle or Eastern States may be taken 

as a pretty fair basis : 

Plowing and subsoiling thoroughly, and cross-plowing with one hoTse lightly $3 25 

Harrowing once with ox-harrow, and once with light harrow 1 00 

Sowing and brushing, 50 cts., and two bushels of seed, $2 00 3 50 

Cutting crop by mowing machine, binding and setting up 75 

Carting, thrashing, spreading, handling, and storing 4 50 

Dressing by hand at G cts. , or machine at 2 cts. , 400 lbs 8 00 

— making a total of $20, or $36 if dressed by hand, and $iG counting 
manure and rent. 

The crop we would estimate at 8 bushels of seed, average $1 a bnsliel, 
$8 00 ; and 400 lbs. of lint, average 12i lbs., making $58, and the profit 
of a flax crop $12 per acre. Where a larger quantity of seed per acre is 
used, the result will not be diiferent ; for though the cost of seed is more, 
and yield of seed less, the value of the lint will make it up about the same. 
Of late years, flax has been a good deal sown for seed, and the rough straw 
sold by the tun at an average of about five dollars, which pays better than 
burning it, as has been the practice, though at that^price it can not be trans- 
ported far upon common roads. 

1129. Other Fibrous Plants. — It has been stated, from some small experi- 
ments, that cotton would produce as valuable a crop as hemp from the fiber 
of the stalks, if the seed was sown broadcast so that the stalks would grow as 
closely together as those in a hemp-field. Instead of using the cotton plant 
for this purpose, which is only practicable south of lat. 40° to advantage, we 
recommend the okra plant, which makes a similar growth to cotton, and has 
a more fibrous stalk, and grows well as far north as New York. The whole 
nettle family might be cultivated for its fiber, but after all, it is doubtful 
whether any other plant can be profitably substituted in any of the Northern 
States for flax, which we know can be grown with profit to the grower, for 
its fiber alone, whenever he can be assured the average price of hemp, and 
that we think he will be assured, as soon as some of the recent inventions 
for separating the lint and wood have been put into general operation. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 

SECTION LXI.-M1SCELLANE0US ITEMS OF USEFUL KNO^VLEDGE TO 

FARMERS. 

- ,N gathering the harvest that we have garnered up in 
' this store-house for the use of American farmers, and 
arranging each subject under its appropriate head, we 
have necessarily scattered, as the reaper does, some good 
grain, to be afterward gleaned. These gleanings we at- 
tach to our work under the head of Miscellaneous, with strong 
liope that the reader will find among them enough good seed 
to pay for the trouble of winnowing. 

1130. Time Required for Seeds to Gcrmiuate.— Wheat, one 
day ; spinach, beans, mustard, three days ; lettuce, four ; 
melon, cucumber, cress, five ; radish, five ; beets, five ; bar- 
ley, seven ; purslane, nine ; cabbage, ten ; parsley, forty ; 
almond, chestnut, peach, one year; rose, hawthorn, filbert, 
two years. This is according to Loudon, but is subject to 
many variations, as the germination will be affected by the degree of heat, 
moisture, and general condition of the soil. 

1131. Temperature at which Several Plants Flourish.— Wheat, Y4° to 75° ; 
Imrley, 69^ to 74^ ; potatoes, 54° to 75° ; melons, %<o^ to 67° ; apples, 59° to 
72° ; tobacco, 66° to 82° ; corn, 59° to 80° ; sugar-cane, 71° to 82° ; grapes, 
70° to 80°. Whenever the temperature of the proper season for perfecting 
the fruit, imterially varies from the above, a decreased production may be 
expected, uniuss the crop is affected by artificial means. Winter grain, 
vines and trees, all suspend growth, and rest in winter, in all of our Northern 
States. Wheat requires 120 to 140 days from the time of sowing to harvest 
in a mean temperature of sixty-one degrees. 

1132. Storing Grain in Cemented Caves. — It has been recommended as an 
excellent way to store grain, to make cavities in the earth, plastered per- 
fectly water-tight with hydraulic cement, and of a form like a jug, which, 
being filled with grain, could have a cover cemented on, and thus preserve 
tlie grain for an indefinite length of time. We should like to have the air 
pumped out, and then seal it up, and we believe such grain-cisterns would 
be excellent preservatories. Farmers who are troubled with rats would find 
such granaries highly valuable, and they can be cheaply constructed. See 
article on Cisterns. 




972 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

1133. A IVew Grain Mill has lately been invented, that operates upon an 
entirely different principle from any of its predecessors. There are no rub-« 
bing, nor grinding, nor cutting surfaces which come in contact with the 
grain. It is reduced to powder by blows struck upon it while suspended in 
air. A shaft, armed with beaters, inclosed in an iron case, is made to revolve 
with great velocity, and the grain, being fed into the case near the shaft, is 
carried out by centrifugal force, where the arms strike their rapid blows 
upon it, and shatter it to atoms, as a blow of a heavy iron bar, it may be 
supposed, would shatter a piece of glass, if hit while flying thFOugh the air ; 
it is then blown out of the case through an orifice made for the purpose, and 
the bran is separated from the flour by the force of gravity ; the flour, being the 
heaviest, is carried farthest from the machine. It is said that all sorts of grain 
can be reduced by this means, even corn and cobs, if any one desires it ; we 
do not, because we do not believe that cobs will ever pay for grinding, no 
matter how cheap the power. But Indian corn ground in this way will, un- 
doubtedly, be better for liuman food than when ground by any of the rub- 
bing processes, which breaks the oil-cells, and makes the meal liable to ran- 
cidity from long keeping. 

1134. Nutriment in Food Substances for MaUi— The following table gives a 
comparative view of the value of different substances for human food, so far 
as their imtritious qualities are concerned. With peas and beans, some of 
the coarser and less nutritious substances should be taken, upon the same 
principle that hay or straw is fed with grain to stock. Of 100 pounds of 
each of the following substances, it may be assumed that tlie figures show 
the number of pounds of matter that go to sustain life or support the strength 
of the consumer. Thus, if 100 pounds of corn meal cost the same as 100 
pounds of turnips, which is often the case in city markets, the meal will re- 
ally be worth twenty-two times as much as the turnips for food. 

The per cent., taking 100 as the unit, of the different articles is as follows, 
according to chemical analysis : 



Per Cent. 

Lontils 84 

Peas 83 

Beans 92 

Corn (Maiie) 89 

Wheat 85 

Barley 83 

Rice 88 

Rye 79 



Per Cent. 

Oats 74 

Meats, average 35 

Potatoes 25 

Beets 14 

Carrots 10 

Cabbage 7 

Greens 6 

Turnips 4 



1135. llow to Calculate the Talue of a Load of Hay.— The following is an 
easy way of calculating the value, in dollars and cents, of a load of hay : If 
the price agreed upon is $18 a tun, ascertain the number of pounds in the 
load, and multiply that by the imit 9, which is the half of the sum agreed 
upon, or else whatever may be half of that sum, and you will have the price 
of the load in mills ; per example, a load contains 3,300 lbs. ; multiply by 9, 
and it gives 29,700 mills, which is $29 70, the amount of the load of hay at 
$18 a tun. If the price is $15 a tun, and the weight of the load 1,950 lbs., 
multiply by 7^, and you have 14,625 mills, or $14 62^, as the price of the 



Sec. 61.] 



USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR FARMEKS. 



973 



load. So any load, of any weight or price, may bo quiclily ascertained by 
this rule. 

1136. How to Calculate the Kumber of Plants upon an Acre.— This is a very 
important matter, and is all worked out in No. 508. Look at that whenever 
you are about planting an orchard, or when you wish to estimate the num- 
ber of forest trees upon an acre. Suppose you are selling the timber. One 
man otters a price per acre ; another one offers a price per tree. If you know 
how many an acre contains at given distances apart, you can tell which offer 
is best. At 30 feet apart, you have 50 trees ; at 25 feet, 70 ; and so on. 

1137. Limit of Titality of Seeds.— There is no limit to the vegetative life 
of cereal grains kept perfectly dry in an unchangeable temperature, and 
most of tlio garden seeds will grow after two years, and those of the cucumis 
family after many years. Some persons prefer melon seeds two or three 
years old. Onion seed loses vitality of about half the seeds the second year, 
and old parsnep seed is not as good as new. All garden seeds should be 
kept in air-tight vessels, and none but the best should be saved. Their vital- 
ity may then be counted upon as follows : Parsneps and rhubarb, two years ; 
beans and peas, two to three years ; carrot, nasturtions, mustard, parsley, and 
lettuce, three to four years ; pepper, cabbage, spinach, tomato, turnip, sal- 
sify, radish, and egg-plant, four to five years; asparagus, celery, okra, broc- 
coli, and cauliflower, five- to six years ; beets, cucumber, gourd, melon, squash, 
pumpkins, corn and other grains, six to ten years, and longer. The groat 
secret of keeping seeds is to have them well matured, and kept cool and dry. 
It is impossible to say how long seeds may be made to preserve vitality, with 
proper care ; but it is certain that any sort may be spoiled in any year by 
damp and lieat. 

1138. What Ohio Produces. — Besides its great crops, it produces men ; and 
liere is the sort its soil furnishes. E. D. Mansfield, State Commissioner of 
Statistics in Ohio, has submitted to the Legislature of the State iiis annual 
report for 1861. It contains some curious items. For instance, the average 
hight of Ohio men is given as four inches above that of the Belgians, two 
and a half above tliat of the English recruits, and one and a half inches above 
that of the Highlanders. Tlie average hight per man is a fraction under 
five feet ten and a half inches. Highland County showed the tallest and 
heaviest men. Twenty-one who were weighed averaged one hundred and 
eighty-two pounds. Fair complexions predominate in Ohio. There are few 
of olive brunette, or dark complexion. The great majority are light or san- 
guine. The eyes are light in the proportion of three to two, including blue 
and gray in the light class, black and hazel in the dark. The hair is tlie 
only feature among Americans, and especially in Ohio, wliich approaclies 
the characteristics of the dark nations. Even in this, the majority have wliat 
may be fairly called light liair, including most of the shades of brown hair. 

1139. Thoroughuess — What it Produces. — It produces great and good re- 
sults in all the operations of the farm. He who liurries througli everytliing 
generally so slights his Mork as to do nothing well. But we would not have 



974 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

any farmer thoroughly attached to routine, such as appears to govern some 
farmers, and never leads them upward. Farming, as well as all ancient 
arts, has been run down by routine. Koutine is the enemy of all improve- 
ment in farming. Routine plows three inches deep, and will not go deeper. 
Routine plants without manure, and runs down and wears out the most fertile 
soil. Thoroughness, in all undertaken improvements, avoids routine, and 
strikes out boldly to produce a result. With some farmers, everything is 
done thoroughly ; with others, nothing. One lives as though he hoped to 
live long and enjoy his labor ; the other only lives for to-day. He literally 
" takes no thought of the morrow." 

114:0. Legal Weights of a Bushel of Grain and Other Things.— TJie following 
table, published a few years since in the liochester Union, is said to give the 
legal weights of the substances named, so far as fixed in the following States : 

ARTICLES. N. T. Oh. Pa. Ind. Wis. Iowa. 111. Mich. Ct. Mass. K. I. Ky. N. J. VL Mo. Ca. 

Wheat, lb 60.. 00. .00. .tiO. .60. .60. .(jO. .60. .56. .00. . — . .00. .60. .00. .60. .60 

Rye 56.. 66.. 56.. 66.. 56.. 50,. 54.. 66.. 56.. 60.. — ..60.. GO.. 56.. 56.. 56 

Com 56.. 50. .56.. 56.. 56.. 66.. 56.. 56.. 56.. 56.. — ..56.. 56.. 56.. 52 56 

Oats 32..32..32..32..32..35..32..32..28..30.. — .. — ..30..32..m..34 

Barley 48. .48. .47. .48. ,48. .48. .4-1. .48. . — . .46. . — . .48. .48. .46. .m. .48 

Buckwheat 48. . — . .48. .50. .42. .52. .40. .42, ,45. .46. . — . .52, .50. .46. .m. .48 

Clover seed 60. .54, . — . .60. ,60. .50. . — . .60. .—.. — .. — . .50. .54. .—. .m. .60 

Timothy seed 45. .42. . — . .45. . — . .45. .— . .m. . — . ,m. . — . .45, , — . . — . .m. .48 

Flaxseed 56. .56. . — . .56. . — . .56. . — . .m . .— . .m . .— . .56. .55. .— . .m. .56 

Hempseed 44,. — ,. — ,.44,. — ,,44,. — ,. — ,. — .. — ..— .. — .. — .. — .. — .. — 

Blue gra*s seed 15.. — ,.• — ..14,. — ..14,. — .. — .. — ;. — .. — .. — .. — .. — .. — ., — 

Dried apples 22. .25. . — . .30. ,28. .24, .— . .28. .— . . — . . — .. — .. — . ._. ._. .22 

Dried peaches 32. .33. . — . . — . .28. .35. .— . .28. . — . . — .. — . . — . .— . . — . , — . .22 

Ccirse salt 66. .60, ,85, ,50. . — . ,60, .— , — ,.—! .70. :—. .50. . — .. — ! .56. !56 

Fine salt 56. .50. .02. .50. .—. .50. . — .. — .. — , .70, .—. .50, , — .. — . .50, .56 

Potatoes 60..— .. — ..60.. — ..60,. — ,. — ..60..60..e0..— .. — ..60.. — ..— 

Peas 60.. — .. — .. — ., — .. — ,, — .,— .. — ,,60, —.. — ..—..—..—. .60 

Beans 60. .56. . — , .60, , — , ,60, .—.. — ..—. .60. . — . .60. —.. — ..—, .60 

Castor beans., 40, , — . . — . .46. . — .46., — , . — . . — ,. — .. — , , — .. — ..—. , — ,, — 

Onions 57, , — ,. — . .57. .—, ,57, , — .,—..—. .50. ,55. , — ,. — .. — .. — . .— 

Corn meal — .. — ,, — ..50.. — .. — .. — ,, — .. — .. — ,55.. — .. — .. — . . — . . — 

Mineral coal — . . — . . — . .70. . — . . — . . — ,. — ,, — .. — .. — .. — .. — .. — .. — ,. — • 

Corn on the cob weighs 70 lbs. ; bran, 20 lbs. 

1141. Capacity ofBoxeSt — Any farmer can make, or have made, accurate 
measures. Boxes made of the following capacities will contain the quantity 
of grain or other article of dry measure sold by the barrel, bushel, or quart. 
For instance, a box, measured inside, 24: inches long, 16 inches wide, 28 
inches deep, gives 10,752 cubic inches, and will contain a barrel. A box 
24 X 16, and 14 deep, 5,376 inches, half a barrel. A box 16 x 16.8, and 8 
deep, 2,150.4, holds a bushel; and one 12x11.2, and 8 deep, 1,075.2, half a 
bushel ; and 8 x S.4, and 8 deep, 537.6, a peck ; 8 x 8, and 4.2 deep, a gallon. 
Tlie same size, half the depth, or 7x4, and 4.8 deep, 134.4, half a gallon. 
One 4x4, and 4.2 deep, 67.2, a quart ; and half the depth, a pint. 

1142. How to Measure an Acre — Square— Triangle— Circle. — For a circle, 
use a rope for a radius, 7 rods 3f links long. For a fourth-acre, 3 rods 14 
links. For an eighth, 2 rods 13 links. An acre in the form of an equilat- 
eral triangle is 19 rods 51 links upon each side. A triangle eiglith of an 
acre is 6 rods 20 links. A rod is 16i feet, and a link 7.92 inches. A square 



Sec. CI.] MAXIMS FOR YOUNG FARMERS. • 975 



acre is 160 rods, 43,560 superficial feet, and is 12 rods and 10.7 feet upon 
eacli side. To lay out an oval plot, measure off an exact triangle upon the 
spot, and set a stake at each point, and stretch a rope around tight; then 
pull up one stake, and press it hard against the rope, and mark upon the 
earth as you go around. If you wish to form an oval, say 20 x 100 feet, 
draw a perpendicular and a horizontal line through the center of the plot 
where you desire to form your oval, and set stakes 100 feet apart upon the 
long line, and a stake ten feet out from the center on the other line. Now 
draw a cord tight around these three stakes, and fasten it. Then take up 
the stake on the short line, and press it against the line, and with the point 
scratch a mark all the way around, and you will have an oval of the de- 
sired size. 

1143. Axioms, Proverbs, and Maxims. — "We have always loved -the little 
sentences that we have found floating upon the sea of printer's ink, which 
come under the class of axioms, self-evident truths, or proverbs — truths often 
repeated, in wise, pithy sayings — or maxims of established principles, and 
propositions generally received as true ; and as we have always found man- 
kind ready to learn truth from these little scraps, we have gathered a few 
that appear worth preserving. Although we address them, by their titles, 
to different members of the farmer's family, we hope none of them will be 
passed over by other members ; for however trite some of the sayings may 
appear to the elder class, let us not forget that we were once young, when 
many an old saying was fresh to our minds, as some of these will be to others. 
Let us remember that tlie soundest grains of wheat are found mixed with 
chaff, which the skillful farmer winnows out and garners in his store-house. 
So let each winnow and save such grains as he may find in these pages. 

1144. Maxims for Young Farmers> — A tyro in farming should not select an 
impoverished farm to begin with, lest he fail and become discouraged through 
no fault of his own. 

To preserve fertility, as much must be restored to a field, in some shape, 
as the crop carried off" extracted from the soil. Tliis can be done by turning 
under a green crop, or applying animal or mineral manure. 

Never try to cultivate more acres than you can do thoroughly. Sow none 
but good seed, and be sure always to sow it at the right season. 

Never attempt to carry " coals to Newcastle" in any of your farming op- 
erations. Tliat is, do not try to grow things for sale for which you have no 
market. Grow such things as your soil, situation, and climate are adapted 
to, and such as facilities of transportation will warrant. Do not try to grow 
apples nor potatoes at the tropics, nor oranges and yams at the poles. 

Practice mixed husbandry. As a general thing, no small farmer, such as 
most of us are in the Northern States, can confine his operations to a single 
article of produce. The risk is too great. If that fails, all income for the 
year fails. 

Be sure never to fail to plant a garden of the most useful vegetables for 
family use, and cultivate it well. No part of the farm will be more profit- 



976 . THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



able. Plant fruits of all useful sorts, and let no tree cumber the ground that 
does not produce good quality. 

Weeds are a pest. Do not plant the seed. Do not cart the Aveeds into 
your barn-yard, and cart the manure out in its raw, unfermented state, with 
every weed seed in a perfect condition to grow. If you would not be pes- 
tered with weeds, compost your manure, and kill the vitality of all seeds. 
Make it a law of the farm that every one shall stop and pull up every nox- 
ious weed, such as dock, thistle, Spanish needles, etc., and in a very few 
years your greatest pest will be gone. Walk about your farm for recreation 
or inspection with a staff having a hook at one end and a chisel at the other.^ 
and keep an account of the number of your enemies you slay in the course 
of the year, at little expense of ammunition. 

Turnips will winter better in piles than in pits, and pine brush is better 
than straw for covering, laid but-ends up, with a few inches of dirt over. 

Apples M-ill keep if buried, but the earth is apt to extract the aroma, and 
thus injure the quality of fruit. 

Upon land seeded to grass, volunteer oats should not be allowed to grow. 
If you can not feed them off, mow them. 

Spend leisure hours in autumn among the raspberry plants. Cut away 
all old canes, and shorten new ones. Tender plants may be covered with 
evergreen boughs. 

Trenching is simply spading and mellowing up the soil some two feet 
deep. It is done by digging a series of ditches parallel to each other, and 
throwing the dirt of one into the other. The great secret of growth of garden 
vegetables is not in the greater supply of manure, but in the fine pulveriza- 
tion of the soil. Subsoiling is of the same nature as trenching, and, as far 
as it goes, equally profitable. 

Boulders may sometimes be got rid of by digging a hole alongside, and 
burying them, much better than auy other way. A man will sometimes bury 
a stone in one day that could not be blasted and hauled out for five dollars. 

Save and sow the largest seed, and by these means you will get peas, or 
anything else, of a bulk of which we have at present no conception. 

Radishes planted in the hill with melon or cucumber seed will often save 
the vines from bugs, which, liking the radish plants better than the vines, 
will eat them first ; in the mean time the vine plants grow to such a size that 
the bugs will not molest them. 

Fumes of rosin have been found equally efficacious and much cheaper 
than fumes of tobacco for destroying aphides tipon plants. Tlie maggots of 
the asparagus beetle proved destructive upon Long Island in 1862, and tha 
best remedy discovered was fowls. Several persons who kept chicken-coops 
near their asparagus beds found them an excellent protection. As the eggs 
of the maggcTts are deposited upon tbe seedhngs, it is best to destroy them. 

Peas are an excellent crop to prepare land for wheat or any other grain, 
and may be profitably grown as a manure crop. They may be grown for 
seed after the 10th of June, free from the pea-bug; and a bushel is worth a 



Sec. 61.] MAXIMS ABOUT STOCK. 077 

bushel of corn for fattening purposes, and it does not cost half so much to 
produce it. 

Teazles have been grown profitably in this cotintry. They are used by all 
woolen cloth dressers. 

1145. Maxims about Stock. — A morbid appetite for animal food causes 
sows to eat their pigs. Feed them flesh before they drop their pigs, as a 
preventive remedy, and give them saw-dust instead of straw for bedding; 
It is good for any stable bedding. 

Feed oil-cake to heifers. It enlarges the milk-vessels. Say two pounds a 
da}', for two or three months before calving. Give all animals plenty of 
water. 

Pumpkin seeds are good for all stock when cooked, but injurious raw. 
Ducks are often killed by eating them. 

All food is better for all animals if cooked, but it will not always pay to 
cook it. 

Dogs indicate the character of a neighborhood. If they are an ugly, 
brawling set, look out for their owners ; they are very likely to be ditto ; 
for the gentleness of all animals is generally in keeping with their masters. 
If one is ugly, he is only a brute ; the other is brutish. 

Neglect of young stock in November is one of the sins of which almost all 
American farmers are guilty. It may save hay, but it will be at the ex- 
pense of value in flesh, and perhaps of life. 

Sheep and calves should be yarded together. Sick calves often pick up 
and devour with avidity the hay and straw from among the sheep-dung. It 
is medicinal, and no article has more immediate and salutary effect in re- 
storine: diseased calves to health. 

Where all fodder is dear, and labor cheap, it is good economy to cut up all 
the coarse materials, and coax the stock to eat them by mixing in a little 
meal. We do not believe that it will pay to cut up everything, and in some 
localities it will not pay to cut anything. It all depends upon the cost of 
labor and the value of fodder. Roots are better if cut, or pulped, and mixed 
with dry feed, for stock, but that would not always pay. 

Ticks on sheep can be got rid of by keeping the flock always in good order. 

Hold up your whip in driving oxen. The best ox-drivers rarely use the 
whip. It is a wand of office, not an instrument of torture. 'A driver of an 
ox-team should walk directly opposite to the yoke, walk straight, and carry 
his whip as upright as a soldier would his gun. Use a >vhip-stock with a 
short lash, and touch the cattle only with the lash, and never strike them on 
the nose or over the eyes. "The merciful man is merciful to his beast." 

Coal ashes are good for pigs. So they are for fowls to wallow in during 
winter. 

Castrate your lambs and pigs just at dusk, or by candle-light in the even- 
ing. The mothers then lie down, and the young animals have a night of rest. 

Housing cattle will pay a greater interest upon its cost than any other 
outlay in farming. 



978 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. SV. 

Boiling corn on the cob is economical for swine feeding. It •will save one 
fourth the quantity. 

Of "condiments for cattle" beware, and of all who deal in them, as yo\i 
would of any other humbug. 

A good horse should have fifteen good properties and conditions, viz. : 
Three of a man, three of a woman, three of a fox, three of a hare, and three 
of an ass. Of a man, bold, proud, and hardy ; of a woman, fair-breasted, 
quick hearing, and easy to move ; of a fox, a fair tail, short ears, and a good 
trot ; of a hare, a clear eye, a dry head, and a well-formed body ; of an ass, 
a big chin, a flat leg, and a good hoof. 

A cow is like a mill ; if you put but little in the hopper, you will have 
but little grist. In regard to milk, manure, or beef, you can get nothing out 
of a cow that you do not put into her. 

Every farm in America, upon which ten head of cattle are kept, would 
make money by expending enough to provide water in the yard both for 
winter and summer use. Pumps can be easily made so as to raise water 
whenever the cattle come to the trough for a drink. Where wells can not 
be had, cisterns can. 

Medium-sized sheep are the most profitable ; say such as will dress 50 
pounds, and have a fleece of medium wool that grows thick and firm. A 
farm will carry three such sheep per acre ; that is, a farm of 100 acres, that 
grows, perhaps, ten acres of corn and family vegetables, with pasture and 
mowing proportioned to the stock, will carry 300 head of sheep, with the 
family cow and necessary team. Young lambs can be taught to feed in the 
following way : With- the three lower fingers of the right hand, clasp the 
right fore leg near the foot, and do the same with the left hand and left foot ; 
then raise it up, and, holding the head of the lamb a few inches below 
your mouth, insert a thumb and fore finger into each side of its mouth, open- 
ing and holding it so as to let a small stream of cow's milk flow from your 
own mouth into the lamb's. It may strangle and struggle some, but there 
need be no fears of injuring it. One or two mouthfuls are usually sufli- 
cient, and these may be given in as many minutes. Be sure to give enough 
to make his ribs bulge some when you stand him on his feet. After a few 
feedings the lambs will huddle about your feet, sticking up their noses in a 
most amusing lAanner, begging to be taken up and fed." Such feeding and 
saving of lives will do much to multiply sheep, and thus cheapen food and 
clothing, two of the essential wants of life. 

One of the best things in the world to make cattle handy is to treat them 
well in winter. Farmers should discard the word breaking from their vocab- 
ulary, and substitute that of handyincj. Never strike or frighten a steer, 
heifer, or colt. Handle and handy them. Gentleness will accomplish more 
than harsh words and hard blows. You must begin with the idea that they 
do not know what you want, but are willing to learn. You should give 
them time, patience, and good usage, and they will gladly become your 
faithful servants. The true secret of managing young cattle to advantage 



Seo. 61.] MAXIMS FOR ALL FARMERS. 979 

is gentleness, kindness. One little nubbin of soft corn is worth a dozen 
whips and sticks to make them obey. Be patient ; do not hurry them. Let 
them have a little time to reflect, and they will prefer marching to being 
whipped. Animals are made vicious by bad treatment — by abuse. Tiie 
same effort to bo kind will secure docility and kindness in the animal. Ap- 
propriate a dish for the purpose, and always carry something — salt or grain — 
and feed your horses when you go to catch them. 

Every farmer should adopt a few unvarying rules in relation to stock. 
One of these is, never to kick a poor animal ; and another, never kick an an- 
imal poorly. Another is, seek to improve poor animals by crossing with 
good ones. Avoid breeding from blood relations. 

1146. Maxims for All Farmers. — " Waste not, want not." "Waste no min- 
utes, much more hours. Yet you should have hours of recreation. But 
such hours arc not wasted. Never fatigue the body to such a degree that 
you have no desire to acquire mental food. Work so as to make leisure 
hours, and devote them to acquiring things useful to the profession of a 
farmer. Study the habits of insects. Learn which are hurtful and which 
are not. Learn to use the microscope, and examine plants and insects. 

Keep good fences, and you will keep good neighbors. The worst fence is 
a dog-fence. Gates are more economical than bars. 

Every farmer should send his son to a school where he will learn the rudi- 
ments, at least, of botany, mineralogy, geology, chemistry, survej'ing, book- 
keeping, besides the ordinary branches of a common school education. Let 
him also be taught the use of carpenter's tools ; and also how to bud, graft, and 
transplant trees ; how to castrate and spay, and how to manage sick animals. 

Take agricultural journals; buy agricultural books. What if they are not 
perfect ? What if they publish errors ? They also publish much valuable 
information. 

Attend meetings of farmers' clubs and agricultural shows, and take your 
family with j'ou, and try to learn something about improved stock and im- 
proved tools. 

Farmers' sons should learn to be good farmers ; and farmers' daughters 
should, both at home and in school, learn to be farmers' wives. 

Inculcate economy, as one of the leading virtues of a farmer's life. Econ- 
omy is not parsimony. Teach your children wisdom, virtue, affection, in- 
dustry, and they will be truthful, and your home will be attractive. 

Never incur debt, except to improve your farm, and only in a way that 
will be sure to return a pi-ofit uj^on cost. Many a farmer has lost his farm 
tlirough debts to a merchant; and many others have built themselves out 
of a home by borrowing money to build a fine house.. 

Teach your children not to be ashamed of their calling by making it re- 
spectable, dignified, and honorable as it is useful. Teach them how to help 
themselves, and they will not then depend upon others. Bemember that 
the mind of a child is white, and liable to be stained by impurities. Teach 
them that wisdom maketh men humble, and ignorance and pride the reverse. 



980 THE GLEAi^INGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



Convince your children by your acts, as well as words, of your love, and they 
will love, honor, and respect yon. 

Do not contradict things that you do not understand, nor dispute propo- 
sitions which may prove tr\ie. 

A snappish dog is often bit. Apply this to yourself. 

Trouble comes as the fruit of a first false step. 

It is a brave man who does good where he has no expectation of reward. 

Provide good tools and a place to keep them. Have a good tool-house, 
and everything in its proper place. When you lay by tools in winter quar- 
ters, have them cleaned, and the bright iron oiled. Use leisure days in win- 
ter to repaint and varnish wood-work of tools. Carefulness is economy. 
Preserving tools saves much expense. Providing them half accomplishes 
the work, and causes many jobs to be done that would not be if there were 
no suitable tools at hand. 

Dreading a job often consumes more time than doing it. 

An impulsive man is better than a drone ; for, though he may make mis- 
takes, he will accomplish many useful things — a drone, nothing. 

"Will is the mother of invention ; for will makes the necessity. Men with 
a will to do always do. 

Do not be over-eager nor over-cautious. The first rushes ahead inconsid- 
erately ; tlie last often loses advantages. 

If you are wealthy, be benevolent. If you are poor, be more so ; for be- 
nevolence bringeth blessings, and with blessings cometh wealth. A miser 
misses many blessings. A sensualist throws many away. 

The birds rise early, for then the worms fall an easy prey. Man may 
learn lessons from birds. 

Husking in the field wastes winter fodder. If saved early, husks are 
worth as much as hay, and more to the farmer than will be paid by the 
mattress-maker. 

Save corn and weigh corn. Learn which sort is heaviest. Weight makes 
value. The average weight per bushel of ears, of the eight or twelve-rowed 
sort of Northern flint-corn, is given at 46i lbs.; the grain 37j lbs., and cobs 
9 lbs. A bushel of such corn, 54 lbs. 

Paint and preserve should be the farmer's motto. A good coating for 
rough work is made of fish-oil and water-lime. 

Remember that June, in this latitude, is not only, as a general thing, the 
most busy, most important month of the year — for upon the start given this 
month to all spring crops depends their success — but it is one of the most 
healthy and pleasant in all the year. It is the great month of flowers and 
early fruit ; the trees are arrayed in their richest robes of green ; the grass is 
most luxuriant and beautiful ; and in the after part of the month we have 
that most delicious aroma that comes from the hay-field. It is a month of 
life and hope, and it should be a season of enjoyment ; for every farmer, 
busy as the season requires him to be, should so arrange his work, and so 
proportion it to the hands employed, that all could have a day now and then 



Sko. 61.] MAXIMS OF HEALTH. 981 



for recreation, by relaxation from labor and devotion to innocent amusement 
appropriate to this lovely month, to invigorate them for the toil of the har- 
vest-field, when it is expected that every member of a farmer's family must 
put forth extra exertions till that happy time, too much neglected as a holi- 
day, the harvest-home festival. Remember, too, how much that depends 
upon the sunshine and showers of June. Remember that eggs are abundant 
in June. If properly preserved, they will be abundant in January. 

A barrel of eggs, packed in oats for market, contains sixty to eighty dozen. 

1147. Maxims of Health. — Constant delving is not wisdom. Men lose elas- 
ticity by over-exertion. He tliat works most hours does not always accom- 
plish most work. 

A change of occupation is as necessary for health as change of food. 
"When the weather is hot, the hours of labor should be reduced, or else lighter 
work substituted during some of the hottest hours. Change from mowing 
to raking, or from raking to pitching, loading, stacking, enables men to do 
more work, while they are less fatigued. 

Attempt less — accomplish more. Many a man has broken down witii 
fatigue of mind, because he attempted more than he could perform. The 
mind sliould be kept as elastic as the body. 

Promptness and energy save time. One man always drags his work, and 
never has leisure. Another, by pi-omptness and energy, pushes everything 
ahead. Ten hours' hard work, six hours of rest, and leisure for study or 
recreation, and eight for sleep, will accomplish more in a lifetime than six- 
teen hours of toil, without rest, and eight of sleep. 

Be not ambitious to be the richest, but the healthiest, happiest farmer in 
your neighborhood, and in possession of the best, not the largest farm. Aim 
for the most comfortable, not the most showy house. 

Great farms — great care. Great income — great outgo. Spend less, and 
you will not need to earn so much. 

A reasoning man uses reason with his teams. A dumb animal can not en- 
dui*e constant fatigue. Attend to the mute appeals of such faithful servants. 

Neglect of physiological laws produces premature infirmity. To be long 
useful to yourself and others, " learn to know thyself." 

A short and easy law of healtli is, to keep the head cool, the body warm, 
and feet dry. Bathe for cleanliness, but never to chill the overheated body. 
No man who practices eating or drinking without reason and regard to 
health can expect it. Be regular in your meals, and never eat inordinately. 

Eating in a hnrry will hurry you through life. Swallowing without mas- 
ticating will destroy the strongest digestive organs. Never eat while tiic 
mind is agitated nor body exhausted. Digestion requires health of body 
and mind. Late suppers, early graves. 

Tea and coff"ee in childhood — tobacco in youth — intoxicating liquor in 
manhood — nothing in old age. There is no old age for those who abuse 
God's good gifts. 

Marry in haste — repent at leisure. An uncongenial companion is worse 



982 TEE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

than none. There is but one tiling in conjugal life worse than a jealous 
wife. The wife can tell what that is. 

It is worry, more than work, that kills. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. 

Surfeits are the physician's agents. So are all irregularities. Among 
these include all high-seasoned food ; all tempting the appetite with bitters, 
acids, and spices ; all forcing of food into the stomach when nature says, 'So ; 
all practices that savor of " up till midnight, in bed till noon." 

Ice-water j^romotes health, because a smaller quantity than from well or 
spring cools the body and quenches the thirst. When very much heated, 
iirst cool the hands and face, and hold a lump of ice in the mouth. 

The farmer's food should be plain, substantial, hearty. It should be taken 
with a view to the labor to be undertaken, to the rest required, and to the 
needs of the body. It should consist more of fresh meat than is usual. Salt 
fish is -a healthful and economical change from salt meat. Eat more fruit 
and less meat — more plain bread, and less pie and cake — more soujy-maiyre, 
and less rich gravy. To be healthy, you must eat simple food. Dainties 
make beggars. Eise early, and you will digest easily. 

Live in the light. Health and dark rooms are incompatible, both for man 
and beast. Ligut is as necessary as air. A nut-brown face is more beauti- 
ful, with health, than a pale one with pain and lassitude. Look at the flow- 
ers in a dark room, and learn a lesson. 

Mental and moral depression are dead weights in the scale of health. A 
man's health may be measurably controlled by a strong will. Judgment 
and discretion are better than doctors and physic. When a physician or 
nurse says to a patient, "You will not die; you shall recover," it aids all 
their efforts. 

Simples are better than compounds. This is often true in remedies for 
family diseases. It is true in relation to the common puff-ball. There is 
no better styptic. Bleeding at the nose has been stopped by a few puff's of 
this dry fungus. A paper published by the London Medical Society says 
that the pufl'-ball is a valuable anesthetic. It is owing to this property that 
bee-keepers use it to stupefy bees. The effect is precisely the same as that 
produced by chloroform, if, while burning, the fumes are inhaled. 

A valuable disinfectant for fetid sores has been discovered in Paris — a 
mixture of one to five parts of coal-tar, by trituration, with one hundred 
parts gypsum, in fine powder. This powder is used dry, or made into an 
ointment, and its effect is such as to render the discharge of a gangrened 
sore inoffensive. 

The organ needing most care in the human body is the cuticle. Exercise, 
water, and friction are its best preservatives. The effects of old age are ex- 
hibited in the skin earlier than anywhere else. It loses its bloom ; it wrinkles ; 
it grows hard, and loses its fine sensibility, and, upon the most exposed parts, 
becomes dry and horny. It is then more like a sort of armor than soft, vel- 
vety skin, and it seems to cut off communication between the body and sur- 
rounding atmosphere. The great preventive of this is perfect cleanliness in 



Sec. 01.] MAXIMS OF HEALTH. 983 



youth. Plunging into the water is not necessary, Init frequent ablutions of 
the whole body are. For the cure of hard, horny hands there is no better 
remedy than urine. For health, comfort, and longevity, soap and water are 
worth more than materia medica to a farmer. 

Ice is one of the most valuable remedies for some diseases. For nausea, 
accompanied with burning in the stomach and thirst, swallow lumps of ice 
as large as peas, one after another, every five seconds. Tliis has checked 
severe attacks of diarrhea. Ice in a bag, or wrapped in a towel, upon the 
head in brain fever, is an invaluable application. Ice bound to the throat, in 
case of inflammation, is very valuable. Put ice upon the back of the neck to 
arrest bleeding at the nose. Dyspeptics should not drink ice-water at meals. 

Mirth is a medicine. It is not taken half often enough. It restores mind 
and body. It is one of the causes of elasticity of children. They have not 
yet learned to restrain their mirth. Many of the great and good men of the 
world have been mirthful men. We doubt the correctness of all tenets that 
deny mirthfulness to all human beings. It is their birthright. " God made 
man a laughing animal." Allow your children to be mirthful, and join them 
in their sports. It is the cheajjest way to save doctors' bills. Care drives 
nails in the coffin ; mirth draws them out. 

The cook is the cause of much sickness. " Bad blood" comes of bad food. 
Neuralgia^ one of the most common of all maladies in the present age, is 
caused by the condition of the blood, under the general term had. It gets 
bad for lack of suitable food, lack of proper exercise, and unwholesome air, 
all of which produce indigestion, dyspepsia, thin, pale faces, neuralgia, and 
its ti"ain of almost unbearable pains. There is no medical advice that can 
be given to those subject to neuralgia better than this : Eat to live, not live 
to eat. Eat suitable food, and in such quantities as digest most easily. Re- 
member, " what is one man's meat is another man's poison." Take much 
exercise in the air out of the house. Keep the bowels free by using fruit, 
and sjich farinaceous food as will not produce constipation. If that occurs, 
use enemas of tepid water, with a trifle of salt and molasses, instead of pills 
and purgatives. Keep the whole surface of the body absolutely clean. The 
skin, kept clean by judicious washings and frictions, helps, by its open pores, 
to unload the system of its surplus ; the bowels, kept free by fruits, berries, 
coarse bread,, and cold water, are another source of deliverance of excess. 
While these articles of food supply but a moderate amount of nourishment, 
in addition, active exercise still more rapidly works off the surplusage of the 
system, and the man is well ; not as soon as by bleeding, but by a process 
more efi'ective, more certain, more enduring, without harm or danger. 
There is no form of mere neuralgia which is not safely and permanently 
cured, in a reasonable time, by strict personal cleanliness, by cooling, loos- 
ening food, as named, and by breathing a pure air in resting in our chamber 
at night, and in moderate labor out of doors during the hours of daylight. 
Those who prefer uncertain physic or stimulants to these more natural rem- 
edies are unwise, and ought to have neuralgia — a little. Chloric ether, 



984 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

which is made by mixing one part of chloroform with six parts of rectified 
alcoholic spirits, is excellent for outward application in neuralgia and tooth- 
ache; but the best external application for neuralgic pains, and also for 
rheumatism, is made of the following compound, and is a real "pain-killer:" 
Oil rosemary; oil cloves; oil origanum; oil turpentine; spirits ammonia; 
tincture cantharides ; high-proof alcohol ; one ounce of each, specific meas- 
ure. Mix, and apply with the hand, rubbing freely. Shake the bottle be- 
fore using. The following is recommended as an internal remedy : Half a 
drachm of sal ammonia in an ounce of camphor-water, in doses of a tea- 
spoonful every five minutes. Diptheria, another dangerous disease, has 
often been cured by the following treatment : Make two small bags, tliat 
will reach from ear to ear, and fill them with hard-wood ashes and salt ; dij) 
them in hot water, and wring them out so they will not drip, and apply 
them to the throat ; cover up the whole with a flannel cloth, and change 
them as often as they become cool, imtil the throat becomes irritated, near 
blistering. Then take a piece of flannel, well covered with a stiflnather of 
castile soap, dip in hot water, and apply to the throat as hot as it can be 
borne; have another ready when this becomes cool, changing frequently.. 
At the same time, use a gargle made of one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, 
one of salt, one of molasses, in a teacupful of hot water, and when cool add one 
fourth as much cider vinegar. To be taken every fifteen minutes, until the 
patient requires sleep. A gargle of castile soap may be used part of the time. 

114:8. Maxims for Farmers' Wives. — Happiness and health are handmaids. 
"Whatever tends to promote one promotes the other. The art of love is the 
art of good housewifery. Tidiness wins, negligence loses husbands. Home 
is made happy by woman's constant care. Smiles and neatness are sauce 
for homely meals. An orderly house with poverty, is better than confusion 
with wealth. A fretful woman is every man's horror. A woe-begone look 
has given many a heart-ache. A happy house always wears a cheerful look. 
To take a social meal in such a house needs no second invitation. A hus- 
band is blind to a wife's faults who always strives to please. Do not give 
vinegar to your husband's friends. Honey is sweet, and its taste lies long 
upon the tongue. Policy sometimes requires sacrifice. A friend may seem 
an ill-bird to-day, who, in after-years, will think it no hardship to lend you 
his M-ings. With those, you or your children may soar out of despondency. 

Children and responsibility are born together. Gentleness and firmness 
should be born at the same time. Laugh at young cunning, and you may 
cry at older impudence. Teach your servants always to say "young lady," 
and you will teach young lady to call her mother " old woman." 

Teach your children to obey a look, and they will look to obey. If they 
obey and respect parents, they will respect all superiors and be loved by all 
equals. Never command but to be obeyed. To speak to others of a child's 
foibles in its presence will harden its mind to the faults you deprecate. 

Teach yourself what yourself should know in relation to your own children 
or those under your care. 



Sec. 01.] 



MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' WIVES. 



985 



Children of civilization should not be clad like those in savage life. It is 
a cruel fashion that exposes their naked limhs to all the vicissitudes of our 
ever-changing climate. Where such pride dwells, death finds victims. Do 
not say Providence called the child away, when it dies from neglect of the 
mother. Furs upon the shoulders, and nothing upon tho limbs, is not the 
dross to preserve health. 

Make your children sensible of a mother's love, and they will love you. 
Teach them to love home. Let them learn, and often sing, this little song : 



" Although our home's a lowly cot, 
It is the one that God provides — 
Where first I heard mj' mother's voice ; 

It is a home I love so well, 
Because 'tis there tliat love abides. 



Where, day by day, with tearful care, 
In gratitude for home and love. 

She taught me how to lisp a prayer. 
And tune to truth my infant tongue, 

And lift my heart to God above." 



Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is 
the atmosphere in which all good affections grow — the wholesome warmth 
necessary to make the heart-blood circulate healthy and freely. Unhappi- 
ness is the chilling pressure which produces here an inflammation, there an 
excrescence, and, worst of all, " the mind's green and yellow sickness, ill- 
temper." 

Anger and reproof should never go in the same boat. One upsets the 
other. A loud voice and correction are incompatible. She who governs 
well liiis a still, soft voice. Inspire love, not dread — respect, not fear. Seed- 
plants to-day may produce fruit in eternity. 

Cordial and quiet — paregoric and policy — have bred many a depraved ap- 
petite. Cakes and candy for present quiet — doctors' bills and other ills in 
after-years. Time cures more sick children than mercury and tartar emetic. 

Oi-der in after-years is the fruit of seed sown in childhood. Teach them 
to put things in place, and do not make them helpless by always helping 
them. Teach them to'be useful. 

Liltle griefs are often large to little children. Do not forget you were 
once a child. It is better to bear anger patiently than to excite more anger 
than a little heart can bear. 

The beauty of sunset, children often admire. Teach them that there is an- 
other period of day still more beautiful. It is sunrise. It is a scene that 
never tires. If seen all through a long life, from tho same window, over the 
same tree-tops, it presents a new view, a different combination of colors, and 
new joys every time it is seen. It is a truth to be remembered, that looking 
at sunrise every day is not tiresome nor unprofitable ; it prolongs life. 

Soft words and soft water should be in every household. One turneth 
away wrath ; the want of the other often produces it. 

Philosophy and fire-making are intimately connected, though seldom 
taught together. Every child should be taught how to kindle the kitchen 
fire. It is an art which many an adult does not understand. The kindlings, 
or live coals, should be so placed that the current of air should pass directly 
through the fire into the wood to be ignited. Kindlings and comfort go to- 



9S6 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

getber. Teach children iinci servants to save all suitable substances for kind- 
lings, and have a stock in hand over-night. Stalks of coarse plants, sucli as 
sunflower, hollyhock, broom-corn, large Aveeds, and dry twigs, where shav- 
ings are not convenient, should be stored for kindlings. Corn-cobs are worth 
more for fuel than for any other purpose. 

Live and learn, and learn every day we live, should be a law of every 
household. 

"The poor traveler, seateu to rest upon a bank of snow, dined upon a 
crust and an onion." Why? This you may learn. Although offensive to 
many, tlie onion is a valuable article of food. It is nutritive and stimulant. 
It satisfies hunger and warms the body. 

" Cheese fought with famine, and conquered." This is also sometliing to 
learn, that hunger is satisfied and strength sustained upon a small quantity 
of bread and cheese, better than with the same bulk of almost any other 
food. Therefore, never fear that your husband or child will suffer for a lost 
meal, if your forethought has put a little bread and cheese in his pocket. 

You may learn that the common dandelion {Lcontodon taraxacwri) is used 
as a salad plant in France, and in Germany its roots are dried, and used in- 
stead of coffee ; and the value of the plant for medicinal Durposes is widely 
known. 

"A simple herb cured sore disease." Tliis proverb should induce an 
housewives to preserve herbs for winter. Cut them while in flower, and dry 
in the shade. 

Botany and beauty are twins. Teach the first to your children, and they . 
will acquire the second ; if not in face, in mind. Show them how to pre- 
serve specimens. Plants to be dried, to preserve their form and color as far 
as possible, in stalk and flower, should be laid between folds of old news- 
paper, and pressed. The paper absorbs the moisture of the green plants, 
and becomes quite damp in a few hours. Then open the pile, and place 
each paper, with the plant within its folds, on shelves or over the floor, for 
two or three hours, longer or shorter, according to the dryness of the weather, 
until the papers are dry, but not until the plants curl up. Then place them 
under the stone again for a day, and repeat the drying process. Increase 
the weight as they approach thorough dryness. Only one plant (unless quite 
small) should be placed between the folds of a single paper. "When perfectly 
dry, take them out, and several may be placed in a fold, for keeping or send- 
ing to a distance. Mark the time they flower on a slip of paper attached to 
each, M-hether growing in wet or dry ground, on rocks or in swamps, woods 
or open ground, wild or cultivated. 

Flowers should be cultivated by every mother, and she should make it a 
rule of her life to teach the love of flowers to her children. Show them that 
the world is full of flowei-s— in the woods, on the wild prairies of the "West, 
" waving like a sea of flowers" — in the meadow — on the old hills of the pas- 
ture — creeping along the stone wall — climbing the rocks — living on trees, 
are the wild flowers, abounding everywhere — everywhere sending forth their 



Sec. G1] MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' GIRLS. 987 



fragrance free as the morning air. Bottled odors are not sold by Nature — 
they are free. In civilized countries, wherever a high degree of cultivated 
taste prevails, flowers are planted in gardens, parterres, front yards, and back 
yards, all around the house, to gladden the eye and please the olfactory 
nerves. Then, again, what thousands of dollars are expended upon hot-house 
conservatories, forcing Nature to produce flowers out of place and out of 
season, that we may be gratified with their sight at all times of the year — 
on our mantlepiece, in our window, everywhere, in-doors or out, wherever 
we can find a spot to set a little pot, with its little stem and single bud. But 
that bud will bring a flower — that flower will bring a smile, a joy, a holy, 
happy feeling, and perhaps a prayer of thanksgiving to Him who opened 
that bud and spread its beauty and fragrance abroad, for the great, good, 
glorious gift of flowers. 

Hight across the street from where we write this paragraph there is a 
whole row of flower-pots in a window — seven of them — we know the number 
well, for we have counted them over and over many a time; and they are 
tended by a fair hand, guided — we have no doubt of that — by a good heart, 
who snatches a moment from her daily toil— she is a bookbinder's girl — to 
tend her favorite flowers. Well, we only hope they gladden her heart as 
much as they please our eyes. They are blooming now, right opposite our 
window. "We have often watched a delicate hand as it comes out to pour 
a little water into the pots or take one of them into the room to set on her 
table where she works ; but we have never seen her face ; that remained 
concealed behind the painted, opaque glass ; yet we fancy how it looks — 
that it is sweet, like her flowers. • 

1149. Maxims for Farmers' Girls. — The art of being loved should be the 
first thought of a girl approaching womanhood ; for with that will come all 
the arts of housewifery. No young woman need to expect to win and keep 
the love of a man worth loving, without exercising this art. The secret of 
this art is all embodied in the " small, sweet courtesies of life." 

The art of preserving includes more than pickles and peaches. A hus- 
band's love must be preserved as well as won. 

To preserve beauty, you must preserve health. Tiiat is preserved by mod- 
erate labor, cheerfully performed ; by generous diet, quiet sleep, and proper 
dress. 

Health is woman's richest jewel. Its casket is the heart. Its location is 
within a chest that should never be rudely exposed to injury. Keep that 
well covered, though all the limbs should be exposed. You need never fear 
cold if properly clothed. See that sitting-room and sleeping-rooms are well 
ventilated. Do not neglect exercise nor recreation. 

" Laugh and grow fat." It is an old proverb, and a true one. Boister- 
ousness is not mirth. The meaning of the maxim is. Always be cheerful, 
and thankful for health, and more health will follow. 

Hugging the stove will never gain health. That comes from air and ex- 
ercise. A flower fades in a hot-air room. Beauty does the same. Health, 



988 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

contentment, happiness, and matrimony shonld dwell together. When you 
are reasoiiablj' sure tliat they will in your case, you may contract mar- 
riage. Love may bring care ; the want of it may bring sorrow. No one 
has a right to ask to be exempt from a share of the cares of life ; but, before 
you make this contract to leave your mother, be sure that you have learned 
every household duty that she can teach. One of the most important things 
for you to learn about household duties is, not to depend upon borrowing. 
Tliere is nothing that will render you unwelcome to a new neighborhood 
quicker than this. However kindly disposed and pleasant your neighbors 
may be, they will soon grow cold if they find that you are an habitual bor- 
rower — sending for a little tea or sugar to-day, a little soap or salt to-mor- 
row, and bread or butter next day. In sickness, you may send to a neighbor 
for medicine and assistance, and they will be freely given. In health, avoid 
borrowing as you would a pestilence. 

Indolence is the parent of languor. That, as a general thing, is true, al- 
though there are cases where languor comes of ill health or fatigue. But, un- 
happily, listlessness is a state that city ladies, and sometimes farmers' girls, 
fall into. To prevent this, exercise freely in the open air. Do not be afraid of 
walking. It is one of tlie most healthy kinds of exercise that girls can take. 
"Wear strong shoes, and take long walks. 

You will never die on horseback. This is an old and very true proverb. 
We can not give better advice to farmers' girls than this : learn how to ride 
well, and ride much. "Walking, sometimes, is fatiguing, while a canter, 
upon an easy-going horse, invigorates body and mind. Many a poor, dis- 
eased liver has been restored to health on horseback. Koses will bloom 
upon pale cheeks, rushing through the air before sunrise. 

A New Hampshire farmer was congratulated upon the healthy appear- 
ance of his girls, and asked to explain the cause. He said, " It is because 
their diet has always been wholesome, plain, and simple, yet abundant. 
They drink water or milk, never having used tea or coffee. They have 
exercised every day in the open air, assisting me in tending my fruit trees, 
and in such other occupations as are appropriate for women ; and their dress 
has never been such as to hinder free respiration of our pure mountain air, 
which is a better panacea than druggists' remedies." 

A burnt child dreads the fire. This is another old and true proverb. A 
better one would be one that taught the child to dread a dress that would 
burn. Many a life might have been saved by rendering a gauzy dress in- 
combustible. This can be done by dipping it in water in which crystallized 
sulphate of ammonia has been dissolved, to the extent of about seven per 
cent, of its weight. Alum, in pretty strong solution, and also phosphate of 
Boda, or borax, are said to produce the same result ; that is, to render all 
light fabrics that are dipped in the solution so incombustible that they may 
sweep over the blaze of a lamp or fire without igniting. If you love life, 
remember this. 

1150. Maxims for Farmers' Boys. — To be useful, be industrious. To be re- 



Seo. 61,] MAXIMS FOR FAPwMERS' BOYS. 989 

spected, be willing to do your duty in all situations. To be loved, love 
others. To be rich, be frugal. Save pence, and shillings will follow. Learn 
that a stick that will not make a rail may answer well for a stake. If you 
can not make a pot of a small board, you can make a pot lid. Everything 
is worth saving, and everything is useful for something. Perseverance built 
a house. All difficulties are overcome by diligence and assiduity. Your 
business will be attended to if you attend to it yourself. If you trust to your 
neighbor to •watch your pot, the fat will be in the fire. Do not try to catch 
mice with mittens on until you see the cat do it. If you would save toll, you 
must do your own grinding. If you would grow corn to grind, you must 
first j)lant it. If you would have it grow while you sleep, you must not plow 
with a pig for a team. Do not look for wealth without labor. Do not look 
for courtesy from those who never see it in you. Good manners save money- 
Good conduct, and not good looks, wins friends. If you wait for the shoes 
of a dead man, you will go long barefooted. If you race for a shadow, be 
sure to start before sunrise. Never despair ; that is distrusting God. Be 
observing, and you will learn much that will be useful in after-years. Con- 
stantly study into the nature of things of every-day use. Nothing is of " no 
importance," or unworthy of your attention. Seek all the means in your 
power for mental improvement if you wish to be respected. But few per- 
sons ever reflect on the means by which they may improve their general 
ability for increased thought, while all agree that the human mind is sus- 
ceptible of such improvement; by no class of citizens is this subject more 
neglected than by farmers. The farmer, beyond all others, should have 
clear powers of observation, so as readily to observe and apply nature's laws. 
Ilis vocation is the root of all prosperity, and until the farmers of a nation 
are progressed to the highest power of observation, the country can not rise 
to the highest rank. By observation alone you may learn mucli. You may 
learn what you will find that many old farmers do not know. Among these, 
that cows and sheep have no upper teeth : that cold water will dissolve more 
salt or lime than hot water ; that a gallon of water will dissolve more plaster 
of Paris than it will of slaked lime which has been long enough exposed to 
the atmosphere to become carbonate of lime. How many know that water 
is at its mean of size when at 40° of heat — that if cooled below that tem- 
perature it swells, until it becomes ice at 32°, and if heated above 40° it also 
swells, until it eventually becomes steam, thus occupying more than 1,700 
times its original space ? Still, all these are facts, and to minds generally 
observant, they are well known to be true. 

By observation you may learn why rain or pond water is better for plants 
than well or pure spring water — that it is because it contains more carbonic 
acid. Do not say you have no opportunity to learn facts that are only re- 
corded in books. Let any farmer's boy devote the evenings of a single win- 
ter to the reading of geology, entomology, chemistry, natural philosophy, 
and natural history, and apply his acquired knowledge as an amusement, 
while pursuing his vocation during the following summer, and he will find 



990 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

himself able to observe and comprehend thousands of incidents connected 
M'ith natural law which before would have passed by unobserved. IIo will 
then sec and understand that the soil is but a debris of the rocks ; that in its 
original formation this occurred from the combined influence of sun and air, 
and changes of temperature by freezing and thawing, in rendering these rocks 
a soil. He will see how the convulsions of nature have mixed the soils 
of diiferent localities ; he will see, also, that the earliest vegetable growths 
were necessarily grosser sorts than those now produced ; and that they, by 
receiving carbon from the atmosphere — for the carbon originally must have 
existed there in immense quantities in the form of carbonic acid — by their 
decay deposited it in the soil, thus improving its quality and rendering it fit 
for the development of a more advanced class of vegetation. Pie will also 
see where and from what causes animal life progressed, and can trace its 
progress. He will clearly understand that such' vegetable matters as were 
consumed by animals merely change the arrangement of their particles by 
such process, and that no one particle was put out of existence, but that by 
the decay of these animals and the change of the arrangement of the ulti- 
mate particles, both of themselves and their food, that they re-enter nature's 
great storehouse — the atmosphere and the soil — in a progressed condition ; 
that thus both plauts and animals have progressed to their present state. 

He will next be able to observe why deeply disintegrated soils can never 
suffer from drouth, because he will know that when water is absent from the 
soil it is present in the atmosphere, and will be deposited on the surface of 
colder particles, at greater depths than can be reached by atmosphere when 
attempting to percolate shallow plowed land. He can trace the action of 
this moisture and its office in the soil ; he can know what amendments are 
required to replace those which he may find to be deficient ; and, indeed, he 
can render himself doubly happy and a better servant of his Creator, and his 
vocation ameliorating to his fellow-men. All this must occur if he knows 
60 much of nature's laws as will give his mind the first ability for closer ob- 
servance, and his progression as an individual will be the natural conse- 
quence of its exercise. And this does not call for the tedious exertions of 
thought as practiced by the mathematician and the merchant, but merely 
for the culture of the power of observation to see truths as they exist, and 
apply them rightly ; and this, and nothing else, he will find to constitute the 
science of agriculture. 

Kemember that plowing deep is the easiest way to enrich your farm. A 
farmer who was unable to own or hire a strong team, adopted the plan of 
running the same plow twice in one place, and is sure that the extra work 
was much more than paid for by an increase of crops. By this plan he 
plowed a stifi" sward 12 or 14 inches deep, and got a good tilth on top of the 
reverted sod which had remained undisturbed through several years of 
previous cultivation, and crops were more free from the efi"ects of drouth 
than ever before. 

Boys should not neglect their country school, notwithstanding their fathers 



Seo. 61.] MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' BOYS. 991 

allow it to remain the most neglected building of all that are called public 
ones, and frequently most uncomfortable and uninviting to cultivated minds, 
and hence those of the least cultivation arc employed as teachers. And 
what is learned there? Just what the books teach — nothing more. Tlie 
child learns A, B, C. Tlie larger one finds the letters transposed, and spells 
cab. The next advance is to learn the mechanical operation of forming a 
resemblance to these letters with pen or pencil. Then the child reads that 
one class of words are called nouns, another verbs, and a third adjectives. 
And so on and on tlirough books and daily tiresome lessons, the child plods 
up to maturity, and if particularly bright may be called " well educated." 
Yet what of the surroundings of every-day life has that child ever learned in 
school ? Now, let a farmer go into the district school and ask of teaclier and 
pupils these few simple questions — questions that involve things that might 
be learned in school, but are they ? The answers to his questions will show 
him whether they are or not : 

What kinds of forest-trees grow indigenously in this neighborhood ? 

Can you give their names, common and botanical ? 

"Which are the most useful, and what are their uses? 

"What useful and what noxious plants are most common ? 

"What plants are cultivated, and what for ? 

IIow many of these are indigenous ; where are those from that are not ? 

"What is the staple product of the neighborhood ? 

"What is the nature of the soil? Name its principal constituents. 

What kind of rocks abound here, and are they in place ; and if not, where 
did they come from ? 

How many kinds of birds abound in the neighborhood, and are they useful 
or injurious? Give their common and scientific names. 

Do the same of quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. 

These are some of the things that might be learned in school, but rarely 
are. The subject is one worth a thought, and might be a good deal ampli- 
fied and thought of, and not alone by farmers' boys. The farmer himself 
may well think of these facts. 

Every country school should have as one of its standard books a " Manual 
of Agriculture," an excellent new work just published under the sanction 
of the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, edited by George B. 
Emerson and Charles L. Flint ; for it is full of practical information for the 
school, the farm, and the fireside. It contains many things desirable for all 
farmers' children to learn in school, and is admirably arranged for that 
purpose. 

" The Hand-Book of Household Science" is another valuable school-book 
which should be in extensive use. Both of the books named are of conve- 
nient size for Schools, and both contain many things of great value not only 
to pupils, but their teachers, who might learn many things that should be 
taught and learned in all schools. 

Among other things that boys and girls should learn at school are the 



992 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



names of the days, or, rather, why they are so called. They are all derived 
from the old deities of the Saxons, each one of whom has a statue intended 
to personify the idea of the being. For instance, the idol of the sun, which 
gives name to Sunday-, is represented with his face like the sun, holding a 
burning wheel, with both hands on his breast, signifying his course round 
the world. The idol of tlie moon, from which comes Monday, is habited in 
a short coat like a man, but holding the moon in his hands. Tuisco pre- 
sided over strife, litigation, combats ; so Tuesday, which derives its name 
from Tuisco, was originally set apart for the commencement of combats, 
assizes, and litigations. His statue is clothed in skin garments, such as were 
worn by tlie old Scandinavians. Odin or Wodin, from which the name 
of Wednesday is derived, was a valiant and mnch-loved Saxon prince, wliose 
name was revered as " universal father," and whose image was invoked in 
prayers for victory in battle. Thor — god of thunder — was the sou of Odin, 
and gives name to Thursday. His image is represented in a bed, holding a 
scepter in his hand, with twelve stars over his head. Friga, from whence 
we liave Friday, was the wife of Odin, the goddess of hope, peace, fertility, 
and riches, though represented with a drawn sword in the right hand and a 
bow in the left. Saturday is said by some authorities to be derived from 
Saturn, and by others from the Saxon deity Sietor. His image has a wretched 
appearance, with thin visage, long hair and beard, with a pail of water and 
fruits and flowers in his right hand. 

The names of the months come from the Romans. 

Tlie tirst was so called from Janus, an ancient king of Italy, wfio was dei- 
fied after his death, and derived from the Latin word Ja7iuarius. 

February is derived froui the Latin word Februo, to purify, hence Febru- 
arius ; in this month the ancient Romans offered up exoiatory sacrifices for 
tlic purifying of the people. 

March was anciently the first month. The name is derived from the word 
Mais, the god of war. 

April is so called from the Latin Aprilus, i. e., opening — because in this 
month the vegetable world opens and buds forth. 

May is derived from the Latin word Majoirs, so called by Romulus in 
respect toward the Senators ; hence Maius or May. 

June, from the Latin word Junius, or the youngest of people. 

July is derived from the Latin word Julius, and so named iij honor of 
Julius Caesar. 

August was called in honor of Augustus by a decree of the Roman senate. 

September, from the Latin word Septem, or seven, being the seventh from 
March. 

October, from the Latin word Octo, the eiglith. 

November, from the Latin word Novem, nine. 

December conies from the Latin Decern, ten, numbered so from the Roman 
first month, March. 

Boys should learn the nature of minerals ; that salt is one as much as 
marble, and like it is quarried from deep mines. " Liverpool salt" is rock 
salt refined. In its mineral state it is not white, but has a pinkish hue. 



Sso. 61. 



THINGS TO BE TROUGHT ABOUT. 



993 



Until refined it is not good for the dairy; that is true, liowever, of all man- 
ufactiirod salt. In Cracow, Poland, there are great salt mines, wonderful as 
a curious ■work of human industry. 

Boys, do you know the size of a square acre? You can C)nly learn to 
estimate the area of a field by comparing its size with a well-known plot, 
Select a level spot, clear of trees and fences, and measure a square 208 feet 9 
inches upon each side, and set up stakes at the corners, and exactly half way 
between. That gives you the size of an acre and quarter acre. A lialf acre 
is 147i feet square ; fourth of an acre, 104i feet square ; an eighth of an acre, 
732 foot square. 

1151. Tilings to be Thought About.— There are a great many useful little 
things wliich need to be stored up for farmers' use. For instance: "What 
is the difference between the gross and net weight of a hog ? We have told 
you, in No. 17, that in dressing, hogs lose one fifth. That is the general rule ; 
but it varies with quality and condition. Some smooth, small-boned, well- 
fatted liogs lose only 13 or 14 per cent. Some calculate shrinkage at 20 per 
cent, on the first cwt., 17 per cent, on the second, and 12 per cent, upon all 
above that. One calculation, for a hog of 260 lbs., live weight, is 7 lbs. of 
blood, 32 lbs. offal, leaving 220 lbs. net weight. If a hog of 275 lbs. net 
weight is cut up, the several parts will weigh as follows : Head, 24 lbs. ; 
shoulders, 29 lbs. ; hams, 42 lbs. ; sides, 90 lbs. ; lard, 17 lbs. ; lean meat, 
scraps, and bones, 73 lbs. — 275. The proportion is thus seen to be, head, 
nearly one eleventh ; hams and shoulders, a little over one fourth ; sides, or 
clear pork, nearly one third ; bones, etc., over one fourth. The hog, at G 
cents a pound, would amount to $16 50, and make the value of the several 
parts as follows : head, at 3 cents, 72 cents ; shoulders, at 6 cents, $1 74 ; 
hams, at 7 cents, $2 94 ; sides, at 9 cents, $8 10 ; lard, at 9 cents, $1 53 ; 
lean meat, etc., at 2 cents, $1 46 — $16 49. 

There are a few simple rules in the philosophy of fertilization that fanners 
should think of, talk about, experiment upon, and act accordingly. One is, 
that all non-volatile substances, such as lime, plaster, salt, bone-dust, nitrates 
and phosphate, should always be applied upon the surface, because their 
natural tendency is to descend by the laws of gravity. Volatile ma- 
nures only require to be covered to prevent evaporation. Lime sinks lower 
than roots. Lime, ashes, or clay are, each or all, beneficial to sandy soil. 
Clay to sand is better than sand to clay. Limestone land retains heat, 
and is therefore best for crops that require continued warmth during a short 
season. 

"There was frost upon the bottom lands, but none on the hills." Why? 
This is a subject for thought, and, as it is a natural effect, it should govern 
the planting of tender crops. The reason is, that the bottom land is usually 
of darker color than hill land, and it is generally supposed that it radiates 
heat more rapidly than lighter-colored soil. 

Dry peat, or muck, will absorb four times its own weight of water. 

It requires four pounds of clover to make one pound of mold ; and a tun 

63 



994: 



THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 



[Chap. XV. 



of dry forest leaves will make 500 lbs. of mold ; and that mold ■will produce 
a tun of forage plants. 

Phosphorus is found in all plants, and is a necessity of the growth of many 
of those most useful to man. Commercially, phosphorus is valued at four 
or five thousand dollars a tun. Of course, it can not be used in that form 
for agriculture. It can in the cheap form of phosphate of lime. 

Soft water is preferred by most animals. A beast will often show a pref- 
erence to a pond of foul water that is soft, rather than to a cool spring that 
is hard. Some stable-men, who have none but hard water, always keep it 
exposed to the air, in a tub or trough, some time before it is used. 

A kettle is not a necessity in heating water. It may be heated nearly 
boiling hot in any wooden vessel, by hot stones, or a lump of cast iron. 
This plan is very useful in scalding hogs. An iron weight of twenty-five 
pounds, with a ring for handling, is a good form, and with it a given quan- 
tity of water can be heated quicker than with an open kettle. 

A machine belt of leather should never be put on with the flesh side to the 
pulley, because it will wear longer the other way. 

What is the strength of a man ? Or what is it compared with a horse ? 
Farmer, do you know ? Have you over thought of it ? It is very important 
for you to know how much labor you can perform, or how much you have a 
right to expect of hirelings. The result of many experiments by scientific 
men is that, on the average, an active, healthy man, of about 150 lbs. weight, 
can walk 2G4r feet per minute, working ten hours daily, and make 30 miles 
a day, upon level roads. If he mounts stairs, he walks only one tenth as 
fast, and is unable to continue the labor more than eight hours a day. if he 
carries 90 lbs. upon his back, he can move only 132 feet a minute, or one 
and a half miles an hour, and continue seven hours a day. If he climbs a 
stair with 150 lbs. on his back, at the rate of seven feet per minute, he can 
work only six hours a day. If a man works with a wheel-barrow, carrying 
loads a distance, and returning empty for a new load, he may carry 130 lbs., 
at the rate of 90 feet a minute, ten hours daily. The absolute force of trac- 
tion wliieli a man can continue ten hours a day, by a rope passing over his 
shoulder, at the rate of two miles an hour, is given at 75 to 132 lbs. The 
greatest velocity at which a man can walk varies from 4i to 6^ miles per hour. 
The proportion of strength exerted by a man at different employments is 
as follows : Working a pump, 100 ; working a winch, 1G7 ; ringing a bell, 
228 ; rowing a boat, 248. This shows the importance of arranging all machin- 
ery to be operated by manual labor so that the operator can exert his strength 
to the greatest advantage. If a pump was rigged so it could be worked ex- 
actly upon the same principle as the row-boat, the man would be worth nearly 
two and a half times as much as at the handle of one in the ordinary way. 

The average strength of men varies in different countries. In Engljuid it 
is given at 71A ; France, 69.2 ; Van Dieman's Land, 51.8 ; New Holland, 
50.6. Strength and activity must not be confounded; nor activity and 
weiglit. If two men of equal strength and weight contend, one may pull 



-r 



Sec. 61.] THINGS TO BE THOUGHT ABOUT. i?95 

tlie other off liis feet. Let one take a third man iinder his arm, of equal 
weight to himself, which would appear to be a sufficient load, yet be will 
not only carry it, but pull his antagonist easily after him across the room. 

The strength of a horse is variously estimated as compared with man. 
That is, one horse is estimated as equal to from five to fourteen men. In 
the estimates of the power of a horse, compared with the power of a steam- 
engine, "Watt fixes the horse-power at his ability to raise 33,000 lbs. per 
minute, the weight being attached to a rope over a pulley. An engine that 
can do the same is rated as one-horse power. Its real power is greater, be- 
cause the engine has the greatest power of endurance. 

Men and animals acquire, by practice, great powers of muscle and endur- 
ance. A brawny London porter walks three miles an hour, with two or 
three hundred pounds upon his shoulders. Doctor Windship, of Roxbury, 
Mass., lifts a tun attached to a strap across his shoulders, and he is not a 
brawny man. A horse will endure more labor, though necessarily- working 
harder, traveling in a hilly country than upon a plain. The power of a horse 
harnessed in a wagon is calculated at 770 lbs., drawn at the rate of 433 feet 
per minute, 4; hours per day, day after day, without exhausting his power. 
This is about 22 ' miles per day. 

For carrying loads on a plane, a man is rated 1 ; a horse, 4.8 to 6.1. For 
transportation in wheel-carriages, a man is rated 1 ; a horse, in four-wheel 
carriage, 17.5 ; in two-wheel cart, 24.3. A mule, with cart, 23.3 ; an ox, with 
cart, 12.2. 

Another authority gives the following as the units of man and horse power : 
An active man, in the prime of life, can raise 100 lbs. one foot per second, 
working ten hours per day ; a horse can raise 550 lbs. in the same space 
of time. 

These " things to be thought about" should be thought of more than they 
are by all farmers. So should " What food will produce the most strength ?" 
Race-horse men say that broken grains of hulled Indian corn, with corn- 
leaves, are the best food. "Workers of horses think that they will do the 
most work, where action of muscle is required, if fed on oats. It is also 
said that five pounds of corn will make a pound of beef; and that tiiree and 
a half pounds of corn-meal will make a pound of j^ork. Yet who knows? 
"\Ye know that all should inquire. 

1152. How lo Dress Fur-Skins, or Sheep-Skins with the Wool on.— Take 
equal parts of salt and alum, pulverized, and sift about four ounces upon the 
flesh side of the skin, while fresh from the body — or, if dry, after being 
moistened — and then fold it up carefully, and keep it in a damp place about 
four days; then open it, and lay it on a table, and scrape it with a dull 
knife, K) get all the adhering flesh ofi", and then rub it with a blunt wooden 
instrument, until it is dry and soft. Then thoroughly wash it in warm soap- 
suds, let it dry moderatelj-, and just before it is fully dry, rub it soft with 
your hands. After rubbing, it is soft and pliable as a kid glove, and will 
continue so. Another plan is, to nail the skin tightly and smoothly against 



996 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



a door, keeping the flesh side out. Next proceed, with a broad-bladed, 
blunt knife, to scrape away all loose pieces of flesh and fat ; then rub in as 
much chalk as possible, and be not sparing of labor; when the chalk begins 
to powder and fall off", take the skin down, fill it with finely-ground alum, 
wrap it closely together, and keep it in a dry place for two or three days ; 
at the end of that time unfold it, shake out the alum, and the Avork is over. 

1153. How to Dress Skins Soft, like Buckskiu. — Take the skin fresh from 
the animal, and stretch it tigiitly upon a board, and scrape ofl" all the flesh 
that will come oflF easily. Then warm two quarts of milk, and mi.\ in. a tea- 
cupful of salt and half an ounce of oil of vitriol. In this mixtui'o soak the 
skin about forty minutes, stirring it and keeping it warm. Then take it out, 
and stretch and rub it over the smooth edge of a board, working it till dry. 
The Indians dress all their deer-skins by soaking them in a paste made of 
brains, and, after rubbing them, drying tiiem in smoke. 

1154. How to Prepare Fur-Skins for Market.— In the first place, carefully 
avoid getting blood or dirt upon the fur before skinning. Tf that is una- 
voidable, carefully clean and dry it before you take ofi' tlie pelt, which, of 
all small animals, such as mink, fox, weasel, cats — wild or tame, muskrat, 
fisher, otter, rabbits, squirrels, should be taken oft' without ripping down the 
belly, and no bones should be left in legs or tail, and no flesh left adhering 
to the pelt. This must be carefully scraped or picked off", before or after 
the pelt is stretched, which is best done upon a thin, smooth board or shingle, 
cut a little tapering, upon which the skin should be turned inside out as 
soon as it is stripped from the body, and drawn smooth and tight, and tacked 
fast, and then hung up to dry in the air or in the smoke, with but little heat 
from the fire. If you are in the woods, or where you can not get boards or 
shingles to make your stretchers, you must adopt the Indian's mode, and 
stretch your pelts iipon a bow made of a hickory sprout, or other tough 
wood, which, after trimming perfectly smooth, you will slightly notch in 
the middle of the length, and bend toward the notch. Then, half way from 
the nose end, cut two notches and insert a brace, which will be held in place 
by tying a string around the ends, so as to bring them just near enough 
together to suit the size of your pelt. It is sometimes necessary to put in 
two or more braces, to hold the sides of the bow firm, and wide enough 
apart to stretch the skin into a good shape and to the utmost tension, which 
adds to its value. It is not necessary to stretch skins fur side out to show 
tlje quality. A good judge can tell a good pelt as soon as he sees the flesh 
side. Well-handled skins will always sell for 10 to 25 per cent., and some- 
times 50 per cent., more than similar skins badly handled. What we mean 
by the technical term "well-handled" is, the preparation of the skin, which 
is a very simple matter to those who Tcnoiu how. If you wish to dress the 
skins for home use, follow the directions of 1153. using less materials and 
more labor, in proportion to size of pelts. 

1155. Farmers Should Tsc Rawhide. — A skin of an animal, whether cow, 
calf, colt, or horse, that dies on the farm, is worth more at home than at the 



Seo. 61.) PROTECTION FOR HORSES AND DRIVERS. 997 

tanner's. Cut tlicm into narrow strips, and shave off the hair with a sharp 
knife, before the kitclien fire or in your work-shop, stormy days and even- 
ings. You may make tliem soft by rubbing. A rawhide halter-strap an 
inch wide will hold a liorse stronger and last longer than an inch rope. It 
is stronger than hoop-iron, and more durable, and may be used to hoop dry 
casks and bo.xes, and for hinges. Try it upon a broken thill, or any other 
wood-work that is splintered. Put it on wet, and nail fast. Thin skins 
make the best bag-strings in the world. A rawhide rope is a good substitute 
for a chain. It is valuable to mend a broken link in a trace-chain. For 
some purjioses it is best to use it in its natural state. For other purposes it 
may be dressed soft. 

1156. Oilins Harness and Boots.— Oils should not be applied to dry leather, 
as they would invariably injure it. If you wish to oil a harness, wet it over- 
night, cover it with a blanket, and in the morning it will be dry and supple ; 
then apply neat's foot oil in small quantities, and with so much elbow-grease 
as will insure its penetrating throughout the leather. A soft, pliant harness 
is easy to handle, and lasts longer than a neglected one. One authority says : 
" Never use vegetable oils on leather ; and among animal oils, neat's-foot is 
the best." Another says : " The very best oil for all applications to leather 
is the common castor-oil. One of the reasons of its value is, that it has less 
tendency to harden or thicken the leather, as neat's-foot and other animal 
oils do. Leather that has been frequently saturated with any kind of animal 
fat and exposed to water, as boots and harness arc, instead of remaining pli- 
able, becomes hard and dry, losing its elasticity, and finally becoming brittle 
and worthless; but that which is oiled with the extract of the Palma Christi 
bean, and in a less degree with flax-seed oil, appears to retain its fibrous 
toughness a great deal longer. The oil is naturally viscid, and, containing 
some glutinous matter, serves a better purpose than animal oil to exclude 
water, which, when absorbed by the leather, is the real cause of its inelas- 
ticity. Castor-oil, if bought by the gallon, is not expensive. It was manu- 
factured a few years ago in Illinois, and sold at fifty cents a gallon ; and the 
beans were grown as a field crop, at fifty cents a bushel. It is well worth 
while for farmers to give castor-oil a trial as a lubricator of leather." 

1157. Lubricating AxleSi — T;ilco three pounds of tallow, one of lard, and 
one of fine black lead, and two ounces of India-rubber, cut in shreds; beat 
them together until they are completely mixed, when it makes a most excel- 
lent anti-friction grease for the axles of wagons. And when you can not get 
these materials, make a paste of wheat flour in oil, and it will answer nearly 
as well. Powdered soap-stone and oil are excellent. 

1158. Protection for Horses and Drivers. — At the South they have " buggy 
umbrellas." They are made just like the common umbrella, with a staff' 
four or five feet high. In the bottom of the wagon is a socket, which holds 
the end of the staff when in use. At other times it is laid down, or carried 
into the house, like any other umbrella. Every carman might have just 
such a one, without interfering at all with his load. Every stage-driver 



998 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



should liave one, to protect him both from sun and rain. They arc real life- 
preservers, health-promoters, and preventives of excessive drinking. Every- 
body wiio rides in open -wagons, in city or country, should liave a wagon- 
umbrella. It is much better than a top-wagon, because lighter. It would 
also be good economy for every farmer to have a water-proof covering 
for each wagon-horse, to protect him from sudden showers when heated, and 
at all times from cold, drenching rains. 

1159. How to Fix Chain Pumps.— Chain pumps frequently get out of order, 
in consequence of too great length of chain. If a chain should be of the 
correct length when it is new, after it has been in use for a year or more, 
the reel, the links, and the roller in the bottom of the well become worn, so 
that the chain will be several inches too long, and in consequence of which 
the chain will often become entangled at the bottom of the well, and will 
stop the motion of the pump very often and very suddenly. In such a case, 
open links of the chain, and take out enough to make the chain as tight as 
it was originally, and the pump will work as well as ever. 

1160. How to Mend an Aqueduct Pipe.— How to solder a lead pipe with a 
head of water on is a secret worth knowing. We have known instances where 
the knowledge imparted in this item would be worth much more than the 
cost of this volume. Eepairing pipes, whether lead or other material, under 
a pressure of fifty feet of water, that can not be shut off, is a serious under- 
taking; but see how easy! A lead pipe was accidentally cut apart by a 
spade. No one knew how the water could be shut off without going a long 
distance, and then it would stop the supply of many persons connected with 
the same line of pipes. An ingenious plumber was sent for. He first stopped 
the flow by a wooden plug. Then he called for broken ice and salt. " He 
is going to freeze ice-cream," said a little boy, who knew the philosophy of 
that operation. iSTo, he is going to place the ice and salt around the pipe, 
and freeze the water solid. It was done in a few minutes. In the mean 
time he had added a short piece of pipe to the empty part, and as soon as 
the ice-plug was perfect, he withdrew the wooden one, and in one minute 
had made a soldered joint. In five minutes more the ice-plug melted, and 
on to its destination flowed the living current. 

1161. Do Fogs in January Indicate Frosts in May ?— Such is the popular 
belief witli many people. To show that it is not Avell founded, we give the 
statement of a writer in the Country Gentleman, Avho says : " On looking 
over a record for the past seventeen years, I can not find anything on which 
to base such an assertion. It is true, as a general thing, we have fogs in 
January, and also true, as a general thing, we have frosts in May ; but we 
have li:id many a January with neither fog,Tain, or mist, while in the May 
that lui lowed we have had frosts and hard freezes. We will take the past 
five years, which will prove as much as the seventeen, and see what relation 
the frosts of May have to the fogs of January. In the year 1857, we had no 
days that could be called foggy, rainy, or misty, in the month of January, 
but in May we had cold weather. There were frosts on the mornings of the 



Sec. 61.1 WEATHER PROGNOSTICS. 999 



8th, lOtli, 12tli, 13tli, ICth, 17th, and ISth. Snow fell on the 10th and 17th, 
and ice one eighth of an inch in thickness was found in vessels containinj^; 
but little water on the morning of the 10th, and one fourth of an inch on tho 
mornings of the 1 1th, 17th, and ISth. We had also a heavy frost in June, 
killing almost every green thing. In the year 1858, on the 11th of January, 
we had fog, and on the mornings of the 3d, 11th, 13th, 16th, 22d, and 23d 
of May we had frosts, more or less. In 1859 we had fog on the 7th of Jan- 
uary, and on the 23d of May we had a slight frost. In 18C0 there was 
fog on the 7th and 11th of January, but in the month of May wo had no 
frost, and it was the warmest month of May that we have had in the seven- 
teen years I have recorded. In 1861 vre had no fog, and not a day that 
could be called rainy or misty, in January ; but in May we had frost on the 
2d, 3d, 29th, and 30th." 

1162. Weather Prognostics. — Every farmer should have some settled rules 
upon which he could safely calculate the prospects of the weather. It would 
be highly economical to a farmer if he would carefully study all the prog- 
nostics of the seasons, and such as indicate changes in the weather day by 
day. The use of the barometer is of doubtful utility to the farmer, but there 
are many homely barometrical signs that should not be neglected. The 
changes of the wind ; the course of the clonds ; the smoke beating to the 
ground ; the circle around the moon ; the flight of birds, both M-ild and do- 
mestic ; the hurrying borne of bees when a sudden shower approaches ; the 
actions of domestic animals, swine in particular ; the acute pains felt by rheu- 
matic persons at the approach of storms ; the absence or excess of moisture 
in the atmosphere, as indicated by the rapid evaporation of boiling water 
when the air is dry, or ready condensation upon the cold-water jutclier when 
it is moist ; the peculiar sighing of the wind ; the turning up of the leaves 
of the forest before a storm, and many more indications of change, should all 
be studied, better understood, and used to the farmer's benefit. Every chim- 
ney is as good an indicator of the changes of weather as any cheap barometer. 
If smoke is heavier than the atmosphere, it will, of course, fall to the ground 
as soon as it is disengaged from the heat which forces it through the chinmey. 
When the fire is made in the morning, if the smoke is seen on the ground 
near the house, we may conclude foul weather will soon follow. Tiie follow-, 
ing sensible thoughts and words are from F. K. Phonix, of Bloomington, 111. : 

" Ilovr curious and humiliating that, after living in the world, as men 
have, for thousands of years, and learning about almost everything else, we 
should yet be in total darkness as to the character of the forthcoming seasons. 
Governed as they are by immutable laws, with historic records and scientific 
observations at command, what walking clods we are as to the impending 
weather ! What immortality is there yet in store for some Storm-King, who 
shall unlock this mighty weather-vault, and hand over the key to his de- 
lighted fellows ! If there be one well-ascertained fact in regard to the weath- 
er, whj' not make that a basis for other scientific calculations and deductions ?• 
For instance, it has been stated that there is every year about the same an- 



1000 



THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 



[Chap. XV. 



nual mean of temperature. Now, if this be the fact, how easy to foretell 
the general temperature of the last three or six months in each year from 
that of the preceding months ! Will not the savans please figure up, and 
tell us what we may expect in future ? It is also said that one extreme fol- 
lows another. How natural, then, to infer that, after such a series of dry 
seasons as we had in Illinois in the five years preceding 1858, that we should 
that year get terrible rains ; after which, drouths again, against both of 
which extremes farmers should provide, by thorough draining and deep 
culture. Here at the West, the weather doubtless has, in the matter of wet 
and dry, its cycles or periods — a very wet season occurring every six or seven 
years. Then might not this wet season have been anticipated? If naviga- 
tors may know the tides of ocean, why may not we poor, water-logged lands- 
men know something of the great air-tides that give us fair or foul weather ?" 
Much, too, may be learned by careful observations of the thermometer. 
Look at this table of average in New York for ten years : 

1849. 

Aggregate averages 718. 

Average of fifteen days ... 48 . 

This shows an average of temperature for the last period 3i° above th6 av- 
erage. A careful observer would at once conclude, " This will be a good 
year for fruit ;" and bo it proved. 

1163. Gestation, Periods of, and Proper Time of Reproduction.— The follow- 
ing table is compiled from good authority, and may be useful to young farm- 
ers. No exact period can be stated, however; for M. Tessier, of Paris, 
kept a record of 582 mares that copulated but once, and found the period of 
foaling varied from 287 to 419 days, making a difference of 132 days, and 
in the lowest number falling short of the usual time of eleven months by 47 
days, and in the longest, overrunning the allotted time by 85 days ; so you 
need not despair of your mare, cow, or other animal, if it does not bring 
forth at exactly the time fixed upon. 



185^ 


1851. 


1852 


.1858. 


1854. 


1855. 


1856. 


ISST. 


1853. 


MO . 


.780 . 


..782. 


.768. 


.754 . 


.739 . 


.708.. 


..752.. 


..810 


51|. 


. 52i. 


.. 52. 


. 51. 


. 50J. 


. 49i. 


.. 47.. 


.. 50.. 


.. 54 



TABLE OP PERIODS FOR SEVERAL ANIMALS. 



Kinds op 
Animals. 



Proper age 

for 

Eeproduction. 



Mare 4 years. . 

Stallion 5 " 

Cow 3 " 

Bull 3 " 

Ewe 2 " 

Tup 2 " 

Sow .1 " 

Boar 1 " 

She-Goat 2 " 

He-Goat 2 " 

She-Ass 4 " 

He-Ass 5 " 

She-Bufifalo 

Bitch 2 " 

Uog 2 " . 

She-Cat 1 " 

He-Cat 1 " 

Doe-Rabbit 6 months. 

BUck-Eabbit 6 



Period of the 

Power of 
Eeproduction. 
Years. 
. . . 10 to 12 . . 
, . . 12 to 15 . . 
... 10 
5 
6 
7 
6 
6 
6 
5 
... 10tol2 .. 
. . . 12 to 15 . . 

.'.'.' 8 to 9 '.'. 

... 8 to9 .. 

... 5 to6 .. 

. . . 9 to 10 . . 

. . . 5 to 6 . . 

. . . 5 to 6 . . 



Number of Tiie most 

Females favorable season , — Period of Ges'alion.— . 
to one Male, for Copulation. Shortest. Mean. Longest. 
Days. Days. Dajs. 

. May 2S7 . . 347 . . 419 

. 20 to 30 ....—..—.. — 

, . July 240 .. 283 

.. 30 to 40 • • — . . — 

. . Nov 146 

.. 40 to 50 — 

. . March 109 

. . 6 to 10 .... . .... — 



20 to 40 



5 to 6 
30 



.Nov. 
.May. 

.Feb. 
.Nov. 



. ... 160 

.".'."." 365 , 

...'. 281 '. 

.... 55 . 

'. '. '.'. 48 

.' .' ." 20 



154 
115 
156 

380 . 



321 
161 
143 
163 
391 



308 . . 335 
60 . . 63 

50 . '. 56 

28 .' .' 85 



Sec. G1.] 



WniTE BEANS. 



1001 



green the vines wbcn 
long 



1164r. The CuitivatioQ of White Beans as a Field Crop. — It is often said of a 
man, " He don't know beans." If it was said he don't know how to grow 
them, the assertion would be often true. We do not know that we do, but 
we do know how to cure them. Here it is. 

1165. How to Cure White Beans- — There is no crop that gives more trouble 
to the farmer in curing than beans, whicli from being late planted because 
grown among corn and from the shade, are often as green as ever at the 
time they must be harvested. With a good deal of trouble in hanging the 
vines on the corn, they will cure if the Aveather is propitious. Then they 
must be handled again and the whole carried by hand out one side of the 
field. Sometimes they are carried out in the first place and spread on fences, 
liead lands, or green sward, to get them out of the way of cutting iip the 
corn. This is hard work, and often proves labor lost, for if the season proves 
wet, tlie green vines will not cure, and the dry buds arc often molded and 
beans blackened by the attempt to dry the vines. Now, if planted alone, 
there need be but one handling after pulling, and that will be to put them 
on the wagon, cured in the most perfect manner. We affirm that there is 
no crop grown that can be cured easier than white beans, no matter how 
pulled. To do this, take some stakes about five feet 
old garden bean-poles will do — and go through the field and set as 
close together as your present experience will tell you is necessary. Place 
any old trash, such as coarse weeds, sticks, sods, or stones around the bottom 
of the poles to form a raised bed as you would for a hay-stack bottom, and 
then pull your beans and stack them in a single course around the stake, the 
roots inward, and dryest vines at the bottom and a tangled bunch at the top 
to hold the stack to its pole, and your beans will cure and look clean and 
bright, and the leaves and pods will be eaten with great avidity by the 
sheep. Tliere is no other inexpensive way to cure field beans. 

11G6. Suitable Soil for White Beans.— There is no crop that will produce so 
■well as white beans upon a thin gravelly knoll. We have seen twenty 
bushels of beans per acre upon land that would not produce twenty bushels 
of corn, if stalks and all were measured. They do not produce well upon 
rich soil, running too much to vines. 

1167. Growing Beans among Corn. — We are opposed to planting beans with 
corn, except solely to fill up vacant spots, because we do not think there is 
anything gained by planting the two crops together. The practice orig- 
inated in early times, when cleared land was scarce, and when the soil ■Was 
rich, and when it was an object to get as much food off one acre as possi- 
ble, because the owner had no other ground that he could use ; and so the 
practice has come down to the present day, each generation following it be- 
cause " father did so," without even inquiring why. In our opinion the 
most advantageous course to pursue for a profitable bean crop, is to plant 
the seed upon land that it would not be profitable to use for Indian corn, 
making the rows in drills about twenty inches apart, and manuring them 
with fine compost to give them an early start and vigor while young, rather 



1002 THE GLEAKINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



than a large growth of vines, which they get among corn. Eeans must 
never be worked while wet with rain or dew, and that is a good reason for 
keeping them away from corn, for that may be worked to good advantage 
when dripping wet. The only advantage, besides the two crops upon one 
surface, that we ever heard contended for by planters of beans among corn, 
is the convenience of curing the vines npon the cornstalks. 

1168. Hop CuIturCi — The hop is a hardy perennial, of easy cultivation, and 
will grow in any part of the Union. It requires a deep, rich, mellow soil, 
with a dry, porous, or rocky sub-soil. The exposure in a northern climate 
should be toward the south, as on the slope of a hill, or in any well-sheltered 
valley. It may be propagated by seeds or by divisions of the roots ; but it 
is more usual to plant the young shoots which rise from the bottoms of the 
stems of old plants. These are laid down in the earth till they strike, when 
they are cut oil" and planted in a nursery-bed. Care must be taken to have 
only one sort of hops in one plot, that they may all ripen at the same time. 
The ground having been prepared for planting, it is divided by parallel lines 
si.x feet apart, and short sticks are inserted into the ground, along the lines, 
seven feet distant from each other, and so as to alternate in the rows, as is 
frequently done with fruit-trees and other plants, in what is called the quin- 
cunx form. By this method, every plant will be seven feet from each of its 
neighbors, although the rows will be only six feet apart, and thus one eighth 
of ground will be saved. Fresh dung should never be applied to hops. A 
watering with liquid manure will greatly assist their taking root. During 
their growth the ground should be well hoed, and some of the fine mold 
thrown up around the roots. Any good corn ground will produce hops. The 
roots are usually planted in corn land and grow with the corn the first year. 
Tliey produce the second year $300 to $400 per acre at 35 cents per pound. 
Liberal applications of manure are needed, and they do not afi'ect the quality 
of product, as is the case with tobacco. Besides farm-yard dung, wool, hair, 
bones, plaster, lime, and ashes are all useful fertilizers. In England, the 
Kent and Sussex hop-growers calculate upon spending about $50 per acre 
for special manures, in addition to what of the ordinary kind they make on 
the farm. With such care, they have hop plantations 300 years old. The 
ground must be trenched and worked deeply. About 1,200 hills is the 
proper number per acre, and for each 200 hills there should be one hill 
of male plants. "When picked, the hops should be at once dried, and this is 
better done by passing a current of hot air over them than in placing them 
in a room where they get only the radiated heat from a stove. 

1169. What Coustitutes the Value of IIops> — The yellow powder of the flow- 
ers contains all the value of hops. It is not in the leaves ; they are good fur 
nothing. If the powder, luj>uUn, was separated from hops and put up in 
soldered cans, there would be no need of transporting the bulky material 
of hop bales. Liebig recommends exposing hops to the fumes of sulphur, 
as thus the liipulm, or active principle, may be preserved from one season 
to another. The practice is opposed by some, but adopted by many of the 



Sec. 61.] TEASELS AS A CROP. 1003 



best Municli brewers. The hop crop varies from year to year to such an 
extent that the price is very fluctuating, and even in a single season or a 
month may make a difference of 100 per cent. 

1170. Growing Hops without Poles. — The great expense in preparing a hop- 
yard is a good set of poles. To avoid this, posts have been set and wires 
drawn across the yard, and vines trained up on strings fastened to a stake at 
the liill, and to the wire at top. In France, a hop-grower has discovered 
that he can train liis hop vines horizontal to a low trellis. The French Acad- 
emy recommend this plan because it enables the grower to investigate the 
plant while growing, and cleanse it from the numerous insects which injure 
it to so vast an extent ; then it is protected from the sun, which always 
destroys the upper shoots ; it obviates the great destruction of hops in stormy 
weather, when the wind lays low whole hop-grounds from the bight of the 
poles ; and most of all, it enables the gathering of the cones to take place 
without uprooting the plant, besides permitting the selection of the ripest 
ones at first, and preventing the great loss which arises from the necessity 
of tearing down the whole plant to get at the ripest blossoms. 

1171. Teasels as a Crop. — It is worth while for farmers to consider whether 
teasels as a crop are not worthy of more attention. \Ve have seen it stated 
that a fair average crop is 200,000 burs per acre, and we think a fair average 
price is $1 50 a thousand. Their cultivation is not a new thing in this 
country, though but little attended to. Nor is it difBcult. A Mr. Wells 
(N. L., M-o think), of East Windsor, Conn., has grown thorn many years, and 
found them profitable. The most suitable soil is a rich clayey loam, of rather 
a moist nature, such as would produce two tuns of hay per acre. The best 
preparation is to grow potatoes upon the turned sod without manure ; the 
next spring manure heavily, plow eight inches deep, pulverize the soil thor- 
oughly with a cultivator, and then level smooth with a bush-drag. The 
seed, after soaking one night, is rolled in plaster, and dropped by hand in 
shallow drill marks, thirty inches apart. It should be sowed very thick, 
sometimes half a bushel per acre, as it vegetates badly. Like cotton or 
broom-corn, if too thick it is "thinned to a stand." The time of planting 
is when tliu ground is in good order, about the first of June. Do not cover 
the seed more than half an inch deep with fine earth, but press it hard with 
" a spatter," made of a plank, with a convenient handle. In about two 
weeks the rows can be seen, when a hand or horse hoe must be put to woik. 
At the second hoeing the plants may be thinned out, leaving them four or 
five inches apart. The after-culture is to keep the ground absolutely clean 
till about the middle of November, when the plants are covered with straw, 
held in place by dirt, to remain till first of May, or till freezing nights are 
past, when the plants are uncovered and weeds kept down till the plants 
grow, as they soon do, to cover the ground closely. Soon after the flowers 
drop, the burs must be cut with stems about four inches long, and carried to the 
drying-house, where they are spread upon open-work shelves of slats, poles, 
or small rails in tiers one above another, so as to give a free circulation of 



lOOi THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

air. They may be placed a foot thick upon shelves of this sort. A good 
hand can cut 15,000 or 20,000 a day, but the harvest should commence by 
the time half the flowers in a field are ofl". The top burs drop their flowers 
first ; these are called " King," but are not quite as good as the burs next 
below, which are called " Queens." A stalk has fi'om four to six No. 1 
teasels, and twenty to thirty, and sometimes fifty which are merchantable. 
The most common method of disposing of the teasel stalks is by mowing, 
drying, and burning on the ground. Two crops in succession generally do 
well, but more than that is not recommended. 

1172. Prices in Connecticut a Hundred Years aso. — ^From a curious and in- 
teresting document fully published in the The Homestead, at Hartford, 
Conn., we have extracted the prices of farm produce and slaves, as sworn to 
in the inventory of the estate of Captain Thomas Wheeler, of Stonington, 
Dec. 11, 1755 — a little over one hundred years ago. Captain "Wheeler was 
one of the largest landed proprietors in that town, and the appraisement of 
his estate amounts to £12,C69'9s. 5d., Connecticut currency, which, at six 
shillings to the dollar and twenty shillings to the pound, gives $42,231 55, 
which in those days constituted him a pretty rich man. The home farm is 
appraised at £7,000, and the prices of the following articles are given in 
pounds, shillings, and pence, which we have reduced to dollars and cents — 
which, by way of comparison with present prices, will be interesting ; as 
well as the fiict that only a hundred years ago Caesar, Scipio, and Hagar 
were part and parcel of a dead man's estate ; and also the prices at which 
these " chattels" were valued at that time in Connecticut. Perhaps, how- 
ever, the inventoiy of a South Carolina planter dying in 1855 will be read 
with just as much curiosity and wonder, as regards both the price and exist- 
ence of slaves, a hundred years hence, as this is of a time a hundred years 
past. The quotations from Col. Wheeler's inventory are as follows : 

Three hundred and ninety-eight bushels of Indian corn, £-10 5s. 2d. — SS^c. 
per bushel. 

Eiglit bushels wheat, 30s. — 62ic. per bushel : fifteen bushels rye, 378. 6d. 
— illc. per bushel. 

Five bushels beans, 16s. 8d. — 55ic. per bushel; fifty bushels salt, £6 5s. 
— 41 |c. per bushel. 

One and a half bushels malt, 4s. 4d. — 47c. per bushel ; twenty-seven pounds 
tallow, 9s.— 5ic. per pound. 

Twenty-five hundred seventy-four pounds cheese, 3d. per pound — 4ic. 
per pound. 

One hundred eighty-seven pounds flax, in ye swingle, 6d. per pound — 
Sic. per pound. 

One hundred twenty-five tuns hay, 25s. a tun — $4 17 per tun. 

Half bushel flax seed, Is. 3d. — 42c. per bushel. 

Three hundred fifty feet pine boards, 17s. 3d. — $2 87^ ; eighty squares 
glass, 16s. 8d. — 3|c. per square. 

His riding horse, saddle, and bridle, £16 13s. 4d. — $55 55. 

One old sorrel horse, £7 18s. 4d.— -$26 38. 

One black horse, £16 13s. 4d.— $55 55. 



Sec. 01.] TRICES IN CONJTECTICUT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 1005 



One sorrel horse, swift nose, £11 58. — $37 50. 

Oue sorrel horse, bald face, £12 5s. — $10 85. 

One pied horse, £10— $33 31. 

One small horse, swift nose, £G 13s. 4d.— $22 21. 

One sorrel stone horse, two years old, £9 lis. 3d. — $31 96. 

One sorrel year-old horse, $1 lis. 8d. ; one do., £4 lis. 8d.— $15 28— 
ii^lS 2S. 

One old sorrel mare and mare colt, £2 18s. 4d. — $9 71. 

One old bay mare and horse colt, £3 6s. 8d. — $11 11. 

One old black mare and horse colt, £8 Gs. 9d. — $27 80. 

One black mare and white face mare colt, £8 63. 8d. — $27 78. 

One large sorrel mare, white face horse colt, £14 3s. 4d. — $47 22. 

One old bay mare, £2 ISs. 4d. ; one sorrel two-year-old mare colt — old 
buy, $9 71 ; colt, $12 21. 

One sorrel mare, swift nose, £10 8s. 4d: — $34 71. 

One black mare, swift nose, £10 I69. 8d.— $3G 11. 

One brown mare, £5 16s. 8d.— $19 42, 

One fat ox, £5 8s. 4d. ; two speckled lean do.. £11 13s. 4d. — one fat ox, 
$18 06— one pair, $38 90. 

Two brown pied oxen, £10 8s. 4d.— $34 72. 

Two brown pied oxen, £10 16s. 8d. ; two red pied do., £13 — $36 11, 
$43 34. 

Two white pied oxen, £8 15s.— $29 IT. 

One brown fat cow, £4 3s. 4d ; one speckled cow, £3 3s. 4d. — $16 90, 
$10 55. 

Twenty-three fat cattle, at £2 18s. 4d. per head— $9 72. 

One bill], £2 ISs. 4d. ; thirtv-two cows. £86 8s. 4d.— $223 61. 

Twenty-tive two-year-old cattle, £41 13s. 4d.— per head, $5 51— $138 90. 

Twenty-six one-year-old cattle, £30 6s. Sd.— per head, $3 89— $101 11. 

Twenty-five calves, £15 12s. 6d.— $2 OS per head; total, $52. 

One hundred and seventv-nine store sheep, £26 2s. Id. — 18c. per head — 
$87. 

Five sheep rams, £1 5s. — 83c. per licad. — $4 17. 

Fifty-six fat swine, £65— $3 86 per head— $216 67. 

Sixty-five store swine, £14 15s. — 75c. per head — $49 17. 

One negro man named Qnasli, £2 10s. — $8 34. 

One old negro woman named Juno, 16s. 8d. — $2 76. 

One negro man named Cab, £41 14s. 4d.— $139 06. 

One negro man named CiEsar, £38 10s. — $128 34. 

One negro man named Cipeo, £45 16s. 8d. — $152 78. 

One negro woman named Hagar, £37 10s. — $125. 

One negro woman named Flora, £31 13s. — $105 50. 

One negro woman named Sarah, £40 — $133 34. 

One negro woman named Jane, £37 10s. — $125. 

One negro woman named Cloe, £37 10s. — $125. 

One negro boy named Pharaoh, £8 8s. — $28. 

One negro girl named Phillis, £15 — $50. 

One servant mulatto boy Harry, £8 6s. 8d. — $27 78. 

One servant mulatto girl Elizabeth, £5— $16 67. 

One servant Indian woman Mary, £1 13s. 4d. — $5 55. 

Corn is appraised at 333c. ; rye, at 41 |c. a bushel. The price of horses, 



1006 



THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 



[Chap. XV. 



beeves, store cattle, sheep, and swine will strike every one acquainted with 
present prices of such stock as quite remarkable, but not more so than the 
variation between the price of slaves in Connec-.icut in 1755 and the price 
of slaves in Virginia in 1855. Old Juno is valued at $2 76, which seems 
to be the minimum value of one of the human family, while the maximum 
is only $152 78 — a valuation that lacks a cipher at the right hand to make 
it equal to the current rates usual south of that noted line of Mason and 
Dixon. The " mulatto girl Elizabeth" must have been very young or very 
ugly, or the appraisers were actuated by different motives from those which 
influence the " friends of the peculiar institution" at the South, or she would 
have been valued at a much higher figure than £5 — $16 67 — even in those 
days of cheap chattels. One servant Indian M'oman " Mary," rated at $5 ^5, 
shows not only that the aborigines were enslaved, but that they were esti- 
mated at a low price. As an evidence of the little care for literature which 
prevailed a century ago, we notice that all the books of this rich man's estate 
were valued at only 56 shillings — $9 33. That is not so singular, for even 
in our day slaves and libraries are not always found in abundance upon the 
same inventory. 

1173. Winter Employment of Farm LaborerSi — As a rule, our farmers are 
not employing a fourth part of the labor they might make profitable. Labor 
well bestowed would double the grass crop of any State in less than five 
years. 

It is one of the greatest difficulties in the way of American farming, this 
six months on and six months ofi" of laborers. There is a constant complaint 
about the trouble of getting good farm laborers, and this trouble is con- 
stantly augmenting — ^growing worse and worse at every annual return of the 
hiring season. And why ? Because our laborers are mainly made up of 
foreigners unaccustomed to our modes of farming, unused to the climate, 
and unfitted for farm labor without previous training ; and all that onG 
of them gains in this lino in one season is generally lost to the one who 
gave it, because he only employs liis farm hands for the summer, instead of 
the whole j'ear. We have never conversed with a farmer who did not deplore 
this state of things, and acknowledge that it would be much better, that is, 
more profitable to keep the same laborers on from year to year after they 
had learned " the ways of the farm." 

" Then why not do it ?" 

" Oh, dear, bless your soul, I would if I could, but I have nothing, or next 
to nothing, to do in the winter." 

Now is this so ? Have farmers nothing to do ? Look about your farm 
and see. Have you no ditches to dig, no swamps to drain, no muck to dig 
Tor manure — no stone, timber, fuel, or manure to haul — no holes, large, deep^ 
and wide to dig for setting fruit-trees in the spring — no land on your farm 
that needs and will pay for underdraining ? For all of this work can be done 
during the many good out-door working days of winter, and, as a general 
thing, will not be done at any other season. 



Sec. 61.] WINTER EMPLOYMENT OF FARM LABORERS. 1007 



A good farmer can always provide work for stormy weather under shel- 
ter. There is fuel to be cut and split in the wood-house. There are gates, 
and bars, and fence-posts to be made in the workshop. There is manure to 
be piled in the yard — that should be done every day — and there should bo 
manure to be forked over in the barn cellar. There arc straw and stalks to 
be cut, and this may be done in quantity if the cut stuff is packed in bo.xes 
or barrels, so as not to dry up before it is wanted to feed out. Tiiere is corn 
to shell in the granary, and t.his is good work for dry, cold days, when it 
would be pretty severe to work out of doors. 

"We have long advocated thrashing to be done more with flails and less 
witli machines, because it costs no more to thrash with flails, and the straw 
is better for stock, and it gives employment to farm laborers in winter, wliich 
is more important than all other considerations ; for if they are not cm- 
ployed, it frequently happens that actual suffering ensues, and at tlic same 
time their former employer will lose their services another year, and in the 
end will actually pay as much or more for what he gets out of a raw hand 
each summer than he would have paid, the winter included, for one good 
hand. 

If, as all well know, it is bad policy to part with a good hand, it is bad 
policy not to furnish employment for the winter. It is not only bad polic}', 
but it is a wrong to the class wlio make up the farm laljorcrs. Think of this 
in the first winter storm, when you think of your brute creatures, what may 
be the suffering condition of your laborers that you have discharged because 
3-0U thought you had nothing to do. In this you are mistaken. You can 
find employment, and can make it profitable. But if not, you can not con- 
scientiously discharge your poor dependent laborers, many of them strangers 
not only within your gates, but upon our side of the great Atlantic. Tell 
them, at least, that the roof wliich has sheltered them in summer shall not be 
denied them in winter. If you really can not find full employment for them, 
tell them fairly what you can do — that you will feed them in all weather 
and employ them in all days when they can work to advantage. 

More than one half of the new emigrants that have found work upon 
farms during the summer within reach of this city will come directly here to 
spend their earnings while looking for city employment, and they will go 
back to their farm-work in the spring as ill fitted for it as half-starved oxen 
are to drag the plow, and cart the manure, and draw the fencing, and much 
other work that they could have done to better advantage in warm days in 
winter. 

Let every farmer who is about to discharge a farm laborer, put his hand 
upon his heart to mark its pulsations, while he asks it this question : " Am I 
doing as I would that others should do to me ?" The assertion that you 
have nothing or can have nothing to do is an erroneous one. There are but 
few, if any, farms that require three summer laborers that could not find 
profitable employment for at least two of them all the winter. It is ex- 
tremely bad economy to discharge hands that have worked faithfully, and 



1008 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 



have just got used to the ways of the farm, and ■would be valuable help 
another year, and leave them to shift for themselves, more uncared for than' 
your cattle, because you have nothing to do in winter. If you do so you 
must expect to meet with the same trouble in hiring lielp every coming spring 
that you have in every past one. There is a great influx to the cities every 
winter of persons willing to work, but who liave been discharged where tiiere 
was work to do, and have goue there as the most likely place to find shelter 
for the winter, but there they can find nothing to do ; the city labor market 
is overstocked. 

Farmers, M'e appeal to you for your own interest; we appeal to you upon 
tlie "golden rule;" wo appeal to you for the sake of all who are willing to 
work for tlieir bread ; we appeal to you for those who, ignorant but not 
vicious, need your guardianship, that you do not send or leave one unem- 
ployed to come back to this city, where he will not only be idle, but as- 
suredly acquire vicious habits that will make him a less valuable servant 
next year than this. 

This common practice of discharging laborers in autumn is one mat will 
in a short period quite destro}' the efliciency of farm laborers. Their dispo- 
sition to come to the city to spend the winter, farmers should check, not en- 
courage. A man who has spent the winter in idleness in the city is not wortli 
half as much in summer as one that remains continuously on the farm ; and 
the same thing is true of in-door servants. 

"What can I do in winter?" is the usual reply in argument against keep- 
ing laborers through the year. One thing that a farmer can do late in au- 
tumn, and often in many winter days, is to prepare for setting out a few 
more fruit-trees in the spring. We contend that not one farmer in a hundred 
has a sufficient supply of trees yielding fruit in their season. An orchard 
that gives good, marketable apples is always profitable to its owner if within 
reach of any large towns, for these apples are always salable and always at 
paying prices, if of good eating or cooking sorts, of summer or winter fruit, 
if carefully hand-picked and packed in neat barrels. Land for an orchard 
of any kind of fruit-trees will amply pay for draining with tiles or good 
stone underdrains ; these must be set deep — not less than five feet. The land 
must be plowed deep and subsoiled, if its character will admit of it ; and 
if not, the holes for the trees should be dug out three feet deep and eight 
feet across. Leave these open all winter; in the spring put back the sods 
and surface earth at the bottom, and haul some rich earth, compost, chip 
manure, or leaf mold, to set the roots in. Getting this ready, is work for the 
last earth-working days in autumn. Time will produce $10 for every day 
thus occupied, when your frees yield their fruit. Every iota of fuel to be 
used in summer should be prepared ready for the fireplace, whether on 
hearth, or stove, or oven, during winter. Many a farmer could economically 
employ a man all winter to thi'ash grain with a flail and cut the straw for 
stock. Much work at ditching, fencing, stone-digging, rock-blasting, ma- 
nure hauling, and in some winters jjlowing, can be done to good advantage 



Seo. Gl.l FARM ACCOUNTS AND FARM ECONOMY. 1009 



iy the latitude of New York city. And if nothing can be done, it is better 
for both employer and hireling that farm hands should be idle on the farm 
tliau in the city. If farmers have a surplus of leisure in M'inter, we advise 
them to organize farmers' clubs, and meet every week, and have all the 
farm laborers attend. Something will be learned. 

liT-i. Rules for a Farmfrs' flub.— E. C. Packhurst, of York, Penn., says: 
'• A good many farmers would organize farmers' clubs, if they knew how. 
"Will you give us a copy of the Constitution and Eules of your Xew York 
Farmers' Club, if you have them printed ?" 

Tliere is a set of printed rules, but they arc never referred to nor ever 
needed for any club. The members should agree to meet once a week ol 
once a month, at a given hour and place. Select a chairman, to preserve 
order in debate, and open the meeting with any miscellaneous matter that 
any one chooses to bring up, and allow one hour for such discussion. Then 
devote another hour to some question agreed upon at the previous meeting, 
and adjourn punctually at the time. Make the whole discussion to consist 
of brief facts, but never dispute. Get some one to prepare a paper to be 
read at each meeting, if possible. TVe advise every farming neighborhood 
that can muster ten intelligent men, who will attend a farmers' club, at once 
to form one. But do not make any formal constitution and by-laws, or con- 
ventional rules, but make your meetings social and conversational. Let 
your organization be of the simplest form possible, and avoid all formality 
in your meeting, except just enough to preserve order. Let one man act as 
secretary, to keep a few simple minutes, and advertise meetings ; and lei, 
them be open to everybody, without fee or membership ; and if money is 
needed, ask anybody and everybody to contribute. If they won't do it, but 
leave all the burden of the expense and business of the club to rest on the 
shoulders of three or four persons, give it up. The time has not come for a 
farmers' club in that neighborhood. It is a good plan, in the country, to 
meet at each other's houses ; but, to succeed, you must get your wives and 
daughters interested. A farmers' club is a barren wilderness, unless smiled 
upon by woman. One excellent subject for discussion would be about im- 
proved farm stock. Another, farm implements. More than one half of the 
benefit which might be derived from the various labor-saving improvements 
in agriculture, which have flooded our country for the last ten years, is lost 
by our general ignorance of their construction and the proper method of 
working them. How to use manure, and how to make land more produc- 
tive, and consequently more profitable, are questions that can not be dis- 
cussed too much. 

1175. Farm Accounts and Farm Economy. — No man can be a good farmer 
and a successful one who does not keep accurate accounts. Be able to tell, at 
the end of the year, every dollar that came to hand, and what for, and eveiy 
one that goes out, and why it went ; and balance your cash account at least 
once a month — once a week is better. Keep accounts with everybody, debit 
and credit, and in some degree, with everythmg. Number your fields, and 



64 



1010 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

charge each with manure, seed, and labor, and credit the crops, and you 
will soon find which is the most profitable. Open an account with your 
stable, your pig-pen, your pasture, and with your general stock, and with 
diflferent classes and branches of it, if you would learn with accuracy which 
is the most profitable. To be successful, you must be accurate ; to be accu- 
rate, you must keep account-books. 

True econom|r does not consist in mere saving and stinting ; it requires 
far-reaching views and a generous spirit to decide practical questions upon 
that just basis which secures the greatest measure of success. We must look 
" further than the first cost. In farm stock, for instance, when once obtained, 
it costs little more to raise, to any given age, a good animal than a bad one, 
while one may be far more remunerative than the other. 

And finally, as the very concentrated essence of farm economy, every 
American farmer, who is worthy of the name, will obtain this volume, and 
study it from title-page to 



ifiTHiriJ, 



INDEX. 



[The nttmbcr of paragraph on Iho k-fl-Uaiul side ; Ihat of Ihe page on righl-hand side.] 



114-. Acres, how to measure 974 

93-3. Adaptation of trees to locations 845 

lUlJo. Adulterations of superpliosphates . . . 8'J7 

1 137. Age of seeds, wlieu good 973 

943. Age of trees "^ 85-2 

1078. Agricultural tools uoticed 920 

409. Air, impurity of, in rooms 412 

380. Albumeu of meat, how extracted . . . 360 

945. Alder, where from 854 

47. Alderuey cow 44 

818. Alfidfa, its use 758 

398. Alkalies in bread 377 

267. Ahim water for bugs 243 

713. Allen's hybrid grape C31 

737. American wine-maker's rules 661 

101. An.dysis of various aittle food 75 

382. An ilysis of food for men 360 

98. Auiniar bones, use of 73 

19. •' species 31 

20. " structure 31 

1. Animals, domestic 13 

1159. '• gestation and reproduction. 1000 

80. " unruly, how made so 02 

562 Anise 494 

942. Antediluvian seeds of trees 852 

457. Ants, liow kept away 409 

269. •' in the house, how got rid of . . 243 

254. ' ' whisky cure for 230 

37. Sec. Apple and peach trees, manage- 
ment of 679 

489. Apple custard 434 

712. " paving machines 629 

662. Apple trees, form of various 685 

663. " " dwarf 586 

634. " " how to winter young .. . 666 
482. Apples, how kept for winter 429 

659. " in Georgia, list of Indian . . . 582 
059. " Newtown pippin, history of . 582 

489. " raw, and cooked as food 433 

059. " select list of, descriptions. .. . 580 

660. " use of. good for cattle 584 

091. Apricots, history and cultivation of . 615 

oil. Aqueduct pipes, durability of 317 

333. Aqueducts, economy of 309 

1 149. Art of being loved 987 

503, 875. Artichokes, Jerusalem, growing, 

and use 495, 810 

538. Asparagus, cultivation, soil, and ma- 
nure 4/8 

1023. Atmospheric fertilization, theory of. . 896 

733. Austrian vineyards 654 

67. Ayrshire bull 60 

34, 43. " cows described 37, 42 

1143. Axioms, proverbs, and maxims 075 

440. Bacon, dry-salting 404 

447. " English mode of curing 404 

445.- " facts about 404 

348. " how smoked o23 

918. Baggasse of sorgo injures stock 834 



392, 
19, 
350, 
662, 
775 
753, 
324 
322, 
320. 
321, 
323, 
325. 
319. 
987. 

456. 

562. 

294. 
1167, 

440 
1165 
1166 

534, 
1164 

267. 

405, 

308. 

463 

453, 

468, 
454, 

226. 
222, 
222 
223! 
223, 
212. 
227, 
224, 
220 
215, 

213, 

228, 
212, 
226, 
214, 
219, 
217, 

218 
212, 

212 
210 
529 
4 
662, 



Bilkers' yeast, ferment, sponge 371 

8ec Balloon frames described 325 

Balloon frames, how to build 32(j 

Balm 494 

Barley cultivation 704 

" seeds in a bushel 078 

Barn boarded tight or open 303 

" foundations 303 

" of Shakers at Canterbury 30] 

" " circular 302 

' ■ practical opinions about 303 

" ventilation of hay-mows 306 

Barns, use, value, location 29U 

Barnum using nitrates, sulphates, mu- 
riates 878 

Barrels, how cleaned 409 

Basil, sweet 494 

Bats are insect eaters 203 

Beans among com 1001 

" how to cook 401 

" how to cure vines of 1001 

" soil suitable for liiO 1 

" sorts of, fur garden 47i" 

" white, as field crop 1' (il 

Bed-bugs, infallible remedy for 242 

Bed-comforters, how to make 41-' 

Bed-rooms fit to live in 283 

Beds and bedding 414 

Beef, corned, how to cure and cook. . 400 

" gall, its use 416 

455. Beef, pressed, how made — scraps, 

how saved 407 

Bees, fourteen sorts in Honduras .... 174 
" hives,new way to make, of straw 171 

" hives should be ventilated ... . 170 

" how to keep from stinging 172 

" how to take honey from 172 

" history of their introduction. . . 167 

'■ Italian, their introduction 174 

" moths, how to protect, from . . 173 

" pasture and feeding 105 

" patent hives, bee houses, bee 

palaces 1 61 

" proper form of hives 160 

" reasons for keeping 175 

" reasoning powers of 159 

" stingle.ss, not desirable 174 

" straw hives 161 

" swarm, proper weight of 165 

" sivarming, how to manage, do- 
mesticate , '62 

' ' swarms, ^vhat they consist of . . 1 04 
225. Bees, their introduction into Cal- 
ifornia 159, 173 

, Bees, where they flourish best 159 

" where to keep hives 162 

. Beets, varieties of 474 

, Sec. Beeves, gross and net weight. . . 61 

, Bene plant 494 



4. Sec. Big bullocks 51-50 

353. Billets of wood, building with 331 

11. Sec. Birds and children 177 

239. Birds consume weed seeds 200 

11. Sec. Birds, country desolate without. 177 

234. Birds destroy worms and bugs 190 

23G. " eating bees 191 

239. ■■ protected by laws 196 

239. " quails, their value on the farm . 190 
11. Sec. Birds, reason and religion in 

preserving 170 

233. Birds, robins are worm-eaters, the 

quantity consumed 180 

238. " skylarks and imported birds. . 194 
237. " swallows, swifts, and martins 

described 192 

11. Sec. Birds, the farmer's best friends . 176 
233. Birds, the food of 184 

235. " the sap-suckers do not destroy 

trees 191 

232. ' ' to protect fruit-trees against . . 1 83 

240. " wildpigeons, sending to market 201 
493. Bites and stings, remedies for 439 

020. Blackberries, cut-leaf 551 

010. " Dorchester 650 

015. " Lawton, or New Ro- 

chelle 548 

019. " parsley-le.ifed 550 

021. '■ running or trailing. .. . 551 

017. " thornless 5.50 

022. " value for wine 561 

014. " variety and cultivation 547 

018. " white •. . . . 650 

470. Blackberry cordial 426 

130. Black-hawk Morgans 101 

100. Blindness in horses, how to detect. . . Ill 
159. Blind staggers in horses, cure for ... . 110 
925. Boilers and boiling maple sap 838 

0. Boiling weeds for pigs 25 

92. Bone in different food 08 

998. Bones, how to dissolve 883 

98. " of hogs in cholera 73 

997. " their value 883 

1150. Books useful for fanners' boys 991 

588. Botanical names of trees 520 

1148. Botany and beauty 980 

472. Bottles and corks for wine 424 

1141. Boxes, capacity of, to hold barrels, 

bushels, gallons 974 

894. Bread, bake thoroughly 374 

402. " baking, heat of oven 384 

392. " bakers', how made 371 

393. " Boston brown 371 

401. " chemicals in, Youmans' 383 

391. " good housewife's rules for 

making 307 

403. " kneading, effect of 385 

398. " made with saleratus rising . . . 370 

399. " " " soda and unfer- 

mented 378 

394. " mi-xed with lime water 374 

391. " mixed with potatoes .... 370, 373 
405. " of corn meal 387 

395. " of sprouted wheat 374 

391. " potatoes in 367 

393. " rye and Indian 372 

23. Sec. Bread, varieties and quality, how 

made 366 

399. Bread, various rules for making 378 



404. Bread, various su'tistances, prepara- 
tion of 386 

412. " Virginia corn 392 

393. " wheat and Iirliau 372 

391. " whoaten, how to malce 360 

394. " when stale, how to u.so 374 

393. " Yankee brown 372 

390. Breakfast, early, effect on health .... 365 
378. ■' lunch, and dinner of a gour- 
mand 358 

108. Breeding horses and mules 117 

2. Breeds of pigs, Berkshire, Essex, Suf- 
folk, Chester 19 

108. Brine, poison to cattle 78 

1008. Broadcast sowing machine 923 

520. Broccoli, cultivation of 474 

810. Broom-corn, how to grow, value .... 745 

520. Brassica family, what it is 470 

450. Brushes and knives, how cleaned . . . 409 

770. Buckwheat cultivation 700 

753. " seeds in a bushel 078 

057. Budding, bass matting for 578 

056. " how performed 577 

254. Bug powder 228 

203. Bugs infesting potatoes 240 

262, 457. Bugs, remedies far 239, 409 

04. Bullock, the largest known 52 

57. Bulls, Ayrshire, Jersey, Durham, 

Dutch, Hereford, Devon 50 

995. Burnt earth, value of 883 

1141. Bushel measure, cubic inches in .... 974 

1140. Bushels of grain, etc., weights of . . . 974 

501 . Butter affected by food 447 

502. " affected by packages 448 

509. " colored to order 452 

499. " good, how judged 443 

512. " how to cool without ice 454 

437. " how to keep 400 

508. " how to make in winter 452 

498. " making, first requisities for . . 441 

504. " of Alderney cows 448 

511. " pacldng and preserving 453 

500. " quarts of milk for a pound . . . 444 

510. " rules for salting 453 

500. " time of churning 440 

499. " washing and coloring 442 

391. Biscuit, how to make good 368 

423. Buy good articles 396 

524. Cabbage cultivation 472 

524. " how to head in winter 472 

524. " varieties of 473 

536. California beans 477 

732. " vineyards and wine cellars <)53 

738. " wine making C02 

32. Calomel for cows : . . . . 36 

0. Sec. Calves, selecting and rearing ... 60 

78. Calves should be sheltered 61 

295. Camels, introduction of, into U. S. . . 204 

426. Candles and oil, cost compared 396 

428. " how to improve 397 

255. Canker worms, preventives 232 

1141. Capacity of boxes 974 

187. Capons, how to make 134 

562. Carraway 494 

527. Carrots and other roots require deep 

soil V . . . 474 

884. " and rye on same ground 818 

879. " as a field crop 815 

882. " cultivation of 817 



IKDEX. 



1013 



883. Carrots, harvesting, storing, and value 

of crop 817 

880. " soil and preparation 81(5 

881. " sowing the seed 810 

528. " varieties of 474 

4lj7. Carpets and carpet sweepers 41G 

84o. Carting liay to market 780 

lUGl, C;uit-iron plows, liistory of 918 

713, 725. Catawba grapes G30, G30 

6. Sec. Cattle, aire and feeding CO 

74. Cattle oars and transportation 58 

104. " diseases of 70 

105. " diseases, the liorn-ail, its euro. 77 

87. " fattening on hay, ^■alue of . . . . 04 
89. " fedoil-cdce 06 

83. " feeding straw 03 

101. " food analyzed 75, 70 

88. " liow to feed roots 05 

84. " how to winter 03 

70. " improvement of breed and 

weight GO 

5. Sec. Cattle market statistics 50 

75. Cattle, mc isurement of 59 

958. ' • on the highways 865 

108. " poisoned, witU brine, with 

cherry leaves 78 

103. " soihng, treated upon 70 

1. " tran-sportatiou, on Mississippi 

steamboat 15 

107. " with lice, cured with onions . . 78 

1145. C.istrating, when to perform 977 

284. Cats killing cliickens, to prevent .... 255 

525. Cauliflower, cultivation of 473 

539. Celery, how to grow and keep in 

winter 479 

15. Sec. Cellars, chimneys, and ice-houses 288 

310. Cellars, how to make 288 

350. Cement roofs 327 

1132. Cemented caves for storing grain 071 

100. Chaffing or cutting food for stock ... 74 
177. Chandlers' greaves for hens 120 

1037. '• " value as manure . 902 
9G7. Charring fence posts 869 

517. Cheese, English style 459 

437. " how to keep 400 

510. " how to make it 457 

518. " making in manufactories ... . 459 
400. Chemicals in bread 381 

401, 45. Sec. Chemistry and corn 383, 711 

677. Cherries, history, cultivation, use .. . 599 

073. " varieties of, described 594 

670. Cherry trees, grafting and budding. . 598 

674. " " ornamental 597 

13. Chester County hogs 29 

640. Chiceorv, ho\v to grow, prepare, and 

use..". 481 

183. Chielcen coops, how to build 132 

183. " houses warmed by stoves .. . 133 

1148. Children, how to treat 985 

311. Chimneys, how to build ; 289 

892. Chinese sugar-cane growing 822 

892. " " —see Sorgo 823 

809. " yam, cultivation of 806 

564. " " description of 495 

431. Chocolate 397 

499. Churns and churning 442 

480. Cider, aerifying, effect of 428 

479. " filtering, how done 428 

477. " how to keep sweet 427 



487 

478, 

710. 

1142 

334. 



758. 
129. 
347. 
1067. 
378. 

813. 

817. 

814. 

815. 

753. 

955. 
1020. 

992. 
51. 

267. 

179. 

431. 

436. 

432. 

599. 

058. 

151. 

960. 

900. 

101. 

713. 

352. 

34G. 
5. 

385. 

384. 

3K3. 

380. 
1147. 

800. 
3. 

804. 
1070. 

405. 

413. 

807. 

343. 

342. 
779, 

100. 
799. 
794. 
795. 
801. 
408. 
794. 
790. 
805. 
800. 
418. 
406,7 
795. 
793. 
802. 



Cider jelly, liow made 433 

" oiling, to keep 427 

" -without pressing 628 

Circular acre, how to measure 974 

Cisterns, value, size, contents, how to 
build, cost, how to calculate ca- 
pacity 310 

Cleaning grain for market 084 

Cleansing wool 90 

Cloacina's temple 321 

Clod crushers 923 

Clothing a mau consumes in a life- 
time 357 

Clover growing 754 

" hay, when to cut 758 

" how much seed per acre 750 

" seed growing and harvesting . 757 

" seeds in a bushel 078 

Coal and wood, economy of, compared 859 

" ashes for manure 895 

" value of 882 

Sec. Coal vs. wood for fuel 845 

Cockroaclies, remedy for 242 

Cocks, choice of ., 1 27 

Cocoa, how to buy good. .' 397 

Codfish, how to keep 400 

Coffee, best sorts, how to prepare. . . . 398 

Cold frames for plants 528 

Collodion, how made, and use of . . . . 579 

Colts, treatment of 108 

Commons should bo cultivated 860 

' ' unfenced 860 

Composition of various food for stock 75 

Concord grape 632 

Concrete walls, how made 330 

Cooking arrangement for a piggery.. 321 

" food for swine 25 

" how affected by hard water . 303 

" reasons for improving 302 

" vegetables, changes produced 301 
" vessels, improvement wanted 3G3 

Cooks cause sickness 983 

Corn and crows 743 

" and pork, how much will a 

bushel make 19 

" and pumpkins together 742 

' ' baskets imjiroved 924 

" bread 387 

" bread, receipt for 392 

" cost and profit of crop 743 

" cribs of rails 318 

" cribs, how built 318 

797. Corn cultivation. See Indian 

corn 709, 738 

Corn fodder for stock 74 

" fodder, value of, for cows 739 

" harvesting 735 

' ' harvesting machines 73G 

" how to measure in bulk 740 

" hulled, good food 390 

" husking 735 

" husking in the field 737 

' ' hybridizing 742 

" in drills or hills 740 

" popped, its use as food 393 

. " roasting ears, sweet corn 389 

' ' shock-cart described 737 

" shocks, how to bind. . . 734 

" shrinkage in drying 741 



1014 



INDEX. 



794. 
803. 
502. 
470 
472. 
52. 
351. 

94. 

1092. 
1091. 
1081. 
1093. 
1083. 
1089. 



50. Sec. 



Corn sown broadcast for fodder 738 

" stalks, cutting 730 

" yield of starch 74 1 

Coriander 494 

Cordial of blackberries 426 

Corliing wine bottles 424 

St'C. Cost of fences of highways 862 

Cost of tlie author's balloon-frame 

house and barn 329 

Cotton cake, its quality and value 

described 09 

" • culture, extension north 941 

" " will it increase 940 

" fields, beauty of, in blos.som. 932 

from flax fiber 942 

" gin, history of invention. .. . 934 
' ' ginning, per cent, of lint and 

seed 940 

Cotton, history, growth, and 

manufacture 928 

Cotton, history of 929 

" " of culture in America 930 

" in woolen, how to detect. . . . 418 

" manufacture, history of 932 

" Sea Island, how ginned 935 

" " " grown 930 

" " name of 935 

' ' seed used as manure 940 

" upland, cost of growing in • 

detail: 938 

" upland, how grown 937 

Alderney or Jersey 44 

Ayrshire breed, yield of milk. 43, 44 
badly wintered unprofitable. . . 40 

cured with calomel 30 

Devon described 46 

directions for spaying 35 

Dutch or Holland breed 45 

exercise and shelter 33 

fed roots 39 

fed sugar-cane 39 

food consumed by 33 

hay required for 35 

health of, aft'ects millc 34 

Hereford breed 40 

how fed for butter 34 

how many per acre 33 

how to increase value of 32 

liow to keep gentle 37 

how to select a good one ... 41, 49 

how to winter 40 

Jersey, origin and description. 44 

of different breeds 42 

of Durham breed 45 

poor for butter, how improved 37 

remedy for kicking 35 

tons of hay for, needed 41 

Cows, what is a good one, the 

standard 31 

winter feed of, in Orange 

County 38 

with garget, cure of 32 

yield of milk of breeds com- 
pared 43 

1150. Countrj' schools, what they should 

teach 991 

700. Cranberries as a field crop, how grown 621 

702. " how to cook 626 

567. ' ' in gardens 498 



1079. 
1080. 

468. 
1082. 
1085. 
1080. 
1084. 
1090. 
1088. 



1087 
47. Cows, 

44, 46. " 
40. " 
32. " 
63. " 
31. " 

51. " 
20. " 
38. " 
37. " 
25. " 
29. " 
28. " 

52. " 
27. " 
24. " 
23. 
33. 

41,55 
39. 
48. 
42. 
50. 
35. 
SO. 
40. 
3 



Sec. 



30. Cows, 



45. 



701. Cranberries, varieties of, planting . . . 623 

592. Creepers, native 522 

964. Creosote for kyanizing ggg 

554. Cress, garden 433 

555. " water 439 

342. Cribs for com 318 

230. Crows, discussion about usefulness of 180 
800. " how to prevent mischief 743 

70. Ciystal Palace show cattle 54 

840. Cubic feet in a tun of hay 780 

544. Cucumbers, varieties of 483 

Currant wine, how made 420 

Cun-ants, black, how grown and use. 536 

" descriptive list of 532 

" expense of growing 535 

" how to prune and grow . . . 534 

" jelly, how made 432 

" productiveness of cheny. . . 535 

" varieties and cultivation . 530 

Curculio remedies 216 

Chaffing food for stock 74 

Cut- worms described 235 

Sec. Dairy, butter and cheese maldng 441 

Dairy room, necessity of a 451 

Days of the week and mouth, names 

of 992 

Deep plowing, its benefits 921 

Delaware grapes, history of 631 

Descriptive list of hardy trees 846 

Devon bull 51 

' ' cows described 46 

" " value for dairy 47 

Diana and Anna grapes 632 

Digging machmes 92S 

Dill 41.14 

Dioscorea batatas, cultivation of ... . 806 
" " growth and use. . . 495 

. Diseases of cattle, horn-ail, scours, 

poison 76, 77 

Disinfectants, how made and used. . . 411 

Dissolving bones 883 

Division fences, laws relating to 865 

Dog laws to protect sheep 257 

" traps, how made 258 

Dogs generally a nuisance 255 

" sermon about, keep them iu 

dogs' places 258 

" Shepherd, Scotch colley, En- 
glish, Irish 256 

" the Shepherd breed 256 

Domestic animals 13 

Sec. Domestic wines, cider, preserves. 

Kules for wine making, etc 419 

739. Domestic wine-making rules 063 

469. " wines, how made 420 

171. Double and .single trees, size of ... . 121 

Doura com for fodder 739 

Drain tile, cost of sizes 914 

" " proper shape of 916 

Draining (see Tile draining) 910 

" what it does for land 914 

" with a mole plow 916 

" " brush and other substi- 
tutes for tile 915 

" " cement pipes 916 

" cobble stones 916 

" " wooden tubes ... . . 915 
Drains, descent and depth of 913 



409. 
606. 
002. 
605. 
603. 
487. 
004. 
601. 
250. 
100. 
258. 
28. 
507. 
1150. 

1064. 

71.3. 

936. 

62. 

53. 

53. 

713. 

1006. 

562. 

869. 

564. 

104-6. 

459. 
998. 
959. 
287. 
288. 
285. 
289. 

286. 

286. 
1. 

20. 



vys 

1053 
1059 
1047 
1052 
1058 
1055. 

1057 
1056 
10.'i4 
105] 



1145. Driving oxen 



977 



1147. Diptheria, euro for 984 

191. Ducks of various sorts 139 

59. Durham bull 50 

50. " cow 45 

00. Dutch bull 50 

51. " cow 45 

542. Early garden potatoes 482 

""{). Eavthcu stable floors 307 

3Sit. Eiting, how it affects health 304 

384. Ecouomy in cooking 362 

299. Eel-streams and cel-lishing 272 

650. Egg plants 487 

210. " trade in this country 155 

203. Eggs, how produced in winter 152 

J(J7. '■ " to preserve 153 

211. " packing for market 155 

208 " quantity consumed in England 153 
209. " " " in France.. 154 
200. " should be sold by weight 153 

204. " the se.x of, how to tell 152 

20-3. " the vitality of, aft'ected on rail- 
roads 152 

948. 'Elder as an ornamental shrub 856 

470. Elderberry wine, how made 423 

550. Endive for salad 489 

7. See. English sheep 81 

88. Errors in feeding roots 65 

945. Evergreen seeds, planting of 853 

591. Evergreens, foreign, names of 622 

590. " indigenous, names of ... . 521 

941. " transplanting in summer 851 

941. " yews, junipers, arbutus, 

laurestines 851 

25. Sec. Excerpta of usefnl knowledge . . 390 

3. Experiments in feeding pigs 19 

745. Fallowing land for wheat 671 

1175. Farm accounts and farm economy. . .1009 

97 1 . " gates and bars 870 

3(31. " "" various kinds described . . 338 
.310. " houses, cellars, how to make.. 288 
:311. " " chimneys, bow to build 289 

303. " " dark, are unhealthy .. . 277 
807. " " howtobuildconvenient 281 

302. " " inducements to beautify 275 
301. " " iurtiicuce the character 

of occupants 275 

309. " " kitchen in olden time . 284 

300. " " nece.«iry moras in. .. . 280 

304. " " not build on high hill. 279 
309. " " of Farmer Slack 287 

304. " " proper location for. .. . 278 

303. •' " should be light 277 

305. " " size and form 279 

308. " " ventilation of 283 

300. " " what constitutes con- 
venient 280 

1173. " laborers' employment in winter 1006 
0. Sec. Farm stock, aare of CO 

11.50. Farmers' boys, m.axims for 988 

il50 " " what they should learn 

in school 991 

tiO'3. " children in olden time 285 

1174. " clubs, how to organize 1009 

1146. " maxims for 979 

309. " meals in olden time 285 

1150 " school books recommended 991 

1155 " should use raw-hide — value 

of 99^ 

1148. " wives, maxims for 984 



1150. Farmers, young, maxims for 988 

90. Fat in difterent food 06 

87. Fatting cattle on hay 64 

12. " swine, begin early 28 

12. " " on standing com 28 

329. Feed-trough, cheap and good 306 

490 Felon remedy 440 

909. Fence on soft ground 870 

908. " portable picket 869 

903. " posts kyanized 867 

907. " " preserved by charring . . . 809 

965. " " " by salt 868 

966. " " top end down 809 

52. Sec. Fence system, evils of 863 

52. Sec. Fences, cost of, calcidated 801 

959. Fences, division, laws relating to. . . . 865 

961. " how dispensed with 807 

902. " waste land 867 

958. Fencing highways, laws relating to . 804 

502. Fennel 494 

989. Fertility, primitive sources of 881 

984. " promoted by clover 877 

985. " " by color and 

moisture 878 

983. " " by fineness of soil 877 

980. " " by incrusting seeds 878 

53. Sec. Fertilization, the art of 877 

00. Sec. Fibrous plants, hemp and flax. . 965 

099. Figs, where and how they grow 620 

497. Finger ring, tight, how to get off. . . . 440 

1148. Fire making, art of 985 

1149. " proof dresses, how to make ... . 988 

357. " " wash for roofs 335 

368. " protection from 348 

300. Fish-breeding, ancient, account of. . . 273 

297. " " for domestic use 261) 

1028. '' guano, American 89.S 

1027. " " Norwegian, how made .. 897 

298. " trout streams, cause of disap- 

pearance 270 

150. Fistula in horses cured 109 

973. Flat bar iron fence 87 1 

462. " irons, smooth, to make 414 

1 128. Flax crop, cost anil profit of 970 

1120. " growing, siiil and preparation .. 909 

1125. " historical facts about 909 

1127. " seed, quantity and time of sowing 909 

91 . Flesh in different food 67 

207. Flies, how to drive out 242 

387. Flour, how to select good 304 

570. Flower beds, how to make 502 

571. " cultivation of hardy 503 

31. Sec. Flower culture, mora! influence, 500 

509. Flower garden, soil suitable for 500 

572. " list of choice annuals 503 

537.' Flowering beans 477 

574. " bulbous plants 507 

573. " lierbaceous plants, list of . 500 
576. " list of, hollyhocks 509 

578. Flowers grown as a fann crop 511 

579. " soil for, protection of 513 

832. Fodder, amount necessary 771 

101. " analyzed 75 

1101. Fogs in January — Frosts in May 998 

378. Food a man consumes in a lifetime . . 357 
377. " adaptition to circumstances . . . 356 

388. " adulterations of 304 

382. " anal.vsisof 300 

25. " consumed bv a cow 33 



1016 



INDEX. 



80. Food for cattle, variety of G3 

490. ■ ' for sick, kinds and preparation . 4ii5 
27. Sec. Food for the sick, remedies for 

poisons and bites 435 

381. Food, French experiments with 360 

371. " how much for a hard-working 

man 351 

370. " how it affects the system 355 

37 U. " how it is changed by cooking . . 358 

90-92. " properties for fat, flesh, bone. 06-G8 

375. " quality of, suitable for farmers. 354 

372. " rations of slaves 352 

373. " rations of soldiers 353 

382. " relative val ue of substances 300 

1134. " substances, nutriment in 972 

22. Sec. Food, the question considered of 

quantity, quality, adaptation. 351 

374. Food, time between meals 354 

374. " variety of, necessary 353 

383. " vegetables, changes in cooking 301 
831. Forage, how to produce and use 770 

1016. Forest leaves for manure 894 

976. " tree hedges 872 

51. Sec. Forests unprofitable on valuable 

soil 845 

181. Fowls, Chinese breeds 128 

178. " fed on putrid meat are un- 
wholesome 126 

197. " mode of killing 145 

182. " ornamental varieties of — Ma- 

lay, Guelderland, Dorkings, 
Spanish, Game, Java, Jer- 
sej' Blue, Poland, Hamburg, 
Bolton Gray, Silky, Frizzled, 
Cuckoo, Blue Dun Crested, 
Bantam, Domini(]UC, Forked 
Tail, Sonerat's Wild Cock . . 128 

713. Fox grapes 031 

736. French wine-maker's rules 059 

1151. Frost, why more on bottoms than hills 993 
098. Fruit baskets and boxes 618 

35. Sec. Fruit hooks mentioned 5.55 

349. Fruit drying houses 323 

661. " how to grow large 585 

098. " how to pack and transport .... 618 

484. " in air-tight cans 430 

703. " tree protectors 026 

070. " trees, manuring, use of hogs for 589 

035. " " on the prairies 508 

C31. " " rules about planting 561 

630. " " spring or autumn planting 558 
620. " " when and how to plant. . 558 

482. Fruits, how preserved 429 

097. " small, for hold culture 017 

34. Sec. Fruits, small, of the garden 530 

456. Furniture renovated 407 

1 152. Fur-skins, how to dress 995 

1154. " how to prepare for market. 996 

457. Furs, how packed and kept 409 

956. Fuel, how it should be seasoned 800 

51. Sec. Fuel, wood or coal 845 

3. Gain of pigs in feeding 22 

161. Galls in horses, remedy for Ill 

202. Game, preparing for market 151 

541 . Garden corn 481 

1069. " hoe, improved 924 

519. " vegetables, origin, use, culti- 
vation 465 

29. Sec. Garden vegetables, their history. 



when and how to plant, pleasures 

and profits of a garden 461 

519. Garden vegetables, origin, use, cul- 
tivation 465 

22. Garget in cows, how to cure 32 

991. Gas lime, value of 882 

364. Gates, how made, cost of 338 

97 1 . " vs. bars 870 

192. Geese, how and where kept, breeds 

.and value 140 

198. " value of corn fed to 145 

1130. Germination of seeds, time of 971 

1 163. Gestation, periods of 1000 

987. Glauber salts for manure 880 

01. Sec. Gleanings of the field 971 

1015. Glue-maker's waste for manure 893 

468. " to keep sweet 418 

290. Goats, Cashmere, introduction into 

the United States 265 

623. Gooseberries, varieties of 552 

292. Gophers desciibed, beneficial to 

farmers i>l 

192. Goslings, liow managed 141 

643. Gourds 483 

36. Sec. Grafting, budding, pruning. .. . 570 

662. Grafting, antiquity of 57G 

653. " clay and wax, how made.. 576 
045. " cleft, splice, tongue, root, 

saddle 574 

651. " new method, natural 675 

644. " on old orchards 574 

043. " proper time of 573 

054. Grafts, Jiow to preserve 576 

655. " influence of stocks upon 577 

778. Grain farms and stock farms 708 

1133. " mill, new one, described 972 

1132. " stored in cemented caves 971 

754' " when it should be cut 679 

733. Grape cujture in Austria 654 

732. " " California 063 

730. " " Missouri 045 

714. " " by Dr. Grant 633 

716. " cuttings, caution about 636 

726. " " how to grow 041 

715. " grafting 635 

717. " growing, profit of 636 

742. " seedling, prize for 066 

730. " soil, what is best 045 

723. " trellis 638 

718. " vine gigantic 036 

729. Grapes, diseases of, remedy for 043 

483. " how to keep 430 

728. " order of excellence of five .. . 642 

722. " under glass 038 

713. " varieties of 630 

730. Grapevines, cire cf. planting and 

pnin.ini,' 644 

727. " liaii.iJiio.ss of sorts 641 

730. " object of pruning, rules 

fur 04R 

730. " summer pruning 0-17 

731. " what are merchantable .. 052 

254. " worms 226 

254. Grasshoppers, hab,its of 232 

46. Sec. Grass and its use and cultivation 748 
841. Grass, how much, land can produce. . 778 
825. •' plats, how seeded with sods. . . 766 

820. " seed, how much per aero 7E2 

823. " towing in autumn 765 



753. 
839. 

811. 

812. 

4G8. 

408. 

40G. 
1030. 
102G. 
1077. 
1151. 
1009. 
1010. 
1010. 
1008. 
1028. 

990. 

916. 

190. 

981. 
1037. 
1141. 

448. 

450. 

445. 

449. 
1145. 

930. 



713. 
94-3. 

71. 
838. 

47. 

842. 

1135. 

846. 

325. 

29. 
844. 
837. 
117. 
950. 
491. 
390. 

.389. 
1147. 
1138. 

975. 

976. 

978. 

977. 
1120. 
1121. 
1124. 
1071. 
1119. 

1123. 
1122. 

174. 

184. 

173. 

332. 

195. 
1148. 



Grass, sweet vernal, seeds in a tushcl G78 

" when to cut 777 

Grasses, cultivated varieties of, do- 
scribed 748 

" varieties recommended 752 

Grease in silk, how to remove 417 

" spots, how removed 418 

Green corn as food 389 

" crops and lime for manure .... 898 

" sand marl, its value 897 

Grindstone, its value on a farm 926 

Gross and net weight of swine 993 

Guano, economy of using 891 

" how to apply 891 

" in solution for gardens 891 

" its history 890 

' ' manufactured of fish 898 

" phosphatic, value of 882 

Guinea com, sorghum vulgarc 833 

fowls 139 

Ha-ha walls 875 

Ilair, value c.f, as manure 902 

Half-busliel measure, how to make. . . 974 

Hams, good pickle for 405 

" how to cook. . .• 405 

" how to cure 404 

" how to keep 405 

Handying steers ....■'•■ 978 

Hardy trees, ash, maple walnut, Tau- 
lonia, sassafras, locust, poplar, fir, 

hemlock, chestnut, linden 84G 

H.\rtford prolific grape G.32 

Hawthorn, varieties of 854 

Haxtun steer, weight of the __64 

Hay-caps, value of, how made 77G 

Sec. Haying and haying machines. . . 772 

Hay, how much must we provide 778 

" load of, how to calculate value. 972 
" measurement, cubic feet in aton 780 

" mow, ventilation of 305 

" required for cows 35 

" rigging of carts and wagons 779 

" ventilation of 776 

" weight necessary for sheep 85 

Hazel grown for fruit 857 

Health, cautions about 437 

" is affected by early break- 

fiists 365 

" is affected by mode of eating 864 

" maxims of 981 

Heavy men in Ohio 973 

Hedges and hedge plants 872 

" of forest trees 872 

" ornamental more than useful 873 

' ' Osage orange 873 

Hemp, a new variety 906 

cost and profit of growing. . . 967 

" cutting by machines 9G8 

" harvester 024 

" history of introduction into 

America 965 

" rotting and dressing 968 

" sowing and harvesting 967 

Hens, number to keep and time to sell 124 

" proper 'time to set 133 

" shod to prevent scratching 124 

Hen-roosts, how buiU, and manure of 308 

" how constructed 143 

Herbs preserved • • • 986 



61 

52, 
248 
945 
958, 
662 
456. 
7. 

17. 

16. 

13. 

51. 
576. 
409. 
410. 

411. 

1168. 
1170. 
1169. 

105. 

531. 
.150. 

834. 

1G9. 

162. 

144. 
8. 

148. 



152. 
131. 
132- 

142. 
140. 
138. 
146. 

154. 
135. 
157. 

171. 

149. 
147. 
145. 
153. 
139. 
130. 
141. 
148. 

170. 
155. 
143. 
163. 

5G5, 

1150, 
1031 

267, 
408, 
819. 



Hereford bull 61 

" cows described 40 

Hessian fly described 213 

Hickory seeds, planting 853 

Highway fences, laws relating to. . . . 864 

Hoarhounil 493 

Hodge-podge, how made 408 

Hog pastures 26 

Hogs, gross and net weight 30 

•• large 30 

" of Chester County breed 29 

Holland cow , 45 

Hollyhocks, list of 609 

Hominy, economy of, for food 391 

" how to cook, hominy cakes, 

pudding 391 

" how it is made 392 

Hops, culture of, and suitable soil. . . .1002 
" growing without poles. ..:.... 1003 

" value of the lupulin 1002 

Horn-ail, how to cure, false notions of 77 

Hoi-seradish 475 

Horse breeding for longevity 108 

" rakes 774 

" gearing, English and American 119 

' ' shoeing 112 

" stables should be light 105 

Sec. Horses and mules, history of. . . 
Horses, diseases of, capped hock, con- 
tracted hoofs, corns, cough, 
trembling, wheezing, crib- 
biting _ 100 

' ' diseases of, and remedies .... 109 

" English hunters 99 

4 " English roadsters, coach and 

dray 99 

" forthe saddle 105 

" for walking 104 

" how to drive 103 

" how to remove from buildings 

on fire 106 

" heaves, cure of 109 

" Morgan breed 99 

' ' old sores of, cured with white 

lead •. ... 110 

" plowing mth four, how to 

hitch 122 

" profits of soiling system 107 

" proportion of, to men 100 

•' sand for bedding of 100 

" scratches, how cured 109 

" size of roadsters 103 

'' thoroughbred 98 

' ' torturing with bit and harness 104 
" unsoundness, what consti- 
tutes lOG 

" working three abreast 120 

Horse's collar chafing 109 

" color indicative of temper, . . 105 
" feet, contraction of, and rem- 
edy 114 

595-598. Hot beds, how made, and use 

of .'. . 497, 524 

. Household science, book of 991 

. Housed and unhoused manure exper- 
iments 899 

House flies, how got rid of 242 

Hulled com. how prepared 390 

Hungarian grass "60 



1018 



INDEX. 



970. 
495. 
3tO. 
,502. 
310. 
317. 
.SI. 5. 
314. 
313. 
312. 
701. 
111. 
111. 
781. 
185. 
822. 
785. 
779. 
787. 

780. 

790. 
782. 
791. 
791. 
791. 
790. 
779. 
784. 
781. 

791. 
790. 

788. 

783. 

780. 
779. 
791. 
792. 
45. 



Hurdle fence '. 870 

Hydiophobia, remedy for. 439 

Hycinuilic r;ims, how made, and use. 316 

Hyssop 494 

Ice, how to carry it to the field 298 

' ' liow to keep it in the house .... 298 

" how to store it 297 

Ice-houses, how to build 292 

" reasons in favor of 291 

" their advantage 200 

Illinois wheat growing, cost of 690 

Imported stock deteriorates 80 

" vs. native stock 79 

Improved King Philip corn 719 

Incubation of eggs, time of various. . 134 
Indian corn land, seeding to grass. . . 704 

" " autumn plowing for 724 

•' " crops North and South.. 714 
'.' " cultivation in hills or 

drills 726 

" " depth and distance of 

planting 725 

" " experiments in growing. . 728 

" " fertilizing seed 722 

" " great crops in Conn 732 

" " " " Kentucky . 731 

Ohio 733 

" " manures used upon 728 

" " premium crops, cost of . . 716 
" " preparing ground for .... 723 
" " selecting, saving, prepar- 
ing seed 718 

" " shrinkage in drying 730 

" " soaking seed 730 

" '■ transplanting, it can be 

done 727 

" " two cars on a stalk, shall 

one grow 722 

" " when to plant . . 717 

" where profitably grown . . 715 
" " yield per acre 730 



200 bushels per acre .... 733 
Sec. Indian corn, a national staple . . . 709 

" " " its history 709 

" - " " its use and value as 

food 712 

" " " product in Ohio... 713 

" " " " inslaveand 

free states 712 

417. Indian meal baked pudding 393 

410. " " cakes 393 

414. " " mush 393 

415. " " mush, how cooked 393 

589. Indigenous trees 521 

BI49. Indolence the parent of langu^ r. . . . 958 

12. Sec. Insects, what are 203 

270. Insects beneficial to farmers 244 

254. '■ conversations upon 2i6 

254. " coal-tar to kill 229 

243. " destructive to com and wheat 205 
206. " how preserved for reference . . 242 
242. " infesting the cotton plant . . . 204 

249. " . injurious to fruits 215 

76". " in wheat, how killed 698 

254. " kerosene oil, to kill 229 

267. " of the house, remedies for. . . 242 
253. " remedies, caustic soda, liquid 

sulphur, oil troughs 224 

244. " the rice weevil 207 



Introduction to' facts. 13 

996. Iron as a fertilizer 883 

972. Iron fences 870 

54. Sec. Irrigation, practice and value of 904 

1044. Irrigation in America 908 

1043. " France, Belgium, etc. .. 907 
1042. " Germanv 907 

1040. " Italy..." 904 

1041. _ "_ Piedmont 900 

1040. Imgation, quantity of water required 909 

1045. " what lands are benefited. 909 

725. Isabella grapes 039 

753. Japan wheat a cheat 079 

58. Jersey bull f.O 

48, 49. " cow, properties of 44 

875. Jerusalem artichoke, how to grow 

and use 810 

247. Joint worms that destroy wheat 212 

096. .lujube fruit 617 

86. Keeping stock warm and variety of 

food 63 

725. Kelly's Island vineyard 041 

427. Kerosene oil for farm-house lights. . . 397 
254. " " to kill insects 229 

30. Kicking cows cured 35 

81. Kindness to cattle 62 

430. Kitchen knowledge and rules 399 

309. " old style, described 284 

403. Kneading bread, effect of 385 

450. Knives and brushes, how cleaned. . . . 409 

523. Kohl-rabi, its character and use 472 

903. Kyanizing fence posts 807 

636. Labels for fruit trees 509 

1145. Lambs, how to feed young 978 

945. Larch, white, seed of 8-54 

429. Lard, how to keep sweet 397 

502. Lavender 494 

32. Sec. Lawn, how to make 515 

583. Lawn, cause of grass dying upon .... 510 
081. " clipping, watering, manuring, 510 

584. " grass, new sort 517 

585. " how to ornament 518 

580. " how to set in grass 515 

586. " made by a woman 518 

587. " trees, what sorts suitable 519 

959. Laws relating to division fences 805 

958. ' ' relating to highway fences .... 804 
015. Lawton blackberries, how to grow . . 548 

1150. Learning comes by observing 989 

713. Lenoir grape 631 

551. Lettuce, varieties of, and how to grow 4^7 
107. Lice on cattle, how cured 78 

425. Lights, cost of various 390 

424. " .farm-house 390 

427. " kerosene oil best 397 

428. " of candles, how improved. . , 397 

426. " oils and candles compared .. . 390 

365. Lightning conductors considered, at- 

traction of, insulation, size of points, 
con-truction, shade trees conductcr^ 342 
307. Lightning rods, area of attraction. . . 347 
305. " " opinions of use .. . . 344 

366. " " materials of 347 

535. Lima beans, how to grow 477 

518, 744. Lime and salt mixture 401, 008 

992. Lime ashes, value of ,«82 

671. " for trees J90 

993. " how to apply 882 

93. Linseed-cake for food 68 

























INDEX. 


lOlD 




1001. 


Liiiuid manure 


887 


827. 


Meadows and pastures, plants injuri- 






1147. 


Live in the liijht 


982 




ous to 


767 






490. 


Luekjiiw remedy 


440 


827. 


Meadows, plants that injure 


769 






1145. 


Locust seeds, plautin<;, how to vege- 




374. 


Meals, what intervals between 


354 






2-4. 


tate 


853 
230 


lit. 
1142. 


Measurement of cattle compared .... 
Measure of acres, square, triangle. 


59 




Locusts, are they injurious? 




SJ3. 


Lotus, American, substitute for pota- 






circle . .' 


974 






'.)I4. 


toes 

Lovering's experiments with sorgo.. 


80G 
831 


801. 

380. 


Measuring corn in bulk 


740 
360 




Jleats, boiling extracts albumen of. . 




81V 
818. 


Lucern • 


758 
758 


379. 
384. 


Meat, how it loses by boiling 

Meat and vegetable food compared . . 


359 
362 




Lupine 




1101. 


Machine belts, how to use 


994 


4o6. 


Meat and fowls, how made tender anr. 








83(j. 


' ' to stack hay 


775 




cooked 


408 






1070. 


Machinery, savini? lal>or 


925 


562. 


Medicinal herbs 


493 






1022. 


M.i.t;ucsia as a fertilizer 


896 


548. 


Melons, apple-pie 


485 






oaj. 


.Maugosteen fruit 


017 


545. 


" how U) grow 


484 






53. 


.Sec. Maimres and manuring 


877 


547. 


" " to stiirt early 


485 






il85. 


Manure, color and moisture of 


878 


279. 


Mice, Osage orange, destroyed by 


252 






1001- 
lii03. 


' ' experience of farmers using . 
" for old pastures 


887 


277. 
278. 


" and their mischief 


251 
252 




" remedies for eating trees 




10!W. 


" gained by soiling stock 


888 


761. 


Michigan wheat growing, cost of 


691 






1002 


" Gerra-an experiments 


886 


III. 


Millet, soil, cultivation, use 


707 






i;iii. 


" how much profitably used. . 


898 


489. 


Milk and apples for food 


434 






loa. 

lO.W. 


" how to apply when, where. . 
" " preserve 


886 
885 


29. 
515. 


'* cost of producing 


35 
455 




" farms, j)rofits of 




1031. 


" leather shavings, woolen 




505. 


" heating new 


4.50 








rags, hair, oil-cake, ammo- 




500. 


" how much for a pound of butter 


444 








ma 


899 


514. 


" " to make cows give down. . 


455 






1004. 


" liquid 


887 


54. 


' ' mirror described 


48 






1007. 


" special, use of 


889 


506. 


' ' pans and covers 


450 






1035. 


" table of values of, on oats. . 


900 


503. 


" when to skim 


448 






1034. 


" wheat 899 


513. 


Milking machines 


454 






999. 


" " " of substances 884 


761. 


Minnesota wheat growing, cost of . . . 


692 






1005. 


" tan bark, use of 


888 


562. 


Jlint, spear and pepper 


493 






1031. 


" value depends on fineness . . 


899 


1147. 


Mirth is a medicine 


983 






1033. 


" value of, used in England. . 


899 


741. 


Missouri, German vine growers in . . . 


665 






1030. 


Manuring with green crops 


898 


740. 


" wine making in 


664 






93(3. 


Maple, Norway, described 


846 


1144. 


Mixed husbandry best 


975 






931. 


" sap, ratio of, to sugar 


K13 


43o. 


Molasses, how to buy 


399 






50. 


Sec Maple sugar-making 


835 


927. 


' ' of maple sap 


839 






925. 


Maple sugar, boiler and boiling 


838 


276. 


Moles, American, opinions about 


251 






929. 


" " details of expense 


842 


275. 


" English, opinions about 


251 






920. 


" " furnace and setting pans 


839 


13. 


Sec. Moles, their char;icter consideree 


248 






930. 


" " how much will trees pro- 




958. 


Moral of pasturing highwavs 


865 








duce 


843 


137. 


Morgan horses, faults of 


102 






928. 


" " made in a small way. . . 


840 


135. 


" ' ' history of 


99 






920. 


" " preparation for making 


836 


3.59. 


Mortar, made weather proof 


336 






932. 


" "' preparing for market. . . 


848 


208. 


Moth, protectors from 


243 






927. 


" " process of making, and 




457. 


' ' remedies 


409 








molasses 


839 


833. 


Mowing machines 


772 






029. 


" " prolits of making 


842 


846. 


Mows and stacks, how to measure 








923. 


" " sap buckets 

" •' Bap spouts, how to make 


837 




tuns in 


780 






922. 




1012. 


Muck, analysis of 


892 








and use 


830 


1013. 


" mi.xmg with night soil 


893 






924. 


" ■■' storing sap 


838 


1011. 


'■ use and value of 


891 






921. 


" " tapping trees for making 


836 


167. 


Mules, horses, oxen, on the fann 


116 






930. 


" trees, how mucli they produce 


843 


164. 


' ' history, first importation 


115 






933. 


" " why we should plant . . 


844 


165. 


" longevity of 


116 






168. 


Mares, size of, for breeding 


117 


166. 


" the largest in the world 


116 






464. 


Slattresses, how to make :. 


415 


693. 


Mulberry fruit 


61ii 






709. 


Mature trees, best apples for keep- 




443. 


Mushrooms, use and production 


402 








ing from 


628 


545. 


Musk-melons 


484 






1145. 


Maxims about stock 


977 


552. 


Mustard 


488 






1146. 


" for all farmers 


979 


120. 


Mutton sheep, age of 


90 






1151). 


" " farmers' bovs 


988 


123. 


" " at the West profitable . 


91 






1149. 


" " " girls 


987 


123. 


" " breeds most profitable 


91 






1148. 


" " " • wives 


984 


358. 


Nails made weather proof 


335 






1144. 


" " young farmers 

Maxims of health 


975 


55:1. 


Nasturtium 


488 






1147. 


981 


111. 


Native vs. imported stock 


79 






















272. Natural insect destroyers.-. 24G 

303. Night air not as unhealthy as closed 

rooms 277 

1013. Night soil, how prepared for use 893 

987. Nitrates, muriates, sulphates, what 

are they 878 

G92. Nectarines, history and sorts of GIG 

1147. Neuralgia, cure for 983 

930. Norway maple 840 

431. Nutmegs, Ikjw to buy 397 

1134. Nutriment in food substances 972 

101. Nutritive value of various food for 

stoclc 75 

94.5. Oak tree seeds, planting 853 

774., Oats, cause of rust 703 

770. " cultivation 700 

771. " how much seed per acre 700 

753. " seeds in a bushel G78 

773. " how to malce a good crop 701 

772. " when to sow 701 

1150. Observe and learn 089 

45G. Odors, bad, how prevented 408 

713. Offen grape G30 

1138. Ohio, what it produces 973 

761. " wheat production 692 

1145. Oil-cake, about feeding 977 

95. " composition of 71 

89: " feed for cattle G6 

9-'. " stale and moldy, injurious. . 70 

425. Oils for light compared 390 

558. Okra, use and cultivation 489 

994. Old mortar plastering, value of 883 

G72. Old ojchards, how to renovate 691 

880. Onions, as a field crop 819 

887. " best fertilizers for 820 

890. " California, wild 821 

257. " maggots, salt for 235 

889. " protit of culture 821 

888. ' ' remedy for worms 820 

532. " varieties and cultivation 475 

35. Sec. Orchards, aspect of, how to plant 650 

711. Orchard house described G29 

978. Ornamental liedges 873 

974. " iron fence 872 

279. Osage orange, eaten by mice 252 

977. " " hedges 873 

1142. Oval plats, how to lay off 975 

402. Ovens, heat of, for baking 384 

110. Overstocking the farm unprofitable . . 78 

06. Oxen, largest of olden time 52 

08. " large ones in Pennsylvania ... 53 

07. Ox, Leopard, his size 62 

1074. " shovel, road-scraper 925 

C5. " 'Washington, his weight 52 

531. Oyster plant, cultivation of 475 

300. Paints, cheap, for farm buildings . . . 330 

1146. " and preserve tools 980 

273. Parasite of wheat midge 247 

562. Parsley 494 

885. I'arsneps, as a field crop 819 

530. " when to sow, value of ... . 475 

24. Pasture, how to improve, for cows. . . 33 

830. " improved by sheep 770 

829. " mixing stock in 770 

828. " remedy for short 709 

1003. " renovated by top dressing . . 887 

958. Pasturing highways 805 

713. Pauline grape 631 

694. Pawpaws described , 616 



708. Peaches, sugar-drying 028 

252. Peach tree borers, hot water cure 220 

707. " " worms, tobacco for G28 

065. " " " soda wash for, cut- 
ting out 587 

668. " trees, budding of 588 

069. " " grown for fuel 589 

GG4. " " how to plant and treat. . 586 

007. " " winterkilled 587 

188. Pea-fowls described, and use 135 

843. " vine, hay 779 

205. " weevil, how destroyed 241 

685. Pears, are they a profitable crop 606 

682. " and poultry do well together . 605 

683. " blight of COG 

080. " dwarf, culture of 009 

687. " list of good ones described 010 

079. " rules for culture 002 

084. " seedlings 600 

078. " select list, cultivation, pruning 601 

680. " size and improvement G03 

68G. " weight of different sorts 010 

681. " when to gather, and how to 

ripen 604 

533. Peas, kinds and cultivation in garden 475 

1144. " prepare land for wheat 970 

701. Pennsylvania wheat growing 693 

502. Peppers, kinas and quality 494 

578. Perfumery, manufacture of fiowers .. 511 

256. Pests of gardens and fields 234 

990. Phosphatic guano, value of 882 

1024. Pliosphorus as a manure 89G 

908. Picket, portable, fence 869 

037. Pine tree planting 848 

488. Pickling, the art of 433 

370. Pie-eating, an Americanism 35G 

501. Pie-plant, how to grow 492 

15. Pig-breeding, the sow should be 

largest 30 

3. Pig-feeding, cost and profit 20 

" and pork-makiug 19 

10. Pigs fed cinders, and coal ashes, and 

burnt clay 27 

9. " " hay seed 27 

11. " " parched corn and honey. .. . 27 

12. " " standing corn 28 

8. Pigs, as land workers 26 

7. " grazing, how many per acre .. . 20 

4. " how to pen them to fatten 24 

2. ' ' what is the best breed 19 

345. Piggeries, how arranged 320 

8. Pig-pen, its value for manure 26 

18. Pork, salting while warm 30 

934. Plantation of trees 845 

937. Planting forest trees 848 

1136. Plants, how many per acre 973 

827. " injurious to meadows 709 

271. Plant-lice destroyers 245 

600. Plant-protectors, how made and use of 528 

988. Plaster of "Paris, gypsum 881 

55. Sec. Plows and plowing, object of 917 

1061 . Plows, cast-iron, history of 918 

1061. " inventors of 918 

1005. " steam, use of 922 

1003. " steel, manufacture and value 

of 921 

1002. " subsoil, shape and use 920 

1060 " substitute for 923 

089. Plums, choice varieties described. . . . 614 





















INDEX. 


] 


L021 
432 




090. 


Plums, grafting wild stocks 015 


1 486. 


Preserving fruit by dry pressure 




688. 


" soil, climate, cultivation 612 


484. 


" " in air-tiglit cans. . . 


430 






492. 


Poisons, antidotus for 438 


485. 


" " in dry sugar 


432 






789. 
419. 


Pop-corn as a crop 727 


706. 
763. 


' ' wheat 

Price of wheat for 00 years 


090 
O'.M 




" pudding and cakes 394 




420. 


" " " how made 394 


1172. 


Prices 100 years ago 


1001 






452. 


Pork and bacon, value compared. . . . 406 


759. 


Product peV acre of wheat 


085 






3. 


" and corn, lbs. per bushel 19 


700. 


Productive ability of America 


080 






18. 




119. 


Prolits of feeding sheep for butchers. lie-8'.) 






9GS. 


Portable picket fence 869 


110. 


" selling milk 


79 






1019. 




628. 


Propagation by cuttings and layers. 
Properties of a good horse 


557 






203. 


Potato bugs 240 


1145. 


978 






391. 


" rolls and bread 370 


1143. 


Proverbs, axioms, and maxims 


975 






8oO. 


" rules of culture 792 


639. 


Pruning, objections to spring 


571 






8oti. 


" seed cut or whole, experiments 795 


640. 


" " autumn T 


572 






857. 




038. 




571 






857. 


" " weiglit of, and yield 798 


641. 


" practical directions about . 


572 






853. 


Potatoes, asbes for 794 


642. 


" root, object of 


573 






8G5. 


" Bergen, John G., experi- 


637. 


" right time for 


570 








ments of 803 


804. 


Pumpkins and ci:>rn together 


742 






850. 


" best soil for, and aspect of 


85. 


" for cattle 


63 








field 792 


1145. 


" seeds must be cooked for 






848. 


" character of several Boris 




stock 


977 








described 786 


17. 


Sec. Pump3 and windmills for the 






8G4. 


' ' cost of producing crops de- 




farmery 


308 








tailed 801 


290. 


Puibbit breeding 


260 






849. 


" crop, importance of 791 


290. 


Rabbits, domesticated 


260 






851. 


" culture by plow alone 793 


290. 


" to prevent gnawing trees . 


2.59 






800. 


disease of 804 


500. 


Radishes, how to grow 


492 






542. 


" early varieties 482 


613. 


Raspberries, varieties of 


540 






849. 


' ' estimated quantity used by 


282. 


Rat-catchers 


254 








each person 791 


281, 458. Eat remedies — arsenic, strychnine 








852 


" growing under straw 793 




tar, plaster, potash, phosphorus. 253 


,410 






854. 


" hoeing when wet 794 


267. 


Kats and mice, remedy for 


242 






383. 


" how baked, boiled, roasted, 


280. 


Rats, history of 


2V2 






863 


or fried 361 

" how to keep from sprouting 801 

' ' in bread making 373 

" in hills or drills 794 


283. 
1155. 


Rat-traps, how to make 


251 
9!l0 




Raw hide, how to dress ... 




394. 
855. 


1155. 
713. 


'* use of, for farmers . 


9!li; 




Rebecca grape 


032 




861. 


" Michigan or Eoberts' the- 


450. 


Refrigerator, cheap one, how made . . 


407 










318. 


Refrigerators 


298 






860. 


" planted in autumn 799 


496. 


Remedies for lockjaw, felons, ulcers . 


440 






859. 


with sets 798 


497. 


" tight fmgcr-rings 


440 






858. 


" " without plowing. . 798 


1003. 


Renovating old pastures 


887 






855. 


" practical opinions about 

seed 794 


1163. 


Reproduction of animals, proper time 
of 


1000 






855. 


" proper depth to plant 794 


661. 


Rhubarb, how to grow 


492 






862. 


" LtJiiiig for winter 800 


444. 


" stalks, how to prepare. . . . 


403 






867. 
438. 


" substitutes for 806 


272. 
471. 


•Rear-horse, or mantis 

' wine, how made 


246 
423 




*' :;weet, how to keep 400 




847. 
175. 
177. 


" the history of 785 

Poultry, feeding meat to 124 

food of 125 


430. 




397 






58. 




948 






1102. 


Rice, how it is hulled 


952 






200. 


" great consumption of 146 


1101. 


" land, how flooded, and purpose 








201. 


" how to kill, and dress, and 




of 


951 








pack 148 


1103. 


" product of clean, from rough. . 


952 






176. 


" how to treat in confinement 124 


uua. 


" " per acre, cost, value, 








196. 


" how to water 145 




and profit 


952 






194. 


" keeping, management of. . . 142 


1104. 


" statistics of exportation 


953 






9. 


Sec. Poultry, maxims for keepers of. 


1100. 


" " of plantations 


949 








how to keep healthy, shelter, 


1099. 


' ' where and how grown 


948 








vermin, water, feed regular. 


62. 


Sec. Road fences, cost of 


862 








yard, to fatten 123 


958. 


Road fences, laws relating to 


864 






194. 


Poultry, pleasures of raising 142 


1075. 


" scrapers, horse and ox 


925 






201. 


' ' preparing for maiket 148 


400. 


Roasting ears 


389 






19a 
195. 


' ' prices of fancy 145 

" vermin, how prevented .... 143 


97. 


Roclt-salt for stock 


72 






350. 


Roofing of paper, tar, .and gravel 


334 






186. 


" weights of different braeds. l-li 


20. 


Sec. Roofs and roofing 


332 






824. 


Prairie sloughs seeded to red top .... 706 


367. 


Roofs, protecting from fire 


335 



















1022 



INDEX. 



356. Roofs, their proper form 334 

48. Sec. Root crops 785 

48. Roots for stock 39 

627. " of trees, functions of 550 

801. " quantity an acre may produce . 821 
254, 594. Rose bugs and slugs, remedies 

foi- ■ 220, 524 

Rosemary 494 

Roses, cultivation recommended .... 523 

Rows and plants on an acre 499 

Rust of metals, how prevented 408 

Ruta b.iga turnips, cultivation of 814 

Rye and can-ots grown together 818 

" cultivation and yield of 698 

" seeds in a bushel of 678 

'^'iff™n 494 

''age 494 

" and herbs, how preserved 409 

Sago and rice, how to buy good 397 

Salad plants 4fi7 

Saleratus in bread " .' ' 376 

5.31. Salsify, when to sow 475 

965. Salt for fence posts 868 

__96. " for stock, is it necessary 71 

744. " for wheat, how to use 670 

1030. " value and use of, as a fertilizer . 901 

69. Saratoga County bullock 54 

Sauce, pic-nic, how made 402 

" tomato, how made 402 

Sausage making 4OG 

Sawed shingles condemned 332 

Scours in cattle, how cured 77 

153. Scratches in horses, how cured 109 

1084. Sea Island cotton, how gro^vn and 

o-,^ o ^'°"'''' 935 

vob. Seasonmg fuel ggo 

1014. Sea-weed, its use as manure 893 

821. Seeding land to grass ...', 763 

986. Seeds, how fertilized by incnisting . '. 878 

456. " how preserved .' 4O8 

1137. " limit of vitality of .!.'.' 973 

753. " of grain in a bushel 678 

'^3. " " sown do not all grow 678 

006. " steeped in hot water 498 

1130. " time required to germinate .. . 971 

289. Sermon on dogs 258 

Setting hens ]33 

Shanghae fowls ' . 143 

Sheds for cattle made cheaply 306 

Sheep, age for mutton ! 90 

'I and calves, yard together 977 

feeding, compared with beeves 86 

: " grass, hay 85 

" general care of, thrift, shelter, 
economy in feeding, venti- 
lation, racks, fodder, water, 

salt for 83-4 

" gross and net weight of 90 

" grub in, to cure 90 

' ' hay necessary for 85 

Sec. Sheep husbandry \ _\ 81 

Sheep in Texas, how managed ...... 92 

Sheep-killing dogs ' . . ' 258 



502. 

593. 

508. 

4-50. 

878. 

884. 

769. 

753* 

562. 

562. 

456. 

430. 

551. 

398. 



442. 
441. 
4.51. 
354. 
106. 



184 
194, 
328. 
120. 
114.5. 
119. 
116. 
115. 



122 
121! 
117. 
7. 
124. 
288. 



114. Sheep, merinos, first importation of '. 



126. 
118. 
125. 
113. 
127. 



^ . . 83 

numbermg and ages of 94 

pasture should be changed. .. 86 

producing twins 93 

sexes, how produced 82 

shearing '.\\ 95 



128. Sheep should be tagged 90 

7. Sec. Sheep, South Downs, Hampshire', 
Leicester, Cotswold, Lincoln, 

Shropshire, O.xfordshire 81 

7. " Sheep, various breeds of 81 

658. Shellac, use of, in grafting 573 

78. Shelter for calves 61 

82. " for cattle 62 

26. " for cows, and feeding 33 

1032. " of manure, value of 899 

286. Shepherd dogs described 256 

355. Shingles, how preserved 333 

354. " sawed 330 

755. Shocking wlKiat 681 

50. Short-horn Durham cow 45 

828. Short pastures, remedy for 769 

267. Silk-worms worked by electricity. .. , 243 

468. Silver, never wrap in woolen 418 

1147. Simples better than compounds 982 

927. Sirup of maple, how made 839 

1147. Skin, care of the 982 

1 153. Skins, how to dress soft 996 

1152. " how to dress with fur or wool 

on 995 

293. Skunks, their usefulness considered. 263 

372. Slaves, rations of food of 352 

■348. Smoke-houses, how to build and use . 322 

766. Smut of grain 697 

494. Snake bites, and remedies 439 

391 . Snow cakes 370 

436. Soap, how to keep and use 400 

400. Soap-making receipts 412 

149. Soiling, advantage of 107 

103, 1006. Soiling cattle, the practice dis- 
cussed 76, S88 

373. Soldiers' rations of food 353 

1021. Soot as manure, its value 890 

916. Sorghum that has no saccharum 8-^3 

49. Sec. Sorgo and m.iple sugar 822 

900. Sorgo, analysis and character of 820 

917. " and corn, cost of growing equal 834 
902. " as food for stock 825 

918. " haggasse, stock injured by eat- 

ing 834 

910. " best mode of growing, feeding 

stock 829 

911 " holier, how to make a cheap one 830 

907. " effect of frost on canes 827 

37 ' ' for cows 39 

905. " fruits of experience in growing 826 

899. " how to make sirup 824 

912. " juice extracted in a domestic 

way 830 

915. " juice proved — it will make 

sugar 832 

904. " keeping canes and juice 826 

914. " Lovering'sexperiments, boiling 831 
895. " ■ manner of planting 824 

913. " mills described 830 

898. " period for manufacturing 824 

893. " preparation and time of plant- 
ing 823 

901. " profits of making 825 

909. " sirup, and cost, by Col. Morris 828 

900. " '» how to clarify 825 

919. " " vinegar, how made ... . 835 

892. " soil and situation for 823 

890. " strippin'g and topping 824 

897. " time of cutting 824 













INDEX. 1U23 


903, 908. Sorgo, yield per acre 8215 


, 828 


1147. Surfeits are physicians' agents 982 




14. Sows, tu prevent killing pigs 


29 


193, Swans, black and white, young swans 




3 1 . Spaying, directions fur 


35 

889 


for the table 141 


1007. Special manures 


158. Sweeney in horses, cure for IIU 




584. Spergula described 

431. Spices, how to buy and keep 


617 
397 


808. Sweet corn, early, value of 744 


407. " " how to dry and cook . . . 389 




375. " their use in food 


354 


947. " gum, a valuable tree 855 




747. Spring wheat, when to sow 


072 


502. " marjoram 494 




557. Sprouts, how grown for salad 

549. Squashc-6, summer and winter 


489 
480 


438. " potatoes 400 


S70. " " best varieties 807 




291. Squirrels and their mischief 


201 


874. " " harvesting and storing 810 




■ 330. Stable floors of earth 


307 


665. " " how to grow 490 

872. " " how to set the plants 808 




331. " yards, how arranged 


307 




32o. Stables, how to build 


305 


871. " " making'Bced beds and 




327. " build them high, reasons for 305 


growing plants 808 




750. Stacking grain 


081 


873. " " Boil and preparation 




835. " hay 


774 


suitable 809 




408. Stains, removing 


410 


873. " " tillage for 809 




168. Stallions, size for breeding 


118 


870. " " where they can be 




803. Starch, yield from corn, use of 


741 


grown 806 




344. Stathels for stack bottoms 


319 


5. Swine, raw food, or cooked ... 25 




5. Sec. Statistics of New York cattle 




3-15. Swine-feeding experiments 20-30 




market 


60 


0. " weeds 2.3 




1063. Steel plows 


921 


1 140. Table of weights of bushels . . 974 




1145. Steers, how to break 


978 


568. Tables of plants and rows per acre . . 499 




79. ** training 


01 

027 


1005. Tan bark a.s manure 888 


706. Stirring soil among trees 


1015. Tanners' and glue makers' waste for 




1. Sec. Stock growing, short pasture in 

autumn 

99. Stock, how to obtain water for 

1. Sec. Stock, introduction to facts aboul 


14 
74 
13 


manure 893 


921. Tapping maple-trees 836 


713. Taylor, or Bullit grape 631 


434. Tea, how to prepare black 399 




86. Stock, keeping, warm 


63 


433. " its value as food 399 

1171. Teazles as a crop, how to grow 1003 




1145. " maxims about 


977 




1 . Sec. Stock the foundation of farm im- 




1131. Temperature at which plants flourish 971 




provement 


13 


980. Theory of fertilizing seeds 878 




079. Stone wall fences 


873 


1151. Things to be thought about 993 

1139. Thoroughness, what it produces .... 973 
757. Thrashing grain, machines vs. flails. . 682 




980. " how to build 


874 




982. " builders' tools 


875 




1144. Stones, how to get rid of large 


970 


705. Thumb pruning trees and plants . . . 627 




1132. Storing grain in cemented caves 

83. Straw for cattle 


971 
03 


562. Thyme 494 


54. Sec. Tile draining, where and when it 




COS. Strawberries, best sorts of, described. 


537 


should be 904 




007. " healthy and profitable . 


537 


1053. Tile draining, cost and durability of 




612. " preparation of soil and 




tiles 914 




cultivation 


544 


1051. " " descent and depth nec- 




610. " product per acre 


643 


essary 913 




611. " staminatc, pistillate, 




1049. " " how it should be done 912 




hermaphrodite 


543 


1047. " " its importance and va- 




009. " the Tribune prize seed- 




lue 910 




lings 


642 


1060. " '■■ laws needed to regulate 917 




1151. Strength of men and horses compared 


994 


1050. " " laving oft" ground. 




363. Stucco whitewash 


337 


ditching, and laying 




1062. Subsoil plows, shape and use 

2-1. Sec. Substitutes for bread 


920 
389 


tile 913 


1059 " " proper shape of 916 




1060. Substitutes for the plow 


9-'3 


1052. " " what it does for l.ind 914 




1. Sec. Success in farming ba.sed on stock 


13 


1048. " " what land should be 




57. Sec. Sugar-cane cultivation 943 

920-32. Sugar-making from maple- trees. 836-43 


drained 91 1 


1055. " " with brush, poles, etc. 915 




1095. Sogar plantation.s. Bishop Polk's 


944 


1057. " " with cement tiles.... 910 




1094. " production in Louisiana 


943 


1054. " " with wooden tubes... 915 






399 

947 


826. Timothy seed, harvesting 706 


1098. " refined on plantations 


840. " when to cut, for seed 778 




1095. " statistics of plantations 


943 


1073. Tire-bending machine 924 




1096. " yield per acre, and cost of pro- 
ducin*^ 


947 

881 


294. Toads are insect eaters 203 


69. Sec. Tobacco cultivation 953 

1116. Tobacco barn or curing house de- 


988. Sulphate of lime, plaster, gypsum . . . 




949. Sumac as an ornamentiU shrub 


860 


scribed 963 




1025. Superphosphates, adulterations of, to 




1110. Tobacco, cost and profit of growing . 959 




detect 


89< 


1100. " exports and consumption . . 954 






1 



1114. Tobacco, cultivation, worming, top- 

ping, priming 901 

1115. " curing, splitting leaf, string- 

ing, hanging, handling, 
taking down, paclcing . . . 902 

1107. exhausting nature of the 

crop 950 

1108. " growing in Connecticut ... . 957 

1109. " " in New York 957 

1105. " history of 953 

1111. " rules of a Florida grower . . 960 

1112. " rules of transplanting 960 

1113. " selecting and preparing 

ground 961 

1118. " soil, when to plant 964 

1117. " where it may be grown ... . 964 
201. " worms described, and rem- 
edy 238 

713. To-Kalon grape 632 

441. Tomatoes, to preserve and use 401 

441. " catsup and sauce 402 

559. " varieties and cultivation. . 490 

744. Top-dressing wheat land 670 

79. Training steers 61 

724. Tramincr grapes compared with Del- 
aware 638 

102. Treatise on feeding 76 

947 . IVee, a rare ornamental and medicinal 855 
033. Tree-planting, preparation for 505 

935. Trees, adaptation of kinds to locations 845 

943. " age of 8-52 

668. " and plants upon an acre 499 

51 . Sec. Trees and tree planting 845 

942. Trees, ;mtediluvian 852 

936. " descriptive list of hardy 840 

941. " evergreens, transp. in summer S51 

S89. " indigenous to the U. S 621 

9.51. " forked.toprevent from splitting 858 

954. " for sandy wastes 858 

945. ' ' growing from seeds 853 

632. " how to move large ones 563 

939. " how to plant them 850 

937. " planting forest, what has anfl 

can be done 848 

35. Sec. Trees, propagation and cultiva- 
tion 555 

940. Trees, seeds of, how diffused 855 

944. " value of, in cities 853 

704. " watering newly transplanted . . 627 

934. " what kind to plant 845 

957. •' what to plant for fuel 861 

938. " when and why to plant 849 

940. " where to plant them 851 

1144. Trenching, what it is 1,70 

298. 'IVout and trout streams 270 

846. Tun of hay, cubic feet in 780 

1017. Turf ashes for manure — the old sod 

fence 894 

189. Turkeys, improving the breed 138 

189. " profits of raising 137 

189. " wild and domesticated, how 

to feed 135 

204. Turnip-fly preventive 241 

870. Turnips as a field crop, how and when 

to sow 811 

876. " best manure for 812 

Kl. " cultivation 471 

1144. " how to winter 976 

522. " protection from insects 471 



878. Turnips, ruta bagas, how to grow .. . 814 

877. " storing and winter feeding. 813 

713. Union Village grapes 631 

80. Unruly animals, how made so 02 

1088. Upland cotton, cost of growing 93S 

1092. " " in Illinois 941 

1087. " or short-staple cotton 937 

944. Value of trees in cities 853 

1134. " of various food substances ... . 972 

308. Ventilation of houses, rooms, cars. . . 283 

577. Verbenas, list of 610 

457. Vermin remedies 409 

481. Vinegar, how to make 429 

919. " of sorgo, how made 835 

719. Vines on city lots 637 

720. " on walls 637 

721. " ringing or girdling 637 

713. Vineyards, bow to plant and cultivate 630 

732. " in California 653 

1137. Vitality of seeds, limit of 973 

352. Walls of concrete 33(1 

461. Washing machines 413 

402. " soft water necessary 41-1 

902. Waste land around fences 807 

52. Sec. Waste land in the State of N. Y. 862 

1140. Waste not, want not 979 

1039. Water as a fertilizer, value of 903 

86. " for stock in winter (i-l 

17. Sec. Water for the farmery Siii 

1161. Water heated in wooden vessels Oi'! 

546. " melons, how to grow 481 

385. *' suitable for cooking SO', 

753. Weeding wheat 679 

1144. Weeds, how not to grow 97ii 

245. Weevil in grain, how to destroy .... 203 

1140. Weights, bushels of grain, and other 

things 974 

339. AVclls, bucket, self-emptying 315 

338. " causes of impure water 314 

336. " horizontal, how made 313 

■338. " how to look into 316 

335. " how to dig 313 

337. " on hills 314 

123. Western mutton 91 

700. Wheat, ability of America to produce 68() 

391. " bread, how to make good. . . 366 

750 " drilling, advantage of 675 

744 " experimenta and details of 

growing 669 

343. " exposed to rain 319 

744. " fertilization of 668 

761. " growing in different States. . 089 

768. " heaving out, how to prevent. 698 

749. " how much seed is required. . 673 

764. " how stored and handled ... . 695 

765. " how to preserve in bins 096 

422. " hulled, boiled, wheat groats. 395 

767. " insects, how destroyed 698 

240. " insect t'j. weevil 209 

744. " lodging, to prevent 070 

240. " midge described 211 

273 " " parasite of the 247 

745 " naked fallows for 071 

749. " nimiber of grains per foot and 

acre 074 

744. " plaster, salt, and top-dressing 670 

743. " preparation of soil for 667 

763. " price 60 years ago 694 

759. " product per acre 685 



INDEX. 



1025 



7G2. 'Wheat, rod and white G94 

751. " Bced, how to select and prepare 676 

752. " " pickling of 677 

753. ■ " " wliat becomes of it 678 

763. " seeds in a bushel 078 

755 " shocking in field 681 

766. " smut considered 697 

746. " spring wheat, growing 671 

753 " weeding 679 

754. " when it should be cut 679 

747. " when to sow 672 

362. Whitewash of zinc and lime 337 

361. " permanent 336 

1. Sec. Wild cattle, fun in handling ... 18 

109. Wild cherry leaves poison cattle 78 

1072. Willow-peeling machine 924 

370. Windmills, self-regulating 350 

369. " their use 349 

469. Wine, domestic, currants and other 

fruit 420 

470. Wine, elderberry 423 

735. " from various grapes 658 

473. " grape 424 

43. Sec. Wine makers' rules, grapes for 

wine 657 

732. Wine making and wine vaults in 

California 653 

739. Wino making, domestic rules of 663 

■738. " " inCaUforuia 662 

736. " " rules 659 

474. " mashing and pressing grapes, 

fermentation, racking, bot- 
tling 425 



475. Wine of tomatoes 426 

471. " rhubarb 423 

734. " what grapes make good C57 

676. Winter cherries 598 

748. " wheat, when to sow 673 

39. Wintering cows 40 

972. Wire fence, detail of cost 870 

259. " worms, remedy for 2:-'.7 

761. Wisconsin wheat growing, cost of . . . 691 

955. Woodand coal, economy of, compared 859 

1018. " ashes for manure 895 

1019. " " substitute for 805 

341. Wooden pipes, durability of 317 

955. " value of kinds compared 85& 

129. Wool, how to cleanse 96 

4. Working pigs 24 

260. Worm killers 238 

261 . Worms infesting tobacco 238 

254. " protection from " measuring" 

worms 228 

251. " that infest apple and peach 

trees 220 

562. Wormwood 494 

1038. Worn-out lands, how restored 902 

23 1 . Wrens, their value and beauty 182 

461. Wringing machines, value of 413 

397. Teast cakes, how made 370 

23. Sec. Yeast, how made and how to use 360 

396. Yeast, how to make it 375 

391. " how to make of hops 369 

391. " of potatoes, how made 367 

400. " substitutes for 381 

1144. Young farmers, maxims for 875 



INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS 

Referred to as authority, or quoted from, in the compilation of tliis worlc, independent of editors 
of agricultural journals. Most of those mentioned arc practical farmers, now living ; and, so far 
as possible, the residence of each is given, to enable others to consult them if desired. Tlie list 
shows that the work is made up of opinions and practices of the present rather than of the past, 
and that its character is American. 



Pago 

Adams, J. C, Seymour, N. Y 107 

Aikin, Ex-Governor, South Carolina 949 

Aldrich, William, Pennsylvania 044 

Allen, J. Fiske, Salem, Mass 631 

" Lewis F., Black Kock, N. Y 88 

547, G06, 88G 

" Mr., Burlington, N. J 623 

Alton, J. E., Quinsigamond, Mass 137 

Anderson, Dr. , Scotland 889 

Andrews, S. N., Herkimer Co!, N. Y 459 

Arksvright, Sir Richard, England 933 

Armstrong, James, Knoxville, Tenn 731 

Averv, R. H., Wampsville, Madison Co., 

N."Y 138 

B.al!, Mrs. Lynda, Clevit, Eaton Co., Mich.. 369 

Bamford, R. B., England 793 

Barber, H., Juneau, Wis 697 

Barker, George F., Charlcstown, Mass 892 

Barnard, Lyman. Steuben Co., N. Y 74 

Banium, V'. T., New York city 146, 879 

Barrv, P., Rochester, N. Y 606 

Bartlett, Levi, Warner, N. H 777 

Mr., Dutchess Co., N. Y 886 

Beach, Lucius, Port Huron, Mich 298 

Beatson, Gen., formerly commanding at St. 

Helena 795 

Beatty, Dr., Terrebonne, La T 940 

" Messrs., Aurora, Cayuga County, 

N. Y 147, 60-') 

Beckner, Isaac, Goshen, Elkhart Co., Ind. . 794 

Beckwith, Dr., Connecticut 790 

Belding, W. H. and David L., Dutchess Co., 

N. Y 881 

Bell, Thomas, Monmouth Co., N. J 86 

Benjamin, J. P., New Orleans, La 947 

Bennett, Dr., Boston, Mass 491 

" Mrs. M., Auburn, Mass 137 

Berckmans, Louis E , Augusta, Ga 611 

Bergen, Adrian G., Long Island 345, 592 

" J. G., BrookljTi, L. 1 227, 796, 803 

Biddle, Nicholas, Philadelphia, late of 861 

Blgelow, Mr., Flushing, L. 1 175 

Bill, James A., Lyme, Ct 717 

Bird, Jonathan, Belleville, N. J 449 

iiimey, William, Springfield, Mass 771 

lUaachard, Mr., Boston, Mass 75 

Bliss, Benj.amin K., Springfield, Mass 500 

Blodgett, Judge, Lewi? Co., N. Y 856 

Blunt, lion. Joseph, New York city, late of 861 

Bovie, C. , GuUprairie, Mich 30 

Bowen, Mr., Orleans Co. , N. Y 88 



Pag« 
Brackett, Chas., Rochester, Fulton Co., Ind. 676-8 

Brewster, E. M., Griswold, Ct 24 

Brigham, Otis, Westborough, Mass 35 

Brocksbank, Mr. , Hudson, N. Y 632 

Brodie, W. . England 195 

Brooks, C, Edward, Orange Co., N. Y 3S 

' ' John, Massachusetts 64 

Brown, Alpha, Eaton, N. Y 180 

" C. B., Alton, 111 924 

" J. L. , Indianapolis, Ind 333 

" Lewis B., Westchester Co., N. Y. . . 108 

" Mr., North Stonington, Ct 797 

" Bufus, Chelsea, Orange Co., Vt.l45, 794 

Br)-ant, Mr., Jessamine Co., Ky 731 

Bryson, Miss Ann, Macon Co.,"N. C 582 

Buchanan, Micajah, South Carolina 853 

Buck, Wm., Herkimer Co., N. Y 459 

Buckholder, John, Adams Co., Penn 581 

Buckingham, James, Illinois 28 

" Leroy, Cadiz, Cattaraugus Co., 

N. Y 19 

Buckman, Professor, England 767 

Buckminster, Wm., Fraraingham, Mass. .. 444 

Buist, Robert, Philadelphia 510 

Bulkley, H. G., Kalamazoo, Mich 83U 

Burden, Mr., South Carolina 930 

Burgwin, Messrs., Hahfax, N. C 714 

Burnett, Judge, Cincinnati, Ohio, late of . . 852 
Burnham, Asahel, Arkwright, Cattaraugus 

Co., N. Y 784 

Butler, Charles, White Plains, N. Y 638 

Butterfield, Col., Utica, N. Y 74 

Capron, Col. , Maryland 870 

Carpenter, C. W., Mount Gilead, Ohio 093 

Jesse, Elmira, N. Y 87, 443 

L., Rutland, Vt 843 

Wm. 8., New York city 222, 

294, 572 

Carson, Col., South Carolina, late of 950 

Carter, J. J., Homville, Chester Co., Penn. 21 

" Mr., Pittsfield, Mass 786 

Cartwright, Sir., England 933 

Cattell, J. D., Salem, Columbiana Co. , Ohio 252 

Cavenach, Thomas, Brooklyn. L. I 525, 564 

Chamberlain, Dr., Chicago, 111 722 

Chenory, W. W., Watertown, Mass 50 

Chesnut, Col. James. South Carolina 940 

Chetwood, Mr., Burlington, N. J 623 

Chew, S. H., Fayette, Ky 731 

Chinn, Judge, Baton Rouge, La 947 

Clark, Benjamin, Marcellus, N. Y. 958 



INDEX. 



1027 



Pngo 

Clark, E. C, New Haven, Ct 647 

Clay, Samuel H., Buuibou Co., Ky 19, 2i5 

Clayton. Hon. John A., New Castle, Del., 

lite of i-li, 590 

Clitfoitl, Benjamin, Norwich, Vt 820 

I 'loviil, l>r., Alabama 933 

Coat.<, S. N., Philadelphia GOO 

Gockrill, R. , Nashville, Tenn 117 

iVie, 0., Port Washington, Wis 923 

Coit, Mr., Norwich, Ct 4-15 

Colburn, Mr., Union, Ct 791 

Cole, J. M., Saratoga Spring.s, N. Y 54 

Colvin, Richard, Baltimore, Md 175 

Comstock & Gliddon, Milwaukee. Wis 923 

Conger, A. B., Rockland Co., N. Y. . . . 875, 886 

Conrad, 1<". D., Baton Rouge, La 947 

Coon. A., Russia, N. Y 459 

Cox, Horatio J.. Zanesville, Ohio 240 

CRiwfoid, Rev. John, Gallatin Co., Ill 73 

Cressinger, J. W., Sullivan, Ashland Co., 0. 782 
Crocker, Hon. Uavid, Tompkins Co., N. Y. 075 

Crompton, Mr., England 933 

Cumiugs, 0. S., Ti-enton Falls, N. Y 459 

C'urtenas, Peter J . New York, late of 918 

Curtis, Mr., Tompkins Co., N. Y 886 

Cushman, S. D., South Bend, Ind 343 

Dadd, Dr. Geo. H. (V. S.), Chicago, 111.. .35, 77 

Dana, Dr., Boston, Mass 888 

Darnall, M. D., Bainbridge, Ind 800 

Davis, Geo. D., La Fourche, La 940 

" James B., Charleston, S. C, late of. . 265 

" William, Marengo, Morrow Co., Ohio 230 

Pittslield, Vt 843 

Dawson, George, Albany, N. Y 271 

Day, Mr., Genesee Co., N. Y 886 

Delalield, J., Geneva, N. Y 752, 912 

Denton, Baily, England 768 

Dickenson, A. B., Hornby, Steuben Co., 

N. Y 74, 89, 227, 345, 441, 072, 908 

Dickinson, W. D. , Victor, Ontario Co. , N. Y. 94 

Dikeman, Mr., Oneida Co., N. Y 787 

Dimond, J. M., Eaton Co., Mich 240 

Dixie, B., Painesville, Ohio 227 

Dodge, Hon. W. C, Minnesota . ; 692 

" Mr., Long Island 231 

Doniol. Mons., Franco 811 

Doolittlo, II II., Oak's Corners, Ontario Co., 

N. Y 547 

Downing. Co -vlus .Newbnrg, N. Y 595, 873 

Drew, Dr. O. \V., Waterbury, Vt 820 

Dubreuil, Mons. , France 883 

Dunglison, Dr., Scotland 492 

Dutcher, Josiah, New York city, late of . . . 919 

Dzierzon, Mr , Munich, Germany 165 

Eastman & Snell, Maineville, Warren Co., 

Ohio 807 

Eldridge, Mrs. Lydia, Andover, Mass 136 

EUman, John, England 81 

Ellsworth, Henry L., Lafayette, Ind., late 

of 19, 716, 736 

Elmer, Dr. Wm., Brjdgeton, N. J 53 

Emerson, Ed., Hollis, Mass 333 

Geo. B., Boston, Mass 991 

Emory Brothers, Albany, N. Y 934 

Engle, ManliuB, AVest Almond, Alleghany 

Co., N.Y 842 

Erhard, Charles F., Ravenswood, N. Y. 534, 606 
Evans, Joseph, Warren Co., Oliio 807 



Togo 

Everett, Horace, Council Bluflfo, Iowa 675 

Eyre, Preston,. Darlington, Penn 827 

Fairbrothers, C. W., Saxton's River, Vt 781 

Fairchild, J. W., Hudson, N. Y 868 

Faraday, Professor, England 347 

Farnum, J., Uxbridge, Mass 783 

Fawkes, Mr., Lancaster, Penn 922 

Fay, Mr., Lvnn, Mass 770 

Fecks, Mr., "Oyster Bay, L. 1 478 

Field, T. W., Brooklyn, L. 1 603, 886 

Fish, A. L., Herkimer Co., N. Y 886 

Fisher, John, Carroll Co., Md 750 

Fitch, Dr. Asa, Entomologist of the State 

of New York 185, 805 

Fitzgerald, Elisha, New York city 381 

Flagg, Wilson, Massachusetts 850 

Flint, Chas. L., Boston, Mass.. 42, 75, 760, 991 
Foljambe, Joseph, Rotherham, England. .. 919 

Fourze, Dr. Victor, Sonoma, Cal 653 

Fowler, Mr., England (steam plow) 922 

Frantz, Andrew M., Lancaster, Penn 53 

Freeman, I. G., Iowa 884 

French, Joseph, Seldcn, L. 1 551 

" Judge, Exeter, N. H 871, 910 

" Nathan R., New York city 786 

Froehling & Kohler, California 602 

Frost, Charles, Wayne Co., Ind 116 

Fuller, Andrew S., Brooklyn, L. I. 223, 532, 558 

Fulton, John, Richland Co., Ohio 675 

Garlick, Dr., Cleveland, Ohio 274 

Gates, W. P., Windham, Ct 

Geddes. Hon. Geo., Fairmount, Onondaga 

Co., N. Y C83, 750, 754, 'SSO, 926, 957 

Gilberts, A. Hamilton (letter from Austria) 654 

Glasgow, William, near St. Louis, Mo 065 

Glover, Towiiend, Washington, D. C 204, 

210, 215 

Gold, T. S., Cornwall, Ct 83 

Golding, Mr., Orange Co., N. Y 886 

Goldsborough, M. T., Ellcnboro', Md 685 

Goldsmith, Mr., Orange Co., N. Y 886 

Goodrich, Rev. Chauncey E., Utica, N. Y. . 786 
Goodwin, P.M., Kingston, Luzerne Co., Pa. 223 

Gorgas, John, Wilmington, Del 195 

Gould, J. Stanton, Hudson. N. Y 748 

Gowdy, G., Burlington, N. J 623 

Grant, Dr. C. W., lona, near PeekskUl, 

N.Y 555, 632, 641 

Grayson, Mr., ne.ar London, England 468 

Greeley, Hon. Horace, New York city. .331, 894 

Green, H. Carl, Warren Co., Penn 530 

Gregory, J. J. H., Marblehead, Mass 473 

Philo, Chester, Orange Co., N. Y. 38, 76 

Grimes, Nahum, Marcellus, N. Y 958 

Hall, Dr. {Journal of Ueallh), New York 

city 242, 365 

Hall, A. S., Maiden, Mass 235 

Halliday, Daniel, Ellington, Tolland Co., Ct. 350 
Hambleton, Wm., East Hamburg, Erie Co., 

N. Y 740 

Harastzby, Co!., Sonoma, Cal 653 

Harbison, Messrs. , Pennsylvania, and Sacra- 
mento, Cal 173 

Hargreaves, Mr. , England 933 

Harmon, General, Wheatland, Monroe Co. , 

N.Y 88, 668 

Harris, Dr., Cambridge, Mas8., late of 209, 

212, 221 



1028 



INDEX. 



Page 

Harris, Hiram, Ohio 7B4 

Joseph, Rochester, N. Y 728, 900 

Harrisou, Isaac, Burlington Co., N. J 30 

Harroun, C. H., Patterson's Mills, Iowa Co., 

■ Mich 784 

Hart (Jr.), Nathan, West Cornwall, Ct 716 

Hartshorn, C. W., Burlington Co., N. J 30 

Hartstein, Dr., Poppelsdorf, Prussia G75 

Hatcli, Thomas E., Keene, N. H 77 

Haxtun, E., Beekmm Township, Dutcheaa 

Co., N. Y 54 

Hayden, Edward, East Hartford, Ct 39 

Hayes, Mr., Newark, N. J : GO! 

Head, Harvey, Paris Hill, N. Y 783 

Hedges, A., Bourbon, Ky 731 

Heirstern, Samuel, Chester Co., Penn 076 

Hendrickson, Geo., Rose Township, Ram- 
say Co., Minn 692 

ilerpen, Mons., Paris, France 411 

Herrick, E. C, New Haven, Ct 233 

J., Lyndeborough, N. H 840 

Heston, Lewis E., Genesee Co., N. Y 669 

Heusted, Mr., Ulster Co., N. 1' 886 

Heutchcraft, J., Bourbon, Ky 731 

Hickey, Col., Baton Rouge, La 946 

Daniel, West Baton Rouge, La 946 

Hickman, Wellington, Chester Co., Penn. . . 693 

Hilderbrandt, Squire. Stark Co., Ohio 675 

Hill, Noble, Caton, Steuben Co., N. Y 621 

Hite, Geo. H., Morrisania, Westchester Co., 

N. Y 227, 420, 463 

Hoag, Thomas, Somhanock, N. Y 22 

Hocaday, Mr., Clarke Co., Ky 731 

Holbrook, E.'c-Governor, Burlington, Vt.. . . 917 

Hood, Thomas, Ocean Co., N. J 30 

Hooker, H. E., Rochester, N. Y 541 

Horsford, Professor E. N., Cambridge (Uni- 
versity), Mass 381, 427 

House, G. C, Lowville, N. Y 282 

Hovey, C. M., Boston, Mass 185 

Howard, C, England 080 

Hoyt, Freeman, Sumterville, S. C 268 

Hubbard, Isaac, Claremont, N. H 55 

Hume, Professor Wm., Charleston, S. C 661 

Hunt, L. G., Kalamazoo Co., Mich 691 

" Otis, Eaton Village, N. Y _32 

Hussey, Obed, Baltimore, late of 772 

Hustman, Geo. , Missouri 640, 645 

Hutchins, Warren, Bethel, Vt 738 

Hutchinson & Wickersham, New York city. 871 
Hyde, James F. C, Newton Centre, Mass. . 788 
Ingerson, C. W., New Bremen, Lev.-is Co., 

N. Y 782 

Jackson, J., Butternut Ridge, Ohio 669 

" Prof. Samuel, Perm. University. . . 381 
Jaqucs, Col., Charlestown,Mass., late of.42, 444 

JarvLs, Hon. Wm., Weathcrsfield, Vt 83 

J:«y, John, Bedford, Westchester Co., N. Y. 851 
Jctferis, Capt. James, Chester Co., Penn ... 29 

Jcnks, Professor, Boston 185 

Jennings, R. (V. S), Philadelphia, Penn... 114 

Jcwctt, Solomon W., Middlebury, Vt 101 

Johnson, Col. B. P., Albany, N. Y 752 

Jasper, Genesee Co., N. Y 339 

" L., Washington, Mass 843 

" Professor S. W., Yale College, 

New Haven, Ct 31, 892, 901 

Johnston, John, Geneva, N. Y 670, 911-12 



Page 

Jones, John, Middleton, Del 42, 444 

Kanousc, John C, Wisconsin 615 

Keeley, J. T., Alleghany Co., N. Y 782 

Kellogg, E. C, Hartford, Ct 274 

Kelly, William, Rhinebeck, N. Y 752 

Kendall, G. W., New Braunfels, Texas 92 

Kenny, K. K., Lorain Co., Ohio 797 

Kent, E. N., U.S. Assay Office, Philadelphia 396 

Kerns, Andrew, Grundy Co., Ill 567 

Ketthnm, Mr., Buffalo, N. Y 773 

Kidd:, Mr., England 618 

King, Rev. David, VeiTion, Trumbull Co., 

Ohio ■. 843 

Kingsbury, H. C, Medina Co., Ohio 075 

Kinnard, Lord, England 899 

Kirk, B. P., Chester Co., Penn 21 

Knox, Rev. Mr., Pittsburg, Penn 540 

" Mr., Worcester, Mass 926 

Ladd, Wm. H., Jefferson Co., Ohio 90 

Lampadius, Professor, Germany 398 

Lampher, Egbert, West Lowell, Lewis Co., 

N. Y 799 

Landis, Abram, Manheim, Penn. , 53 

Langstroth, Rev. L. L., Philadelphia 175 

Langwor(hy, B. F., Alfred Centre, N. Y. . . 138 
Lapice, Mons. .(sugar planter), Louisiana. . . 947 

Lathrop, Paoli, South Hadley, Mass 64 

Lawrence, Wm. B., Newport, R. 1 629 

Lawton, Wm, New Rochelle, N. Y. ... 218, 223 

Le Couteur, Col., Isle of Jersey, Eng 45 

Le Due, Wm. G. , Hastings, Westchester Co. , 

N. Y 229 

Lee, Major William, Western Pennsylvania . 85 

Leeds, Mr. (architect), Philadelphia 289 

Legare, Mr., Charleston, S. C 931 

Legnitz, Professor, Elden, Holland 886 

Leland, Major William, Texas 92 

Lester, C. Edwards, Newark, N. J 490 

Lieber, Oscar M., State Geologist of South 

Carolina 752 

Liebig, Professor, Germany. . . 72, 360, 374, 437 
Lincoln, Charles, North Bridgewater, Mass. 226 

" Wm. S., Worcester, Mass 445 

Lindley & Loudon, England 556 

Lindsley, Hon. Wm. D., Sandusky City, 0. 211 
Livingston, Chancellor, Columbia Co., N.Y., 

late of 758 

Locke, Dr. G. J., Danby, Rutland Co., Vt.. 724 
Longworth, Nicholas, Cincinnati, Ohio, 

late of 538, 541, 606 

Lothrop, H. A., Sharon, Mass .'. . 924 

Lounsberry, Wm., Com'y. 20th Regiment 

N. Y. V 380 

Lovering, Joseph S., Philadelphia 831-2 

Lo vet, Capt. , Beverly, Mass 550 

Lowman, H. E., Elmira, N. Y 443 

Lyman, H., Johnstown, Wis 297 

Lynde, Mrs. Ruth H., New Bedford, Mass. 510,591 

Macondray, Capt., California 174 

Macy, Josiah, Westchester Co., N. Y 307 

MacUson, James, late President of the U. S. 939 

Mahan, P. J., Philadelphia 176 

Maillard, Dr., France 537 

Manning, Col. (sugar planter), Louisiana. . . 945 

Mansfield, E. D., State Statistics, Ohio 973 

Mapes, Prof., New York city . 73,57 li, 668, 920, 923 

Jlarks, Mr., Onondaga Co., N. Y 886 

Maitin, Gen. , Bayou La Fourche, La 945 













INDEX. 1 


029 

I'aKC 






P«Ke 




Martin, Wm., Dahlonega, Ga 

Mason S. P., Walnut Creek, N. Y 


682 
C85 
217 




311 
082 
351 




Pell, Robert L., Ulster Co., N. Y.. 249, 269 
Percy, Dr., England 


Mather, Jos. H., Goshen, N. Y 


W., Cuyahoga Co., Ohio 


822 


Periam, Jno., Chicago 


235 




Matson, J., Bourbon Co., Ky 


731 


Perry, A. G., Newark, Ohio 


20 




Matthews, Mr., Durham, N. H 


102 


" James, New York city 


381 




Mattoon, Arannah, Washington, Mass 


843 


" P. H., Collins Centre, N. Y 


218 




MeCall, nenry. Bayou La Fourchc, La 


94G 


Peters, Hon. Richard, Atlanta, Ga 205 


,581 




John R., Austin, Texas 


205 


" Hon. T. C, Darien, Genesee Co., 






McCollum, A., Bayou La B^ourche, La 

McKunn, John, Gravesend. L. I 


946 
801 


N. Y 74, 862 


886 
89 




Pettibonc, Mr., Manchester, Vt 


Jlead, Peter B., New Yorlc city 


227 


Peyton, General, Richmond, Va 


714 




Mears, Thomas D., Wilmington, N. C 


051 


Phelps, Charles B., Colebrook, Ct 


4U8 




Mechi. J. J., England 27, 86 


887 


Philippar, Mons., Versailles •. 


(;97 




Metcalf, C. L., Franklin, Mass 


908 


Pitcher, Edwin, Martinsburg, N. Y 


407 




Middaugh, Mr., Red Wing, Minn 


692 


Plumb, Mr., Onondaga Co , N. Y 


(•-> 




Middleton, Col., South Carolina 


116 


Poiteau, Mons. , France 


697 




Miles, William, England 


112 


Polk, Gen. Leonidas, Bayou La Fourche. . . 


943 




Miller, George, Canada West 


672 


" William, near New Orleans, La 


945 




Mr., La Porte, Ind 


832 


Policy, John C, De Witt, Clinton Co., Iowa 


789 




•' Samuel, Lebanon, Ponn 


633 


Potts, Mr. , Bayou La Fourche, La 


940 




" William F., Lancaster, Peun 


53 


Poulet, Mons. , France 


347 




Mills, Hiram, Lewis Co., N. Y 


705 


Pratt, General, Rocky Hill, Ct 


791 




Miner, T. B., Oneida Co., N. Y 


164 


" E. (,Ir.), Freeport, Me 182 


781 




Molan, Mr., Wayne Co., Ohio 


675 


Priestley, Dr. Jos., England 


347 




Moody, Mr., New Jersey 


249 


Prince, Wm. R., Flushing, L. I 


230 




Merely, Mr., Onondaga Co., N. Y 


886 


Proctor, J. W., South Dan vers, Mass 


819 




Morgan, John, Lima, N. Y 


100 


Provost, Mr., Williamsburgh, L. I 


636 




Justin, Stockbridgc, Vt 


100 


Purvis, Robert, Byberry, Penn 


79 




Morrill, P., Maine 


765 


Putnam, Wm. H., Brooklyn, Ct 


716 




Morris, Col. A. T., Indianapolis, Ind 


828 


Pugh, Thomas, Louisiana 


914 




'■ L., Windsor, Ashtabula Co., Ohio . 


477 


Quinby, M., Amsterdam, N. Y. . . 105, lil 


173 




" Miss, Germantown, Penn 


231 


Quincy, Josiah (Jr.), Boston, Mass. .76, 867 


8SS 




Moses, CliL-ster. MarccUus, N. Y 


924 


Quinn, Mr., Newark, N. J 29/ 


,52! 




Motley, Mr., Massachusetts 


452 


Rafinesque, Professor, France 


491 




Mottier, John L , Cincinnati, Ohio 


668 


Rand, E. S. (Jr.), Bcston, Mass 


185 




Moxlev, J. T., Sheboygan Co., Wis 

Murray, 0. S., Warren Co., Ohio 722 


S58 


Randall Capt New Bedford, Mass 


37 




807 


Ransom, Robert, Ipswich, England 


918 




Mvrick, A. S., Jefferson Valley, N. Y 


784 


Remington, Markham & Co., Ilion, N.Y. 921 


, 926 




Napp, Christian, Wayne Co., Ohio 


075 


Renick, Wm., Circleville, Ohio 


!)■» 




Ka-sh, Professor, New York city 183 


411 


Renwick, Professor, New York, late of ... . 


340 




Nearing, Col. Mars 

Newberrv, E. F., Montgomery Co., Ill 


'158 




78 




823 


Rhoads, B. M., Baltimore, Md 


882 




Newbold, Charles, Burlington, N. J 


918 


Rice, L. B., Middlebury, Vt 


232 




Newman, Jonas, Ulster Co., N. Y 


550 


Richard, Robert (sugar planter), Louisiana. 


946 




Nightingale, Florence, England 

North, K., P.oehester, Racine Co., Wis 


"77 




799 




920 


Robie, H., Georgetijwn, N. Y 


781 




Norris, L., Windsor, Ashtabula Co., 0. .477 


,485 


Robin.son, J. G., Hancock, Vt 


843 




Norton, John T., Farmington, Ct 441 


,448 


" Dr. D. A., Union Springs, N. Y. . 


340 




" Capt. Thomas A., Yarmouth, Mass. 


152 


Roe, <5eeley C, Chester, Orange Co., N. Y. 38, 78 




Nourse, Joel, Boston, Mass 773 


919 


Rotch, Francis, Butternuts, Otsego Co., N.Y. 


260 






21 
588 


Ruflin, Edmund, Richmond, Va 

Ryan, Mr., Sonoma, Cal 


714 
653 




Olney, C, Pittsford, Monroe Co., N. Y 


Ostensacken, Baron, Sec. Russian Legation 




Sainsvain Brothers, Los Angeles, Cal 


662 






185 
848 


Sanborn, Dr. E., Andover, Mass 

Sanderson, John, Bernardston, Mass 


216 
52 




Otis, Amos, Yarmouth, Mass 


Oyershirc, John F., Athens, Bradford Co., 




Savory, Mr., De Kalb Co., Ill 


456 




Pemi. . . 


738 
538 


Schncicke, Frederick, Cincinnati, Ohio 

Scribner, J. L., Montpelier, Vt 


659 
171 




P.ardee, R. G., Ne-v York 217, 224 


Parker, Dr. J. W., Columbia, S. C 


733 


Searls, Wm., Eaton Co., Mieh 


843 




Parsons, L. M., Wakau, Wis 


566 


Secor, Mr., New Rochelle, N. Y 


548 




S. B., Flushing, L.I 


175 


Seymour, George, Norwalk, Ct 


548 




Peabodv, Charles A., Columbus. Ga 


541 


Sheaf; Mr. , Dutchess Co., N. Y 


54 




Peacock, David, New Jersey, late of 

Peake, Mrs. E. M.. Hudson, N. Y 


918 
632 




173 




Shepard. Mr., Saratoga Co., N. Y 


788 






731 


Sheppard, Wm., Ann Anmdel Co., Md 


238 




Pease, Wm., Oswei,^o, N. Y ' 


781 


Shook, J., Wayne Co., N. Y 


675- 




Pprk Air Chanlin Ct 


791 


Sickmau, John, Wayne Co., N. Y 


675 
















Page 

Sulall, James, Berwickshire, Scotland til8 

Smith, Ira, Peoria, 111 640 

J. M., Beaver Co., Penn 794 

" Mr., Colchester. Ct 222 

" Robert, Biickiugham, Penn 918 

" R. B.iird, Irrigation Engineer, En- 
gland 906 

Smoker, Isaac, Ashland Co. , Ohio C75 

Sneedly, Joel, FultoQ. Lancaster Co., Penn. 693 

Siielling, G. G., South Thomaston, Me '783 

Soctz, Mr., Berks Co., Penn 64 

Soyer, Ale.-cis, France 857 

Speer, Alfred, Passaic, N. J 423 

Spencer, Thomas, Cap3 Girardeau, Mo 718 

Sperry, Mr., Bsthany, Ct 790 

" Mr., Cheshire. Ct 797 

Sprengel, Professor, Germany 888 

Squier, E. G., New York city 941 

Starr k Gaylord, Lake City, Minn 092 

Stearns. Charles, Springfield, Mass 817 

Steele, Henry, New Jersey 218 

Stevens, Ambro.se, Genesee Co., N. Y 072 

Edwin A., Hoboken, N. J 919 

" JohnC, South Araboy, N.J., late of 316 

" Panui, Boston, Mass 55 

Stewart, James, L.iacaster, Penn 53 

Mr., Erie Co., N. Y 888 

Stone, Dr. (sugar planter), Louisiana 946 

Stoughton, T. M., Greenfield, Mass 440 

Strawu, Jacob, S.ingamon Co., Ill 74 

Sturtevant, E. T., Cleveland, Ohio 170 

Summer, Col. A. G. . Pomaria, S. C 2S8 

Sutter, Mrs., Cilifornia 174 

Swan, R. J , Geneva, N. Y 914 

Sylvester, M . Wayne Co., N. Y 886 

'fanuer, J. N., Terrebonrfo, Bayou La 

Fourche, La 946 

Taylor, James, St. Catherine's, C. W 217 

" John, Caroline Co., Va 872 

" Judge, Jericho, Ky 631 

" William, Ocean Co., N. J 80 

" Win. W., South Dartmouth, Mass. 626 

Tenbrook, J. W., Rockville, Ind 496 ! 

Thatcher, Richard. Darby, Penn 22 I 

Thompson, Gen. AVaddy, South Carolina . . 130 
" J. R. (sugar planter), Louisiana 946 

Thomson, Mr., Delaware, Ohio 631 

Thorne, Samuel, Washington, Dutchess Co., 

N. Y 87 

Tobev, Nathaniel M., Tompkins Co., N. Y.. 191 

Togno, Dr., Wilmington, N. C 635 

Townsend, Mr., Edisto Island, S. C 715 

Treadwell, Professor, Cambridge, Mass 187 

- Treat & Son, Eastport, Me 274 



Pngo 

Trimble, Dr., Newark, N. J 217, 

219, 220, 225, 231 

Tucker, James, Bayou La Fourche, La 946 

" J. W., Bayou La Fourche, La 946 

" Luther, Albany, N. Y 340, 910 

Turner, Profes.sor J. B., Jacksonville, III.. . 923 
Tuttle, Dr. J. T.. Rye, Westchester Co., N.Y. 732 
Underbill, Dr., Croton Point, N. Y. 217, 041, 651 

Ure, Dr., England 896 

Vallejo, General, Sonoma, Cal 653 

Vanmeter, A., Fayette, Ky 731 

Vilmorin, Mens., Paris, France 759 

Voelclicr, Dr. Augustus, Cirencester, En- 
gland 66, 827, 899 

Vreeder, J. P., New York city 297 

Vulkan, Dr. Franz, Eppan, The Tj'rol 643 

Wade, Mr., Canada West 87 

Wagoner, Samuel, York, Penn 175 

Wakeman, James, Du Page Co., Ill 568 

Wales, Theron, Windham"; Portage Co., 0.. 181 
Walworth, Mr., St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. .. 671 

Ward, Dr , Newark, N. J 538 

Warner, D. W., Sharon Springs, N. Y 194 

Waterbury , Dr. , New York city 73 

Watts, James H., Rochester, N. Y 631 

Way, Professor, England 750 

" Thomas (sugar planter), Louisiana . . 945 

Webb, Jonas, England 81 

Webster, Bullock, England 643 

Weishampel, Rev. J. S. (Sen.), BnUimore,Md. 221 

Wells, William V., New York city 174 

West, J. D., Pump Maker, Broadway, New 

York city 314 

Wetmore, Lansing, Warren, Penn 721 

Wheeler. Mr., Wayne Co., N. Y 525 

White, Mr., Chautauque Co., N. Y 147 

" Mr., Manchester, Ct 797 

Whitlock, D. S., Rochester, N. Y 787 

J. S.&G.S., Monmouth Co., N.J. 787 
Whitney, Eli, born in Westborough, Mass.. 934 
Wilkin.son, Wm., New Braunfels, Te.xas. . . 93 
Willard, JohnH., Wilton, Franklin Co., Me. 731 

Williams, Col., Society Hill, S. C 938 

S., Seneca Co., N. Y 880 

Wing, Benjamin, Rochester, N. Y 789 

Wood, Isaac N., Hampden (Do., Mas-s 78J 

" Jethro, New Jersey 918 

J. M., New York 924 

Woodward, Geo. E. , New Yoik city 825 

Wright, E. C, Gallatin Co., Ill 73 

Mr., Poughkeepsie, N. Y 520 

" Joseph A., Indiana 85 

Youmans, Edward L., New York city, 359, 383 
Young, Mr. , Jessamine Co., Ky 731 



APPENDIX. 



DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS, AND THEIR CURES. 
[note to the reader.] 

New York "TRiBtmE" Editorial Rooms, ) 
AGRicuLTimAi, Department. ) 

The material for this supplementary chapter on Diseases of Domestic 
Animals, and their Cures, though not immediately my own work, has been 
collected under my authority and supervision, by persons entirely compe- 
tent, and from the best standard authorities, such asTouatt, Martin, Randall, 
Mayhew, Stonehenge, Jennings, Flint, etc., etc. It has also been revised by 
myself, and corrected by one of the ablest veterinary surgeons in 'New York 
city. It will be found of constant utility to farmers, and I have no hesita- 
tion in indorsing and accepting its recommendations without qualification. 

SoLOX Robinson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Diseases are often as mysterious as death. Beasts are worse off than 
men, because they can not tell what they feel, nor assist the doctor by 
following his instnictions. 

Prevention is far better than cure. Ciioose good animals. Keep them in 
healthy quarters, warm, dry, clean, and well ventilated, with good food and 
exercise, and do not overwork, but watch carefully if sick. Low diet, rest, 
and extra care for a day or two, will often save life. Give as little medi- 
cine as possible, and seek rather to allow nature to effect the cure. If the 
case is serious, or a surgical operation seems necessary, apply at once to a 
veterinary surgeon. 

In the following Appendix we have sought to speak only of such diseases 
as a sensible man may deal with himself. Fortunately, this includes the 
most common and troublesome ones. Many diseases, by the aid of these 
few pages, will be within the owner's skill, so that he will not need to call a 
surgeon. 

The Index to this Appendix refers ,nlso to those pages of the body of the 
work which treat of diseases, tluis giving the reader a. command of the 
whole book at once, so far as this subject is concerned. 



1032 APPENDIX. [Chap. I. 



CHAPTER I.-THE HORSE. 

1176. Albuminuriai — As in Ilsematuria, use rest and cooling treatment. 

1177. Bog Spavin. — Apply an India-rubber bandage, and keep it on until 
the swelling is reduced. 

1178. Bots arc the grub of a fly, which lays eggs on the hair of the horse's 
Icnees and sides, exactly where the animal will lick them oft'. They pass 
into the stomach from the tongue, hatch there, hook on to the inside and 
remain a year. At the end of that time they pass oft" with the natural 
evacuations. Only in rare cases are they seriously harmful. No medicine 
can be given to kill bots that will not seriously injure the horse. 

1179. Broken Knees. — Wash the wound, not by touching it, but by squeez- 
ing spongefuls of milk-warm water upon the leg above it, so that the water 
may run over it. Carefully explore the wound, with a probe; if the 
capsular ligament is opened, place the animal in charge of a veterinary 
surgeon ; if small, puncture the lower part of the bag ; if large, insert a 
seton, move it at night and morning until good pus is secreted, and then 
remove it. Meanwhile, keep the animal's head tied pretty high ; make a 
wash of water and arnica, two ounces of the tincture to each quart. Wet a 
small sponge in this wasli and squeeze it above the joint every half hour, 
day and night, for three days and a half. If the case improves, release the 
head ; if the knee enlarges and is sensitive, and the horse will not touch the 
foot to the ground, i-emove the seton, and give no hay, but as much oats 
and bean-meal as the horse will eat, and two pints of ale or stout daily. Put 
the animal in slings, i:se the arnica wash until sloughing takes place, and 
then use a chlorid of zinc lotion, one scruple to a pint of water, applying it 
as before. 

IISO. Colic. — For spasmodic colic (gripes or fret), give once in ten minutes 
a pint of warm water, mixed with one ounce of sulphuric ether and one 
ounce of laudanum. If no imi^rovement after a few doses, double them. An 
injection may be given, of a pint of linseed oil and two drachms of tincture 
of aloes in a quart of warm water. If these measures do no good, mix some 
strong liquor of ammonia with six times its quantity of water, M'et a cloth 
with it and hold it by means of a horse-blanket or similar article up against 
the abdomen, as a blister, say from ten to fifteen minutes. This must not 
be too long continued, however, or it will destroy the skin. If all these 
moans fail, there is some other disorder than colic. 

For windy colic, give at intervals of half an hour, successively, three 
bftlls, each containing two drachms of sulphuret of ammonia, with extract 



Chap. I.] 



THE HORSE. 



1033 



of gentian and powdered quassia, suffieieiit to make up the ball or pill. 
Follow these M-itii a dose of a pint of cold water, in which are dissolved one 
ounce of cidorid of jiotash and two ounces of sulphuric ether. In another 
hour give the following: two ounces of sulphuric ether, two ounces of 
laudanum, half an ounce of camphorated spirits, and one drachm of carbon- 
ate of ammonia. If none of these means succeed, give a tobacco-smoke 
injection. 

1181. fflrns. — If the corn suppurates, open the abscess, then poultice the 
foot. Wiien the horny portion above the corn is softened .by the poultice, 
cut away whatever of the sole is freed by the pus from the secreting sur- 
face, then tack an old shoe and keep the foot dressed with a solution of chlorid 
of zinc, one grain to the ounce. * 

llSi Crib-Biting. — This is frequently part of the efibrt of the horse to 
relieve himself from the annoying sensation of flatulence or wind in the 
stomach. Its injury to the stable may be prevented by making the manger 
and other accessible parts of the wood-work "iron-clad," by nailing strips 
or sheets of iron snugly over them. Put a lump of rock-salt in the manger ; 
if that does not cure, add a lump of chalk. Try, if necessary, still further, 
damping the food and sprinkling it with magnesia, and with each feed 
mingle a handful of ground oak or hemlock bark. These remedies are to 
cure the flatulence or indigestion which causes the biting. Keep the stable 
well ventilated, and as clean as possible. 

1183. Curb must be treated early. Keep the horse quiet. Apply a folded 
cloth with an India-rubber bandage over it, and keep the cloth wet with cold 
water. When the inflammation has entirely disappeared, blister the hock, 
if any enlargement remain. 

IISI. Diabetes is commonly considered incurable. The treatment recom- 
men-ded, however, with much confidence by Mayhew is, to give daily a ball 
of honey and linseed meal, containing one drachm of iodide of iron ; or, 
instead, twice a day, at night and morning, an ounce of phosphoric acid in 
one pint of water. Flour of bone is recommended. 

11S5. Distempert — This is a contagious catarrh, and horses having it 
should be kept a])art from the rest. Give a thorougli purge, feed on light 
bran mashes, and keep the animal warm until recovered 

1186. Farcy is by some considered a slow form of the disease which, when 
found acute and in younger horses, is called glanders. It is most usual in 
older horses. Its seat is in the skin, and it begins with swellings, which 
grow into ulcers, and become malignant and chronic. Glanders fre- 
quently ensues, and contrariwise, farcy often ensues in cases of glanders. 
Farcy is incurable, though a course of sulphate of copper or iron, oak bark 
or hemlock bark, cayenne pepper and cantharides, may render the horse 
able to work for a time. 

1 1 87. Fright, Nervousness, or Shying. — Drive without olinders. "When fright 
occurs, soothe the horse without shouting or anger or violence, and kindly 
induce him to examine the object of alarm. The horse is a timid but very 



1034 " APPENDIX. [Chap. I. 

intelligent and willing iuiinial, and will almost reason. Having found out 
wliat it was that frightened him, he will no longer fear it. 

IISS. Glanders maj be called the consumption of the horse. It has thus 
far been found incurable. It is extremely contagious, and oven men have 
caught it and died of it. The animal having it should be killed. 

1189. Grease. — Cut ofi" all hair from the part; if there is scurf, wash with 
mild soap and hot soft water. Make a lotion of half a pint of animal 
glycerin, half an ounce of chlorid of zinc, and six quarts of water. "Wet a 
cloth with this; lay it on the leg; when it becomes warm, remove it and 
apply another, and so on until the heat abates. Afterward, apply the 
lotion three times a day. Give abundant food, and with each feed of oats 
a tablespoonful of powdered gentian. A good regimen is chopped roots, 
hay tea, cut grass, and exercise. 

1190. Grubs in the Back. — Slightly enlarge the opening at top of the swell- 
ing with a lancet or sharp knife, and squeeze out the grub. Wash the wound 
a few times with chlorid of zinc solution, one grain to an ounce of water. 

1191. Ilfematuria, or Bloody Urine.— Eest and cooling food are the best rem- 
edies. Give also one ounce of tincture of cateclui three times a day, or one 
scruple of liquor of scsquichlorid of iron in water three times a day. 

1192. Ueaves, or Broken Wind, is usually incurable, but may be fre- 
quently alleviated by the use of cut feed, free of mustiness and always fed 
wet. For another prescription, see page 109. 

1193. Hide-bound. — Give simply good and clean food and lodging, and 
care and exercise. In winter, feed roots ; in summer, green food. 

1191^. Inflammation of the Bladder. — If the pulse is excited, give hourly 
doses of one scruple of aconite. If there is great pain, same of belladonna. 

1195. Inflammation of the Bowels. — ^Take one quart of blood from the 
jugular vein. Give one drachm extract of belladonna nibbed into a pint 
and a half of cold water and mixed with half a drachm of powdered aconite, 
three ounces sulphuric ether, and three ounces of laudanum. Repeat every 
three hours if it seems necessary. Omit the aconite if the pulse improves, 
and the belladonna if the pain ceases, and diminisli the other ingredients as 
the animal improves. If the pain continues after the eighth dose, ai>ply an 
ammoniacal blister, as directed for colic. If any symptoms linger, sprinkle 
on'the tongue once in two hours half a drachm of calomel and one drachm 
of 02>ium. During recovery, feed very carefully, avoiding purgatives or ir- 
ritants. 

1196. Inflammation of the Lungs, or Pneuraoaia. — Bleed once, but it the 
blood is black and thick, do not continue the bleeding. Supply abundant 
litter ; keep water within the animal's reach, but no food ; and if in winter, 
clothe him until he is thoroughly sweated. If, during the operation, there 
appears to be too much steam, remove the clothing a few minutes, but do 
not leave the horse entirely uncovered. Give thrice a day the following 
dose : half an ounce solution of aconite root, two ounces of sulphuric ether, 
one drachm cx.ract of belladonna rubbed down with half a pint of water. 



Chap. L] TlIK HOUSE. 1035 



When the pulse improves, omit the aconite ; and when t!io breiitliinj^ im- 
proves, omit the belladonna; and contrariwise, increase ei;her ingredient if 
either symptom grows worse. Until the disease diminislies, give as food 
only hay tea with a little oatmeal ; as the animal gets better, carefully in- 
crease the amount of food. When the horse lies down, do not distutb him ; 
it is a good sign. 

1197. luterfcrcnce. — A common method in case of interference is, to fasten 
round the pasterns a collar of straw, so that the ends of the straw shall 
form two brushes, projecting inward, whose friction shall serve as a remin- 
der to the horse. Sometimes leather straps are buckled on, an end pro- 
jecting in like manner. On the Tliird Avenue Eailroad line in New York 
city a peculiar device is used to prevent interference of the fore feet, con- 
sisting of a square piece of oak board about three-quarters of an inch thick, 
and just wide enough to touch lightly the horse's fore legs, a few inches bo- 
low the breast. The board is a little rounded at the corners, the middle 
is cut out for lightness, and it is bound with iron. It is kept in place by a 
strap to the collar, and another to the girth. 

1193. LampaSi — A disease of the gums. Use slight scarification of the part 
affected, but only when much swollen or painful. 

1199. LicCi — Anomt the whole skin with any cheap oil or grease, and 
wash thoroughly in an hour or two. Afterward, however, watch whether 
there be not mange, hide-bound, or some other skin disease ; or wash with :: 
mixture of benzine four ounces, soft soap four ounces, water one gallon. 

1200. Lockjaw, or Tetanus. — Give a double purgative ; keep a supply of 
fresh gruel within the animal's reach, and keep him alone, and warm and 
comfortable. He should be approached as seldom as possible, only by one 
whom he likes, and very quietly. 

1201. Maugc. — Horses properly kept will not have mange. Pui the horse 
in the sun or in a heated room for an hour ; brush him thoroughly with a 
whisk broom, to remove scurf, etc. Rub with a liniment composed of ani- 
mal glycerin four parts, oil of tar (creosote) four parts, oil of turpentine 
one part, oil of juniper one part. After two days wash this off; repeat the 
anointing and washing off in two days, twice more. 

1202. Navicular DiseasCi — An inflammation of the navicular bone, a small 
bone in the interior of the foot. Feed generously, chiefly on crushed oats. 
In England, old beans (horse-beans), ground, are used. For a fortnight only 
soak the foot one hour in hot water every other night ; then put flannel 
bandages on the leg, put tips on the hoofs, smear the horn with glycerin 
and put on a sponge boot. Rest the horse for six months, and he may 
recover. If there is a relapse, there is little hope of cure. 

1203. Ophthalmia, or Inflammation of the Eye. — Remove from the eye any- 
thing fallen into it, and fasten across the face over the eje a cloth wet 
with a decoction of poppy-heads mixed with tincture of arnica. Sometimes 
a small absces? comes on the surface of the eye. Touch it with nitrate of 
silver, or bathe with a lotion of chlorid of zinc. 



103G APPENDIX. [CnAP. ]. 

1904:. Plewrisy. — Bleed once. Bandage tlie legs, and cover the body with 
a sheet or light blanket. Give once, in each quarter of an hour, one scruple 
of tincture of aconite in a wineglass of warm water nntil the pulse softens. 
Then give once every two hours half a pint of water with one ounce of sul- 
phuric ether and one ounce of laudanum. Keep lukewarm water within 
his reach, but no food, and let his bowels alone. As the disease abates, care- 
fully return to the usual diet. 

1205. Foil Evil. — Apply with a brush, daily, a wash of the tincture or ace- 
tate of cantliarides, until the j^art is blistered ; then stop. When the swelling 
enlarges, as it to come to a head, open the prominent or soft places. When 
the matter has escaped, cut in to the seat of the disease, opening all the 
pipes or sinuses, and be careful not to cut the ligament under the mane. 
From the cavity cut out all loose pieces of tendon and all unhealthy flesh ; 
when emptied, wash the cavity with cold water. Then n"»oisten the sore 
while healing M-ith chlorid of zinc lotion, one grain to an ounce of water, 
and place over it a cloth wet in a solution* of tar, to keep flies off. We 
have cured poll evil by burning it out with caustic potash. 

120G. Polypus. — A tumor. When in the n?se, it should be removed by a 
surgeon. It is unsafe for an unprofessional person to attempt the operation. 

1207. lUligbone is practically incurable. Consult a veterinary surgeon. 

120S. Roaring. — This comphiint, when established, is about incurable. It is 
often caused by a tight throat-latch, and by the use of the check-rein, either of 
which hauls the head into an unnatural position, and distorts and misshapes 
the larynx. A check-rein is always an evil, and the throat-latch should al- 
ways lie left as loose as it can be, to keep the head-stall on. 

1209. Saddle Galls. — -Avoid pressure on the part affected, and wash it with 
cold water. 

1210. Saildcrack. — Pare out the crack so as to make a groove. If partial, 
draw a line across above and lielow the ends, with a hot iron. Jf granula- 
tions have grown within it, cleanse it with a chlorid of zinc lotion, one 
grain to an ounce of water, and then cut them off. Then place the foot in 
a poultice ; and when the horn is soft, pare down to the edges. Keep using 
the lotion. Draw lines with the hot iron from the coronet to the crack, in 
the shape of a V? to cut the communication between the crack and the new 
horn. Put on a bar shoe eased off" from the place of the crack, and with a 
clip each side of it. If it .is necessary to work the animal, tie in the crack 
a piece of gutta percha. Watch the foot, and wash out any grit with the 
lotion. Give abundant and nourishing food. 

1211. Scratches. — A teaspoonful of flour of Sulphur twice a week for two 
weeks, in chojiped potatoes. Wash the part clean with Castile soap and 
water daily, following by rubbing in thoroughly an ointment of sulphur and 
lard. Continue the daily wash and ointment until cured. 

1212. Sitfasts. — Kemove the hard thickened skin with the knife ; wash the 
wound with a chlorid of zinc lotion, one grain to an ounce of water ; keep 
the bowels regular, exercise moderately, and give at night and morning 



Chap. I THE HORSE. 1037 



the following dose: gentian root, powdered, half an ounce in one pint of 
water. 

1213. Splint. — ^The pain may lie mitigated by a poultice sprinkled with one 
drachm of opium and one draclim of campiior. If a tendon be interfered 
with, a surgeon may perhaps be employed to open the skin and remove the 
splint, a chlorid of zinc lotion, one grain to (he ounce of water, being after- 
ward used. To check the growth of the sjilint, rub it often and thoroughly 
with simple ointment, mixing one ounce of iodide of lead with eight ounces 
of the ointment. 

1214. Stoue in the Bladder.— Hydrochloric acid, two drachms to a pailful, 
in all the water the animal drinks. Tliis may dispose of a small gravel stone. 
If lithotomy be necessary, a veterinary surgeon must, be employed. 

1215. Stone in the Kidneys.— Hydrochloric acid may be tried, as for stone 
m the bladder. The result is, however, uncei'tain. 

1216. Strangles. — Avoid purging and bleeding. Induce tlie animal to 
eat, if possible, giving wet meal, grass, or anything he will take. Keep 
him quiet and comfortable ; make a lotion of two parts of spirits of turpen- 
tine, one part of laudanum, and one part of spirits of camphor, and apply 
with a paste-brush thrice a day until the throat becomes sore. After each 
application, bandage the part well with four tliicknesses of flannel. AVhen 
the tumor comes to a head, put a twitch on the horse's lip and open tlie 
swelling with an abseess-knife. The pus discharges, and the animal will 
recover. 

1217. Stringhalt. — ^This is the same as the cliorea, or St. Vitus' Dance, in 
men. It is quite incurable, but does not often destroy tne usefulness of the 
animal, though it impairs his appearance. 

1218. Tread, or Overreaching.- Feed well ; batlie the sore resulting from 
the accident thrice a day, with chlorid of zinc lotion, one grain to an ounce 
of water. The wound should slough, and be cured in about a month. 

1219. Warts. — There are three kinds: The first are inclosed in a cartilagin- 
ous sack or bag. Slit this and squeeze them out. The second are cartilag- 
inous and vascular in their substance. Cut them off and stoj:) tlie bleeding 
with a hot iron. The third cuisists of a soft granular substance, in a sort of 
skinny case. They had better be let alone. 

1220. WindgallS. — Keep over the place, except while the hnrsc is in 
service, a bandage, as follows: fold rags, wet them, put on a "..aclim of 
opium and a drachm of camphor, .ay them upon the windgalls, lay over 
them pieces of cork large enough to cover the windgalls, and lace on over 
all a bandage of vulcanized India-rubbe:-. Tliis will sometimes give relief. 

1221. Worms. — 1. Tretiia, or tapeworm. Take a pound of quassia chips 
and pour on three quarts of boiling water. Take spirits of turpentine as 
follows : for a foal two drachms, for a colt three months' old, lialf an ounce; 
six months', one ounce; one year, an ounce and a half; two years, two 
ounces ; three years, three ounces ; four years or more, four ounces. Make 
the turpentine mix with a proper quantity of the infusion by means of 



1038 APPENDIX. [Chap. II. 

yolks of eggs, add one scruple of powdered camphor, and give early in the 
morning. Good food must be supplied. 

2. Lumbrici, in old or weakly horses. Give every morning two drachms 
of extract of gentian and aloes. 

3. Strougulus. This is seldom to be detected in the living animal. 

4. Ascarides. Give train-oil injections for one week. If no result, sub- 
stitute, for another week, an infusion of catechu, one ounce to a quart of 
water. On the eighth morning give four drachms of aloes and one drachm 
of calomel. It will be well to place in the rectum each night and morning 
an ointment, as follows : glycerin, half an ounce ; spermaceti, one ounce ; 
melt the spermaceti and mix. 



CHAPTER ir.-CATTLE. 

1222. Abortion, or Sliukiug the falfi— If a cow has slunk her calf, a second 
abortion is far more likely. Watch her closely, and at the first approach 
of the symptoms, place her in a comfortable shed, quite apart from any 
other cows. If the discharge from the vagina is glairy but not fetid, the 
fo3tus may be alive. Give half a drachm of opium, if suffering from uterine 
pain, and half an ounce of sweet si^irits of niter. Feed low, giving nothing 
but gruel, unless the cow bo very feeble, and she may go her full time. 
Where abortion prevails as an epidemic, there is no cure. 

In cases of abortion actually happening, bury the fojtus at once, very 
thoroughly, and out of the way of other cows, as the smell is a very strong 
stimulus to other abortions. Give the cow a dose of physic, and ergot of 
rye to aid the removal of the placenta, if retained. This may also be 
promoted, but very cautiously, by introducing the hand. Wash the cow's 
external organs of generation with a little warm water. When she begins 
to i-ecover, fatten her and sell her. If she is retained, she should be kept 
alone for two months before runnins: with the other cows. 

1223. Choking. — Anything caught in the gullet should be removed, if 
possible, by careful eftbrts outside with the hand. If this can not be done, 
use the flexible probang, which is an India-rubber tube with a whalebone 
stiffener in it. With this the obstruction can frequently be pushed down 
into the stomach. The operation must be very careful, so as to avoid 
tearing the gullet, which would probg,bly be fatal. -For a few days after the 
obstruction is removed, give no solid food. If tracheotomy is necessary, a 
surgeon must be employed. 

1224. ('old iu the Head, or C'oryza.— Put on a low diet for a few days; 
steam the nostrils a few times ; give at morning and at night a warm bran 
mash. Keep the animal in a warm stable. 



CiiAi>. II.] CATTLE. 1039 



to 



1225. rostirencsSi — For costiveness in calves, pork broth is recommended 
by Mr. Allen. AVe give mildly cathartic lierb-toa. 

122C. Cow-Pox.— Wash the teats gently but M-ell with warm water and 
Castile soap ; wipe dry and dress with glycerine ointment. 

1227. Diarrheal — If mild, two ounces of Epsom salts twice a day, and low 
diet. If more obstinate, give daily two drachms of carbonate of soda in the 
food. Sometimes a few ounces of powdered charcoal will stop the trouble, 
without other medicine. Oak-bark tea, or hemlock-bark tea, is sometimes 
given. Sweet-gum bark is effectual and perfectly safe. The followiii"- is 
also a good remedy : one and a half ounces each of pulverized opium and 
catechu, and one ounce of prepared chalk; mix, and give in the food. 

Diarrhea in calves is more dangerous than to adult cattle. AVhen a calf 
is attacked, feed on bran mashes or flour gruel, with plenty of salt. For 
medicine, give two ounces of Epsom salts, followed by small draughts of 
gum-bark or hemlock-bark tea. Or, give twice a day a dose of the follow- 
ing: half an ounce each of powdered catecliu, opium, and Jamaica ginger; 
one ounce prepared chalk. Mix this, and divide into twelve powders. 

1228. Dysentery.— Give thrice a day one drachm of extract of bella- 
donna, in water; or one drachm of powdered opium, also Ihrice a day. 
"When the inflammatory stage of the disease is passed, give thrice a day in 
the food one ounce each of powdered nitrate of potash and powdered 
gentian root and ginger; or else, half an ounce of powdered Jamaica 
ginger. Keep the animal warm, drj^, and comtbrtablc, and give dry and 
sweet food, adding a little linseed meal. With the medicine a little gum- 
arabic or starch may be mixed. Also sweet-gum bark tea. 

1229. Enteritis, or Inflammation of the Bowels.— Let the animal have per- 
fect rest, and eight doses of Fleming's tincture of aconite, ten drops at a 
dose, four times a day ; followed with tincture of belladonna, in doses of 
one drachm, without food. 

1230. Epizootic or Contagious fatarrh.— Give the animal comfortable 
quarters, and attack the disease promptly. If there is costiveness, give one 
ounce of Barbadoes aloes, mixed with ten drops of croton oil ; or one pint 
of linseed oil with from ten to twenty drops of castor oil mixed in it. If 
this does not open the bowels in twenty-four hours, give four ounces of 
sulphate of magnesia every six hours until they are opened, and then give 
ten drops of tincture of aconite in water every four hours, until the fever 
abates. If the animal is very weak, give twice a day, at night and morning, 
a dose of the following: powdered gentian root one ounce, powdered 
Jamaica ginger half an ounce, powdered cloves half an ounce. Mix and 
divide into four doses. 

1231. Foul ia the Foot. — Wash tne foot very clean, and insert between 
the claws a small wad of tow, soaked with tar and sprinkled with powdered 
sulphate of copper. One or two applications should eflect a cure. 

1232. Garget. — Put the calf to suck as soon as possible. If this aoes not 
remove the hardness of the udder, foment it with warm M-atcr, wipe it dry, 



1040 APPENDIX. 



[Chap. II. 



and apply melted lard, as hot as the animal will bear. If abscesses form, 
they must be lanced. The treatment must be prompt. For the use of 
" garget root," see page 32. 

1233. Hoove. — Give a drencli "• one ounce spirits of hartshorn in a quart 
of water; or, two ounces of labie salt in one quart of water. If this does 
not relieve, give an active purge, witli free injections of soap and water. 
If tlie case is obstinate, tlie paunch must be punctured. This should be done 
by a surgeon with a trocar; if none is, however, at hand, a pocket-knife 
may be used. The point for the puncture is lialf way from the last rib to 
the point of the hip-bone, and twelve inches from the center of the back. 
The opening should be no larger tlian to admit the knife-blade. 

1234. Horn Ail. — The best veterinary practitioners consider horn ail a 
symptom, and not a disease; that is, cold or heat in the horns mean just 
M'hat heat or dryness or coolness in the nose do — namely, that there is some 
disorder in the system. Catarrh may aifect some of the cavities of tlie head, 
and througli these the horns, or indigestion or fever may affect the whole 
system, and tlius the Iiorns. The proper method is, to treat the disease, and 
when this is cured, the unnatural condition of the Iiorns or the nostrils will 
also be cured. Never bore holes in the horns, any more than in the nose or 
the tongue. This practice is radically erroneous. 

1235. luflammation of the Bladder.— Iiyect into the cow's bladder a quart 
of warm water, in which is mixed from one to two ounces of tincture of opium, 
Give mucilaginous draughts freely. 

1236. Inflammation of the Bowels.— See Enteritis. 

1237. luflammation of the Haw.— Bathe the membrane frequently and 
gently with cold water, or sohition of sugar of lead and rose water, or sugar 
of lead and laudanum. 

123S. Lice. — "Wash the animal well all over with decoction of quassia. 
Benzine, with soft soap and water, may be used instead. Any cheap oil 
will do. Good care and feed will prevent lice. 

1239. Manisre. — On a warm, bright day scrub the animal well with Castile 
soap and water, with a scrubbing-brush. When dry, apply with the brush 
tlie following mixture : one ounce of white hellebore, three ounces of flour of 
sulphur, and one quart of gas-water, mixed. One or two applications will 
generally suflice. Give, night and morning, in the food, a dose of the 
following: two ounces of flour of sulphur, one ounce of black antimony, one 
ounce of nitrate of potash. Mix this, and divide into eight doses. Another 
wash for mange is water, having to every pint four ounces of pyroligneous 
acid; or sulphur ointment maybe used, with a little mercurial ointment 
mixed with it. 

1240. Blilk Sickness, or Trembles. — ^This is common in newly-cleared dis- 
tricts. "Where it is found, keep the cattle out of the night air, and do not 
let them out until the dew is off the ground. Never let their food lie about 
on the ground. In case of an attack, if there is constipation, give, in a quart 
of warm water, ten ounces of glauber salts, one drachm of powdered ginger. 



Chap. II.] CATTLE. 1041 



and one drachm of powdered golden seal. Give also tonics of gentian, car- 
bonate of ammonia, and aniseed. Perfect cures are very rare. 

1241. Murrain.— Good nursing and external applications are more im- 
portant than doses in this disease. Give for two or three days a daily dose 
of a quarter of a pound of Epsom salts, with a drachm of powdered tTaniaica 
ginger. A bottle of porter twice a day will be useful. Apply to the erup- 
tions a solution of chlorid of lime, or one of chloride of zinc, twenty grains 
to an ounce of water, or of sulpliato of zinc, two drachms to a pint. Pow- 
dered charcoal may also be used on the eruptions. 

1242. Open Joint. — Eest, cleanliness, and liglit diet should be insured during 
the cure. If the wound be clean and healthy, bring the edges together, stitch 
them, and with a figure-of-eight bandage tie on a soft wad of lint or old 
rag, moistened with tincture of myrrh. If adhesion does not take place, 
cover the wound with a thick plaster of fir balsam, bandaged on. Shoe- 
maker's wax will do instead. If there is a fetid discharge, poultice with 
powdered charcoal mixed with an equal quantity of powdered bUyberry 
bark. If a large surface is exposed, keep clean and well covered with fir 
balsam. In removing dirt, squeeze a sponge full of warm water above the 
wound, and let the running down of the water do the cleansing. 

1243. PJewisy. — Give promptly a purgative, and blister the sides by rub- 
bing in well a mixture of one ounce of oil of turpentine, twelve drops of 
croton oil, half an ounce of water of ammonia, four ounces linseed oil. Fol- 
low with a dose, every four hours, of the following: one ounce of nitrate 
of potash, and one drachm each of tartrate of antimony and powdered digi- 
talis leaves. Mix this and divide into eight doses. Instead may be given, 
once in six hours, in gruel, a dose of the following : one and a half ounces 
of nitrate of potash, and six ounces of nitrate of soda, to be mixed and divided 
into six doses. Never bleed for this disease. If there is internal eflfusion, 
the fluid must be drawn oS by puncture with a trocar, and three times a day 
give a dose of the following: eight ounces of resin and two ounces of salt- 
peter, mixed and divided into eight doses. Three doses daily, each of half 
a drachm of iodide of potash, will be useful. 

1244. Pleuro-Pneumonia, or Lunjj; Murrain.— This is sometimes cured in 
the early stages. In the later ones, kill the animal. Then clean the stall or 
stable thoroughly by washing and chlorid of lime. AVhitewash it thor- 
oughly, and let it be aired and empty for two or three months. 'For the first 
indications of the disease, give ten drops of Fleming's tincture of aconite in 
M'ater every four hours until there is a change ; then give thrice a day a 
drench, as follows : three drachms of water of ammonia, one ounce of nitric 
ether, half an ounce of powdered gentian root, all in one quart of water. 
Late in the evening give also a tablespoonful of phosphate of lime in some 
gruel. Put setons in the dewlap. As a preventive, the following has been 
tried with success : give once in two days to each cow one ounce of niter 
in one pint of water on the food, and half a pint of prepared charcoal daily 
to each cow on the food, inoculation is the most certain preventive. 



1042 APPENDIX. [Chap. 11. 



1245. Puerperal Fever, or Milk Fever.— There is often fever at calving. 
"Watch the cow closely. Never bleed. The bowels must be opened. Give 
a pound of Epsom salts, dissolved in a quart of boiling water, and wlien 
dissolved, add a quarter of an ounce each of red pepper, carraway, and din- 
ger, all powdered ; then add a gill of molasses, and give the mixture warm. 
After the bowels are opened, sedatives may be given, but good nursing 
and judicious feeding are the best means for completing the cure. 

124G. Red Water. — Give a pint of linseed oil, linseed tea to drink, and 
free injections of soap and water. If the urine be abundant, give three 
times, at six or eight hours apart, one ounce of tincture of opium, with 
one drachm of powdered catechu. 

1247. Rinderpest, Cattle Plague, or Steppe Murrain.— Tliis is considered by 
many a kind of typhoid fever. It seems to have originated in the steppes 
of Russia, and to have been spread thence by the transportation of cattle. 
There is no treatment which is recognized as a sure cure, but the disease can 
be " stamped out" by perfect isolation of every animal and all materials that 
are infected. Animals actually diseased should be instantly killed and 
buried. Buildings or clothes of persons tiiat have been about the diseased an- 
imals should be kept from any contact with other animals, until most thor- 
oughly washed, cleansed, ventilated, and limed. The excrements of the 
diseased animals should be put out of the way of the rest with equal care; 
and the same regimen must be pursued with any animals that may happen 
to have been near the infected ones. Tliis isolation should be kept up for 
fourteen days. Inoculation is not a good preventive of this disease. 

124S. Sore Teats. — "Wash the teats well with warm soft water, and anoint 
them with cream or goose oil. Repeat the operation twice a day. A little 
after milking is tiie best time. An ointment recommended by Yonatt is, one 
ounce of yellow wax, three ounces of lard, melted together. "While it is 
cooling, rub in one-fourtli of an ounce of sugar of lead and one drachm 
of pulverized alum. 

1249. Thrush in the Month, or Aphtha*. — Give djiily three oimces of Epsom 
salts in drench, for three or four days, and wash the month daily with a 
solution of alum or tincture of myrrh, or vinegar and honey. 

1250. Warbles, or Grubs in the Back. — Puncture the skin carefully Avith a 
penknife or lancet ; press out the grub with the finger and thumb. The eggs 
which hatch into these grubs may (as some think) be removed by carding 
the cattle well during August and September, when the fly lays them. This 
theory depends 6n the assumption that the egg is laid on the hair and not 
in the skin. 

1251. Worms. — A dose or two of turpentine will remove them. Doses of 
half a drachm each of sulphate of iron, in molasses, once or twice a day, may 
also be given. 



CuAP. III.] SHEEP. 1043 



CHAPTER III.-SHEEP. 

1252. Apoplexy.— Bleed at the jugular vein until the pulse is lowered and 
the rigidity of the muscles relaxed. Then give an aperient. .A strong and 
plethoric animal as large as a merino will lor this purpose require two 
ounces of Epsom salts. If this does not open the bowels, follow it with half 
an ounce of Epsom salts twice a day. 

1253. Catarrh.— Ordinary cases are not fatal, and the proper course is to 
prevent it l»y regular food and comfortable, well-ventilated shelters. 

1254. Choking.— Pour a little oil down ihe throat, and the obstruction can 
be removed up or down by the hand from outside. If not, tie a little bag 
of flaxseed firmly on the end of a flexible stick and hold it in hot water for a 
minute or two. When mucilaginous, put it carefully down the gullet and 
force the obstruction down. Proceed very gently, to avoid lacerating the 
gullet, which M'ould be liable to cause death. 

1255. Colic, or Stretches. — Half an ounce of Epsom salts, a drachm of gin- 
ger, and sixty drops of essence of peppermint; The salts alone will often 
effect the cure ; and so will a dose of linseed oil, or even of lard. 

1256. Diarrhea. — For grown sheep, the use of dry food exclusively for a 
day or two is usually a sufiicient remedy. For lambs, if they are purged 
severely, and especially if any mucus is passed with the evacuation, give a 
gentle cathartic— for instance, half a drachm of rhubarb, one ounce of linseed 
oil, or half an ounce of Epsom salts. Follow this dose with an astringent 
one, for which a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk in half a pint of warm 
milk is sufiicient. The first dose will often cure; if not, repeat it once a day 
for two or three days. The English astringent dose is, prepared chalk one 
ounce, powdered catechu half an ounce, powdered ginger two drachms, 
powdered opium half a drachm. Mix with half a pint of peppermint water, 
and give, at morning and night, to a grown sheep two or three tablespoon- 
fuls ; to a. lamb, half as much. 

1257. Disease of the Biflex Caual. — ^This sometimes becomes inflamed. 
Scarify the coronet, cutting rather deeper in the swelling at the mouth of the 
canal, and cover the foot well with tar. 

1258. Dysentery. — The symptoms differ ^rom diarrhea ; as there is fever, 
the appetite is feeble, and the stools thinner, there beinginuch mucus with 
them. After a time the faeces become bloody and extremely offensive. 

Give first a couple of purges of linseed oil, and then th(r chalk and milk 
dose, as in diarrliea, but doubling the quantity of chalk, and adding twenty 
or thirty drops of laudaimm, and a little ginger and gentian. In the first or 
inflammatory stage, or if fever is present, bleed moderately. Mr. Youatt 



1044 APPENDIX. [Chap. III. 

recommends half a grain of strjclmine with each chalk and milk dose, be- 
sides the above additions. 

1259. Fouls. — A wash with blue vitriol solution or spirits of turpentine 
followed by a coating of warm tar, will cure it. 

1260. Garget. — Draw some milk from the bag, so that the lamb will butt 
and work it more in sucking, and bathe the bag a few times in cold water. 
In case the lamb dies, draw the milk a few times at increasing intervals, 
washing the udder with cold water each time. If the udder remains hard, 
use iodine ointment. If the animal have feverish symptoms, give an ounce 
of Epsom salts. 

1261. Grub- in the Head. — Try to prevent, by turning up a furrow, or ex- 
posing some soft earth in the pasture, into which the sheep may put their 
noses in July and August, when the sheep gad-fly is trying to get at their 
nostrils to lay its eggs. 

1262. Hoof Ail. — There are three stages : 1. "When there is a slight irrita- 
tion of the skin, with inflammation and heat, in the back part of the cleft 
of the hoof just above the heels. 2. "When the thin upper edges of the inner 
walls of the hoof have become disorganized, and ulceration has taken place 
between the hoof and the fleshy sole next within it. 3. When the whole 
foot has become ulcerated, black, rotten, and probably full of maggots. 

In the first stage, the foot need only be cleaned before apjjlyiug a cure. 
In the second stage, all the ulcerated part& must have the horny coat of the 
hoof completely removed — care being taken not to bleed the fleshy sole 
within any more than can be avoided, and to allow such bleeding to stop 
before going further. In the third case, pour turpentine on the maggots, or 
remove them with a stick ; then remove every particle of loose horn, even 
if it takes the whole hoof, and then thoroughly cleanse the foot with a solu- 
tion of a pound of chlorid of lime to a gallon of wat£r. If this can not be 
had, washing the foot with water just short of scalding hot will do. This 
cutting, etc., should be done with sharp knives and toe-nippers ; and above 
all things, the paring must be thoroughly done. Proud flesh must also 
be cut out. 

The cleansing thiis completed, the next thing is to apply the remedial 
wash ; the best one is a saturated solution of blue vitriol or sulphate of cop- 
per — -that is, as much as the water will dissolve. "Where the number of 
sheep is large, have a tub in which two sheep can stand, and fill it four 
inches deep with the saturated solution as hot as the hand can endure at all. 
When the first sheep is pared, put him in and hold him ; so with the sec- 
ond. When the third is pared, take out the first and substitute the third, 
and so on. If the feet are washed, instead of such a bath, it must be very 
thoroughly done. This is for the first and second stages. For the third, use 
chlorid of antimony, or muriatic acid, or even nitric or sulphuric acid, ap- 
plying it with a swab until the dead muscle or unhealthy granulations are 
eaten away. Then wash the foot thoroughly with the blue vitriol solution, 
and coat it well with pine tar that has been boiled and properly cooled. 



Chap. IV.] SWINE. 1046 

1263. Uoove. — Ordinarilj', drive the sheep gently about for a long time, 
and the trouble subsides. If tlic sheep is swelled so much as to be unwilling 
to move, it may be necessary to perforate the paunch and let out the gas. 
To do this, plunge a trocar or knife with a sharp point and dull edge di- 
rectly into the paunch, at the most j^rominent point of the swelling on the 
left side, a little below the hip-bone. Insert a tube through the opening at 
once, or some of the contents of the stomach will get into the cavity of the 
belly and produce a fatal irritation. This tube may be removed when the 
superfluous gas and othw matters have ceased to escape. 

126i. Ophtlialmiai — This usually disappears of itself in a few days, or re- 
sults in cataract of one eye, which does not lessen the valije of the sheep. 
Its discomfort may be somewhat alleviated by bleeding under the eye and 
bathing it in warm water, using occasionally instead a weak solution of sul- 
phate of zinc mixed with tincture of opium. 

1265. Poison from Eating Laurel.— Plentiful drenches of milk and castor oil. 

1266. Rot. — Scarcely appears in America. 

1267. Scab. — "Wash with strong tobacco-water, or an infusion of half a 
pound of arsenic to twelve gallons of water, or use mercurial ointment 
rubbed into from three to five times its weight of lard, and then rubbed on 
the head of the sheep, and into the skin, in lines from head to tail, fo:i!- 
inches apart all over the body. 

1268. Sore Face often happens where the pasture contains much ' 
John's wort. Eub the parts with a little sulphur and lard. Plenty of s:; . 
prevents the difficulty. 

1269. Sore Montbi — Smear the diseased lips well with tar. 



CHAPTER IV -SWINE. 

1270. Apoplexy. — Treatment must be quick and decided. The best is, to 
bleed the animal freely from the palate, and also to give a purgative of Epsom 
salts and sulphur. Instead of the purgative, tartar emetic in water may be 
given to produce vomiting. In case of recovery, diet the hog very carefully 
for some time, avoiding stimulating food, and putting a little niter in the 
water drank. 

1271. Bronchitis may be cured by bleeding and cooling medicines, such as 
sulphur, cream of tartar, or pulverized antimonialis. 

1272. Colic. — A dose of castor oil with ginger, in warm milk, generally 
relieves. If not, repeat the dose. Glauber or Epsom salts are recommended 
by some. 

1273. Diarrhea. — The remedy is " calves' cordial," i. c, prepared chalk, one 



104:6 APPENDIX. [Chap. IV. 

ounce; powdered catechu, half an ounce; powdered ginger, two drachms; 
powdered opium, half a drachm. Mix, and dissolve in half a pint of 
peppermint-water, and give twice a day a dose of from half an ounce to an 
ounce, according to the size of the animal. The diet should be dry and 
farinaceous. 

1274. Epilepsy.— Treatment is usually vain, but the best that can be 
done is, plentiful cold bathing of the head, vigorous purging, low diet, 
quietness, and cooling medicines; to bathe the head, tie it up with a cloth, and 
keep this wet. A good lotion for the purpose is, a pint of vinegar to two 
quarts of water, and an ounce of sal ammoniac. 

1275. Garget, of the Maw is, in fact, indigestion from over-eating, and 
the symptoms are much like those of colic. Give from a quarter of an 
ounce to an ounce of Epsom salts. 

1276. luflammation of the Bowels.— Give warm baths, dry litter, and warmth 
and comfort, with mild purgatives and injections. The purgative should be 
castor oil, calomel, or rhubarb ; the injections of some oily emollient mate- 
rial. The food should be light and simple, as oatmeal, porridge, skim-milk, 
or whey. 

1277. Inflammation of the Braiu.— The remedies are, bleeding freely in the 
palate; if that is not sufficient, bleed the ears, washing them freely with 
warm water to increase the flow. Give also a purgative of sulphate of 
magnesia and ginger. Injections may also be used to promote purging, and 
frequent doses of suIjdIuu- should be given, to cool the blood. If the above 
pui-gativc fails, castor oil and jalap may be tried. 

127S. Iiiflammatiou of the Lungs, or Rising of the Lights.— Try bleeding 
first. Then give mild purgatives ; for instance, Epsom salts and sulphur 
in doses of from two to four drachms, according to the size of the animal. 
Afterward give sedatives ; for which a good prescription is, two grains of 
digitalis, six grains of pulverized antimonialis, half a drachm of niter. This 
is one dose for a middle-sized pig. Cleanliness, warmth, and nutritious but 
cooling food are specially important in this complaint, and treatment must 
be prompt, in order to success. 

1279. Leprosy. — Clean the sty, and keep it clean. Wash well with soap 
and water, having a little soda or potash in it. Supply clean bedding, 
and some exercise. Give daily a feed of bran mash, in which is one table- 
spoonful of flour of sulphur, and about one-tenth as nmch niter. Continue 
tlie treatment until recovery. 

1280. Lice. — Clean thoroughly ; give fresh and dry litter, and clean and 
whitewash the sty thoroughly, inside and out. Use externally mercurial oint- 
ment, turpentine, or tobacco-water. Small doses of sulphur or Ethiop's 
mineral and bay salt may be given internally. Cleanliness prevents lice. 
A hog found lousy should at once be placed alone, or the rest will catch 
them. Lousy hogs rub themselves constantly against trees, posts, etc. 

1281. Lockjaw. — Give, bleeding, a warm bath, friction with stimulating 
oils, purgatives if they can be given, and if not, injections and anodynes. 



CnAr. IV.] SWINE. 1047 

1282. Mauge.— At first, a strong decoction of tobacco or digitalis, or a 
solution of corrosive sublimate, will usually cure the mange. If the scabs 
have formed, wash with a solution of one ounce of arsenic in a gallon of 
water. A much better application is, a salve made in the proportion of one 
ounce of sulphur to one drachm of mercurial ointment, to be thoroughly 
rubbed into every portion of the diseased skin. A decoction of soot is also 
excellent for mange and all other cutaneous disorders. It is made by 
boiling two handfuls of soot for half an hour in a pint of water, and strain- 
ing off the fluid. This, when cold, may be used as a lotion, two or three 
times a day. Creosote has been used with benefit in like cases, and is 
very likely the real agent in the soot-wash, as it is found in soot. Keep 
the mangy hog very clean and separate from the others, for the disease is 
catching. 

12S3. Measles. — Let the animal fast twenty-four hours. Then give a warm 
' drink, containing one drachm of carbonate of soda and one ounce of bole 
armenian. Afterward, give with each meal thirty grains of flour of sulphur 
and ten grains of niter, for two or three weeks. 

12Si. Snuffles, or Sniffles.— Th.e beginning of this is likely to be over- 
looked, and when firmly seated it is probably fatal. If taken early, it may 
be cured. The treatment is, emetics and tonics. A cure has sometimes 
been effected by doses of sulphate of copper of from three to five grains each, 
dissolved in water, each morning and evening. In cither case, diet and 
regimen should also be strictly attended to. 

1285. Strangles, or Quinsy. — When the disease begins, cooling medicines, 
low diet and warmth, and careful regimen will often check it. "When the 
swelling and diflicult breathing and swallowing have become established, 
treatment must be more decided. Bleeding and purging should first be 
tried. Some have recommended setons and puncture of the swollen glands. 
Blisters and external stimulation might be tried in extreme cases, as counter- 
irritants. Instantly remove a hog with this complaint from the rest, as the 
disease is very infectious. 

128(3. Trichina 5 Trichiniasis. — The trichina is a worm somewhat of the 
angle-worm pattern, about one twenty-eighth of an inch loug, and one six 
hundred and twentieth of an inch in thickness. They are most frequent in 
swine and in man. Their presence has occasioned much alarm, and has 
caused quite a number of deaths of human beings in Germany. When raw 
pork containing trichinae is eaten, the little worms burrow through the intes- 
tines, and are carried by the blood into the capillaries in the muscles, where 
they grow and lodge themselves in little cells or cysts, which after a time 
become whitened by a sort of shell of calcareous matter. They have been 
found as thickly distributed as 85,000 in one cubic inch of muscle. While 
passing through the circulation and establishing themselves in the muscles 
they cause much suffering, and if in excessive numbers, death. If this 
period is survived, the symptoms gradually pass off. The trichina have 
always existed, yet deaths from eating pork are extremely rare in America. 



lOiS APPENDIX. [Chap. Y. 

Certainly, if pork before being eaten is tborougbly cooked, so as to be raised 
to at least a boiling heat throughout, it is safe to eat it. 

1287. Worms iu the Bowels.— Purgatives nay be given, but not too 
violent Turpentine is a safe and efficient dose for swine, and the food 
should be well salted. 

1288. Worms in the Bronch. Tubes.— These are pretty certain to cause 
death, as there is no way to reach them, and they usually cause a fatal 
irritation and inflammation. 



CHAPTER V.-POULTRY. 

1289. Gapes. — Caused by small worms in the throat. Take a sufiSciently 
stiff feather, strip it to within an inch of the end, put it down the cliicken's 
windpipe, turn it briskly round a few times so as to entangle the worms in 
the feather, and so draw tliem out. If this fails, dip the feather in turpen- 
tine and put it down again, and it will kill them. It is supposed, by some 
persons, that these worms come from impure water. 

1290. Uens Eatiu^ their own Eftgs.- Give a little meat chopped fine, 
and, more particularly, supply them with some old plastering, powdered 
bones, or oyster-shells. This will supply' the calcareous matter which they 
crave, and they will let the egg-shells and eggs alone. 

1291. Lice. — As preventives, use sassafras poles for roosts, feed well, 
keep their quarters light, clean, and warm, and supply plenty of sharp, clear 
gravel to rub in. Infected premises may bo tlioroughly smoked out by 
burning brimstone in them. Strew sulphur or plenty of fresh tansy about 
the hen-house, or wash it thoroughly throughout with alum dissolved in water 
— one pound to six quarts. Feed lousy hens, raw onions chopped in food. 

1292. Pip. — Cut off a small dark swelling on tlie tongue or its roots ; rub 
on a little butter mixed with ground black pepper. Give no greasy food, 
and keep the infected chickens alone for some days, as the pip appears to 
be infectious. Never feed corn-meal dough. Give dry cracked corn. 

1293. lloup,-— For chickens with cold or roup, feed with stale bread soaked 
in ale. Lager bier will do, or rum or other spirits diluted so as to be about 
as strong as ale. In severe cases, the liquor may be given without bread. 
Clean, dry shelter, good food, and proper exercise will commonly prevent 
the complaint. The shelter and food must be given as part of the remedies. 
Give also as a tonic a little tincture of iron in the drink. If roup proceeds 
into its second stage, when the eyelids swell, the nostrils close, the breathing 
is difficult, and there is a constant and fetid discharge, the bird will probably 
not recover, or only after a long time, and in ordinary cases Iiad better be 
killed at once. 



INDEX TO APPENDIX. 



1049 



129-i. Stimiilauts arc important for treating fowls. A good njeal of 
bread soaked with ale will often bring them out of any sudden attack 
of illness for which there seems no reason. Ilard-boiled eggs, chopped fine, 
are also invaluable for chickens, and a good stimulant for adult fowls. 

Powdered charcoal is a good preventive and remedy. It may be put 
from time to time where the poultry can get at it, or fed to them if ailing. 

1295. TurkeySi — Prevention is the chief means against disease in turkeys, 
as in the case of other poultry. The young ones ^lould be kept from getting 
wet, and should be kept well fed, but not over-fed. A little cayenne pep- 
per, or a few chives chopped tine, should be mixed in their food once every 
few days. 

1296. Vertigo. — Give (for a hen) one teaspoonful of paregoric, half a tea- 
spoonful of sulphur, as much Indian meal, and four teaspoonfuls of water. 
Then keep her quiet for a few days, giving thrice a day a little paregoric 
and water. 

1297. Wasting Away. — Fowls sometimes seem to be gradually failing 
without any particular disease. A teaspoonful of cod-liver oil daily will 
often cure this trouble. 



1298. Dogs. — Wo recommend to farmers not to keep dogs nor monkeys. 
All diseases of dogs may be cured by at once cutting off the tail of the dog 
close behind his ears. In doing this, there is no need of sending for the 
most celebrated veterinary surgcou, nor even of being sure that the dog is 
sick. Tiiis method of phlebotomy will be found entirely effective, and 
greatly promote sheep husbandry. [Publishers.] 



INDEX TO APPENDIX. 

also refers to the body of the work. 



[The number of the paragraph on the left-hand 

1222. Abortion in cows 1038 

1176. Albuminuria in horses 1032 

1262. Apoplexy in sheep 1043 

1270. " in swine 1045 

159. Blind staggers in horses 110 

160. Blindness in hor.ses, to detect Ill 

ll'.il. Bloody urine in horses 1034 

1177. Bog spavin 1032 

1178. Bots 1032 

1179. Broken knees in horses 1032 

1192. " wind ill horses 1034 

1271. Bronchitis iri swine 1045 

1225-'27. Calves, diseases of 1039 

1230. Catarrh in cattle 1039 

1253. " in sheep ' 1043 

1222-'61. Cattle, diseases and cures of.. 1038-'42 

1247. Cattle plague 1042 

1294. Charcoal for poultry 1049 

1223. Choking in cattle 1038 

1254. " in sheep 1043 



side ; that of the page on the right-hand side.] 
1224. Colds in cattle 1038 

1180. Colic in horses 1032 

12-55. " in sheep 1043 

1272. " in swine 1045 

1181. Corns in horses 1033 

1224. Coryza, or cold in cattle 1038 

1225. Costiveness in calves 1039 

1226. Cow-pox 1039 

Cows. See Cattle. 

1182. Crib-biting 1033 

1 183. Curb 1033 

1 184. Diabetes in horses 1033 

1227. Diarrhea in calves and cattle 1039 

1256. " in sheep 1040 

1273. " in swine 1045 

1257. Disease of the biflex canal 1043 

Diseases, preventing 1031 

1185. Distemper in horses 1033 

1298. Dogs, universal cure for 1049 

1228. Dysentery in cattle 1039 



1258. Dysentery iu sheep 1043 

1229. Enteritis in cattle., 1039 

1274. Epilepsy in swine 1046 

12.30. Epizootic catarrh in cattle 1039 

1 186. Farcy 1033 

156. Fistula in horses 109 

1231. Foul in the foot, in cattle 1039 

1 2.59. Fouls in sheep 1044 

1180. Fret in horses 1032 

1187. Fright in horses 1033 

101. Galls in horses , Ill 

1289. Gapes in chickens 1048 

22. Garget in cows 32 

1232. " " 1039 

1260. " in sheep 1044 

1275. " of the maw in Bwine 1046 

1 188. Glanders 1034 

1189. Grease in horses 1034 

1180. Gripes in horses 1032 

1250. Grubs iu the back, in cattle 1042 

1190. " " " in horses 1034 

121. " " head, in sheep 90 

1261. ■' " " " 1044 

1191. Hematuria in horses 1034 

154. Heaves 77 

1192. " 1034 

1290. Hens eating their eggs 1048 

1 193. Hide-bound in horses 1034 

98. Hog cholera 73 

1262. Hoof ail in sheep 1044 

1233. Hoove in cattle 1040 

1268. " in sheep 1045 

105. Horn ail 77 

1234. ■' " 1040 

1170-1271. Horse, diseases of the 1032-'38 

1235. Inflammation of the bladder, in cows.. 1010 

1194. " " " inhorses.1034 
1229. " " bowels, in cattle. 1039 

1195. " " '• inhorses.1034 

1276. " " " in swine.. 1040 

1277. " " brain, " ..1040 
1203. " " eyes, in horses. . . 1035 

1237. " " haw, in cattle.. ..1040 
119G. " " lungs, in horses.. 103 4 

1278. " " " in swine... 1016 

1197. Interference 1035 

Introduction to Appendix 1031 

1 198. Lampas 1035 

1279. Leprosy in swine 1046 

107. Lice on cattle 78 

1238. " " 1040 

1199. " onhorees '. 1035 

195. " on poultry 144-5 

1291. " " 1048 

1280. " on swine 1046 

1200. Lockjaw in horses 1035 

1281. " in swine 1040 

1244. Lung murrain, or pleuro-pneumonia.1041 

1239. Mange in cattle 1040 

1201. " in horses 1035 

1252. " in swine 1047 

1253. Measles " 1047 

1215. Milk fever in cows 1042 

I -^11 Milk sickness .1040 

1241. Murrain ' . | . .1041 

1202. Navicular disease 1035 

1187. Nervousness in horses 1033 

157. Old sores in horses 110 



1242. Open joint In cattle 1041 

1203. Ophthalmia in horses 1035 

1264. " in sheep 1045 

12 18. Overreach in horses 1037 

1292. Pip in poultry 104m 

1243. Pleurisy in cattle 1041 

1204. " in horses Wih 

1244. Pleuropneumonia in cattle 101' 

1190. Pneumonia in horses 1034 

1265. Poisoning of sheep by laurel 1045 

156. Poll evil 110 

1205. " " 1030 

1206. Polypus in horses 1036 

1289-'97. Poultry, diseases of 1048-'9 

Prevention better than cure 1031 

1245. Puerperal fever in cows 1042 

1285. Quinsy in swine 1047 

1246. Ked water 1042 

1247. Rinderpest 1042 

1207. Ringbone 1036 

1278. Rising of the lights in swine 1046 

1208. Roaring 1036 

Robinson, Solon, note by 1031 

1206. Rot in sheep 1045 

1293. Roup in chickens 1048 

1209. Saddle galls 1030 

1210. Sandcrack 1036 

1267. Scab in sheep 1045 

106. Scours in cattle 77 

153. Scratches in horses 109 

1211. " " 1036 

1252-'69. Sheep, diseases of 1043-'45 

1 187. Shying 1033 

1212. Sitfasts 1036 

1222. Slinking the calf 1038 

1284. Snuflles in swine 1047 

1268. Sore face in sheep 1045 

1269. " mouth in sheep 1045 

1248. " teats in cows 1042 

1 4. Sows lulling their pigs 29 

1213. Splint 1037 

1247. Steppe murrain 1042 

1294. Stimulants for poultry 1049 

1214. Stone in bladder, in horses 1037 

1215. " in kidneys, " 1037 

1216. Strangles in horses 1037 

1285. '■ in swine 1047 

1255. Stretches in sheep 1043 

1217. Stringhalt 1037 

158. Sweeney in horses 110 

1270-88. Swine, diseases of 1045-'48 

1200. Tetanus iu horses 1035 

1249 . Thrush in the mouth in cattle 1042 

1218. Ti-ead, or overreach 1037 

1240. Trembles, or milk sickness 1040 

1286. Trichina; in swine 1047 

1295. Turkeys, preventing disease in 1049 

148. Unsoundne.ss in horses 106-'7 

1296. Vertigo in hens 1049 

1250. Warbles in cattle 1042 

1219. Warts in horses 1037 

1297. Wasting away of poultry 1049 

1220. Windgalls 1037 

1180. Windy colic, horses 1032 

1251. Worms in cattle 1042 

1221. " in horses 1037 

1287-8. " JQSwine 1048 



•B 76 6 



